Everyone knows the power of compounding.

It’s been called the most powerful force in the financial universe—and for good reason. When your money compounds uninterrupted, it doesn’t just grow—it multiplies. Quietly. Consistently. Exponentially.

But here’s the problem: most retirement plans interrupt it.

❌ The Flaw in the 60/40 Plan

The traditional 60/40 retirement plan—60% in stocks, 40% in bonds—is designed to slowly draw down your savings over time.

That sounds reasonable… until you realize what it’s costing you.

Because every time you withdraw money from your portfolio to live on, you’re doing two things:

1. You’re reducing your investment base.
   

2. You’re interrupting the compounding process.

And that’s a big problem.

📉 A Quick Look at the Numbers

Let’s say 20 years ago, you took $100,000 and invested it in the S&P 500. Today, that would be worth approximately $660,000—your money would’ve doubled three times over.

Now here’s the kicker...

If you had missed just the single best-performing day in the market each year over those 20 years?
You’d have less than half of that amount.

Let that sink in.

You could’ve done everything right—held for 20 years—but if you were forced to pull out even briefly (like most retirees are), you’d miss the gains that made all the difference.

💡 The Problem Isn’t the Market—It’s the Plan

The issue isn’t volatility. The issue is being forced to sell when the market is down… because you need the money to live.

That’s what the 60/40 plan does. It puts you in a position where your growth pillar isn’t allowed to grow—because you’re drawing on it every month just to survive.

This is why, at Virtus Financial, we take a very different approach.

🔄 The Power of Separation: Income First, Growth Second

When you build your retirement strategy using the 5 Retirement Pillars (Replace It, Enjoy It, Leave It, Protect It, Grow It), something powerful happens:

You’re no longer forced to pull from your growth assets to pay the bills.

Instead, you fund your lifestyle using the Income Pillar—which can often be generated using just 20–30% of your savings.

That means the rest of your portfolio—particularly your Growth Pillar—can be left untouched.

And when that happens? Compounding gets to do what it does best.

📈 Let’s Do the Math

If you had just $200,000 allocated to growth 20 years ago in the S&P 500—and you didn’t touch it—you’d have about $1.34 million today.

That’s with only a portion of your wealth working silently in the background, uninterrupted.

Now imagine retiring with $1 million saved… and instead of draining it down year after year, you position it properly:

• $200K into growth
  

• ~$250K–$300K into income
  

• The rest into protection, legacy, and enjoyment strategies

That single decision changes everything.

Instead of shrinking your lifestyle over time, your wealth continues to grow.
Instead of decumulating, you’re still building.
And instead of living with anxiety, you live with confidence.

🧠 The Real Secret to Retiring Well

It’s not just about what you’ve saved.
It’s about how you use it.

With the right plan in place, you can:

• Generate enough income to retire without a pay cut
  

• Enjoy the freedom to spend (without guilt)
  

• Leave behind more than you started with
  

• And protect your wealth from inflation, market crashes, and taxes

But none of that is possible if you follow the outdated 60/40 strategy.

You need a plan that separates your income from your growth, so your wealth isn’t interrupted. Because the real power of compounding only shows up when you leave it alone.

✅ Want Help Building a Plan That Works This Way?

If you're curious about how to structure your plan for uninterrupted growth and income that lasts a lifetime, you don't have to figure it out on your own.

👉 [Click here to book your free Possibility Planning Session]
We’ll help you design a retirement strategy that uses all 5 Pillars—and gives your money room to grow.