Can you get by on $40,000 a year? Or would $80,000 a year be better? In this episode,
I'm going to address the question, "Can I retire with 1 million dollars at age 55?" Yes. You can do
it on less than that or more than that, it depends upon the lifestyle you want. So, in this episode
get ready I'm going to give you some insights into things that most people don't think about.
So, my name's Doug Andrew. And I've been a retirement planning specialist for more than 46
years. I've been blessed to have authored 11 books so far. And most of them have been bestsellers,
one in New York Times, Wall Street Journal number one bestseller in 2007. It was addressed to the
baby boomers who were about to retire. So, I've helped many, many people understand how they
can retire on a million dollars and generate $80,000 to a $100,000 a year of cash flow or
income without depleting the principal. But that isn't what most Americans are earning on their
retirement accounts like IRAs and 401ks in the market. So, I'm going to explain to you what most
Americans earn and how I can help them double, even triple the net spendable income that they'll
have if they optimize their assets and minimize the taxes and make sure their retirement strategy
eliminates the dangers or is immune from taxes, inflation and market volatility. So, first of all,
simply put, when people ask, "Can I retire on a million dollars at age 55?" Well, sure. Depends
on how much money you want or that you need to live on. If you can get by on $20,000 or $30,000
a year, then yeah. You can retire with a million dollars if your money is where most Americans have
their money at retirement and it's pretty pathetic because where do most people have their money?
In tax-deferred, yet to be taxed IRAs and 401ks in the market. Most people that would come to me,
they would be way too top-heavy in that bucket, yet to be taxed IRAs, 401ks invested in the
market. The market was not designed to give you predictable income because the market goes
up and down and up and down. In fact, people, financial advisors who have your money invested
in the market, they're usually forbidden from illustrating any more than 4% because the average
retiree only really earns about 3 and a half percent on their money in IRAs and 401ks in the
market. Because through all the ups and downs, they're not just buying and holding. When the
market starts nose-diving 30% and 40%, they panic and they sell low. And then they wait, wait, wait
until they buy high. And so, Dalbar says, "The average retiree is only earning 3.49%." So,
they only want you to take out 4% which will slowly deplete your nest egg but hopefully
not before you die. That means a million dollars would only generate $40,000 a year of income. Now,
some people say, "I think I can get by on $40,000. Wait a minute, for golf green fees, prescriptions,
haircuts, for gas? Yeah, I think I get by on 40." Well, you're not going to net 40. "What do you
mean?" If you pull out $40,000 out of an IRA or 401k, you have to pay tax on that. Between federal
and state taxes --41 out of 50 states has a state income tax, most Americans pay about a third.
Let's just carve it down to 25%. What's 25 percent of $40,000? $10,000. So, you have to pay $10,000
in tax. You only have $30,000 leftover to buy gas and groceries. "Maybe if I really tighten my belt,
we can get by on 30 000." That's only$ 2,500 a month. Well wait a minute, what about the fees
they're charging you on that million dollars? If you really wanna calculate your net, most of
these asset managers, you're charging 1%. 1% on the million is another 10 grand. So, if you are
pulling out 4%, you're really only netting 2%. But let's let's forget about the fees just for
a moment and say that you net $30,000. Now, folks, for years I have had my money in what
I call the LASER Fund. LASER is an acronym that stands for Liquid Asset Safely Earning Returns.
I'm going to gift you a free copy of that book if you would like at the end of this episode
so stay tuned here. The LASER Fund eliminates the dangers of taxes because it doesn't matter
what taxes go to. Because the LASER Fund is tax-free. It's been a sacred tax-free cash cow
in the Internal Revenue Code for over a century, okay? I've also earned rates of return averaging
6, 8, 10 percent. Now, I've actually averaged a little over 10% in my lifetime, during the last 25
years, 10.07%. For the 46 years that I've been a financial advisor, I've averaged about 8.2%.
A LASER Fund is a maximum-funded indexed insurance contract where you take the least
amount of insurance the IRS will let you get away with and you put in the most money the IRS allows
as fast as they allow. And that's where many, many years, if I earn 11%, I net 10%. if I earn 8%,
I net 7%. Some years, I've earned 16% and netted 15%. Some years I've made 25% and netted 24%.
But if I average 8%, what's 8% on a million? We've had thousands of clients who on every
million dollars in their nest egg they were able to pull out $80,000 a year of tax-free
income without depleting principal. So, let me ask you, "How much more is $80,000 (tax-free) than
$40,000 out of money in IRAs and 401ks in the market? It's another $40,000. It's double, it's
100% more income. It's $80,000 versus $40,000. But wait a minute, we didn't subtract taxes.
So, with taxes and even the fees, you're not netting 40%, you're netting 30%.
Many times I've earned 9% (9.6%), let's just say 9%. How much more is ninety grand versus
$30,000 after tax out of an IRA, 401k? It's 300% more money, it's 3 times as much. So,
the answer to the question, "Can you retire with a million bucks at age 55?" Sure, we've had many,
many clients do that. We've had actually many clients retire with 5 million, with 10 million
but the calculation is I show them how they can retire with more like a 6% payout is a no-brainer.
8% is common. Many can get a 10% payout a million, can generate a $100,000 whereas
if you leave your money in IRAs or 401ks in the market, you're only supposed to calculate 4%
and then deduct the taxes off of that. Does that make sense? So, let's connect the dots. What are
the key takeaways? The answer to the question, "Can you retire on a million dollars at age 55?"
Sure, but how much income do you want? If you can get by on $20,000 or $30,000, then yeah, you could
leave it in the market in IRAs or 401ks. But that's all you better expect. What happens when
inflation doubles the cost of living every 7 to 10 years? And all of a sudden you need more like
$60,000 to buy the same gallons of gas and loaves of bread that you were buying for $30,000 just 7
years earlier. So, I like to keep my money into a vehicle that is tax-free so I'm immune from taxes.
But inflation, that if inflation goes up, I sort of come along for the ride because I'm investing,
I'm linking my returns to the things that inflate. But I'm also immune from market volatility because
in the LASER Fund, your money is not at risk in the market. It is safely tucked in the institution
and it's able to be linked to the market where if the market goes up you can benefit but when
the market goes down you don't lose because your money is not invested in the market. I know this
is a lot to take in. And so, if this has intrigued you, I want to gift you a copy of my 11th book
(it's been flying out of our warehouse). This is called the LASER Fund. It's actually 2 books in 1.
This book is 200 pages, 14 chapters --all kinds of charts and graphs. If you learn by stories,
you flip it over to this book. This is about 100 pages, 12 chapters with 62 actual client stories.
This is 300 pages total. Don't pay $20 retail --I mean, "Thank you if you do." But you can claim
your free copy if you go to laserfund.com. LASER, L-A-S-E-R fund dot com. If you contribute $5.95
towards the shipping and handling, i'll cover the rest of that expense and I will pay for the book.
I want to empower you. And then I want you to type in comments and questions below and also search
other YouTube videos about this topic and others that are related. And you will be blown away with
all kinds of educational insights that I provide on this three-dimensional wealth channel.