From the category archives:

401(k)

31 FLAVORS to Create an Abundant Retirement

July 25, 2010

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, July 27th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern).

The topic is “True Asset Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Investors Losing Confidence in Traditional Investments

Investors are getting tired of the slow gains for a few years only to have those gains, along with original principal, be lost rapidly.

In 2008, most people lost 31 percent from their IRA and 401(k) and are still not back to what they had in as their initial principal.

Investors are getting fed up with the same traditional advice of investing in IRAs and 401(k)s, to postpone taxes and to have to deal with market volatility for the long-term gain.

According to a new survey from Prince & Associates, 81 percent of investors with $1 million or more in investable assets plan to take money away from their current advisor. An even larger number, 86%, plan to tell other investors to avoid their advisor.

Only 2% plan to recommend their firm to other investors. That’s of critical importance, because wealthy investors often get investment advice from each other.

Deferring taxes to a later date as taxes continue to rise, lacking liquidity, and placing the rate of return for a retirement nest egg in variable products are only three of the major problems with these traditional investments.

How Can You Gain Confidence and Prepare for an Abundant Retirement?

The first step to gaining confidence is to avoid falling into the investment traps that so many others are facing by deciding not to use the same investment advice that they are.

Why would you defer taxes knowing that the trend is that taxes are rising? Why you would place your retirement hopes into a volatile market and hope to time the market correctly?

By learning the 31 FLAVORS of Missed Fortune, you can:

Choose tax-free investments instead of tax-deferred ones
Have liquidity so that you can access your money when you would like to
Enjoy safety of your principal where you can lock in gains using indexing.

FLAVORS stands for “fortunes lost amidst valid optimization and reallocation strategies.” Implementing 2 or 3 of the 31 can generate $70-80 thousand dollars a year for retirement that is tax free and will continue to be replenished year after year no matter what is happening in the market.

The 31 FLAVORS can show you key points in the different financial aspects of your life that can allow you to sleep comfortably at night knowing that you are not gambling with your retirement. They include:

6 FLAVORS regarding choosing the wrong investments for retirement
6 FLAVORS about your home and real estate
3 FLAVORS on proper tax planning and avoiding unnecessary taxes
7 FLAVORS on asset management
5 FLAVORS regarding risk management
2 FLAVORS about credit and debt management
2 FLAVORS on estate planning

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor and learn how to implement these 31 FLAVORS and guarantee yourself an abundant retirement.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders

The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg.

Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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Avoid 10 Key Mistakes To Ensure A Fruitful Retirement

July 18, 2010

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, July 20th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern).

The topic is “True Asset Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Are You Prepared for the Problem of Long Life?

Many thoughts of long lives and long retirements are of vacation trips, no debt, and plenty of disposable cash on hand to be able to give to your children, grandchildren, favorite charity.

Sadly, for most Americans these remain only thoughts as growing percentage of Americans are outliving the money they have set aside for retirement.

They literally cannot afford a long life. Instead, they become financially depend on others.

It seems absurd that after working an average of 40 years in the richest nation in the world that only a very small percentage of people can afford a long retirement, but that is the reality.

The reasoning is simple. It is because 95 percent of people are investing the same way and making the same mistakes.

The IRA and the 401(k) are the most popular retirement strategies in the U.S. With these strategies people are hoping to grow their investments and postpone taxes until they fall into a lower tax bracket because they are earning less.

This concept is riddled with problems. Most notable is that hopes of being in a lower tax bracket will not be realized because even though there is less income, there are often less deductions as well.

That, mixed with the fact that congress is continually raising taxes, means if anything people should expect higher taxes.

Other people follow the financial advice that paying off all debt will create financial independence.

These strategies implore people to send extra principle payments into their mortgage companies to alleviate themselves of any debt.

This strategy has caused many people to ultimately lose their homes because they lacked liquidity so when the economy dropped they couldn’t even afford to make the scheduled payments.

How Can You Protect Yourself & Afford a Long Retirement?

In order to protect against the common mistakes people are making in retirement planner, it is first necessary to know what these mistakes are.

There are ten mistakes I detail in my e-book, Baby Boomer Blunders, which are as follows:

Short-term investments being used for long-term goals.
Thinking that you will only live, therefore need to budget, for 15-20 years of retirement.
Believing that paying off your home will give you peace of mind.
Believing that $100,000 to $400,000 will be enough of a nest egg to fund your retirement.
Thinking that you will be in a lower tax bracket when you retire.
Believing that deferring taxes on retirement funds saves you on your taxes.
Thinking IRAs and 401(k)s are the best way to fund your retirement.
Reaching retirement age and not drawing out retirement funds from IRAs and 401(k)s because you don’t need the money, instead of doing a strategic rollout.
Viewing retirement as a time when you can do all of the things you always wanted to.
Thinking retirement is the time to coast instead of keeping a purpose.

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisorand learn to avoid the baby boomer blunders and be introduced to the empowering 31 F.L.A.V.O.R.S. of missed fortune.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders

The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg.

Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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Prevent Obama’s Increasing Debts from Bursting your Nest Egg

July 11, 2010

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, July 13th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern).

The topic is “True Asset Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Government Confusion Has Led to Gambling Plan

Is our nation’s best hope for an economic recovery left to officials who will continue increasing our debt at an alarming rate?

Nile Gardiner voices his alarm at this question in “America is sinking under Obama’s towering debt”:

“I hope the White House is paying attention to the latest annual Congressional Budget Office Long-Term Budget Outlook, which offers a truly frightening picture of the scale of America’s national debt, with huge implications for the country’s future prosperity. According to the non-partisan CBO, “the federal government has been recording the largest budget deficits, as a share of the economy, since the end of World War II…

“As a result of those deficits, the amount of federal debt held by the public has surged. At the end of 2008, that debt equaled 40 percent of the nation’s annual economic output (as measured by gross domestic product, or GDP), a little above the 40 year average of 36 percent. Since then, large budget deficits have caused debt held by the public to shoot upward; the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that federal debt will reach 62 percent of GDP by the end of this year—the highest percentage since shortly after World War II.”

In the last year the debt has risen from about $11.7 trillion to $14 trillion. And with the baby boomers coming up on retirement needing social security, Medicare and Medicaid, this number should be expected to soar.

As a result about a quarter of the population believes that the economic stimulus package has created jobs. In fact according to a recent Rasmussen report, over 40 percent of the population believes that the economy is now in a worse position as a result of the implementation of this plan.

Social security seems to use the same plan that Bernie Madoff used causing him to go to jail. It simply takes the money from the newer members and uses it to pay off the benefits promised to older members.

The only difference is this “robbing Peter to pay Paul” plan is considered legitimate since is falls under government control.

At this point it seems that the government is confused and policy makers have decided to bet that the private sector can make for some of the stimulus over the next few years.

If they are right they can get a head start on trying to close the budget deficits, but if this gamble is wrong they may set off a vicious new cycle in which drastic spending cuts could greatly weaken the world economy.

How to Protect Yourself?

We can no longer expect the government to fix everything. Those in a position to promote growth should do so.

It is time for individuals to take ownership of their future, health-care needs and retirements and create their own stimulus plan.

In “Create Your Own Economic Stimulus Plan — Save Yourself Because Big Government Can’t” six points are addressed teaching the ways to create economic growth for yourself no matter what schemes the government is trying to ‘fix’ the economy.

The following are the initial three points of this plan that can lead you toward financial growth no matter what is going on in the world economy.

1. Learn how increasing your credit score from 680 to 720 can increase your monthly income by $700 a month.

2. Learn to use $150,000 of equity in your house to create an additional $2.3 million in your retirement.

3. Forget 401(k) and IRA plans and learn to earn, grow and upon death even transfer money tax free.

Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor to gain a greater understanding of these points and learn to avoid being a pawn in the governments stimulus gamble.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders

The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg.

Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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Don’t Lose the Financial War

June 20, 2010

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, June 22nd at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern).

The topic is “True Asset Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Tax-Payers Versus Tax-Eaters

Many Americans grasp at the hope of a 401(k) taking care of them in their retirement years.

Even after taking huge hits over the last 5 years where most people still don’t have now what they had in 2006, 89 percent of Americans continue to pay into these systems. Why?

Dan Sullivan wrote in the spring edition of The Global Thinker:

“All entrepreneurs today are in a war, whether they realize it or not. They are in the crosshairs of an enemy who wants to make their businesses less successful and less profitable. The war can be stated quite simply, it is between the tax generators and the tax eaters. It is between those who are productive in society and those who live off of others productivity.”

This is important to understand. Taxes are being used less and less for the public good. Instead, they are financing the lives of people who are not giving anything back.

Tax-Eaters want to increase government spending, increase permanent entitlement programs, and increase the number of permanent government jobs.

Understand that the creation of every one of these new jobs is an attack.

Currently 55 percent of people are Tax-Payers. 45 percent are Tax-Eaters — people taking more in social benefits than they pay in.

Over the next 4-8 years there should be a shift over at least 10 percent, increasing the Tax-Eaters in our society.

Why is all of this an issue?

Government Promises are Shaky Ground

This will have dire consequences for all the hard-working people planning their retirements based on the promises of others.

For example, consider the shell game being played in New York. The New York Times writes:

“Pension costs for the state and municipalities are soaring as a result of enhanced retirement benefits for public employees and the decline in the stock market of the past 2 years. Again, given the declines in tax revenues and larger budget short falls, the governments are struggling to come up with the money to make the contributions.”

If cities and states and even corporations continue to borrow money from retirement pools to pay retirement benefits to the beneficiaries, at some point the well is going to dry up.

It is time to take your retirement into your own hands.

Learn to Protect Yourself

Learn to safeguard yourself against the ups and downs of the market. Too many people tolerate market volatility. They suffer from the “that’s just the way it works” mentality.

That is only the way it works if you let it work that way.

You have worked and continue to work hard. You should have the peace of mind knowing that in your retirement years that nest egg will be there for you.

Learn to understand that when the economy goes down you don’t lose and when it goes up you make money. And that money you make can be in a tax-free environment.

Learn the index lock-in and reset strategies and shift your thinking away from trying to time the market.

Over a five-year period you should have a 50 percent increase in your retirement savings. If this isn’t the case, if you are down or barely even, this may not be the effective strategy that so many have been sold on.

Meet with a Missed Fortune strategist to learn how you can win the financial war.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders

The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg.

Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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Finding the Light During this Economic Midnight

June 8, 2010

While signs the economy is rebounding continue to shoot up like flares in the night, for too many Americans, it’s still economic midnight.

Families continue to face short sales or foreclosure; those far from retirement continue to dip into 401(k)s and IRA(s) despite early withdrawal penalties; and unemployment continues to paralyze American workers.

A recent New York Times article showed that even though America is seeing an increase in hiring, the unemployment rate isn’t necessarily dropping.

Now many of them [the unemployed] are beginning to look for work again, encouraged by four consecutive months of job growth and reports of a strengthening economy.

But the initial return to the labor force may prove dispiriting, since so many people are already chasing too few jobs.

Because the government does not count people as unemployed unless they say they are actively searching for work, many discouraged people have been hiding in the shadows.

Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, estimates about 2.4 million “missing workers” either left the labor force or did not enter it in the last 28 months. That is on top of the 15.3 million people who are officially counted as unemployed.

What can be done to survive hard times?

While circumstances may take a while to change, at least we, personally, can start making changes immediately.

To begin with, we can learn from our mistakes.

As millions of Americans have seen, these times teach us to borrow to conserve, not to consume. How many people have fallen into credit trouble because when times were good, they used credit to buy furniture, cars, ATVs, boats…things they did not need but they wanted?

And millions of Americans have learned that saving for retirement means more than investing money in 401(k)s, IRA(s), stocks or other vehicles that are vulnerable to economic downturns.

Retirement savings vehicles like maximum-funded, tax-advantaged insurance contracts can provide liquidity, safety AND rate of return – which are all equally critical in retirement savings options.

Use these tough times – whether they’ve affected you directly or indirectly – to plan for the future and protect yourself. Find out now how to make wiser choices, and how to obtain True Wealth.

Isn’t It Time You Became Wealthy?®

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Retire the Rotten Repository

June 6, 2010

Podcast: Download (22.9MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, June 8th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern).

The topic is “True Asset Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

401(k)s: A Horrible Way to Save

In October of last year Time magazine published a story entitled “Why It’s Time To Retire the 401(k).” The article reports:

“…the 401(k) is a lousy idea, a financial flop, a rotten repository for our retirement reserves. In the past two years, that has become all too clear. From the end of 2007 to the end of March 2009, the average 401(k) balance fell 31%, according to Fidelity. The accounts have rebounded, along with the rest of the market, but that’s little help for those who retired — or were forced to — during the recession. In a system in which one year’s gains build on the next, the disaster of 2008 will dent retirement savings long after the recession ends.”

401(k)s are poor investments for most people because they expose investors to market volatility. Investors have little control.

Worst of all, with tax deferral all you’re doing is delaying the inevitable taxes, and taxes will not be lower in the future.

It’s a myth that you’ll be in a lower tax bracket when you retire. Even if your income is less, you don’t have the tax deductions you used to have.

The following Fram oil filter television commercial illustrates this concept perfectly:

*If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or email, you may need to click the title of the post to view the video.

Stop delaying the inevitable. Make wise decisions to protect your nest egg from taxes.

Set up a free appointment with a Missed Fortune advisor to learn how you can access investments that offer tax-free growth, tax-free withdrawal, and tax-free transfer to heirs.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders

The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg.

Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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What Will the Government Nationalize Next?

May 9, 2010

Podcast: Download (23.0MB)

This week Doug Andrew discussed the following:

Upcoming Complimentary Webinar

Attend our free 90-minute webinar live over the Internet this coming Tuesday, May 11th at 11:00 a.m. pacific (12:00 p.m. mountain, 1:00 p.m. central, 2:00 p.m. eastern), and again at 6:30 p.m. pacific (7:30 mountain, 8:30 central, 9:30 eastern).

The topic is “True Asset Optimization: How to Choose the Right Investments.” You’ll learn how to maintain liquidity and guarantee safety of principal while earning a healthy, tax-free rate of return that outpaces inflation.

Register now by calling 1-888-76-Radio (888-767-2346). If operators are busy, please call again.

All attendees receive a bonus hardcover copy of Last Chance Millionaire, Doug Andrew’s New York Times best-selling book.

Next Up on the Government’s Nationalization Agenda

A crisis is unfolding with dire consequences, though few Americans are aware.

The harsh reality of national insolvency is forcing the government to look for new sources of revenue.

What’s the most logical source? You guessed it: qualified plans, meaning 401(k)s and IRAs, where Americans have saved more than $13 trillion.

Lee Bellinger, publisher of Independent Living, recently published a report entitled “40l(k)/IRA Nationalization Quietly Moves Forward.” His comments are just common sense:

“As the government’s finances continue to deteriorate, the White House and a powerful network of left-wing think-tanks, Congressional activists, and the highly-influential Ford and Rockefeller Foundations are engineering a new regulatory and tax-incentive drive to herd and ultimately force Americans to convert their 40l(k)s and IRAs into government-directed retirement accounts…

“…the extreme tactics used to ram health care nationalization down the country’s throat are a blueprint for what could be the biggest asset grab in history: the nationalization of private retirement accounts.”

It’s only a matter of time. In March of this year, the New York Times reported:

“This year, [Social Security] will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not expected to cross until at least 2016…”

Business Week reported that new federal regulations designed to “promote the conversion of 401(k) savings and Individual Retirement Accounts into annuities or other steady payment streams” would help drive cash into government-controlled entities such as American International Group (AIG), “the insurer that has received $182.3 billion in government aid.”

Bob Chapman of The International Forecaster explains,

“The looting of retirement plans is still in the planning stage, and you’re seeing these trial balloons go up.”

Bottom line: Major congressional overhaul of retirement plans — to your detriment — is something you should be planning for.

Roll ‘em Out!

In light of this crisis, the wisest, most logical decision for you may be a strategic rollout — to transfer your qualified plan funds into maximum-funded, tax-advantaged life insurance contracts, which provide the following benefits:

Tax-free growth
Tax-free and penalty-free withdrawal
Tax-free transfer to heirs
Guaranteed safety of principal
Healthy returns that outpace inflation

If you think you’ll be in a lower tax bracket when you retire, you need to consider what the government is up to and think again.

Taxes will never be lower than they are today, and your dollars will never be worth more than they are today.

Escape the greedy clutches of government bureaucrats by meeting with a Missed Fortune advisor.

Bonus Missed Fortune E-Book: Baby Boomer Blunders

The average Baby Boomer has less than $50,000 accumulated for retirement (which means many have less than that), primarily due to bad habits and having money invested in the wrong places where economic downturns can diminish their nest egg.

Download this e-book now at www.babyboomerblunders.com.

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A Hard & Shocking Lesson in Taxes

May 6, 2010

Suppose you’ve retired and started withdrawing from your 401(k). You need $75,000 per year to live.

If you withdraw $75,000, you’ll only be able to spend $50,000 if you’re in a 33 percent tax bracket.

But what if you really need the full $75,000? How much more would you need to withdraw from your account?

Watch this video to find out the shocking answer:

*If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or email, you may need to click the title of the post to watch the video on the website.

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IRAs & 401(k)s are NOT Conservative Investments

May 4, 2010

Suppose you were to come to me and ask to borrow $100,000.

Just before endorsing the check you ask, “Doug, when do I need to pay you back? And What interest rate will you charge?”

I tell you I’ll decide when you need to pay me back, and I’ll decide the interest rate when I ask you to pay me back.

Would you endorse that check?

Of course not — yet millions of Americans do it every day. Watch this video to learn how.

*If you’re reading this in an RSS reader or email, you may need to click the title of the post to view the video on the website.

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Why Most People Never Become Wealthy

April 22, 2010

Only the top five percent of Americans arrive at the “Land of Peace and Abundance” where their money and their legacy will endure for generations.

They feel tremendous freedom because they understand how money works and the three secrets to becoming wealthy.

They don’t follow the crowd. They are “Thrivers.”

Their nest egg will easily generate $1 million dollars a year or more in predictable income that will provide for their needs and also allow them to contribute generously to their church, community and other causes they are passionate about.

mfdiagram-240x300 Why Most People Never Become Wealthy The missing structure that provides direction, confidence and capability for Strivers and helps them become Thrivers is revealed in a unique 8-Step process called “The Total Wealth Transformation.”

Through this process, you can learn about the fortunes people miss out on, because they simply don’t know what they don’t know.

Through proactive awareness, education and by taking ownership in your brighter future, you will be empowered to claim your own missed fortune as explained in the Missed Fortune book series, True Asset Optimization educational seminars, and Clarity Retreats.

We extend an invitation to your brighter future.

95 percent of Americans feel trapped and frustrated because they follow the same old, same old, traditional advice such as: “the best way to save for retirement is with IRAs and 401(k)s; or, “the best way to get out of debt is to send extra principal payments against your mortgage.”

These people are lucky if they accumulate a nest egg sufficient to generate $100,000 of annual retirement income that will last as long as they live. Unfortunately, most of these people will outlive their money.

They feel very frustrated and in captivity. These are the “Strivers.”

Ready to become a “Thriver”? Meet with a Missed Fortune advisor today.

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