Typically, people want to avoid getting into the weeds of investing. The 401K program promotes this behavior by allowing people to “save” for retirement.
Within a 401K program, the fund manager will collect your money and invest it into various asset classes. Most people choose target date funds as their vehicle of choice when saving.
But where does this all lead? Eventually, you will have to become super-smart about withdrawing your money because it needs to last a lifetime.
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The 4% rule. The 4% rule simply states that you can withdraw 4% of your income yearly, which will allow it to last over 30 years.
I want to review a typical scenario where someone works for 40 years, retires at age 66, and has to live on social security and their 401K.
The typical retirement scenario. Josh started his 401K at age 21 and invested into a target date fund with the retirement year of 2060.
After 45 years of service, he retires with $1 million in his Roth 401K—meaning that he will owe no taxes on the money he withdraws.
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He has two choices: he can handle the withdrawals himself or hire a financial advisor. He either learns how to take care of his money or pays someone 1-2% to do it for him.
Withdrawing his money can be tricky because of market downturns, inflation, and lifestyle changes. He wants to travel but doesn’t feel comfortable spending extra money.
He never feels that he can get ahead of his withdrawal rate. He hires a financial advisor but never feels confident about his financial situation. No matter what he tries, his account balance decreases at the end of each year.
The sad truth. The truth is most people are heading toward this destiny. The 401K program helps people save but fails to teach how to invest. Most people will need to use a financial advisor to maximize their resources.
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There is another way, however. If you learn how to invest while you are young, say in your 30s and 40s, you stand a better chance of building an ever-increasing stream of income.
Dividends for the win. Dividends offer the exact opposite scenario than the 4% rule. Instead of selling your securities to fund your lifestyle, your securities pay you. Dividends allow you to live your best life.
Yes, there is a slight learning curve when investing for dividends. It would help if you learned about blue-chip dividend-paying stocks or dividend ETFs, which allow you to invest on your own.
You also should document your dividend journey so you can see how much growth occurs year over year. Dividend investing is not fire-and-forget like 401K saving.
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A farm simulator example. Let’s take a farm scenario to help you differentiate between 401K saving and dividend investing.
Let’s say you are a farmer producing chickens that never die. Each chicken is worth $30,000; dividend chickens lay one egg a month worth $100.
401K savers buy as many chickens as possible to grow their farm. In the end, they have 40 chickens worth $1.2 million.
However, each year they need to sell a few chickens to produce income for their lives. They “pray” that the chickens’ value increases, so they receive more revenue from fewer chickens each year. No matter what happens, each year, they have fewer chickens.
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The dividend investor focuses on the eggs. They build a portfolio of chickens that produce these beautiful eggs. They retire with 40 chickens as well.
However, their chickens produce $4,000/month in dividend income from eggs. The farmers don’t have to sell the chickens, just the eggs.
This also gives the farmer options. If he decides to reinvest into more chickens each month (say $500), he will have more eggs each month. He will have more chickens at the end of each year than the last.
Dividends vs. the 4% rule. Hopefully, you can see a different mindset between saving for retirement and investing for income.
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If you use the 4% rule, it is actually much more complex than learning how to invest for dividends. For example, you sell more shares in a down market, causing your portfolio to suffer for the rest of your life. We call this sequence of return risk (Charles Schwab).
In downturns, dividend-paying companies often increase their dividend payout, so your cash flow rises during bad times. I recently received 10% dividend increases from Mcdonald’s (MCD) and Ares Capital (ARCC).
You can do both. You don’t have to do one or the other; you can use both methods. I save in my Thrift Saving Plan (government 401K); however, I keep my investments light.
If you have an employer match, maximizing the free percentage is a good idea. Free money is free money; you may as well take advantage.
However, blindly throwing your money into a 401K will always lead to the same point. You must learn how to allocate properly, invest, reinvest, and protect your resources—or pay someone to care about your money more than you.
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Conclusion. The excellent part about dividend investing is that you can start small. My article “You First Five Dividend Stocks” walks you through creating a $100/month portfolio.
Once you feel the magic of dividends, you can slowly increase your investing habits. It truly is magic money.
My wife and I thoroughly enjoy receiving income on our dividend debit cards. You may not believe that $1,000/month in dividend income is life-changing, but it is a fantastic feeling to “earn” free money.
My recommendation is to give dividends a try. You can start with $20/month on STASH or Cash APP. Your dividends start small, but even $5 can help you at the gas pump.
401Ks have a place in your portfolio, especially if you have an employer match, but take time to learn how to invest. You want to have a ton of chickens producing lots of eggs. That way, you never run out of food (income). Good Luck!
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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. All Right Reserved Military Family Investing
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