Strategies for Planning Your Retirement

When do you plan to retire?

Notice I didn’t ask, “When do you hope to retire?”

According to financial planner Chris Hogan, retirement is a function of our finances, not our age. And good financial strategies are all about telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.

Chris helps people learn how to do that by boosting their “Retirement IQ” with these three questions:

How much money do you want to live on per month?
How many more years until you plan to retire?
How much do you have in savings right now?

The answers to those questions will tell you how much of a nest egg you need based on the monthly amount you want to live on in retirement. Your answers will also tell you how much you need to invest right now to reach that number.

Retirement for Christians is about pursuing God’s dreams for you after you transition away from your primary career. It’s about the freedom to serve others through mission trips, by starting your own business, or by creating margin in your life.

God can open doors, and He can close doors, but we can participate with Him in that process with our financial choices.

Chris Hogan is a popular speaker on personal finance and retirement. He works with the Dave Ramsey team in Nashville, Tennessee. He’ll be our guest today and tomorrow on our radio broadcast, “Making Healthy Financial Choices for Life.”

Whether you’re in your 20s or even in your 60s, Chris will share practical ideas that will help take control of your finances, particularly with regard to retirement. He’ll offer suggestions for couples who need to get on the same page with one another, and he’ll help alleviate some of the fear you might have about creating a budget.

Chris says, “You have to plug into a source stronger than you – and that’s our Lord and Savior – but then you have to work a plan that actually works.”

We’ll be talking with Chris about concepts from his book, “Retire Inspired: How Debt Can Keep Us From Those Dreams.”

You can hear the program on your local radio station, online, or on our free phone app. And don’t forget to check our online store for all kinds of other helpful digital and print resources pertaining to marriage, parenting, faith, and life challenges.