Abstract
New ventures are excellent avenues for realizing insights into several matters in life. Persons should be ready to adapt to new situations so that they can live meaningful lives. Just like companies, people should take advantage of opportunities that can be fruitful in the future. The scriptures support approaches to investing and saving for retirement. Upon retiring, an individual can invest in commercial or ministry ventures or both. This report highlights the option of investing in a theological college, which to achieve both commercial and ministry objectives. However, before a retire starts the venture, he or she should conduct due diligence, cost-benefit analysis, and register with the relevant bodies.
Introduction
As an individual enters a new sector, he or she realizes that are critical matters worth considering. This realization requires the ability to adapt to new demands. In addition, resources are needed to support current operations as well as leadership skills to handle new challenges in life. Just like people, business enterprises face new challenges in their operations, and their failure or success is determined by how they handle emerging issues.
While a firm can invest massively in innovation, another one can opt to optimize its current state (Perumal & Wilson, 2017). Research has shown that the most successful companies around the world adopt four strategies in their operations (Perumal & Wilson, 2017). First, they create room through continuous assessment of their portfolio and market trends. Second, they focus more on their clients than on assets. In this context, it is important to note that customers help businesses to expand. If the clientele base grows, then there is a high likelihood of a corresponding increase in the number of assets. Third, successful firms rethink their business definitions since they underpin strategies. Notably, a business definition helps companies to respond to trends as well as reduce the trauma that is associated with changes (Guillen & Garcia-Canal, 2017) strategically. Fourth, successful executive teams give innovations room to flourish.
Perumal and Wilson (2017) state that entrepreneurs create this room since they do not attempt to avoid the stigma associated with failure but are focused on making their ventures thrive. This report discusses what the scriptures say about retirement and the fresh commercial or ministry investment opportunities that the retiree can consider. Moreover, it describes how this individual might pursue new initiatives.
What Scriptures Say About Retirement
Although the scriptures do not describe investment options for people, it stresses the importance of planning for the future (Culbertson, 2018). One of the most explicit verses on the issue of retirement says that a righteous man gives his children his inheritance while the wealth of a wicked individual is saved for the good people (Proverbs 13:22 NIV). In this context, one can argue that God cherishes those who value their loved ones by being good to them and leaving them an inheritance.
If a person dies, his children cannot enjoy his time and presence. However, they can enjoy a financial legacy left by their father. The scriptures use ants to demonstrate the benefits of saving for the future. The Bible talks about a wise and hardworking ant that collects food during the harvest period and offers the supplies during hard times (Proverbs 6:6-8 NIV). Ants understand that it is difficult to gather food in the winter; thus, they collect it beforehand to cater for the future. Just like ants in the Bible, Christians should plan for the future by saving their money to use it later. It is not a wise idea to start saving when one is just about to retire.
In other words, an individual should start investing and saving as early as possible. The Bible also handles retirement and diversification. One of the wealthiest men in the Old Testament was King Solomon, who was also the wisest person to have ever lived. In his book (Ecclesiastes), he talks about diversification. He says that people should diversify their investments for the future since they do not know the kind of disaster that may occur.
However, regardless of where an individual invests and the amount of money saved for the future, God is always in control as He reassures humans of having good plans for them (Jeremiah 29:11NIV). Thus, God has good thoughts toward his men and women on whether they can live their retirement dreams or are forced to adjust their expectations due to harsh economic times.
Opportunities
Upon retiring, a person can have many opportunities to invest in ministry or commercial ventures. However, the number of these opportunities is greatly influenced by the extent to which an individual interacts with other people or is updated on current happenings both locally and across national borders (Perumal & Wilson, 2017). Some commercial opportunities might be starting educational institutions, a catering firm, or investing in stocks and mutual funds. One can also choose to venture into ministry opportunities like founding an NGO to support orphans and vulnerable persons in society.
How to Go About both Commercial and Ministry Initiatives
There is a high number of successful entrepreneurs who run commercial enterprises and ministries at the same time. However, people should know that they have to maintain a balance between their pastoral and business ventures. One of the best ways is to combine both undertakings and run them as a single entity (Guillen & Garcia-Canal, 2017). For example, an individual can start an educational institution like a college to train theologists. By doing so, this entrepreneur will achieve two objectives at the same time, which are profiting from the enterprise and spreading the word of God (Culbertson, 2018).
For him or her to be successful, he or she should take a few key steps. First, he or she should identify the need to establish a business/ministry institution. Notably, this would require the investor to identify a gap in society. For example, if there are few trained pastors in a community, then one can think of starting a theological college. Second, he or she should do a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether the venture would be profitable both in the short and long run. Third, the investor should register the institution with the relevant authorities and hire the required employees. Fourth, the organization should be advised to use various platforms and admit students.
Finally, the entrepreneur should continuously monitor the college’s performance and assess if he or she is getting profits and achieving pastoral goals (Culbertson, 2018; Perumal & Wilson, 2017). If monitoring processes establish that the organization does not achieve the anticipated objectives, then strategic changes can be adopted to ensure that performance outcomes are exemplary.
Conclusion
It is important for a person to think about his or her future by saving or investing in ventures that would bring good returns. Scriptures support the issue of planning for an individual’s retirement. Overall, the Bible says that the righteous are guided by God to have a good future while the wicked would have troubling experiences in their retirement. Several opportunities exist for retirees to invest both in the business sector and ministry. A theological college is an example that can be used to achieve both business and pastoral goals. It is essential for an investor to strategically analyze a venture to assess its benefits and associated costs.
References
Culbertson, R. (2018). Christ changing lives: Digging deeper into the practice of disciple investing (Vol. 2). New York, NY: Wipf and Stock Publishers.
Guillen, M., & Garcia-Canal, E. (2012). Emerging markets rule: Growth strategies of the new global giants. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
Perumal, A. & Wilson, S. (2017). Build, dismantle, repeat. In A. Perumal & S. Wilson (Eds.), Growth in the age of complexity: Steering your company to innovation, productivity, and profits in the new era of competition (pp. 569-587). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Professional.