poverty & saving
If I were to be single and lived at the poverty line for the remainder of my life, why would I save for the future?
Poverty Level Income: $11,490 [1]
Social Security benefit (after age 65): $8,652 [2]
Social Security income:$7,104 [3]
Total Income upon retirement: $15,756
When one thinks about personal finance, avoiding debt, investing in retirement, how does any of this matter to someone who is living paycheck to paycheck? It cannot be easy to have a far or high view of the future. What would Kingdom finance look like? Is it not at least what Social Security provides to the least of us?
But Jesus said, “… you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then … taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. … And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
Matthew 14:16-20
Sources:
[1] https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2013/01/24/2013-01422/annual-update-of-the-hhs-poverty-guidelines
[2] https://www.socialsecurity.gov/ssi/text-benefits-ussi.htm
[3] https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/quickcalc/index.html
Note: this is all calculated for a single person in 2015 dollars. Probably have some grand assumptions as well.