Eric Chetwood- "Retire to the Fullest"

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This is the Truth Network. Many people retire with a lot of money but very few of them have financial peace of mind. That quote is from a man named Eric Shetwood who I have known for many many years. We might not want to tell people how many years I've known you Eric because you were my student at one time many many moons ago and now you're my teacher because I have learned so much from this amazing book. Congratulations on retire to the fullest. What's it like to have this book come out to actually be holding a copy? Steve, it's really surreal.

This is something that I started a project I started about three years ago and the impetus for that was you know even though I've been helping people with their money for 20 years I felt like I was just making rich people richer and I wanted to make sure that I was putting something together to care for clients comprehensively to care for them in every way that money impacts them and money impacts people financially it impacts people emotionally it impacts people relationally and it impacts people spiritually and so to help our clients and help readers have health in all of those areas was really important to me it's been really rewarding. I love it now set the stage because people are hearing some interesting ambiance music in the background. Tell everyone where we are this is a classic joint in my humble opinion really good things happen at barbecue joints.

Tell everyone where this place is and what they do here. Yeah so we're at picnic barbecue in Durham, North Carolina and they have I would say the best the best barbecue in the triangle. It's really really good. Well it is good. Baller Nation did you like your brisket? He's with us along for the ride here one of our truth warriors. What do you think?

Best brisket in town. All right he's very happy but here we are talking and it's really uplifting and it's so encouraging to see this book what a beautiful book we'll put a picture of this up on our website and make sure everyone knows to get it retired to the fullest. I mean so much buzz out there about markets about money about retiring I mean we've got the baby boomers aren't babies anymore and you know you've got you've got to deal with these issues. You had a pretty significant life issue yourself medically where you're if you're okay talking about you're confronted with your own mortality how did that color your perspective on finances on the brevity of life and the importance of looking higher and looking to Christ? Yeah absolutely so a couple years ago I had a cancer scare was diagnosed with stage four testicular cancer and it was a really scary time and that the reminder the keen reminder that our life is but a vapor and that none of us are promised tomorrow and so in writing this book I share a little bit about that story and share how my cancer helped me really come to Jesus and what that looked like and you know Jesus himself talks about what does it what does it profit someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit their soul so the first part of the book is about how to be wise and healthy from a financial standpoint the second part of the book is about behavioral investing we've seen a lot of drama turmoil in the markets recently with bank failures and things like that that's exactly why I wrote chapter five about risk and chapter six about behavioral investing and then chapter seven is about rejecting our false identity and making sure that we're leaning into the fact that we are not what we do we were created for so much more than that chapter eight is around relational health with money and that is around estate planning how do I make sure that I care for my wife and kids in the event that I'm not here how do I make sure that my instructions are clear with them and then chapter nine I bring it home with what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul so if you come to this book hoping to just get richer you will find at the very end chapter that money does not satisfy fame does not satisfy success pleasure religion do not satisfy the only person who will satisfy us is Jesus I love that and I love the title of chapter nine we all worship something so that's so true and so many folks that worship money that are so parsimonious and so maybe miserly and non-generous there's going to be a day of reckoning but there's just going to be just so much emptiness and you've dealt with some pretty high net worth folks eric what do you say to that in terms of where that goes you know to you know the end of that particular disposition yeah we believe a couple different principles we believe that capital equals influence and so we can leverage our capital god's capital in order to see flourishing here on the earth and to see people redeemed and reconciled to the savior uh the other thing that we believe about money is that um uh it is temporal it is very temporal and I love randy alcorn's analogy of confederate dollars how if you were a southern if you were a northerner living in the confederate south and you had amassed all of these confederate dollars and you knew the end of the war was imminent and you knew the north was going to win what would be the smartest thing to do with your confederate dollars you would take those and exchange them for us dollars because pretty soon that's the only currency that's going to have any value and so when we think about our earthly treasures as being confederate dollars and we think about you know don't set our mind on things below where moth and rust destroy but uh set our minds on things above where there are eternal treasures and as randy says you can't take it with you but you can send it on ahead so having that eternal perspective has everything to do with having a healthy relationship with money i love it the book is retire to the fullest i love the subtitle which is actually above the title four dimensions of financial peace of mind nine chapters the author is eric chetwood i'm actually with him at picnic barbecue of all places we're having a picnic but it's barbecue and it's delicious you can hear the music and some good food and it's either doing an interview after lunch or taking a long siesta right a power nap eric tell us a little bit about how god's used money financial this is your life this is your livelihood you've helped manage large portfolios how is it a tool for the gospel how is it a means as opposed to the end of itself and even this book maybe you could put it in the hand of someone and i'm thinking about our listeners and they can buy a copy to give to that person that does not want to talk about christ does not want to talk about god don't bring up religion don't bring up any of that stuff but they will go with you toe-to-toe head-to-head with money and markets and investing and hedge funds and all that all day long how is this all a big tool talk about that will you yeah so i believe that when we're sharing the gospel when we are giving a defense for the hope that we have one of the important things i think uh it's more effective when we earn the right to be heard and so if i am giving away knowledge that clients pay you know thousands of dollars to receive if i'm giving that away to people that i'm earning the right to be heard to say the spiritual component the spiritual dimension is just as important um to you having a healthy relationship with money and then i introduced them to the fact that jesus um has come to give them life and give him life to the fullest and that everything that they're think they're searching for is not going to satisfy them but he will and stew one of the other things that i'm really excited about is we've partnered with public libraries so we have an audiobook version uh you can get it amazon barnes and oval all that good stuff um but there's an audiobook version that's available on audible but it's also available through public libraries for free so people can listen to it uh some libraries partner with the hoopla app for their audiobooks some libraries partner with the libby app um but either of those clients will be able to i'm sorry listeners will be able to listen to it for free if they can if they can tolerate my raspy southern draw they'll be able to listen to it for free i agree eric shetwood wonderful and it just talks a little bit about you here in in the sleeve of the book two-time cancer survivor eric and his wife allison are raising their two sons noah and james great bible names in durham north carolina grateful for our wonderful truth network affiliate here 105.5 fm grateful eric to you for writing this book and taking some time to visit with us retire to the fullest and how appropriate that you have a piggy bank picture on the front and we're in a barbecue joint i mean is is is the lord not putting some things together here that's right it's it's wonderful um my five-year-old has nicknamed the pig on the front cover wilbur after charlotte's web so that's pretty good too awesome wilbur has money coming in them because he's a little piggy bank but you know this is very encouraging i really gleaned from this book not just the spiritual principles of investing and of how it's not ours we're stewards we're not owners but the practical stuff when you're thinking about retirement like you know you brought up issues of tax issues of you know and investing in things that are kingdom worthy and being generous with your money and so many people listening are very generous and we're grateful for all of our wonderful partners and sponsors and supporters and affiliates that uh are brave enough to carry the program truth talk and eric i'm grateful for you for this contribution best way for folks to get this book real quick yeah they can find more information at retire to the fullest dot com or they can buy it wherever they buy books amazon barnesandnoble.com the audiobook is on audible and hoopla and libby we've got a paperback a hardback an e-book and an audiobook wow i like that retire to the fullest eric chatwood and your number one takeaway people give this book what do you want to happen as we wrap up out of here yeah i want them to have comprehensive peace of mind that is not just financial not just emotional not just relational but all of those things along with having spiritual health as it relates to money this is the truth network