By Rev. James R. Cook, CFP®, RICP® You might have heard retirement referred to as “the golden years.” Some people view retirement as a chapter in life when they can spend more time with family, on leisure travel, or starting a new hobby. Some retirees engage in activities they’ve always wanted to do but never had time to pursue while working. Managing your finances in retirement is crucial to ensure a comfortable and financially secure life after you stop working so your golden years can truly be golden. Here are some key steps and considerations you can look at now to help you manage your finances effectively later during retirement. 1. Assess your financial position Before you embark on your retirement journey, it’s crucial to take stock of your financial situation. Evaluate your sources of income, including pensions, Social Security, investments, and any part-time work you might engage in. Create a comprehensive list of your expenses, categorizing them into essential (housing, healthcare, groceries) and discretionary (travel, hobbies) categories. This assessment will provide a clear understanding of your financial inflows and outflows. 2. Create a realistic retirement budget Once you have a clear picture of your finances, create a realistic budget that aligns with your retirement goals. Strive to strike a balance between meeting essential needs and enjoying leisure activities. The 4-percent rule is a commonly used guideline that suggests withdrawing 4 percent of your initial retirement portfolio annually, adjusting for inflation. However, your unique circumstances might necessitate a different approach, so it’s crucial to tailor your budget to your needs. 3. Social Security planning Understand when you become eligible for Social Security benefits and how different claiming strategies can impact your monthly benefit amount. Delaying your benefits can result in larger monthly payments, so consider your individual circumstances before deciding. The minimum age to start claiming your Social Security income is 62. However, if you do not need the income and can afford to delay your benefits until your full retirement age, postponement might be beneficial. Claiming benefits before full retirement age will reduce your Social Security income. Keep in mind that full retirement age varies based on your birth year. Be sure to check the social security website to verify your full retirement age (https://www.ssa.gov/prepare/plan-retirement). 4. Plan for healthcare costs As you age, healthcare expenses are likely to increase. It’s essential to plan for medical costs, including insurance premiums, deductibles, and potential long-term care expenses. Medicare is a fundamental component of healthcare in retirement, and you need to research it and enroll in it at the appropriate time. However, Medicare doesn’t cover all your needs, so it’s important to consider supplemental health insurance (make sure you understand the differences between Medigap and Medicare Advantage) and long-term care insurance to cover potential gaps in coverage. Budgeting for healthcare costs will prevent unexpected financial strain down the road. 5. Manage debt wisely Entering retirement with substantial debt can impede your financial freedom. Strive to pay off high-interest debts before retiring, as interest payments can erode your savings over time. Credit card and other outstanding debts should be strategically managed to ensure that your retirement income isn’t disproportionately consumed by repayments. Some steps to take to manage your debt include: • List all your creditors (except your mortgage creditor), the amount owed to each, the interest rates, and monthly minimum payments. • Re-order your debts according to which you want to eliminate first. • Now attack debt no. 1, repaying as much (more than the minimum) as you can each month until it’s gone while paying minimums on the rest. Then attack debt No. 2. Keep going until all your debts are gone. The key to success: don’t build up new debts while paying off the old ones! 6. Emergency fund Maintain an emergency fund to cover unexpected expenses, such as medical bills or home repairs. Having a safety net can help prevent you from dipping into retirement accounts prematurely. Most experts recommend having enough saved to cover your living expenses for three to six months. Be sure to consider both fixed and variable expenses when determining how much you need to save. Emergencies can happen at any time, so you need to be able to access your funds quickly. A savings or money market account with low fees and a low minimum balance requirement is the perfect place for your emergency funds. You should also try to find an account with a competitive interest rate so that your money can grow over time. Always keep your emergency fund separate from any accounts that you use daily. This practice makes it clear that one account is for spending and one account is for saving. And definitely don’t put your emergency funds into high-risk investments, such as the stock market; you need to know your money is going to be there when you need it. 7. Lifestyle adjustments Be prepared to adjust your lifestyle if necessary. If your expenses exceed your income, you might need to cut back on discretionary spending or explore part-time work opportunities. 8. Tax strategy Understand how different types of retirement income are taxed and develop a tax-efficient withdrawal strategy. Depending on your situation, it might be advantageous to withdraw from different accounts in a specific order to minimize your tax liability. Make sure to speak to your financial planner and tax professional for guidance. 9. Investment strategy Review and adjust your investment portfolio based on your risk tolerance, time horizon, and financial goals. While you might want to reduce risk as you age, it’s important to maintain a diversified, balanced portfolio that still provides growth potential to outpace inflation, because inflation can erode the purchasing power of your retirement savings over time. Diversification can help mitigate risks and maintain steady returns. A diversified mix of stocks, bonds, real estate, and other assets can help you weather market fluctuations while preserving your retirement savings. Diversifying involves investing in assets that respond differently to the markets. When stocks Read More >

  PHLYSense can prevent a problem from becoming a catastrophe   Church Executive: We’ve talked about PHLYSense in the magazine before. For anyone who might just be hearing the term, what is PHLYSense? Peter Kim: Simply put, PHLYSense is a property protection solution that provides building owners and occupants with monitoring and alerts for adverse conditions. PHLYSense has two main parts. The first involves sensors that monitor ambient temperature and the presence of water. Each sensor is compact and fits into the palm of your hand. Sensors are commonly placed in areas vulnerable to heat, low temperatures, or water — IT server rooms for high-temperature alerts, for example. Or, for water alerts, in vestibules or a under kitchen sink, areas next to hot water heaters or boilers, spaces near sump pumps, or even areas where water leaks or plumbing backups have been a problem before. The second part of the system is the monitoring and the alert infrastructure. This includes an online dashboard (or you can use a phone app) where you can see the status of all the sensors across one location or multiple locations. In the event of an alert — high or low temperature or the presence of water — notifications are pushed out to the organization’s designated individuals via text, email or both. They can also receive phone calls. In this sense, PHLYSense gives churches the opportunity to take action before an issue becomes a catastrophe. PHLYSense is a trade name of Philadelphia Insurance Companies, and the technology is proprietary to Hartford Steam Boiler. They are a top-of-class partner company which provides us with hardware devices and back-end monitoring and support. Partnering in this way allows us to focus on what we do best, which is essentially taking the solution and getting it into our policyholders’ hands. CE: Is there a cost associated with getting PHLYSense? Peter Kim: No; PHLYSense is available to any PHLY policyholder for whom we provide buildings coverage. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little country church or a multisite megachurch: PHLYSense is a value-added service for all our policyholders with building property coverage from PHLY. We’re literally giving these away. CE: Maybe the best way to demonstrate the efficacy of PHLYSense is with real-life examples. I’m told there are a few recent “saves” in which these monitors played a key role. Tell me about those. Peter Kim: The two most recent saves come from nonprofits. The first nonprofit — which experienced a frozen pipe — owns and operates a set of group homes; the other had a leaking-pipe incident in its main office building. In the first incident, the group home was vacant at the time. One of the maintenance employees received a cold-temperature text alert on a Sunday. The area was experiencing a winter storm and the back door had blown open. The pipes froze just before the maintenance worker arrived; water was being released, but it was minimal. The employee was able to turn off the water, do some cleanup, and make a small repair. Interestingly, this same nonprofit signed up for PHLYSense in 2022 but opted to try in just a few of their homes as a trial. Shortly afterward, a similar freeze event occurred in one of their group homes without PHLYSense and caused more than $50,000 in damage. It wasn’t long before the client installed PHLYSense in every group home — more than 20 locations. The executive director wrote us a letter after that Sunday morning event. It reads, in part: Had we not had sensors in this home, I’m certain we would’ve been looking at another $50,000 or more in damage. I have peace of mind that we will be avoiding any further costly repairs due to water damage. In the second example — the non-profit headquarters office — this wasn’t the first time the client experienced water damage due to leaky pipes underneath the kitchen sink. That’s why a PHLYSense sensor was in place under that sink. A month after the first incident, during a recent three-day weekend, the under-the-sink sensor indicated another water release. The client had someone on site within 20 minutes, and the result was minimal water damage. Had they not caught it early, the water could have run for several days and caused a major disruption for the nonprofit. In another event at a church, a pipe leak in the ladies’ restroom occurred, alerting the sensor and resulting in a quick cleanup of the area. At another church, a drain line for the ice machine outside the church gym experienced a leak. The sensor alerted, saving the hardwood floors in the gym from damage — a potentially big expense. The list goes on. In every case, a church/organization avoided or minimized water loss and downtime and the disruption associated with it. PHLY won, too, because those claims were minimized. CE: Conversely, how often do you see claims in which a sensor monitoring system — like PHLYSense — could have averted a disaster? Peter Kim: We see it all the time; water loss events are consistently one of the top drivers for property claims with PHLY. As two general examples, we’ve recently had very large freeze events in the United States. In 2021, polar vortex attacks affected large parts of the country, but we saw an extremely large number of events occur in Texas, primarily due to power and heat outages. Then, in 2022, Winter Storm Elliott happened right around Christmas, again affecting large parts of the country, but especially the Southern states. Those two events showed a marked difference in the outcome between accounts who had PHLYSense and received alerts and were able to take quick action, and those who did not. In a very large sense, this provided definitive proof that PHLYSense works and, again, is to everyone’s benefit. CE: Why are churches such a good fit for the PHLYSense monitoring system? Peter Kim: Many churches have large gaps of time each week when their facilities aren’t in Read More >

  A look back at the articles that mattered most  to our readers in 2024 By RaeAnn Slaybaugh In the past year, Church Executive has covered a lot of topics. Among them, a handful resonated best with our readers. With the help of our thought leader partners, we’ve written about rapid expansion, building projects, and the financial partnerships needed to navigate both with excellence. We’ve delved into how to respond to a child sexual abuse allegation from the past and minister to victims of sex trafficking in a meaningful way, today. We’ve explored technologies and managed services that save valuable time — yours and your church family’s.    We’ve guided you in how to maintain your church’s insurability, examined ministry transition/supplemental options you might not have considered before, and helped you avoid falling victim to a phone, text or email scam. The subjects vary widely, but the metrics speak for themselves: they all deserve a second look. #1: STEPPING OUT — TOGETHER — IN FAITH By RaeAnn Slaybaugh For Pastor Ron Johnson, Jr. and his congregation at Living Stones Church in Crown Point, Ind., massive growth came about in a highly unlikely time: during COVID. When churches were deemed by the Indiana governor as non-essential, Johnson and his team shut down Living Stones for several weeks. Not long after, they committed to keeping the church open instead. “All I knew for sure was that we couldn’t keep living this way,” Johnson recalled. “So, we stepped out in faith.” Droves of new people attended each week; instead of 25 new members, quarterly in Living Stones’ Starting Point program, that figure grew to 100 new members per month during the two years during COVID. To keep up with the growth, Johnson introduced a third service. As of press time, that service had been in place for four years and counting. Even so, it was evident that the church was out of space — especially in the areas that housed worship, children’s ministry, administration and fellowship. More sanctuary space was the first order of business. To get the project underway, Pastor Johnson enlisted Rodney James, president and founder of Master’s Plan Church Design & Construction, who not only led the church’s previous renovation project but had also become a close friend. After ensuring enough parking was built into the expanding church footprint, James and Johnson determined that, unfortunately, it wouldn’t be possible to expand the existing sanctuary. So, a new, 1,000-seat, 14,000-square-foot sanctuary was added. Next came 6,200 square feet of preschool / nursery space — a big relief for the Sunday School ministry, which was previously so full that the church had to turn children away. Living Stones then added 5,200 square feet of administrative space, including (amazingly) transforming the square footage previously occupied by the women’s restroom into the receptionist’s office. In total, the church added more than 33,000 square feet of ministry space to its thriving campus. To find out how the project was finished under budget — even as COVID drove sharp price increases and supply chain delays for building materials — it’s worth revisiting this inspiring story. #2: HOW TO NAVIGATE A SEXUAL ABUSE ALLEGATION FROM THE PAST By Gregory Love and Kimberlee Norris At this point, no church leader is unaware of (or immune to) the threat of child sexual abuse on their campus. But what about sexual abuse allegations related to abusive behavior occurring at the hands of staff members or volunteers from the past? For many pastors, this is unchartered territory — especially if the alleged bad actor is no longer involved in the church, has passed away, or if records are minimal or nonexistent. “Many ministry leaders do not understand sexual abuse, sexual abusers, or what an appropriate response to an allegation looks like,” advise authors Gregory Love and Kimberlee Norris, partners in the Fort Worth, Texas law firm of Love & Norris and founders of MinistrySafe. “Consequently,” they add, “wrong responses to historical allegations abound.” First, as Love and Norris assert, the church’s response must be victim-centric, not ministry- or abuser-centric. But what does that look like? “Keep in mind: when an allegation is received, there are very few ‘neutral’ statements or positions,” the authors explain. “The ministry’s response will be either victim-centric or other-centric: actions and statements that clearly demonstrate a priority for something or someone other than the victim.” That’s some very good advice, and there’s a lot more where that came from. For instance, did you know that false allegations are rare? Or how to create a pre-existing plan … or even what that entails? What about community with the congregation in the aftermath of an allegation? Or more difficult yet, the abuse survivors and their families? To find out how to best respond when an allegation of child sexual abuse that stems from behavior occurring in the distant past — and how to help prevent new occurrences — be sure to read this crucial article. #3: USING TECHNOLOGY TO MANAGE YOUR FINANCES By Angela Park With busy church executives’ time at premium, it’s no surprise that an article spotlighting technology to help manage personal finances would be so popular. But with so many apps and programs out there, guidance from an expert — like Angela Park, who leads a team of Member Service Specialists within MMBB’s Service Center — is welcome. “Choosing the right financial app can feel like finding the perfect pair of shoes: it needs to fit just right,” Park advises. Part of ensuring that fit is examining your unique financial management needs. In this article, the author introduces readers to several apps: • One that helps you stop living from paycheck to paycheck, pay down debt, and “roll with the punches” if something unexpected comes up • Another that connects all your bank accounts, credit cards and investments in one place, giving you a complete overview of your financial life • A tool developed by financial expert Dave Ramsey providing a straight-forward, no-nonsense solution for Read More >

  Walking in the footsteps of Jesus in the land of the Bible is the ultimate hands-on disciple-making experience for Christians — not just a vacation to a destination related to church.  Educational Opportunities Tours (EO) President/CEO James Ridgway recently interviewed Rev. Tom Smith about how Holy Land journeys have changed lives and inspired the faith of people who traveled with him in the Holy Land. James Ridgway: How did your first Holy Land journey influence your life and ministry? Rev. Tom Smith: It’s safe to say that it began to affect me even before I returned home. But the immediately noticeable influence was the way that it affected my preaching and teaching. I found myself painting word pictures of a passage of Scripture as I would preach or teach. I would give little tidbits of what it means to go ‘up’ from Jericho or the winds affecting the Sea of Galilee as they funneled into that area. It was like I had an entirely new resource to add to my library as I prepared for a sermon or class. Ridgway: When did you decide to start taking groups to the Holy Land? How did the people respond? Smith: I went the first time without a group. But after returning, my excitement was obvious. I talked about it constantly.  As soon as I was introduced to Educational Opportunities and learned of how I could ‘earn’ a trip, I decided to go back and take as many people as possible. As soon as I mentioned that I was putting a group together, people started signing up.  A journey to the Holy Land is in the hearts of a lot of people — not as a vacation but as part of their faith development — so there was natural interest in participating. Folks were excited that they could travel with me because they trusted me as their pastor.  Ridgway: Afterwards, what did you see in the lives of those who experienced the Holy Land? Smith: They were changed. They engaged with Scripture differently. They talked about the way they heard the sermons differently. They began to participate more readily in Sunday School, study groups or accountability groups. Many of them became more open and expressive of being leaders in the congregation. They have a renewed/revitalized faith, it seems.  Ridgway: What other benefits come from the Holy Land journeys? Smith: One of the things was how close the group became. They bonded with each other as they shared the experience.  They also bonded with me, as their pastor, differently. Instead of hearing me teach or preach a couple of hours per month, they spent 12 to 14 hours a day talking and experiencing this profoundly moving journey. We formed some truly lasting bonds.  They also came back with a deeper understanding of the current issues facing people in the region. They experienced not just what the news media shared, but what they themselves saw. They could ‘put a face’ to it, and it opened doors/eyes in a way that nothing else could do. Ridgway: How does a pastor plan a journey to the Holy Land?  Smith: There are two ways a pastor could begin this journey.  First, they could participate in an EO Familiarization tour. After experiencing the Holy Land personally, they could start planning a group journey. Personal experience helps while recruiting a group.  The second way is to jump right in and organize an EO Holy Land journey for their group by going to www.eo.travelwithus.com and reviewing the different itineraries offered and finding one that best suits what they and their folks would love to see. Then, they can reach out to the EO team to partner and build the journey that will help make disciples for Jesus Christ. The EO staff will provide all the tools necessary — including ongoing support — to build a life-changing tour for the congregation.