Proverbs and Retirement Planning

Retirement Planning- Proverbs

Pr 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich;
be wise enough to restrain yourself.
5 When you gaze upon riches, they are gone,
for they surely make wings for themselves,
and fly off into the sky like an eagle!

Pr 25:33 “A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to relax,
34 and your poverty will come like a bandit,
and your need like an armed robber.”

One of the most stressful things about retirement is financial planning. You want to be able to enjoy your retirement and do the things you’ve been wanting to do, but you don’t want to outlive your money and end up penniless either.  I suppose it’s all a matter of balance… and faith, of course.

The writer of Proverbs tells us that this is not a new problem. In Pr 23:4-5, the wise man tells us not to work yourself to death since riches are just going to sprout wings and fly away anyway. This pretty much sums up the worries we have about wanting to rest from our labors but still have enough money to live off of. It sure does seem like money can take wing and fly away like the eagle, or in our times, like the Wall Street bear and bull.  You just never know when they are going to take it all away!

On the other hand, the wise man says in Pr 25:33 that you shouldn’t be lazy. “A little sleep, a little slumber.. and your poverty will come like a bandit.” So work is a good thing, just not too much of it. But wise King Solomon does enjoin us to rest in Ecclesiastes:

Ec 4:6 Better is one handful with some restthan two hands full of toil and chasing the wind.

So let us work to get one handful, trusting in the Lord that it will be provision enough, and then rest.  We don’t want to be like the foolish man who chases after the wind to get two hands full, but ends up exhausted and, in the end, just sees all of his riches sprout wings and fly off anyway! As in most things in life, it all boils down to faith and trust.  Do  you really have faith in the Lord and trust Him to provide your daily bread, even when you don’t go out and labor for a paycheck any more? I hope that I have that kind of faith, but if you hear me worrying or complaining, just slap me up side the head and tell me to go read Proverbs. 😉