What would you say if I told you that more than 40% of retirees are at risk of running out of money not just for healthcare – but for their daily needs?
Imagine working hard your entire life, only to find out that by the time you retire, you can barely afford basic necessities.
It may seem outrageous, but it’s a situation millions of Americans are facing each and every day.
It wasn’t always this way…
Once upon a time, hard-working Americans could look forward to retiring with ease.
The vast majority of people stayed with the same employer for decades. The average American was able to set aside nearly 10% of their personal income for the future, and Social Security provided a welcome addition to a retiree’s budget.
No longer!
Today those who consider retirement savings face a completely different picture.
Personal savings is down to 4% since many Americans have yet to recover from the Great Recession of 2007-2009. All of us know people who lost their jobs, their homes, and sometimes, their lives.
Some of us have managed to hang on despite everything. But the higher cost of living, stagnant income, and health insurance costs are enough to worry anyone who’s worked hard to get where they are now.
You’re right to worry.
Are you ready for the blunt truth about retirement savings that no one seems to have the integrity to tell you?
Economists and policymakers insist that
- the economy is on an upswing,
- pointing to U.S. stocks at record highs and
- jobs are being created at the fastest pace since the late 1990s.
And real GDP growth of more than 4% in the second quarter of this year.
It seems that things are better than ever…
…until you dig deep and look at the global picture. The reality is that even though the economy in the U.S. seems to be on the up and up, this is just the lull in the storm.
The facts who that we’re still in just as much trouble than we were in 2006, right before the Great Recession hit.
European banks are still struggling with too many loans from the financial crisis.
European bonds are still crashing, and household and business debts are too high.
The Eurozone crisis continues to get worse as negative growth and accelerating government debts stocks pile up. China’s economy is in a slowdown as it transitions to a consumer-based economy. Japan is also in a recession, and Russia is sliding into one as well.
Why does it matter?
It’s simple.
We no longer function as an independent, national economy – and haven’t for a long time.
The U.S. Relies On A Global Economy
The U.S. economy is closely connected to the global economy, in particular, the European economy.
Exports made up 14% of the US economic output in 2014, which makes us more dependent on global growth. At the same time, global growth is heavily dependent on emerging markets, which last year made up 50% of global output.
And according to the U.S. Treasury Department, 30% of the jobs added since the last financial crisis were due to the rising exports.
Practically, it means that if the global economy continues its downturn, it will take the U.S. with it.
David Levy is economist and chairman of the Jerome Levy Forecasting Center. His family has called every major financial downturn in the U.S. since the Great Depression in 1929.
According to Levy, the emerging markets’ reliance on the U.S. has caused them to invest heavily in factories, machines, and buildings.
These markets were falsely confident that exports would bounce back to their pre-recession rate. In fact, export rates have continued to fall, which means that these emerging markets are now stuck with goods that the West is unable to buy.
Eventually, they’ll have to deal with the consequences of this over-investment, just as the U.S. did in 2007-2009. And unlike the past, this time the U.S. isn’t strong enough to hold the weight of the world economy on its back.
“The world hopes to ride on the coat-tails of the US consumer,” states Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University professor and economist,“but the US consumer isn’t in a position to take on the burden.”
Can Your Retirement Savings Weather Another Recession?
Times are changing, and it’s time for you to decide if you’re ready.
Here are the facts:
- Social Security is bankrupt and expected to run out of money for full disability payments in 2035.
At present, Social Security’s main program, Old-Age, and Survivors Insurance (OASI), is presently drawing revenue from forced to draw from interest on Trust Fund balances, payroll taxes, and repayment of borrowed Trust Fund dollars.
Here’s what the Social Security department stated in their 2015 Annual Report:
“Social Security’s Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund now faces an urgent threat of reserve depletion, requiring prompt corrective action by lawmakers if sudden reductions or interruptions in benefit payments are to be avoided.
Beyond DI, Social Security as a whole, as well as Medicare, cannot sustain projected long-run program costs under currently scheduled financing.”
- 4 out of 10 people Americans age 55-64 have no money put away for retirement savings. These people will be forced to rely on family and government welfare programs just to survive.
- Those that do have an IRA, retirement savings plan or 401K have an average balance of about $120,000 – or $400 a month.
- Baby boomers are the first generation since the 1930s who will be worse off in their golden years than their parents.
- Traditional pension plans, which guaranteed a minimum income during retirement, are all but nonexistent.
- By 2022, a third of people over the age of 65 is expected to be in the workforce, according to statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Despite this, the vast majority will earn far less than they did before retirement.
- Unexpected medical and long-term expenses can wipe out your retirement savings. If you run out of funds to pay for medical care, the law requires you to spend your entire income and assets before becoming eligible for Medicaid.
- 22% of the middle class say they would rather ‘die early’ than not have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, according to a study by Wells Fargo.
Are you prepared to muddle through your final years, dependent on your family, the government, and charity, just to make ends meet?
Are you ready to lower your standard of living, give up on the trips you’d planned with your spouse, the quality time spent with your grandchildren – just so you can slave away at a minimum wage job?
Will you be forced to give up your dream of a fulfilling retirement, destined to work until you’re unable to even enjoy what you’ve rightfully earned?
Take Control Of Your Retirement Savings Before It’s Too Late
It’s going to be awfully difficult for a lot of Americans in the coming years unless you find a way to take charge and guarantee your future finances.
That’s why I’ve put together this on-demand webinar,” that shows you how to take control of your retirement savings by investing in commercial net lease properties. Investment grade properties not only offer a safe, reliable steady income, but they can also be used to defer capital gains taxes almost indefinitely.
Investment grade net lease properties offer many more advantages as well:
- Triple net leases are either management free or require very little involvement from the landlord.
- Properties have a high residual value and are liquid investments.
- There are no vacancy factors, tenant improvement costs, management fees or leasing fees.
- You can stop worrying about tenant turnovers, since tenants sign leases from 10 to 25 years are well-known franchises such as Family Dollar, KFC, 7-11, and Walgreen’s. and are often fully guaranteed by the parent franchise.
- They aren’t as subject to the wild swings of office markets as other investments, and they usually are unaffected by fluctuations in the U.S. economy and by unsettling world events.
Getting Started Is Simpler Than You Think
Using net lease properties to guarantee your retirement savings doesn’t have to be a long, complicated process either.
In fact, in as little as 3 months you could be receiving a check in the mail, enjoying a significant boost to your income, and laying the groundwork for a secure retirement.
FACT: It can get complicated investing in other types of real estate. Even if you’re no stranger to real estate, investing in most commercial real estate investment properties requires an in-depth knowledge not only of commercial real estate, but also of the tenant, the location, and so on.
On the other hand, triple net lease real estate deals with name brand companies you hear about every day. You’re guaranteed to be working with a high-quality, long-term tenant.
Since you’re working with such well-known franchises as CVS, Family Dollar, Walgreen’s, Autozone, 7-11, Walgreen, and 200 others, you can skip the risk and go straight to the reward of picking up your check month after month.
Triple Net Lease investment properties are the fastest way to start saving for your future so you can ensure your retirement savings are safe, and ready to use when you need them.
Will This Work For Me Even If I’m Not A Millionaire?
One of the biggest myths about commercial real estate is that you have to be a millionaire before you can even think of investing.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
The fact is that net lease properties are accessible to nearly everyone, and are a great way to diversify your investments and build your retirement portfolio with low risk, high reward investments that can be easily liquidated when the need arises.
You can get started for as little as $50,000 through alternative strategies (formerly called tenants-in-common properties).
If you’d like to invest more and get even higher returns, financing is easy to get. Non-recourse financing that can be assumed without qualifying or paying loan assumption fees is already in place for most TIC properties.
I’m betting you remember exactly where you were a few years ago when you learned the bottom had finally dropped out of American’s economy.
What if you had known beforehand what you know now? How different would things have been if you’d been able to weather the storm of the Great Recession with all your assets intact?
When the tide turns again – and it will – how will you feel knowing that this time, you were able to ensure you wouldn’t fall on hard times, dependent on the goodwill and deep pockets of a family member, or worse, some government bureaucrat who’s just waiting for the clock to hit 5?
Take charge of your retirement.
Contact Westwood Net Lease Advisors by filling out our online application form.
