He hung up the phone, it was HR, it was his turn to meet with the ‘retirement plan’ specialist. While it wasn’t mandatory, the many emails, memos and reminders provided by HR led him to realize that not attending his appropriated time may perhaps be frowned upon by higher ups.
So he begrudgingly walked to the main conference room thinking only of the deadline looming later that afternoon and if he really was ‘old enough’ to be worrying about his retirement.
He entered the conference room and was met with an overly friendly and hyper agent who directed him to a seat in front of piles of paperwork.
An hour and a half later, he found himself back at his desk, now very close to his work deadline, and feeling completely overwhelmed.
Having an unclear recollection of what had transpired, he had been told that his ‘retirement’ account was a 401K and at only 3% of his earnings toward it, he would eventually accrue enough to retire with. He just had to pick stocks from a list that had been provided. A list where nothing seemed remotely familiar, but hey, he got to choose up to 10!
Had he really just signed up for this? He started to ask himself all types of questions. What stocks did he choose? How would he know if they ever yielded any profit, or were any good? And 3%? Hardly seemed sufficient (even over time) to provide him with a sufficient amount of earnings to retire on?
Who had control of his 401K? The rep he just met with? His company? Did he have control, and if so, did he really have any say?
Retirement with a 401K? A ‘Grim’ Financial Future
If you have ever worked for a corporate company, more than likely you have had a similar experience. Under the guise that a 401K is the best type of retirement plan, often employers will handle all of the preliminary work in order to get as many employees to join as possible.
In recent years employees have been given a strong ‘nudge’ toward using a 401K as their retirement vehicle and more companies are automatically enrolling their employees in 401K’s (npr.org). It is one thing to acquiesce to something ill-informed; it is a completely different matter to be added to something without your approval.
Yet this is often the way employers handle 401K enrollment. Perhaps it has something to do with employer contributions to the 401K plan being tied to company profits and other corporate goals.
The push of corporate America to adhere to the 401K ‘gods’ may also have something to do with the fact that the overhead and administrative costs of the 401K plan (along with any employer matched contributions made) are tax-deductible expenses.
Companies tend to begin the rate of employee contribution at 3%, and may even automatically raise that percentage for you.
If you find any of this overwhelming, frustrating, inappropriate or even maddening – the good news is that there is a better way to secure that your retirement does not end up ‘kicking the oxygen habit’ well before you do.
Revive Your Retirement with Whole Life
A successful and financially sound retirement plan involves key factors in order to ensure that you have enough money once it comes time to retire.
- Sufficient death benefit amount
- No risk or volatility
- Control
- Interest earning
- Cash Value
Incorporating the benefits of a Whole Life Insurance policy as your long-term retirement plan provides you with all of the above, while simultaneously allowing you to manage and access the cash value of the policy during your lifetime.
There are no penalties to pulling the cash value of your Whole Life policy before you retire. There are penalties and many rules when it comes to pulling any money from your 401K.
A Whole Life policy is not subject to the stock market. Therefore the money in your whole life policy is not at risk nor is it dependent on the volatility of the ever changing stock market.
You and only you are in control of how your Whole Life policy, its cash value, and benefits are managed. Quite a difference when compared to the way a 401K retirement plan is structured.
If you are tired of not having control over your retirement, if you have decided you want more – then take back your financial life and revive your retirement with Whole Life.
Read: Infinite Banking 101
Watch: Webinar: Getting Ready to Retire at Any Age
Listen: Overcoming Emotional Investing
