What is a good retirement plan for self employed internet marketers? (would really like to know...)

Hi BJ,

IMHO, if Im making enough income in internet marketing Id look into sometype of investments like life insurance, physical gold and silver, mutual funds, offline business, real estate, etc.

Id like to have control of my money and dont want others taking care of it. With my examples, Id be diversified enough not too loose much of my investments should one type doesnt make it. Of course, knowledge is critical so Id do my homework on the investments Im thinking of.

If you are making enough money for investing/saving into your retirement plan... talk to a professional advisor. You don't have to follow everything he says (especially, if he gets paid by commissions from the investment companies that he promotes) but at least you could explore your alternatives and options.

In this way you could figure out your FIN (financial independence number) based on
- when you want to retire
- how much retirement income you would like to have
- how long will you live (=need this income) based on mortality statistics

The FIN would be the amount you'd need to be accumulated at the moment you retire

Depending on your monthly income couldn't you just make a bank account where you will automatically deposit say %5 of your business's income every month till you decide to "retire" ?

And also, with this business I don't think you can truly retire...because if your doing it for that long you can basically settle for less money and outsource 95% of the business, or make the same income or more if you have the right systems in the right markets.

Maybe its just me, but thats how I see it.

i didn't think much of it until i was reading about the
power of compound interest...it's not how much you
put in...but MORE about how many YEARS you put into
the retirement plan that will produce a lot of money...

there was a huge difference between someone
who started at 25 and someone who started at 45
just investing like 200 dollars a month...

the 25 year old would end up with around $700,000
while the 45 year old would end up with around $100,000
by the time they are both 65...

anyways, the author suze orman suggested vanguard
is a good place to start (for employees) but not
sure about self employed...

although vanguad does have an option regarding that...

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/wha...ness_Level2Nav

Yep, there are all kind of examples like that in the financial (marketing) literature
Twin brothers - one saves $100/mo from the age of 18 till 26. The other one starts at 26 till 65, same amount. Which one will have more money at 65?
(assuming the interest rate is the same on both savings)

Not being in US I cannot give you more direct advice... hell, even if you were a Canadian I could advise you only if you were in the province of Manitoba because of some stupid parochial mindset that prevails in this country, the financial licenses are valid only for the province where they were issued. The federal government wants to change it but the provinces are opposed
Imagine having 50 SEC authorities in the USA

Themost important thing if you start thinking about your future: pay yourself first! And pay well - not 5% (that's poor people's mindset - sorry Marian); pay yourself 20%! Which means start saving 20% of your income.

According to your avatar you seem to be of younger generation, meaning your investment horizon is quite long. So, if you start investing for long term - don't check your investments daily. Not even weekly. It makes no good and increases the stress level :p

Hmmm... I should set up a service: teaching financial basics for emerging IMers, LOL

Nothing stops you from having an IRA regardless of whether you're employed by someone else or self-employed. I have an IRA which I contribute to, though not as heavily as I'd liked the last couple of years. I have a Roth IRA and a traditional one.

Everyone has already hit the obvious stuff but I didn't see this mentioned....

• develop websites that can run on auto-pilot and continue to generate an income without any additional work.

It could be a site that sells a timeless product, a web forum, a community site. There are a lot of different ways to go about doing this but you're creating a safety net that should keep checks coming your way without requiring much hands-on work.

Not everyone is going to retire an internet marketing gazillionair and having a site that can generate even $500 - $1,000 a month would make a huge difference for many retired people today.

I don't believe 401 k for 100%. That's organization with it's strong and week sides. I'm not sure for 100% that it will give me back my money in 30 years. I'd like to control my money doing some investments. Real estate suits my retirement plan well. Shares is good enough.

Aside from the investments previously discussed I created a number of online and offline businesses (Thank you Allen) that I "lease" to other people. In layman terms they receive a percentage of the profits. These folks are experienced in their professions, but did not have the investment capital to create their own business.

The trick to maintain a high ROI is to make sure your "partner" is never burdened when they get into any aspect of the business that is beyond their experience - even if you have to hire a temporary consultant or send them to courses.

Ever been to the PlayBoy Mansion Party? There was guy there that worked in his robe

Jeffery 100% :-)

I like Keogh's cause you can deposit 45,ooo a year, way more than IRAs or 401(k)s. However, I do think that you should meet with a financial planner to figure out your best plan. I personally move into apartments more as websites sell.

With the 5% I was just throwing a figure out there...mostly based on the fact that you should reinvest most of your money up to a certain point...so you could go with 5% for some time and then bump it up as you don't need to invest in your biz that much anymore.

Back when I was a licensed Insurance Agent I learned a nice little plan.

Life insurance is pre-taxable so you pay no tax going in. With the FPVUL or Flexible Premium Variable Universal Life insurance policy, there is a minimum premium but you can always add more when you have it. Since it is a Variable Whole Life Policy your benefit and Cash Value increase as you add more.

When you wish to retire, you take a loan out based on the quarterly or monthly interest sans the Broker's fees. Since it is a loan, you pay no taxes. Since the interest of the cash value of your account pays off the loan, you have no out of pocket expenses and can enjoy a tax free retirement.

It was put into place to defeat Dan (I stole 17 million dollars and spent six months in Club Fed) Rostenkowski and proven yet again to be untouchable even in court settlements by Ken (Enron) Leigh.

Still, there are always risks associated with any investment so talk to an Investment Broker and maybe an Insurance Broker before you decide this is right for you.

Pardon my simple mind. This is not the perfect answer but it is just my thought.

If you have made a lot of money. You should just retire with a good hobby. It can be gardening, reading, writing, or whatever that you enjoy, and can help you pass time and yet allowing you enjoy doing it.

If you still need to make more money or cannot stop making money, then I think you should continue what you do best but taking just one step back. Do not do everything you do in your active days. Employ people to do the job for you but do keep an eye on them just so to ensure things are all in good shape. Take 2 days off for golf or fishing. Take a couple weeks vacation every other month. You get the point...work but really not working hard.

Like most rich people; e.g., like Bill Gates with the Gates Foundation, after they have earned all the money they need for retirement, they do charity work to fulfil other part of their lives.

Me? I simply buy as many properties as I can, and I would rent them for cash. Right now I own 2 small houses (3 actually: +1 with my own home where I live now). I use one to be a minimart and selling daily-needs and the other which is bigger one to be a multipurpose house for people in my local community where they can use my house to held a small wedding party, school party or even a small MLM-comunnity seminar for real nice compensation. I am not that rich this way, but I make good living in the term of passive income. And I start to do my online services as a hobby. Well... it's a nice hobby: Make Money Online.

In "The Richest Man In Babylon," we were told over and over to state and follow this rule that... "A Part Of All I Earn Is Mine To Keep"

In other words, save at least 10% of all you earn and keep reinvesting the interest you get from those earnings. That should build you up a nice "retirement" fund by the time those days come.

That is conservative, but it's a good place to start.

- Jason

401k's are crap especially in this economy.
I suggest getting a precious metals IRA. That's where I rolled over all of my 401k accoutns from previous employers.

Precious metals are the best long term investment, and major IRA companies like GoldStar Trust provide such IRA accounts. That way you invest once and forget about it. It will gain value on autopilot and provide a great hedge against the inflation. My silver IRA nearly doubled in less than a year. Precious metals are the ultimate safest investment that will keep gaining value. (I don't trust the stock market or any sort of paper investments, look where it got John McAfee and he had the most expensive high end investment advisors)

You won't have to review your investment elections every quarter or have a heart attack each time the stock market crashes. Just set it up and forget about it.

You don't have to follow the stocks and even if Google and Apple go bankrupt and the world economy collapses, you will still be fine.

Given how much all of you work to earn your money in IM, you should put the same amount of effort into figuring out what to do with all that money.

If in the U.S., the first step is to max out any tax deferred accounts, such as 401k, IRA, etc. This is the first step in paying yourself as the government is also chipping in. After that, personal strategies will vary. Mine will be different than yours. But, here is what I'm doing, paying off my house which will reduce my largest expense as I get older, maybe buy more real estate after it is paid off. Auto-invest in an S&P 500 Index fund, twice a month for the last 8 years. Buying collectibles that make me happy, so that if I can't sell them for more later, at least I was glad to have them.

who do you guys personally use? does anyone here use
financial services by vanguard or t rowe or etc?

would love to know what you guys recommend...thanks