Did You Put Off Saving For Retirement?

by Shakita 35 Replies latest jw friends

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  herk

  Yes Watchtower you have indeed abused your position and condemned poor people to a miserable lifestyle they could easily have avoided.

  I say amen to that. It's a message worthy of being shouted from the housetops.
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  Shakita

  Hey Number 6,

  You Wrote: We had virtually nothing in the way of luxuries, and to be honest most of the time we lived on the poverty line. Now the reason I complain about this is that whilst I appreciate some people through no fault of their own have difficulty providing for their families; my parents DELIBERATELY stayed in low paid non professional jobs at an age where between them they could have bettered themselves with a view to providing for their family and giving my brothers and I the best possible start in life.

  Thanks for sharing your story. Your situation growing up was very similar to the situation that my wife and I endured because we too bought into the end is coming soon, be content with sustenance and covering slop vomited out of the mouths of the WT. For many years we had next to nothing. My children suffered because I decided to live the 'simple life' so as to promote the kingdom. As the years passed by and the end didn't come I became increasingly upset and embittered. I finally wised up and began a savings program. It was just last year that I found out about the WT's true history.

  I certainly bear responsibility for believing the lies that the WT told. I could have begun a savings program much earlier, but it can't be denied that looking forward to retirement is looked down upon by the WT. If one looked toward the day of ones retirement that was synonymous with a lack of faith in Jehovah. Your parents scrambling to make up the monies that they could have been saving years ago is a very common occurrence. Yet, the rank and file still continues under the spell of the WT.

  Rosemarie,

  You wrote: Hey, I got into trouble once because I was the only person in the congregation who went to an elderly sister's funeral, because I had to take the bus and was five minutes late. How the elders knew this, I don't know, since I was the only JW there....

  The elders have some nerve. Here you made the effort to attend this sister's funeral, being the only JW in attendance and the elders counsel you. Many times I put up with unsolicited counsel. One time I got into an argument with a sister because she was mistreating a member of my family. A couple of days later two elders accosted me at the meeting about this incident. I was caught off guard. It was none of their business. If I had a problem with another person, then that person should have talked it out with me. The elders are putting their noses in where it does not belong.

  Mr. Shakita
• 

  Eric

  Shakita et al,

  Moving thread. Thank you all for your comments here.

  Perhaps now is a good moment to see what the the Society views as an informed use of one's Superannuation or Retirement funds...

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  WESTERN

  SAMOA Population: 140,000

  Peak

  Publishers: 92 Ratio: 1 to 1,522

  A brother with a family of eleven, including an adopted daughter and pioneer living with them, wanted to get all of them overseas to the international assembly in Fiji. Only one source of finance was available. His employers kept a superannuation fund to be withdrawn on retirement or in very exceptional circumstances. Having worked there many years, the brother figured he would have enough in it to get the family to the assembly. Reasoning that integrity and faith in Jehovah will get one through the coming tribulation whether one has money in a fund or not, he resolved to invest his fund toward guaranteeing his family’s future spiritual survival.

  It was not until the week of travel to the assembly that he was able to contact his managing director. Naturally, his director felt as many would. He wondered why a family man would wish to withdraw his only security against the future and chance leaving nothing for them if something happened to him. The brother explained the importance to him and his family as Jehovah’s worshipers of attending the assembly and that this was the only way for them to get to Fiji. His being a respected and trusted employee, his director favorably granted the request and made an unprecedented exception in letting him withdraw his superannuation fund in full. Happy and thankful to Jehovah for this blessing, he went the following day and paid his family’s ship fares to Fiji. The family then joyfully prepared to leave.

  Later that week, however, the brother was informed that the ship was strike-bound in another country and would not be sailing as expected. The only other way out of the country, so as to be at the assembly in time, was by air at greater expense. Suffice it to say that the brother and his family enjoyed the assembly, with no regrets. They know that only spiritual steadfastness, faith and obedience to Jehovah will preserve them. in the future and not transient material possessions.

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  That was from the 1971 Yearbook.

  I wonder if anyone responsible for the writing, printing and publication of this codswollop, this account of a potential family financial tragedy affecting nine children, ever followed up when Armaghedon did not occur in 1975?

  How would that phone call even go?

  Brrring...Brrring >click< "Hello? Brother Example from Western Samoa? Yeah, the one who ditched his hard earned Retirement Fund to get to our assembly just to hear our cornball theories on 'organ transplants = canabalism' and the very, very near end of the world? Right, right... Yeah, we made a ton of money off that. How's it working for you?"

  Eric
• 

  herk

  Eric,

  Thanks for that. What memories it stirs. There were so many experiences like that, but that one is one of the best.

  Herk
• 

  Eric

  A Lovely award, Herk. So richly deserved.

  Eric
• 

  Soledad

  thank goodness I left the WTS when I did. I will be 28 this year but I have an IRA that I contribute to without fail every month. I hope to get a NYC job (even with the layoffs and hiring freezes) soon just so I can take advantage of the good benefits and excellent pension plan!