172: Risky Retirement

August 10, 2026
00:00 35:56
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FEATURING: Susan Schramm

ORGANIZATION: Go to Market Impact; Fast Track Your Big Idea! Navigate Risk, Move People to Action and Avoid your Strategy Going Off Course

What if the greatest risk in retirement isn't running out of money, but running away from the purpose God still has for you?

In this thought-provoking conversation, business strategist and author of Fast Track Your Big Idea! Susan Schramm challenges the belief that retirement is a time to play it safe. Instead, she explains that every season of life – including retirement – requires faith, courage, and a willingness to trust God with the unknown. While wise financial planning matters, Susan argues that many retirees face even greater risks: losing their identity after leaving a career, overcommitting to every opportunity, or avoiding God's next calling because it feels uncertain.

Whether you're considering retirement, already enjoying your next chapter, or wondering what God has for you now, this episode will encourage you to embrace thoughtful, faith-filled risks that lead to lasting Kingdom impact.

In this episode, you'll hear:

  • Why retirement is another season of purpose, not a reason to stop taking faithful risks
  • The difference between reckless decisions and wise, God-honoring risk-taking
  • Why the greatest risks in retirement often have nothing to do with finances
  • How fear of failure can keep you from God's next assignment
  • Why your identity must be rooted in Christ, not your career or title
  • Practical wisdom for discerning which opportunities God is calling you to pursue
  • How to use your experience, wisdom, and influence to serve others in this season
  • Why avoiding change may be riskier than stepping into God's next chapter

God never calls His people to simply coast through the final chapters of life. If you still have breath, He still has purpose for you. Listen as Susan Schramm offers practical wisdom and Biblical encouragement for navigating risk with confidence, stewarding your experience well, and stepping boldly into whatever God has planned next.

Join Susan, Jim, and Martha this week at the Nehemiah Business Summit 2026 – three days of Kingdom business events like you’ve never experienced before.

Enjoyed this episode? Help iRetire4Him show more retirees that God still isn’t finished working in and through them. Support us for $5/month at iwork4him.com/iretire4him-donate

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Meet Your Host
Although Jim is not yet at retirement age, he and his wife Martha lived twenty years residing in 55+ communities in Florida. Their experience has highlighted the harsh reality of retirement in the United States, showing the discontent that can come when people lack purpose in their later years. Surrounded by parents in their nineties and friends in their sixties, seventies, and eighties, Jim and Martha find motivation in observing those who live out their faith in retirement, while also witnessing the frustration of those who do not.

Jim has been hosting the iRetire4Him Podcast for nearly five years, has spoken at conferences, and has co-authored the book iRetire4Him: Unlock God’s Purpose for Your Retirement, with his father-in-law. Although he currently Works4Him, he looks forward to Retiring4Him one day!
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