I will echo @Jason thought that I too don’t view my retirement account as solely to be used on me.

I think it’s good for us to be jostled a bit from our traditional views of money to see what God has in store for us finanically.

I am currently wrestling with a passage from Luke 12, verses 13-34 and am asking myself these same questions.

I like your balanced approach to give as much as you save. I think that’s a pretty good principle to go with. Too many of us go from one extreme to the other.

As a friend reminded me recently: The money saved in a retirement account can be used for kingdom purposes IN RETIREMENT – it doesn’t mean that just because you saved a bunch of money in those accounts that you have to use them for yourself.
.-= Jason @ Redeeming Riches´s last blog ..Are Humans Programmed to Fail Financially? =-.

Personally, I’m not comfortable with the special status of “retirement” money vs. other savings. It’s all savings, and maybe that makes the debate clearer by removing any exaggerated virtue we might attach to retirement. I think God looks at our resources as a total–the segregation is what we add for our own comfort.

The pastor of our church addressed this issue by calling it all “margin”–the extra we have available. Income, savings, retirement, physical assets–they’re all margin. It helps if we remove the dividers before we start assessing the spiritual aspects of money, and only then can we have an honest discussion.

I’ve known people who thought of themselves as “poor” or middle class because they had “no money”–apart from a million dollar house or a $500,000 retirement account. I doubt God sees it quite the way they do.

This really depends on where you’re at financially. A person who’s well off by objective standards probably doesn’t need to worry too much about retirement, he can then give far more to the Church. A poorer person, who could conceivably struggle in old age probably needs to focus more resources on retirement. But again, it’s all savings.
.-= Kevin@OutOfYourRut´s last blog ..Buying vs Renting a Home – Its Not All About Money =-.

It’s not all an either or situation. The best option is to do both as my heart and conscience (informed by the Word) guide me.

I also recognize that a part of what I’m saving for is to be able to continue to give to tomorrow’s needs. In the same way that we work so we can help others, we save so we will be able to help others. I do believe that will only happen tomorrow if I’m doing it already, though.

I have determined that a substantial portion (in my mind) of my small estate will be given to the work of the kingdom, even though it is just giving what is left over after my own needs are met (which I is not the standard I usually follow). Even so, I pray that this will honor God.

Enough rambling.

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