How Much Should I Contribute To My 401(k)? - YouTube

Contribute the minimum to get matched and invest  the rest in a Rich Man's Roth. In this episode,  

I'm going to address the question, "How  much should I contribute to my 401K?"  

I wish I had a nickel for every  time I've been asked that question.  

And I wish I could just say, "Nothing." People go,  "What?" Okay. Well, maybe up to your match but no  

more because I'm going to show you  a far superior vehicle than a 401K  

to put your hard-earned serious cash  into so you will not outlive your money.

Many people when they work for their employer,  the employer may offer a company 401K. Now,  

that means oft times, that you can put in pre-tax  dollars into that account. And you can choose a  

percent of your income up to a certain percent  or dollar amount. But no more. Because a 401K,  

like an IRA is a qualified plan. They also would  include 457s, 403Bs, tax-sheltered annuities.  

So, they're qualified with who? The government,  okay? Uncle Sam is your partner. Now, let me  

use this scenario because I've never been  a fan of 401Ks. In fact, in 2017, the Wall  

Street Journal had an article... I think it was  the first or second day of January that said,  

"The Original Champions Of The 401K Lament  The Day They Ever Came Up With That Idea."  

Why? Because they got out of hand. People  started putting too much money it became the  

popular retirement plan. And if your  money is in a 401K in the market,  

Wall Street was never built to create predictable  income. Wall Street was built to build money  

if you invest and you're okay and you're  lucky. But not to create predictable income.  

If you ask an asset manager to show you a  predictable income stream, they can't do it. Or if  

they do, it's only 4% because the average retiree  is only earning 3.5%. That is a true statistic.  

So, they don't want you to pull out any more than  4% because they don't want to be sued for you out  

living your money. So, I've never owned a 401K.  I've never owned an IRA. I've never owned a Roth,  

never will. Because my favorite vehicle, you're  going to learn here is what I call the Laser Fund  

which is far superior for many reasons. But when  we talk about a 401K, a lot of employers will have  

matching. So, that means that if you put in  a dollar, they'll match 50 cents on that.  

So, a lot of companies may match a 50%  up to the first 6%. So, if you contribute  

six percent of your income, they'll match 3% on  top of that. So, you have 9%. And people think,  

"Whoa! I'm getting a 50% return." No, you're  not. You started out with 50% more. You're  

getting whatever rate of return you're going  to get and oftentimes it's pretty pathetic.  

Sometimes less than 1%. But let's do the math. If  you put in a dollar and you get a 50 cent match,  

not bad. You got a buck 50. If you were  immediately vested, meaning you could pull it out,  

you pull out $1.50 and you have to pay 50 cents  a third of that in tax. So, an employer match is  

okay. They're covering your future tax liability  because you're going to be taxed on that money  

when you retire. I would say no more contributions  than what you're being matched on. You wouldn't  

believe how many people put in far more than the  company match. I go, "Why are you doing that?"  

They go, "Well, where else should I put it?" Hence  this episode is about how much should I contribute  

to my 401K?" Well, no more than you're being  matched at the max. Anything over and above that,  

you want to put into a private retirement account.  What's that? This is your own account? I would  

prefer the Laser Fund because it accumulates your  money tax-free. It has the 2 benefits of a Roth,  

it accumulates tax-free, you can take it out  tax-free. And for additional benefits that Roths  

will never have. And I'm going to invite you  at the end of this episode to claim a free copy  

of my most recent best-selling book, The  Laser Fund, it's a 300-page book. In fact,  

if what I've said so far is resonating with  you and you know somebody who is also wondering  

"How much should I contribute to my 401K? Should  I even contribute to a 401K?" Share this video,  

okay? And search on this YouTube channel because  I have a lot of various educational videos  

that hit this topic head on. But let's talk  about the 4 additional benefits of a Laser Fund,  

my favorite vehicle. See, where I put my serious  cash, I can put in as much as I want. I can design  

it to accommodate 30,000; 50,000; 100,000 a  year. 300,000. You can't do that with a Roth.  

So, if you make too much money, you  can't own a Roth. This is why many savvy  

CPAs and tax attorneys call my Laser  Fund the Rich Man's Roth. I snicker  

because you don't have to be rich to have a Laser  Fund. I set up Laser Funds when my kids were born  

for 25 bucks a month. You can set up a laser fund  for $500 a month. But you can put in 100,000 if  

you want. You can put in $300,000 if you have a  banner year. Let's say you could put in 300,000  

but you don't. You only put in 30,000. You  have 270,000 of room that you didn't use.  

If you have a Roth, if you don't use the little  bit of room you have every year, you lose that.  

With the Laser Fund, I can put in that  270,000 anytime I want in the future. I don't  

lose the room. The next advantage. With the Laser  Fund, I have full liquidity. Let's say I put in  

$300,000. And 30 days later, I need 250,000 for  a business opportunity, an emergency, I got laid  

off. Whatever it is. I can access that money with  an electronic funds transfer or a phone call.  

You can't do that with a Roth. If you touch money  in Roth in the first 5 years or before age 59 and  

a half, there's a penalty. It's not liquid. You  can't access the money. I can put money in, I can  

access the money. There's no IRS penalties. When  you read my book that I'm going to gift you here,  

you're going to learn about a strategy called  indexing. Now, indexing is a strategy where  

you are able to maintain liquidity,  safety, and unpredictable rates of return  

and participate when the market the economy is  going up without any risk because your money is  

not invested in the market. Did you hear that?  So, when the market goes down, you don't lose. I  

have averaged between 7 to 10 percent tax-free  returns for 40 years in my Laser Fund. Now,  

what is it? It's a maximum funded tax advantage  insurance contract. But before you go "What? I've  

never seen an insurance contract do that." Well  then you haven't seen one designed correctly.  

This is where you take the least amount of  insurance the IRS will let you get away with  

under certain laws in the internal revenue code.  And you put in the most money that the IRS allows  

as fast as they allow and it turns into a tax-free  cash cow. This is where savvy people will put  

money. And you can put in 300,000, you can put in  500 bucks a month. You can design it however you  

want. But there's none of these strings attached  and it's called the Rich Man's Roth because  

your money accumulates tax-free. You can access  it tax-free. But I can put in big amounts. I can  

withdraw money. I don't have to wait until I'm  59 and a half. But I can use indexing where the  

market goes up, I benefit. When the market goes  down, I do not lose one red cent. The last big  

benefit of a Laser Fund, when I ultimately die,  it blossoms. It increases in value and transfers  

income tax-free. There's not a Roth around  that will do this. If I died in an accident,  

every million dollars I would have in my portfolio  of laser funds (I have many, okay?) would blossom  

right now to about 2 and a half million and  transfer income tax-free to my wife or to my kids  

or to my church or charity, the boy scouts or the  red cross. I don't care. Whoever I want to leave  

it to. There's not a Roth around that will do  that. And people say, "How much does that cost?"  

Well, nothing is free. But it doesn't cost me  anything. It's being paid for automatically with a  

minuscule portion of money that would otherwise go  out the window in unnecessary tax on a traditional  

IRA, 401k or a Roth. So, when people say, "How  much should I contribute to uh my 401K?" I go,  

"Well, do you want me to be honest or gentle?"  And they go, "Honest." I said, "I wouldn't  

contribute a dime." But that's me. But don't put  in any more than you're being matched. Put your  

money over here and something that's far superior  into what CPAs call the Rich Man's Roth. And  

you'll see how beneficial it is. I'm going to show  you how you can read and learn more about why this  

is the dream solution a godsend for people who are  worried about outliving their money in retirement.  

Because you will stay ahead of inflation. It  eliminates the dangers of taxes because it's  

tax-free. Inflation because inflation helps you  instead of hinders you. Inflation you actually  

link your returns to the things that inflate.  You're able to participate with indexing in the  

market but not lose when it goes down. And  at the end of the day, when you pass away,  

it blossoms and transfers to your heirs. So, it  knocks the socks off of these other traditional  

savings accounts. And do you know that many savvy  business owners when they finally learn this,  

they do away with the company's 401K. We have  a company right now with over 100,000 employees  

that are getting rid of the 401K in the company.  And they're going to offer laser funds for all  

of their employees. People go, "Whoa!" But if  your employer does not know about this yet,  

share this video but if they do not offer  it because they're so concerned about  

following the herd. "Well, how come everybody  isn't doing this? How come we just don't have  

a regular 401K?" Then most companies say,  "Okay." But smart people, business owners,  

they put a lot of their money in the Laser  Fund for them. Not in the company's 401K.  

So, if this is intriguing you, you know, I've  written 11 books. They're back here on this  

shelf. But my most recent best-selling  book is titled the laser fund. And again,  

LASER means liquid asset safely earning returns.  In this book, I talk about the laser-ready test.  

Any investment including 401Ks in the market, not  in the market, banks, credit unions, municipal  

bonds. I don't care what you're talking about.  You can see how they score with liquidity safety  

rate of return and tax benefits. My favorite  that I call the laser fund is called that because  

it passes those 4 tests with flying colors. So,  this is actually 2 books in 1. And I want to gift  

you a free copy. I'll show you how to claim your  free copy. But this side, the white side is for  

left brain thinkers. It's about 200 pages, 14  chapters with all kinds of charts and graphs  

and explanations. But if you learn more by stories  and examples, you flip it over and read this book.  

This one is a hundred pages or so 12 chapters  with 62 chicken soup for the financial soul  

stories. And you'll see why the laser fund is the  dream solution for goals not only like retirement  

and why it knocks the socks off of a 401K or an  IRA. But also for college funding, real estate  

management, business working capital, emergency  funds, lump sums. You name it. This is my go-to  

place to have serious cash accumulate a great  rate of return tax-free. It's like a financial  

swiss army knife. It has all of these uses in  one account. And you're going to see why I own  

several. My wife does, our kids own several. And  it is by far the most dynamic financial instrument  

for your brighter future. So, go to laserfund.com.  contribute a nominal amount towards the shipping  

and handling and i'll cover the rest of that cost.  And I'll by the book for you. And there's options  

there to listen and learn watch and learn.  Subscribe to this channel and look at some  

of the other educational videos that are related  to retirement and you will be blown away. The more  

you watch, the more you listen and learn, the  more you will feel empowered and have knowledge  

so that you can become financially independent  the smartest way and not outlive your money.