Christine Benz
The Steward
Legacy, values and the long now, leadership as care and continuity.
Christine Benz is The Steward because she reframes what custody of wealth actually means. Retirement assets, in her telling, are not hoards to protect but resources to deploy with intention across generations. Her advocacy for lifetime giving and permission-based spending treats wealth as something held in trust for living relationships rather than abstract inheritance events. She leads through long-horizon thinking grounded in behavioral empathy and evidence, care made rigorous.
“Your early years of retirement should be the higher spending years because that's usually when people's health is good. You should give yourself permission to spend a little bit more early in retirement.”
“I have come to be a huge evangelist for lifetime giving because when we look at the data on when people inherit money from their parents, they're usually in their fifties or sixties — their financial fortunes are pretty well set by that life stage.”
“I would urge people to think bigger about retirement spending, that it should encompass some of these legacy goals, and you should give yourself permission to give to your loved ones during their lifetimes and during your lifetime.”
Masters in Business: “At The Money: The Right Way to Spend Your Money in Retirement”
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