It is essential to save money for the future.
Being a missionary and getting ready to move to a foreign field takes a lot of effort. It turns life into a flurry of activity. Where once life was regimented, it suddenly becomes a turmoil. It is easy to forget to make a financial plan for the future. The wise missionary will make plans for his families future and stick to it. Many countries of the world where missionaries serve will not allow the missionary to “retire” there. As long as they have a “working” or “visitor” visa, they can stay in the country, but as soon as that visa expires, they are expected to leave. “Living” visas are a little more difficult to get. Most countries don’t allow people to live within it’s borders and are very quick to take action to deport.
Since missionaries live by faith, they are unsure of any regular income. This creates for them a constant pressure on the finances and makes it difficult to save money. It takes a huge amount of finances to live on a foreign field. There is a constant draw to invest in the work that they start there. So it is easy to overlook putting away for the future for the sake of being able to live in the present.
Churches don’t understand when their hard gained resources are put away for the missionaries future and not put directly into the salvation of souls. They look for the number of souls saved to measure a successful investment in a missionary. Thus, missionaries have pressure to ignore their future, but they should not. Most churches will drop supporting a missionary financially when they are not living on the field. So a missionary must look out for his future.
Social Security will only be slightly helpful in a missionaries old age. So there should be investments made in retirement accounts. Missionaries who neglect this will regret it in the future and may even fall into the category of “poor stewardship.” By all means, don’t be ashamed to put away for your future.