Jon StojanMore than half of the USA report having zero savings in retirement accounts, with only around 12% of households saving more than $100,000. This may be why almost 60% of Americans feel like they have fallen behind on their savings routines and are unsure of their abilities to retire comfortably.
Similarly, plans after retirement are also going awry. According to the Federal Reserve’s 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances, the average inheritance Americans receive is worth about $58,000. When this median takes into account that only a fifth of American households receive any inheritance at all, the average inheritance jumps to a whopping $266,000 – within this fifth of the USA – while the other 260 million receive nothing.
In life and in death, it is difficult to maintain one’s foresight when it comes to wealth. Whether it’s from a society of overconsumption, living paycheck-to-paycheck, regularly rising prices, the burden of debt, or simply not having enough reason to save, people struggle to make the right decisions. And, it’s not like the available systems make it any easier. It’s no wonder that two-thirds of the American middle class consider themselves insufficient in financial literacy when the barriers to entry include inaccessible financial jargon and red tape, an absence of early education, and impertinent subscription services that do little to protect their subscribers’ assets.
“There’s a reason why wealthy families stay wealthy for generations. The rest of Americans experience systemic gatekeepers to that knowledge,” explains Ashton Closner, senior partner of Maverick Advantage Solutions. “Kids are being brought up to be worker bees and keep the machine going. It’s only those top 5%, the ones that have been taught to protect their wealth, that know to go against the grain,” he explains.
Ashton Closner
When Ashton was looking for advisors after he sold his IT companies in his former career as an entrepreneur, he found that their advice was ineffective and outdated. A common method is to focus on accumulation over a decades-long period on the premise that the market always goes up. “It depends on what phase of life you are in. The first two are accumulation but the last is preservation and distribution. You can’t simply do the same thing for every client, without taking into consideration their life and investment phase. That’s exactly why I went the other way.” Ashton’s passion for what he does – maximizing distribution out of what they have worked so hard to accumulate – led him to found Maverick Advantage.
Ashton once had an 80-year-old client who didn’t even want retirement funds for herself, rather she wanted to save it as a lump sum inheritance for her grandchildren. With most of her money invested in Certificates of Deposit at the bank, she had heard from other sources that the most sensible option was to keep it there, earning her about 1.5% in returns a year. Ashton instead suggested she use her gift allowance of $14,000 per year (at the time) limit, in a 10-year policy that will eventually cultivate a guaranteed tax-free $90,000/year pension for her grandchildren to enjoy in their later years.
To bridge the wealth gap and secure one’s legacy, Ashton takes heed of three pieces of the puzzle: protecting assets, accumulating assets, and doing it all while remaining debt-free. Maverick Advantage enables its clients to regain control and effectively enjoy their well-deserved time in retirement.
“Achieving comfortable retirement and protecting your legacy has a very clear, very simple path,” Ashton says. First, they supply that missing knowledge to clients on how to increase the longevity of their assets throughout their own lives as well as their loved ones. Then, they make sure these assets are cultivated with a reasonable rate of return – without confusion or risk. The final piece of Maverick Advantage’s solution is keeping its clients debt-free through ‘wealth hacks’ that can successfully budget debt plans and quickly pay off mortgages and other debts.
Typically, the industry standard is to be extra-cautious of the downturn, with a typical average of 3-5% in returns of investments in their investment portfolio in order to weather the storms that are assumed to come. Maverick Advantage, on the other hand, enables clients to handle larger amounts for higher returns. “You can grow 7-8% of your investments without ever risking significant losses. There are products available that have baked-in 0% floors and will keep paying that 8% for the rest of your life,” explains Ashton, “It’s better to have downside protection than to have upside potential.”
Maverick Advantage Solutions
Instead of the stale suggestions he was used to hearing from others in the industry, Ashton makes sure that his work remains on the cutting edge, adjusting his procedures at least once a quarter. “There are strategies out there that most people don’t know about, that will contractually get them consistent returns with no risk involved. Yet, no one is showing them how,” he notes.
By bridging the long-present gap in retirement and estate planning, Maverick Advantage seeks to be the breath of relief clients can take in knowing that their hard work will take care of them and their families. With a mission statement of ‘Safety first, Reasonable rate of return, and Simplicity,’ Maverick Advantage empowers its clients to make their mark and ensure a comfortable life and legacy.