cjcagle The mid-term elections are nearing, and the next presidential election is only two years away. There’s already a significant uptick in the super-charged rhetoric from both sides of the increasingly polarized political spectrum. I’ve never directly written about politics or the culture wars; I’ve preferred to instead think about how they impact economics and personal … Read more
I have written about the significant changes in the U.S. and the world economies and how they might impact our retirement portfolios. These changes are not all bad (for example, many people think it’s good that the Fed wants to take a more passive role in controlling the U.S. economy—after a round of quantitative tightening, … Read more
I have friends who are thinking about retirement. Each has their reasons, but I imagine they may be wondering, “is this a good time to retire?”. Some might think, ”anytime is a good time to retire (if I can)!” Others may be unsure. In reality, it’s not a question that can be easily answered—certainly not … Read more
Most of my posts focus almost exclusively on retirement stewardship and planning issues but with a holistic approach (time, talents, treasure, and testimony). I have also written a two-part series about the stewardship of paper and digital assets. Part one addressed device, password, and file management, and how to keep all these things safe and … Read more
Off the bat, I want to make clear I’m talking about the word ‘guru’ here, not the cartoon character ”Gru,” villain and master of the Minions. However, one might say that Gru is a guru to the Minions. (What can I say, I have grandchildren.) On more than one occasion, a friend or acquaintance has … Read more
Quite a while back, I published a series of four articles about care in later life. In articles three and four, I touched on various insurance products you can purchase to cover long-term care (LTC) expenses: traditional LTC insurance (LTCI), cash value life insurance (whole or universal life), and annuities. I didn’t explore another category … Read more
I recently read this quote by Tim Challies: “We please God—we thrill God—when we live as ordinary people in ordinary lives who use our ordinary circumstances to proclaim and live out an extraordinary gospel.” It’s from an article Tim wrote in 2015 titled “Ordinary Christian Work.” The article was a Christian view of vocation, but … Read more
I recently received another one: an invitation in the mail to a “free dinner and retirement discussion.” It seems like I’ve been averaging one every few weeks or so. (My wife also receives one every once in a while. So does somebody named “Current Resident” who apparently lives with me who I don’t know.) I’m … Read more
Some months ago, I received an email from a reader who was considering a particular mutual fund investment and had this question: I was looking at the holdings of a particular mutual fund and noticed a few gaming (i.e., casino games/gambling) companies in the holdings. What are your thoughts on that as believers? It is … Read more
