Craig Wear, CFP®Craig Wear, CFP® | Expert in Roth Conversions & Tax-Efficient Retirement Strategies for IRA Millionaires

What the Rich Do With 401ks | Stop Overfunding and Use Tax-Free Tools

27 Sept 2025 · 1 min

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0:55

Short video by Craig Wear, CFP® advising high-net-worth individuals to avoid overfunding 401(k)s once they’ve captured employer match, because future tax rates may be higher. Recommends using tax-free tools—specifically cash-value life insurance—as an alternative for control, flexibility, and tax-free retirement income; clarifies the presenter does not sell life insurance or manage client assets. The clip frames this as a strategy used by many wealthy clients.

Chapters

Stop overfunding your 401k. 401ks make sense when tax rates were falling but now tax rates are likely going up so why put pre tax money in now only to get taxed more later. So the wealthy people that we deal with kind of do this. They contribute to get the match free money from their company. They don't overfund it, instead they use the tax free tools like maybe it's cash value life insurance. Why? For control, for flexibility, for tax free income. Don't just follow the herd, think like the wealthy and remember that life insurance can be used in a variety of different ways to your benefit. No we don't sell life insurance and we don't manage client assets but cash value life insurance might be a good fit for you. It gives you control and we've seen a lot of wealthy people that's how they fund their future income needs is through that which allows them to do it totally tax free.