Ever wonder why most people don’t become wealthy?
As a financial strategist and tax minimization specialist for more than 45 years, I’m focused on helping people improve their finances (and their lives). I feel blessed to have authored 12 bestselling books. My third book even became a “New York Times” and “Wall Street Journal” number one best seller. I’m about to share with you some of the life-changing points I included in that book, “The Last Chance Millionaire”.
When it comes to achieving wealth, the challenge is, many people find themselves in what I call financial captivity. These are the folks who would be lucky after 40 years of working and saving to have even $100,000 set aside for retirement income. They struggle to harness the three marvels of wealth:
- Compound interest
- Tax-free accumulation
- Safe, positive leverage
Now they usually get trapped because they’re following traditional financial planning advice, focused only on putting money into traditional accounts like IRAs and 401ks. Their money is at risk, because those types of financial vehicles are invested in the market, and when the market’s volatile, their accounts are subject to loss.
That’s not how you become wealthy folks.
By contrast, there’s a much smaller group of Americans who have tremendous financial freedom. They understand the three marvels of wealth accumulation, and they use them over and over to generate wealth.
They may have $1 million or more set aside, earning interest, ready to support them during retirement. They aren’t afraid about the future because they are using financial vehicles that can generate tax-free income for the long-haul–they can live to even age 120 without outliving their money.
So what is the difference between captivity and freedom?
In “Last Chance Millionaire,” I share a graphic that illustrates how most Americans fall into the masses in the bell curve. I use that bell curve to illustrate the five stages of wealth:
- Strivers – People striving to learn true principles but not sure how to apply them to achieve an abundant life
- Arrivers – People who are finally arriving at financial independence by applying principles of conserving rather than consuming, living on less than they earn
- Thrivers – People who learn how to repeat the process of wealth creation, and thus their money begins to earn more than they do—they create multiple streams of income
- Survivors – People who stop doing what made their family successful; they just want to coast; they stop creating value and hunker down hoping not to outlive their money
- Divers – People who have adopted an entitlement mentality and a scarcity mindset; they live out of fear and despair as their financial wealth dissipates and disappears
The masses that are in financial captivity? Those are the Strivers. They’re always striving to figure out how to save money, but frankly, they consume, consume, consume–and then they borrow to consume more.
When people are in the Striver zone, they struggle, always having too much month left at the end of their money. They don’t know how to live on less than what they earn. Until they get past these hurdles, they’ll be stuck as Strivers and never achieve financial independence.
The Arrivers have learned the three marvels of compound interest, tax-favored accumulation, and safe, positive leverage. They’re keeping their serious money liquid and safe, rather than tied up in assets that are vulnerable to the whims of the economy.
Now the Thrivers take those financial principles even farther. They don’t see wise decisions as a one-off. They repeat sound strategies over and over again. If they are successful with a rental property, they begin to acquire multiple rental properties. If they open a properly structured, maximum-funded Indexed Universal Life policy (what I call a LASER Fund), they open another, and another, to put their money to work, safely generating multiple streams of tax-free income.
But there’s caution to be had. Arrivers and Thrivers can become Survivors if they’re not careful. Survivors are those who want to hunker down and hope they don’t outlive their money. If they haven’t prepared well enough, when taxes and inflation cause their spending power to go down, they are at risk of becoming Divers (folks who live in a scarcity mindset during their final years).
As a side note on Survivors and Divers, understandably some of their perceived risk is tied to how things have shifted over time. When Social Security was introduced, the average life expectancy was shorter. People were only expected to live about seven years past the age of retirement. Now, however, people are often living 20 or 25 years past retirement. That’s why the Social Security program is incurring hundreds of trillions in debt, because the government didn’t count on having to keep paying for people who live that long. It’s a train wreck waiting to happen. Why rely on Social Security when you can secure your own future?
My goal is to help Arrivers progress by teaching them how to become Strivers, and ultimately, Thrivers. I also want to prevent Thrivers from slipping into a Survivor mentality or worse, spiral into the Diver zone.
That’s exactly why I’ve written 12 books. And it’s why my latest book, “The LASER Fund”, is free (with just the cost of shipping and handling). In the book, you’ll learn why one of my favorite financial vehicles is The LASER Fund.
You’ll delve deep to understand how properly structured, max-funded IUL policies can help you accumulate, access, and transfer your money tax-free. You’ll see how LASER Funds protected our clients from losing any money in their policies due to market volatility during what I call The Lost Decade (when millions of Americans lost 40% of their retirement vehicle values twice, from 2000 to 2010). You’ll also see why our clients were able to lock in huge gains during the COVID-19 pandemic (from March 2020 to March 2021).
The LASER Fund is like a dream solution for many financial goals. You can use the death benefit to transfer your wealth to your heirs income-tax-free. But you can also use The LASER Fund for living benefits. You can borrow money from your policy (income-tax-free and penalty-free) for everything from real estate investments to emergency funds to education for your children and grandchildren. It knocks the socks off traditional accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s, 529 college savings plans, and more. I invite you to take a look, learn more, and understand how you can leverage LASER Funds to live in the Thriver zone.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Watch the Video – Watch the related YouTube video to see me explain “Why Don’t Most People Become Wealthy?” (and while you’re there, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss a thing!).
Elevate Your Financial Dimension – Find out how you can improve your Financial Dimension journey and seize the liquidity, safety, predictable rates of return, and tax advantages of a LASER Fund. Explore the in-depth financial strategies and learn from real-life client experiences by claiming your free copy of “The LASER Fund” book at LASERFund.com. Just pay for shipping and handling, and we will send it to you, absolutely free.
Join a Webinar – Want to find out if a LASER Fund (a maximum-funded, properly structured indexed universal life insurance policy) is right for you? Join us for an upcoming webinar where you can explore these strategies.
