The American Middle Class — Keepin’ They’re Eye On What Ball?

Posted @ 8:44 pm - Filed under Retirement Income, 401(k)'s & IRA's, Communication, Tax Shelter

This post was recently published as guest post. Thought I’d also publish it here as Sunday reading.

In my opinion, the all time political football in America has been the middle class. They either don’t make enough at work, are taxed too much or too little (too little?), or have disappeared altogether. None of those arguments are what continually keeps my attention. Not even close. Taxes? Middle class families figure things out and manage to survive the idiots in D.C. and their ‘help’ one way or the other. How ’bout college for the kids? Again, they figure it out.

The #1 concern I’ve always had when it comes to the American middle class is what’s waiting for them at retirement.

In my view, the debates over middle class job income, or even their net worth to a certain extent, misses the target for which they should be primarily aiming. What I’m not saying very well is that saving and investing in and of itself is the very reason the vast majority of our middle class is gonna be living out a life sentence instead of enjoying a wonderfully planned retirement. How so?

They’re listening to folks who apparently haven’t gotten the memo on what’s workin’ and what’s not. What are middle class folks being told these days? Slam as much money into the government’s qualified plans for retirement as possible. They sell this easily by hawking the annual tax savings allowed contributors for each dollar they invest in their qualified plans. The only retirement being enhanced in a major way by most qualified retirement plans is Uncle Sam.

Here’s how.

Take a middle class couple contributing to their 401(k)’s from 30-65 years old. Each year they they save anywhere from $3,000-10,000 in state/federal income taxes. In 35 years let’s say they’ve saved a total of $250,000 in taxes. If after 35 years they’re combined plans have reached $2 Million, and they figure a way to obtain a 6% annual return for their retirement income, they’re potentially in trouble. Their house is no doubt free and clear. They have no tax shelter of any consequence.

In reality, they arrive at retirement with at best, $120,000 a year in income. They’ll most likely be liable for the highest income taxes possible. Let’s say they pay about $35,000 in combined state/federal taxes. This means by the time they’ve been retired 14 years, they’ll have paid just short of twice what they ’saved’ in the previous 35 years. And that’s it ’till death.

Please tell me in what scenario does saving $250,000 in taxes for the privilege of paying out twice that amount in less than half the time, make sense. Why not investigate alternatives allowing you to not only create a far more abundant retirement income, but also keep more of that larger income? Why not also do this while building tax sheltered and tax free income?

Indeed, why not?

Here’s what I’d be pleased for you to take away.

Don’t keep your eye on a few tax dollars saved each year. Keep your eye on the real ball — your retirement income, and it’s after tax safety. Stop allowing Uncle Sam to play ‘hide the pea’ with your retirement plans. That pea is your gold.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 10th, 2008 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Retirement Income, 401(k)'s & IRA's, Communication, Tax Shelter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.