Follow Faithfully, Plan Prudently: Reflections on Retirement Planning from Rev. Harry Long

“I went the first decade of my ministry without focusing on retirement.”

Now retired, Pastor Harry Long took time to share about his call to ministry and his decades of faithful pastoral service, offering hard-earned wisdom, including on the subject of retirement.

Long is a second-generation minister. His father, George Long, led Lookout Mountain Presbyterian through its revival in 1975 and entrance into the PCA in 1981. Harry remembers witnessing the issues of Presbyterian history firsthand in his youth and was more focused on where he should serve, and which denomination was most Biblical, rather than on financial planning. He graduated from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and headed for the PCA in 1982.

Rev. Harry Long with Geneva’s President, Rev. Ed Dunnington

Long became the organizing pastor for Sycamore Presbyterian Church in Midlothian, Virginia. In those first years, he was blessed to see a number of adult conversions and new families joining the church. During that fruitful beginning, Long wasn’t thinking about what the end of his working life might involve, which, he says, is how it ought to be.

For Long, that moment came a few years later, when Sycamore was established and began hiring full-time staff. The church’s personnel committee soon realized their planting pastor hadn’t received any employer retirement contributions. The church decided to correct his account retroactively by investing funds into his retirement account for the years he’d led the church without benefits.

Even more important was the advice Long received from a savvy ruling elder at that time. He challenged Long to try to save 10 percent of his own income for retirement, along with what the church had designated. Long began with that 10 percent benchmark and had a portion of his salary withheld for retirement for the rest of his career.

“I’ve told that elder a dozen times since then how much I appreciated him putting that bee in my bonnet,” laughed Long.

Many pastors likely have access to similarly knowledgeable people in their own churches, financially minded friends they can learn from. But it can be difficult to know who exactly to turn to, not to mention the awkwardness that sometimes arises when discussing money specifics with church members.

Geneva offers free, one-on-one consultations with expert financial planning advisors, who can help pastors, ministry staff, and their families plan for retirement based on their specific circumstances and goals. Long called Geneva every three or four years to discuss his portfolio and his progress. Those calls were especially helpful when new questions and unforeseen challenges arose.

And Long had serious questions. He had made small investments in tech stocks through IRAs in the 1990s. They tripled at first, but then collapsed, and he learned not to trust his own instincts. He did not pay enough attention to the market to see warning signs for particular stocks. Diversification, he says, is the name of the game.

“That was plowing the ground for me to listen to good advice from Geneva. I quickly learned that I needed someone to manage the funds who could provide some expert oversight of what I was doing.”

Long is referring to Geneva’s Target Retirement Funds, which are diversified and regularly rebalanced in accordance with the portfolio owner’s expected retirement date. Geneva also offers self-directed accounts and a hybrid option of core funds, which Long also utilized, but target funds are the default for investors with Geneva.

Long summarized the lessons he learned over the years.

As he puts it, “Hang in there. Be faithful and wise, and don’t panic in a down market.”

He repeatedly emphasized that optimistic retirement planning is not prosperity gospel. We’re called to follow God faithfully and even to plan prudently, but God decides the outcome. Long acknowledges that, by God’s grace, his outcome has been a good one.

Hebrews 11:32-38 reminds us that some heroes of faith conquer kingdoms and some are sawn in two. We can plan responsibly and God still allow great hardship. Our goal is faithfulness to Him who is sovereign over every detail. In a rising market, everyone is a genius, but don’t let that make you proud or deceive you into false security. Geneva can help us plan wisely for retirement, but our trust is in God.

One of the most admirable elements of Long’s story is how diligent planning allowed him to retire well when the time came. He believed God was leading him to retire at age 66 to allow his church to call a younger pastor. Two years ahead of time, when he began discussions with his session, he thought he would probably have to find part-time ministry work to sufficiently provide for him and his wife. The principle, “Seek first His kingdom…,” applied as much at the end of his ministry as it had at the beginning, and trust in God was still the measure of faith. As it happened, God provided a good season for the market, and his retirement goal was met the first day of his retirement.

Geneva helps ministry families prepare for the future through a holistic approach.  Besides financial guidance, Geneva offers wellbeing services to help pastors care for their own and their family’s spiritual, mental, and relational health. As Long’s life demonstrates, the goal of a sufficient nest egg is only meaningful insofar as it frees us to love and serve others.

Not every aspect of retirement has been easy. At times, Long and his wife have felt the loss that comes from stepping out of a central role in a community you’ve loved for so long. Long has also had to learn anew the importance of rooting his identity in Christ, and not in what he does for a living.

Still, on the whole, Long’s retirement, like his life in ministry, has been a success. Today he is pastor emeritus in the church he still calls home, a church that continues to thrive under a new generation of leadership. He has served as interim pastor and pulpit supply in churches in his presbytery and as co-chair of the Host Committee for General Assembly in Richmond in 2024. “Stipends are always appreciated and helpful, but it is freeing to be able to respond to needs in the Kingdom without the primary focus on income. I am slowing down, but my prayer has been to be content without being apathetic, willing without being self-promoting, and wise enough to know the difference.”

Long once confided to a friend that “for the first two-thirds of my ministry I didn’t think I could ever retire.” Thanks to God’s providence, Long’s diligent preparation, and the help of Geneva, he not only retired, but retired well.

To take the next step in your retirement planning journey, schedule a consultation with Geneva today.