Let’s take your retirement nest egg and head down to Las Vegas. I am feeling lucky and there will be a full moon out tonight. Let’s let it ride, bet on black, and put it all on number 23. Does this sound like something that you would want to do?
It sounds like a horrible idea. However, this is what we are doing with our retirement plans already. We are leaving out retirement security to the whims of the stock market. Our 401K funds are riding the casino of the stock market. We are planning to receive a social security check that might not be there when we retire.
The media tells us to put 20% of our money into our 401K account and pray that the stock market rises in time. We treat our 401K as a savings account. We know nothing about the stock market, dividends, bonds, or interest.
5 Takeaways from “Unfair Advantage”
So how do we stop gambling with our money and set up a bulletproof retirement that not only provides security but the all-important cash flow? The answer is education. More specifically, financial education.
Before we go further, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Josh and my goal is to become financially independent. I have been in the US Military for 22 years and when I decide to retire, I will be financially independent. My wife and I will have achieved this goal because our passive income from retirement will exceed our expenses.
But only having our military pension is not enough for us. This requires no financial education. Over the last year, I have been reading dozens of books to build the financial education to create my own cash flow retirement system.
I call my system the Retirement 4-50. It is pretty simple. There are 4 pillars and the goal is to retire at 50 years old. You can retire a lot earlier if you are reading this book early in life. The 4 distinct parts of the retirement system are retirement planning, investment income, rental income, and business income.
My personal goal is to have a passive income of $6,000 a month from each pillar, each month. That would give us $24,000 a month of passive income. To us, that is a lot of money. However, this will allow us to handle any emergencies that come up and also to assist our children if needed. We don’t want to live our lives in fear because of a lack of income.
Living a Middle-Class Life is Stressful
The most important part of Retirement 4-50 is a financial mindset. So together with the other 4 pillars, you will have a solid education and will be able to pivot as necessary. Your knowledge will allow you to create income as required, not live a life of scarcity. This book will cover your financial mindset and then the 4 parts of our cash flow retirement system. Here is a quick overview of the different pillars of the Retirement 4-50.
Financial Mindset: Otherwise known as financial education. This is the key to everything that we will build in our cash flow retirement. Without the correct mindset, you will buy liabilities thinking that they are assets. You will continue to believe that living a middle-class lifestyle is sustainable. I will also teach you the importance of an infinite return and different habits to envision a world full of money. We all can live a life of abundance, not a life of scarcity.
5 Takeaways from “Company of One”
Retirement Planning. This section covers all the standard retirement ideas that Mainstreet media covers. This is where our pensions, 401Ks, social security, etc… all fit into our retirement plan. We need to understand the importance of the tax structure and why the rich continue to become richer. Budgeting is very important to creating wealth because it prevents lifestyle inflation, which is the killer of wealth. I also teach you some ideas on how to make money while you sleep. This is the true builder of wealth. We need to separate ourselves from the generation of wealth.
Real Estate. You will hear me say it probably ten times throughout the book- real estate is the best wealth generator for most average people. However, many of us are using real estate to keep up with the Joneses. We are buying huge houses and paying 50% of our income into our personal residences. I will give you my idea of real estate, called Mortgage Zero. You will also hear me command you to rent out rooms in your home, to generate the most passive income you will ever find. I will also be tossing out at least 20 ways to invest in real estate and get started in real estate without any money involved.
Investing. Yes, I know I was bagging on the stock market earlier in the chapter. That is because if we invest in capital gains, we are praying for the stock market to keep going up. If we invest for income, called interest and dividends, then we are using the stock market to fund our lifestyle. I will break down how to get started in the stock market. This chapter may be boring for many of you. I don’t care, you will need to read through them. At least to get some definitions and a basic understanding of how the stock market works. If you read through these chapters, you will know more about the stock market than 80% of society. We do not have to put all of our money in the stock market, but we do need to have some passive income growth in the stock market.
How to Build Passive Income from Royalties
Business. Of all the parts of Retirement 4-50, this was the most difficult for me. This is where we will create passive income from residual business income and royalties. Why do you think I started to write? I want to practice what I preach. I am building passive income from royalties. We also have the possibility to build a business income by automating or outsourcing our business. I believe everyone should start creating some form of content, right now. It is important to have a small audience at all times. Plus, the world of content creation is the most amazing world I have ever taken part in. It is never-ending. Don’t worry, I have plenty of content on how to create a never-ending stream of content.
I tell everyone I talk to in the Marine Corps, that the military is not meant for everyone to be perfect at everything. In the military, we have to shoot weapons, run, hike, take tests, and also become technical experts. Some people are good at different things, but most people are not great at all of these things. However, we still have to do them. It’s the same with Retirement 4-50. We may not want to do certain parts of it, but we need to in order to diversify our income.
How to Prosper During the Next Recession
If we are too heavily concreted in one area, then we run the risk of it all going down at the same time. Think about brick and mortar stores during the 2020 pandemic. They suffered and many had to permanently close. If they had online resources, they would have had some income still coming in. The world is about being able to pivot, when necessary.
About this book. Yes, this book is a collection of blog posts I have written over two months. However, I wrote these posts with the intention of gathering them into this book. I wrote a post every day, for the last two months. Each chapter took me 2-3 hours to write and it stands on its own. I still need you to slowly go through every page and chapter.
The intent of this book, and my writing in general, is to give you education. Financial education. In order to see a world of money, you will need to have the education to create actionable steps. For example, I am currently reading a book on farming. It gives me ideas of creating a U-Pick it farm, renting land for community farming, selling flowers and fruits, and also selling food from animals. I take notes and have those ideas forever available for action.
I have no plan to start a farm, however, my wife and I own 2 different houses that each have 3 acres of land. Can I use a little part of the land in Arizona to create a U-Pick for dates or oranges? Can I create a community farm or sell flowers on my land in Florida? This is the power of education. There is so much money in this world. It actually breaks my heart when I hear amazing people say things like, “I am going back to get my master’s degree in order to get a higher paying job” or “I need these certifications to get paid more.” These are not the keys to life, health, and wealth.
So, as you read through this book, highlight any new information or ideas that you come across. My goal is to slowly trickle this financial education to the average person. It has been available, but not accessible, to Mainstreet for so long. If any ideas stand out, then dig deeper.
Are Limiting Beliefs Keeping You from Greatness?
I am doing a deep dive into the world of writing. I never knew that so many people use ghost-writers. People even ghost-write for their blogs. That is not my style. I wrote every single word in this book. Right now, this book is close to 70 chapters. It will probably be 400 pages. I want to give you all the financial education I never had. We started our financial education 1.5 years ago, in June 2019. I am serious when I say this, I never heard of the terms passive income, dividends, and compound interest. It is sad because I was 38 years old.
So, I present this information to you humbly. My wife and I went from $700 in our investment portfolio (only government bonds) to $70,000 during this 1.5 years. So these techniques do work.
All I want for Christmas is Family + Income
That is enough writing for the introduction. I actually can go on and on. I am very passionate about sharing information and watching as people start their journeys of financial self-awareness. We have the power to change our lives, and more importantly, we have always had the power to change our lives. It is not up to the government, politicians, our family, or anybody else. Nobody will come to save us. We need to educate ourselves, and then, take action.
One last note. I want to tell you the most important moment in my reading career (over the last 6 months). Robert Kiyosaki, the author of “Rich Dad Poor Dad” asked the most earth-shattering question I have ever read, “How do you build an asset, that generates income, from thin air?” The answer is “You Create It” This blew my mind. I stayed up at night thinking about this. I still think about it. I can create something that will generate income for me, completely independently of my earned income job? Now, I am creating an asset. This book is my asset. To me, this is the most powerful idea in the world of finance. Life-changing stuff. Okay, I’ll let you go. Stop gambling with your retirement and Go forth and do great things!
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Disclosure: I am not a financial advisor or money manager, and any knowledge is given as guidance and not direct actionable investment advice. I am an Amazon Affiliate. Please research any investment vehicles that are being considered. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
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