How the Tithe robs you of your retirement
Posted on August 27th, 2008 by Belteshazzar into the Uncategorized category"Will a man rob God?"
This quote from Malachi is often used to back up the practice of the tithe. It's a blatant guilt tactic to keep people tithing as the passage talks about blessings from God if you tithe and cursing if you don't. We've argued many times over and over again that we as Believers no longer live under OT law, so the blessings and cursing don't apply. But this myth of tithing and promised prosperity has a direct consequence upon the financial well-being of those who still practice it.
Let us assume you have a 401k plan or a similar retirement fund. (You don't? Get one!) Let us also assume you make a modest $40,000 a year, for the sake of argument, and that you're not very ambitious and your salary doesn't go up at all until retirement. Obviously, this is pretty lame, but it makes the numbers easier to work with. Let us now imagine that you take 10% of your income and faithfully deposit that sum into your 401k, from the age of 25 until you retire at 65. That $4,000 a year, through the miracle of compound interest at a modest 7%, becomes a whopping $854,438.28! (If that isn't enough to motivate you to start saving for retirement NOW, I don't know what will.) An interesting thing about compound interest, is that the sooner you start saving the bigger your earnings. If Peter started contributing 10% to his 401k at age 25 and then quit contributing at age 35, he would still earn $450,146.10. If Paul started contributing 10% to his 401k at age 35 until he was 65 he would only have $404,292.17.OK, so that's your financial lesson for the day.
So, if you were to instead put 10% of your income into tithing, how much money would you have for retirement? Well, unless the church (or God?) is going to write you a check when you turn 65, you get nothing. Zip. Bupkiss. Nada. All those promises about not being able to out-give God? Explain that to your grandfather who is living on Social Security after tithing his entire life. Who is going to pay his gas bill this winter? Never mind actually enjoying his retirement.
"But, Belteshazzar," you say, "why can't you save 10% and tithe 10% as well?" Fair question! It seems like it doesn't have to be either/or, but should it? If you were actually frugal enough to live on 80% of your modest $40k a year, good for you! But, if you had put all 20% in your 401k, you'd have a retirement savings of $1.7 million! Not only is that a lot of money, you could afford to give even more money to the church than if you had tithed it. How you ask? First off, you'd be able to "tithe" 10% of your savings to the tune of $170,000. That's $10k more than you could have given if you faithfully gave $4k a year. Plus, with the remaining funds in a 5%CD, you earn interest of $76,500 a year. 10% of that is 7,650 a year, almost twice of what you were tithing in the original way of thinking. Imagine if a church had a group of retirees who consistently gave from their rather fat retirement accounts, who were also able to enjoy their retirement? A church board could not ask for a more stable financial plan. Imagine if you had a modest size church where you had 10 retirees, including one "new" retiree per year, that's a revenue of almost $250k a year, which is a good start on a budget for a small church. The kicker is, no one in the church has to be poor to do it.
So, the next time you hear, "Give to God first" and "give until it hurts" and "sacrifice", ask yourself, "What am I giving up?" If you and your family aren't your first priority, then it's time to reexamine your priorities. If a church is encouraging or even demanding that tithing come first in your finances, then they are abusing your trust and potentially robbing you and the church of real financial prosperity. Tithing the poor in your church just keeps them and the church poor in the long run.
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"
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