Retirement savings

by TxNVSue2023 47 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Anony Mous

  @Beth Sarum: there are two strata in the WTBTS, you have the true believers and those that simply participate. One has houses, one lives in poverty and most halls I’ve been in it’s really 80/20, 20% has the wealth, 80% doesn’t.

  I definitely know people that have given their entire life, energy and what little money they have for their entire life. Some have gotten lucky to some extent, but many have sacrificed and as retirement nears, the 20% sure won’t help, they use their money to get power, wine and dine the CO into elder positions.
  
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  LongHairGal

  ANONY MOUS:

  Of that 20%, how many are really wealthy?? Or, are they just gainfully employed and live well and look rich.. And not all are kissing up to COs.

  It was my observation that Witnesses are terribly envious and imagine if somebody has a little something - they should throw money around like confetti..to people who never wanted to work no less.

  I was a working woman criticized and shunned for my full-time job. Thankfully, I never listened or I wouldn’t have retired.. Do you imagine I am going to tolerate being targeted to give money to those who didn’t work?? 🤣 I don’t think so.. This is plainly a wrong assumption on the part of too many Witnesses. This isn’t even like 30 years ago when somebody got a bag of groceries for someone until they got back on their feet.. These people who made it to retirement age BROKE aren’t getting back on their feet and will expect handouts for the rest of their lives! This is the proverbial handwriting on the wall.

  This why I’m Glad I left the JW religion decades ago.
• 

  Rivergang

  Back in the day, those who “never bought into the 1975 nonsense” certainly did an excellent job of keeping their views a secret!
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  Beth Sarim

  Anony Mous

  Thats why I get so mad.

  People,,those poor people who got duped.

  To give all they had,,gaslighted then forgotten about. Actually even blamed for reading "too much in to things".

  Then to be forgotten about in their later years.

  I get so mad!!
• 

  Balaamsass2

  My only income in retirement is from ignoring Watchtower. Saving, investing, and buying a home all starting in the 90s.

  In the 70s I hung on the Governing Body's every word i.e. "1975!!!!" Pioneered, Bethel, Pioneer, need greater.... until.... we needed health insurance and rent.

  Got a steady corporate job in the late 80s and my wife number #1 the Pioneer, went to the elders to report my "lack of faith" because I attended night college PT, and she saw my paycheck stub deductions for an IRA, Disability insurance, and a 401k. She got me removed as an MS. She was Pioneering and left me a year later because of my "lack of faith" that the "End was right around the corner". At that time the "Family Book" gave the green light for divorce for "Spiritual endangerment".

  Wife #1 was SHOCKED after she left me that "JEHOVAH and Watchtower DID NOT "provide" and she actually had to eventually get a job in Lui of Pioneering. lol. :) She continued to never save money or get reliable employment believing Watchtower's "Armageddon was "just around the corner". When she got too tired, crazy, and haggard in her late 60s to get another husband or continue working, she became a homeless bag lady sleeping behind Kingdom Halls and begging at Coffee Shops while reading her Watchtower on her tablet with free WIFI. ( A San Diego mental hospital called me last year looking for someone to release this homeless 70-year-old to since her "Worldly family" and local JWs refused to. Exhibit A... The result of BELIEVING Watchtower BS 100%.
• 

  Rivergang

  Balaamsass2,

  Sounds a bit like the Dervishes in the Sudan. Their religious leader assured them that their "faith would render them bulletproof". However, though, if they did get themselves shot, it was all their own fault for "not having enough faith".

  Similarly, the WTS/GB assures its adherents that as long as they "put Jehovah first" then all their material needs will be met. However, if they do experience material hardship, as your ex-wife did, then it is still their own fault for "not being more balanced."

  In other words, if everything goes right then it is a case of "We told you that was going to happen"; but if it all goes wrong, then it is very much as case of "It's your own bloody fault".

  Talk about expecting to have it both ways!
• 

  LongHairGal

  BALAAMSASS2:

  After you felt the cold sting of having no money for rent and insurance you got wise and KNEW you had to get steady employment.. Likewise, I kept my full-time job until Retirement, despite criticism.

  Anybody reading these posts had better realize they need to do this!!! I am sorry to read about your ex and she is a perfect example of how not only does the religion break up marriages with their ‘spiritual endangerment’ (she came out the loser here), but they also will not support anybody!

  Everybody is Out Of Luck if they don’t prepare for their retirement! ..Stop believing nonsense about ‘no need to prepare because the End is coming’..Believe at your own risk!

  JW urban legends need to be debunked. The truth is (1) The Witness religion has NO social programs and (2) the idea that a dwindling number of people are going to be hit up for money to support a bunch of people who never worked is absurd and unsustainable.

  Even if some people were kind once that wouldn’t be enough - because desperate JWs who hit retirement age with next to no SS/investments would expect handouts forever!.. This is a terrible situation and there are too many Witnesses in this predicament!!! ..I’m afraid things will get dire there and they might get very strident in going after JWs who ‘look affluent or responsible’ to give money to these people the religion misled.
• 

  Dagney

  On life choices I’d say it’s prob best to do the opposite of what the WT says.🤣🤣

  Balaam, what a tragic story of her own choosing. Glad you made your own way and have the lovely 3rdgen.

  I sort of felt all along this paradise thing wasn’t going to happen. But, I didn’t buckle down till later to save for retirement. It’s was dumb but I have a fair amount as I did the max for a number of years that I can breathe. Honestly, there are so many at my work that don’t take advantage of the 401K, without the cult excuse. 🤷‍♀️
• 

  Rivergang

  Further to this, back when I defied my parents and threw my lot in with the JWs, my father did warn me that, if I ever got into any trouble, the only people who would help me would be the family - whom I had spurned.

  Bloody hell, but was he right on the money!

  This includes, too, that Jehovah character whom we were told to trust in. He (or she/they/it or whatever) was always very conspicuous by his absence when a person was down to the bones of their backside!

  
  
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  WokenfromJWcult

  Back in the 80,s, there were so many getting on the bandwagon of multi level marketing scams that the WT had to warn against it in their assembly talks. I recall Avon, Amway, Mary Kay, Herballife, Shaklee, Tuperware, Primerica, Phone cards, and Del Dotto no money down real estate books and tapes. It was almost weekly someone would try to get you into their scheme. I fell for a couple of these but quickly saw there was no money to be made, more likely money to loose.