The old retirement playbook is cracking under pressure, and self-made millionaire Sam Dogen wants Americans to wake up before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n
Under the classic model, American workers were said to be able to rely on three major sources of income in retirement<\/a>: Pensions, Social Security and personal savings. But for Dogen, who retired at age 34 and now runs the popular personal finance site Financial Samurai<\/a>, that model no longer works.<\/p>\n Dogen, now 47, was able to walk away from his full-time job thanks to the passive income he built<\/a> through investing and strategic savings. In place of the old \u201cthree-legged stool,\u201d he built a new one that leans on self-reliance and diversified wealth-building.<\/p>\n The first leg of Dogen\u2019s modern retirement strategy still includes a classic tool: 401(k) plans and IRAs<\/a>. Despite the shift away from pensions, he said these accounts remain essential.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first thing you should do is aim to max out your 401(k) and IRA or Roth IRA,\u201d Dogen said in a CNBC article<\/a>. \u201cHopefully, it\u2019s something that becomes automatic, and you\u2019re not going to touch it until you\u2019re 59\u00bd.\u201d<\/p>\n These accounts offer long-term tax advantages and can help your investments compound over decades. And if your employer offers a match, that\u2019s essentially free money toward your retirement. For 2025, employees under 50 can contribute up to $23,500 to a 401(k) account and up to $7,000 to an IRA, depending on income limits.<\/p>\n But Dogen doesn\u2019t stop there. He views tax-advantaged accounts as a foundational step but not the entire plan. Once you\u2019ve maxed these out, he said, it\u2019s time to build your own financial engine.<\/p>\n Learn More: Major 401(k) Change Coming in 2026 \u2014 High Earners Must Act Now<\/a><\/p>\n Check Out: 5 Clever Ways Retirees Are Earning Up To $1K per Month From Home<\/a><\/p>\n After maxing out retirement accounts, Dogen turned to taxable investments to accelerate his financial independence. These include traditional brokerage accounts, real estate investments and other assets that generate income outside of retirement plans.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce it\u2019s a given that you\u2019re maxing out everything with tax-advantaged accounts, it\u2019s about building those taxable accounts as much as possible,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Unlike 401(k) plans, these accounts aren\u2019t subject to early withdrawal penalties, which gives you greater flexibility. Whether through dividend-paying stocks<\/a>, capital appreciation or rental income, taxable accounts can create passive income that supports you before the standard retirement age (or simply takes pressure off your retirement funds).<\/p>\n If possible, Dogen suggests aiming for your taxable portfolio to double or triple the value of your retirement accounts by the time you reach age 60. That may be a stretch goal for many, but the principle remains: Invest more in assets you can access anytime.<\/p>\n The final leg of Dogen\u2019s new retirement stool is what he calls the \u201cX factor.\u201d It\u2019s a unique way to generate income outside of traditional employment or investing.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to be working on something, either before or after work, that can eventually generate income,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can be a side hustle<\/a>. Or everyone has a skill \u2014 you can teach that skill to other people.\u201d<\/p>\n Dogen\u2019s own X factor was his Financial Samurai blog, which he started while working in investment banking. Over time, it became a meaningful income stream and led to book deals and speaking opportunities. He also taught tennis lessons in his youth which is another example of turning skill into cash.<\/p>\n While \u201cwork more\u201d might not sound appealing to everyone, Dogen emphasizes that the right kind of work can bring both financial and emotional rewards.<\/p>\n \u201cNot only [does it give] you tremendous security, but also tremendous satisfaction. Because you\u2019re doing something you enjoy, you become an expert at it, and it\u2019s fulfilling,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The shift away from pensions and the uncertainty around Social Security make it riskier than ever to depend solely on traditional retirement benefits.<\/p>\n Just 15% of private-sector workers had access to a pension in 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And without Congressional intervention, Social Security reserves could be depleted by 2035; potentially cutting benefits to 83% of what\u2019s promised.<\/p>\n Dogen\u2019s \u201cnew three-legged stool\u201d offers a modern, more resilient framework:<\/p>\n Tax-advantaged accounts provide long-term, compounding growth<\/p>\n Taxable investments offer flexibility and early income<\/p>\n Your \u201cX factor\u201d creates optional income streams that can adapt with you<\/p>\n The common thread? Ownership. Dogen\u2019s model shifts the responsibility from the government and employers back to individuals which empowers people to build wealth<\/a> and retire on their own terms.<\/p>\n Sam Dogen\u2019s advice isn\u2019t just for those chasing early retirement<\/a>. It\u2019s for anyone who wants to avoid being blindsided by broken promises in the traditional system. By saving aggressively, investing broadly and developing your own income-generating skill, you can sidestep the retirement pitfalls facing millions of Americans.<\/p>\n In today\u2019s world, Dogen said, \u201cYou just have to count on yourself.\u201d And with the right strategy, that might be the most reliable plan of all.<\/p>\n More From GOBankingRates<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com<\/a>: I\u2019m a Self-Made Millionaire: 3 Methods of Sidestepping Traditional Retirement Savings for Greater Wealth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The old retirement playbook is cracking under pressure, and self-made millionaire Sam Dogen wants Americans to wake up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,20159,1558,174,175,118356,1615,118355],"class_list":{"0":"post-231374","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-passive-income","13":"tag-pensions","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-sam-dogen","17":"tag-social-security","18":"tag-sources-of-income"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}