Shadowing Practice: The 4 Levels of Investors (Most People Are Stuck at #2) - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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I was recently reading an article titled, Only About Half of IRA Savers Contribute the Maximum Allowed.
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I was recently reading an article titled, Only About Half of IRA Savers Contribute the Maximum Allowed.
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And that got me thinking, because based on the most recent IRS data, here's what we're seeing.
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About 54% of people who contribute to a traditional IRA are actually maxing it out.
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And here are the max limits for 2026.
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And that pattern does hold across the board.
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Under the age of 50, about 54% hit the limit.
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Over the age of 50, about 53% hit the limit.
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Even the averages make sense.
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If we look at those in their early 20s, they tend to contribute on average around $2,000 a year.
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For those in their later 40s, their average tends to be closer to $4,300 for the year.
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Then once you hit catch-up age, for those ages 50 to 54, they're contributing an average of $4,900 a year.
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For those ages 65 to 71, they're contributing on average a little bit over $5,000.
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And honestly, I think all of these numbers are fairly as expected, but it does raise a bigger question.
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Why aren't more people using an IRA to its full potential?
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Hey guys, what's up?
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I'm Erin and welcome back to the channel.
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It's so easy to look at this data and then just shake our heads and say, people just aren't saving enough.
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But if you really sit with these numbers, these quoted numbers, there's a lot more to the story than what it seems to be on the surface.
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Because this really isn't about IRAs or if you're maxing out your IRA, it's about how you're saving and what type of system you're taking advantage of.
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When you zoom out, there are really four different tiers of savers.
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Tier number one, quite frankly, this is no system.
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This individual has no retirement accounts, no consistent habit of saving, and generally, if they have cash, it's likely sitting idle.
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For many people, this is really where the biggest risk lives, and it's only partially a knowledge problem.
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It's also a system problem, which we'll get into.
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Tier number two gives us the default saver.
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Think 401k only.
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They are contributing to an employer-sponsored plan.
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Maybe that's a 401k, 457, 403b, TSP, you name it, an employer-sponsored plan type.
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Some might only be contributing enough to capture the employer match, or others might be contributing pretty meaningful amounts here.
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What really unlocks this level is automation and access, but there is limited flexibility because these accounts do come with a lot of rules.
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Tier number three, maybe we'll call this the intentional saver.
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They have an employer-sponsored retirement plan and an IRA.
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Here we have an investor who's moved beyond just their employer-sponsored plan.
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They're also opening and funding another investment account by their own accord.
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So here we've got someone who's thinking about taxes and strategy and really long-term planning.
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Then finally, we have tier four.
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This is the system builder.
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They have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, an IRA, and a brokerage account.
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Here we have multiple accounts working together.
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We have the ultimate flexibility and control and tax diversification.
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This is where true financial control lives.
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this is where we come up with a rock solid financial plan.
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Now, here's the part that changed how I see all of this.
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These tiers are not solely tied to income.
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Primarily, they're tied to behavior because there are plenty of high income earners who are stuck at tier two, and there are plenty of modest income earners that work their way all the way up to tier four.
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Let's start with tier one.
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This is the group that doesn't have a system in place at all.
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No retirement accounts, no consistent investing habits.
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Maybe they have some cash sitting in a savings account and maybe not.
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And I want to be very clear here, this is not a judgment.
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Because when you look at the data here, it becomes very clear that it's not just a knowledge problem.
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It's a system problem.
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When you look behind the scenes, if someone doesn't have access to a retirement plan through work, only about 20 to 30% of them end up with any retirement savings at all.
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This means the vast majority never even gets started because there is no structure.
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There's no default.
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There's no system automatically pulling them in.
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And when savings requires you to open an account on your own, decide how much to contribute, and decide what to invest in, most people just don't.
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So they stay here.
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And this is where the biggest financial risk lives because if you don't ever get started, compounding never gets a chance to work in your favor.
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Now let's move to tier two.
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And this is where everything starts to change.
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This is a person who has access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
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Think a 401k, 403b, TSP, any plan type like that.
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These are the account types that overwhelmingly get used first.
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And there's a simple reason for that.
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There's a system built around them.
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Right now, about 60 to 65% of U.S.
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workers have access to one of these plans, but that access isn't evenly distributed.
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If you're a lower income worker, only about 30 to 40% have access.
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For middle income workers, it's closer to 60 to 70%.
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And for those higher income workers, it's about 80 to 90 plus percent.
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The same story with employer size.
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If you work for a smaller company, only about 30% to 50% offer a retirement plan.
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Larger companies, on the other hand, it's about 80 to 90 plus percent.
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So already you can see how this starts to shape outcomes.
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But once someone gets in one of these plans, well, all of a sudden, things become kind of powerful in your favor when it comes to investing.
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We have automatic payroll deductions, employer matching, default investment options.
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really this system is doing the heavy lifting.
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In other words, once someone simply has access to one of these plans, here's what we tend to see.
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For those who have access, 80 to 90 percent of households have retirement savings.
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If you don't, only 20 to 30 percent do.
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That gap is massive.
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Every time I see that stat, I have the exact same reaction.
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I don't think we have just a savings problem,
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I think we have an access problem because once someone is in that system and actively contributing even if it's just
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up to the employer match well they are saving they are investing they are building something are they optimizing
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not necessarily are they maximizing their potential maybe not yet but they've crossed the most important threshold they are saving they're
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in the system and most people quite honestly stop right here and that's not to say it isn't a perfectly fine approach for instance let's say you save 15% of your income,
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that you capture a bit of an employer match on top of that, and you do this for decades upon decades.
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Well, odds are by the time you get to retirement, you're going to be just fine because consistency, time, and staying invested for the long haul really matters far more than trying to optimize every single account along the way.
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Now let's move up to tier three, the intentional saver.
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This saver adds in an IRA on top of their employer-sponsored plan.
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Remember the stat that only about half of those who are contributing to an IRA are maxing it out.
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And when we look at what it takes to max out an IRA, depending on what year we're talking about, maybe it was $6,500, maybe it was $7,000, this year going up to $7,500, we look at those limits and they don't seem exceedingly high.
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So it might leave us to just shake our heads and say, why aren't people saving more?
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Why can't they max out this account?
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But truly, the answer is a lot more nuanced.
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First, you have to understand IRAs are not the primary retirement system in the US.
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They are a secondary layer built on top of employer plans.
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And the data makes this very clear.
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Only about 10 to 15% of households contribute to an IRA in a given year.
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but at the same time, about 35 to 40% of households actually own an IRA.
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So what's actually going on here?
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Well, the answer is most IRAs aren't being actively funded.
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They're being held.
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Roughly 90 plus percent of IRA assets are tied to rollovers, not new contributions.
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So the majority of money that's sitting in an IRA comes from 401k rollovers, job changes, and retirement distributions, not from people intentionally sitting down saying, hey, I'm going to max this out this year.
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And when you step back and think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
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When we think about something like an employer-sponsored retirement plan, like a 401k, it's completely automatic.
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It comes right out of your paycheck, goes into the investment account, and you don't even have to think about it.
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With an IRA, you actually have to go set up this account.
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Then you have to manually move money into it.
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Of course, you can make this step automatic, but it does require you setting it up in the first place.
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Then once that money is in that account, you have to decide how to invest it.
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And just to be clear, none of this is hard, but it does require intention.
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And when something requires effort, all of a sudden we see that participation drops off pretty quickly.
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And here's another piece that matters.
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IRA users skew towards higher income earners.
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And a higher income household is already more likely to have access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, to already be saving, and to already be actively engaged with their finances.
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For context, remember, when it comes to high earners, 80 plus percent have access to employer plans.
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When it comes to lower earners, only about 35 to 40 percent have access.
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And access alone increases retirement participation by 30 plus percentage points.
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So when you really look at this, we see that the typical IRA user is not starting from scratch.
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They likely already have an employer-sponsored retirement plan, they're likely already saving, and then they come in and use an IRA as a consolidation tool or as a way to diversify their investments.
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Or maybe it's simply an overflow of investments or a way to diversify their tax strategy.
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So when we see low IRA numbers, it's not that people aren't saving, it's that this is not the savings tool that they're prioritizing.
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For most households, the IRA is not the foundation.
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It's the next layer up.
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And that brings us to the more important question, does it really matter if you're not maxing out your IRA?
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And the honest answer is no, not really, as long as you're saving elsewhere.
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Because IRA contributions on their own tells you almost nothing about total savings habits.
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If we dig into the data, this is the pattern we tend to see.
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When it comes to lower income households, Some may have an IRA, if anything.
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Some are not saving at all.
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The barriers here are limited cash flow and a lack of access to an employer-sponsored plan.
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Then we move into the middle-income households.
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For these households, the core focus is the 401 , often up to the match or maybe more.
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When we look at IRA usage, here it might be inconsistent, it might be secondary, or simply not used at all.
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Then we move into the higher income households.
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These are the households we often see maxing out their 401k, and then also utilizing an IRA, even a Roth or a backdoor Roth.
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Then they're layering in things like a brokerage account or any additional strategies.
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So this really shows us something important.
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For those who are actively contributing to an IRA, they're also likely the same people who are saving and investing elsewhere.
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So what we're seeing here is that we're moving up the income in the wealth ladder and we're starting to stack accounts.
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Then we have tier four.
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This investor is the system builder because here we're adding in a brokerage account.
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Now let's talk about one of my all-time favorite accounts, the brokerage account.
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I love this account because this is your ultimate freedom fund.
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You can contribute as much or as little as you want.
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You can contribute whenever you want.
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There's no income restrictions.
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There's no age restrictions on when you access the money that's in this account.
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This truly is your freedom fund.
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And so long as you're contributing to index funds or ETFs, this can still be an incredibly tax efficient account.
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But here's what's really interesting when you look at the data from the Federal Reserve, about 58% of households have a retirement account, but only about 21% have a taxable brokerage account.
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So right away you can see this is not where most people start.
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And the fact of the matter is most people who have a brokerage account already have a retirement account.
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Let's look at the data from the Investing Company Institute.
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Among households that have IRAs, about 40 to 50% also have brokerage accounts.
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Compare that to the general population.
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Only about 20% have brokerage accounts at all.
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So IRA users are more than twice as likely to be investing in a taxable account.
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And let's look at just a little bit more data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute and the Federal Reserve.
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Among high-income households, the majority have a 401k or similar plan type, an IRA, and a taxable brokerage account.
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In many cases, three or more account types is the norm for these higher income households.
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Once somebody moves beyond just using their employer-sponsored plan, they are account stacking.
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building a system, a system that will ultimately give them a lot of flexibility.
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It's not just about one account anymore.
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You now have a 401k that's doing the heavy lifting.
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Your IRA is adding to the tax strategy, and then your brokerage account is giving you flexibility.
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This is really the investor who's optimizing.
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This is really the investor who's asking, how do I create the most flexible, the most efficient system that allows me to hit all of my goals?
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So here's the very clear pattern in how people build.
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Most people don't start with a brokerage account.
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They go for a 401k because it's automatic or any other workplace sponsored plan.
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Then they do an IRA and this is an intentional choice.
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And then they move on to a brokerage to offer some optimization within their plan.
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And once you have that brokerage account in there, oh, you've given yourself so many options.
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You have the chance to access that money early before the age of 59 and a half.
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Maybe you have the option to retire early.
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Maybe you have the option to control your taxes and be a little bit more intentional with income.
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It just opens up a world of possibilities and it gives you a more comprehensive strategy.
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So the whole goal when you do this account stacking, when you have multiple different account types, is to find the best way for all of these account types to work together.
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So should you focus on maxing out your IRA?
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maybe if that aligns with your goals.
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But no matter what, you do need to be investing and building for your future.
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And how you get there and how many accounts you use and how much money you put in each account, well that comes down to your personal situation and how to best build a plan that suits your needs.
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So what are your thoughts on these different account types?
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How many account types do you have?
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I'd love to hear.
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Let's get the conversation started in the comment section.
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I post new videos every single week.
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If you got anything at all out of this one, please give it a like.
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If you're new here, please consider subscribing or if you know of someone who might get something out of this type of content, please consider sharing.
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I'll see you soon.
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Bye.
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Any account type like that, any plan type like that.
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It's a dreary day.
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Feel it in my bones.
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There's a saying for it when you're in Australia.
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What is the saying?
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I'm just feeling a little flat today I would say that's how I'm feeling you have a tax strategy or
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taxes strategy we come up one of these plant
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well they're in saving there they're in saving every single year we have a juice Or salad.
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That was awful.
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Let's try again.
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The Benefit Research Institute.
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Forgot a word there.
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About This Lesson

In this lesson, you will practice your English speaking skills using insights from a discussion about investment strategies and the four levels of savers. By focusing on the transcript that analyzes the saving behavior of different individuals, you will enhance your vocabulary and comprehension while also improving your pronunciation and fluency. This practice will help you engage more confidently in conversations regarding personal finance and investment topics.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

  • IRA: Individual Retirement Account, used for retirement savings.
  • Default saver: Someone who contributes to employer-sponsored retirement plans.
  • Automation: Setting up automatic contributions to savings or investment accounts.
  • Intentional saver: A person who actively manages their investments in addition to employer plans.
  • Brokerage account: Investment accounts where a variety of financial assets can be traded.
  • Financial control: The ability to manage one’s finances effectively for long-term goals.
  • Tax diversification: Strategies used to spread out investments across different tax treatments.
  • System builder: An individual with multiple retirement and investment accounts that work in harmony.

Practice Tips

To effectively use this video transcript for English speaking practice, employ the shadowing technique. Start by listening to the video at a comfortable speed, paying close attention to the speaker's pronunciation and intonation. Once familiar, try to repeat phrases immediately after hearing them, mimicking the speaker's tone and rhythm. This method, known as shadowspeaks, is particularly effective for mastering the specific vocabulary related to finance and investments.

Given that the speaker provides a mix of analytical commentary and conversational tone, it’s beneficial to practice both segments. Focus on slowing down for complex phrases like "financial control" and "automation," ensuring you articulate these terms clearly. Repeating sentences multiple times can help solidify your understanding and improve fluidity in your speech. Remember, consistency is key in your English speaking practice, so aim to integrate learn English with YouTube content into your daily routine for accelerated improvement.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

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