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Not completely informed on the subject, but what little I can find... The Church has a retirement plan for employees on top of the 401K they can contribute to. I believe this applies to full-time employees and I am uncertain if all temple staff positions qualify. I think it depends on what they are coded. It sounds like the retirement is 8% on top of whatever their 401K contributions they have made. Like many other organizations today, it is more dependent on employee donations to their retirement funds. The retirement funds I think are currently handled by DMBA. Their contact from their pdf and website is The pamphlet on retirements... Dmba Retiree General Information PDF

She’s an aunt, and not a blood aunt, but someone I consider family nonetheless. I can’t speak to how good of a steward she’s been with her resources, but I can say she’s put others’ needs first ahead of her own. So maybe a good steward in the eyes of the Lord, and a poor steward under the man-made money game.

Agreed! Which is exactly why I believe a "real" playoff must include every undefeated team before a national champion can be declared for college sports. The Traveler

Oh my. It's been 20 years since I paid attention, but last time I checked, nobody went into a paying job with the church because they were seeking all of the lucrative benefits. 20 yrs ago, church pay scale was like bottom quarter. Your grandma really lived to 75 without ever giving any thought about retirement? I find that hard to believe. But if it's true, it might be time for a family meeting to figure out how to take care of her, since she never seemed to give taking care of herself a second's thought...

The church has the best ever retirement plan - but, unfortunately the bulk of it will not be paid out until we retire from mortality. The Traveler

When I was in high school taking seminary I had a teacher that touched on this topic with not so much of a different twist but different view of living our lives. The seminary teacher was talking about dating. Especially towards guys it was suggested that before our date (picking up our date) that we retire to our bedroom in prayer and there share our plan for the date and what we intended to accomplish. That we should not leave anything out. For example if we planned to kiss the girl that we should discuss this with our Father in Heaven and seek his help and assistance to accomplish our goal(s). Then when our date was over we should retire to the privacy of our bed room and report on how things went and give thanks to G-d for what we accomplished and learned. I though this sounded quite logical and something I ought to employ. What I quickly discovered about dating is often my plan was out of step with my Father in Heaven and what I ought to do. The reporting afterwards opened a landscape of learning - both of things I ought to have planned and done as well as things I planned and attempted to do that was unproductive or counter productive. What I learned from my experiences is that every morning as I get up and before I start my day that I have a morning prayer and go over the things I plan and need to do and seek my Father in Heaven's approval. Then each night before I get in bed to sleep - I report on how things went and what I learned or accomplished. Much time is also spent in thanking my Father of his help and blessings throughout the day - including preventing me from doing things that would have been counter productive. Besides my morning and evening prayers - I will also include this prayer of planning and reporting with many other things of importance or challenge. For example if I have to deal with something or someone concerning events that have gone very wrong and I believe require correction or attention - I employ this cycle of planning and reporting in prayer. I have come to the conclusion that planning turns out much better when I realize that I will report to G-d how thing turned out. I have come to believe that this is a type and shadow of the final judgment - that things I left out of expressing in the planning phase because it was inappropriate (thinking I can have such unpresented to G-d) become very apparent (often embarrassing) when I reported later on how thing went. The Traveler

Last night at a family party my sister was talking about her "Creation Journal." What she does is write down how she wants the following day to go, how she wants to "create" her day. She then acts on that plan. She said she was amazed at how often her plans come together in creating what she had envisioned. Apart from the obvious benefits that come from planning effectively it made me ponder on the potential spiritual effects of planning with the thought of creating. This reminded me of a talk by Pres Uchtdorf from some years ago. Here are some of the excerpts: The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before... Creation brings deep satisfaction and fulfillment. We develop ourselves and others when we take unorganized matter into our hands and mold it into something of beauty... To what end were we created? We were created with the express purpose and potential of experiencing a fulness of joy. Our birthright—and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth—is to seek and experience eternal happiness. One of the ways we find this is by creating things... Creation means bringing into existence something that did not exist before—colorful gardens, harmonious homes, family memories, flowing laughter... The more you trust and rely upon the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create. That is your opportunity in this life and your destiny in the life to come... As you take the normal opportunities of your daily life and create something of beauty and helpfulness, you improve not only the world around you but also the world within you. I have often wondered about the amount of time we spend in the temple learning about THE Creation. Obviously it has significant meaning in the plan of salvation. But when we consider our potential destiny as creators ourselves it makes me wonder if there aren't additional lessons we are supposed to learn and apply right here and now in preparation for that future. I know from personal experience that knowledge is power, specifically spiritual knowledge. For example, I am more apt to make better choices in what I eat when I consider it from the perspective of following the word of wisdom than simply what nutritionists might say, even if it the same advice. This makes me think I ought to develop a more creation oriented perspective in making plans, setting goals and just an overall approach to life. That might give me an added boost to accomplish the things I set out to do and help prioritize where I spend my time and energy. Any thoughts?

Yes. Is she eligible? Maybe. She needs to contact Human Resources to get that information. Have her check into the medical benefits post retirement as well.

There is always a spiritual creation before a physical creation. I am a firm believer that we create our own reality by the things we tell ourselves and the things we choose to believe.

I think what your sister is doing is awesome, and I think it is very similar to the Self-Reliance "Goals." I don't know if you have every gone through the Self-Reliance course but this reminds me of what your sister is doing. Use Time Wisely.

I have not had a negligent discharge in my life with a firearm despite spending many numerous hours shooting. The reason for this I attribute to the over 90 hours of professional firearm courses I took on pistol and long gun training. If you are going to own firearms learn how to use them safely. (A good one or two day course will generally teach you the basics. But you need to refresh yourself if you have not handled a loaded firearm for over six months.) Firearm accidents are rarely "accidents." A firearm accident is when the gun malfunctions, such as going full automatic with a single pull of the trigger or the firearm exploding or discharging without the trigger being pulled. 99% of firearm accidents are because of negligence/ bad behavior.

I care not whose "responsibility" it is. I was taught to check every firearm I'm handed and have instilled the same in my children. I can think of very few times, mostly military related, where I didn't check a firearm immediately after assuming possession of it.

ANYONE handling a firearm is responsible to handle it safely. That includes press checking it to see if it is loaded.

My wife was issued her first Temple/Living Ordinance Recommend today. I'll tell her to keep it with her license.

Now I am confused - I have always thought that in Utah - if your are pulled over for whatever, that a temple recommend was next to required. Now I am not sure why I have thought it important to always have my temple recommend with me - especially in Utah????? The Traveler

She. The armorer is a woman. There is actually a lot of heat going right now because of this, with people asking if she was hired because she was a woman.