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Are you considering Infinite Banking, but you aren’t sure yet if it’s a good fit for you, and you’d rather figure it out before investing time into a personal conversation with an advisor? Look, your concerns are absolutely valid!  But let’s let those questions propel you to action, not indecision. Today, we’re answering the top questions about Infinite Banking that we have heard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVZbt1tog3w Hopefully, we’ll cover the question on your mind. So, if you’d love to clear up your doubts, find out exactly what to do about your concerns, and know what to do next, join us for the conversation below! Table of contents What is Infinite Banking? Your Top Questions About Infinite Banking, Answered 1. What if I don’t like whole life insurance? 2. What if I don’t need insurance? 3. Can’t I get better returns in the stock market? 4. Will I lose access to some of my cash at the beginning? 5. I already have a policy; is it a good one? 6. I’ve heard many people talk about the “ideal” policy design—how do I know if I have that? 7. Am I overpaying for insurance? The Reason for Infinite Banking Book A Strategy Call What is Infinite Banking? Infinite Banking is a strategy of using a financial product in a way that accelerates growth. We use specially designed, high cash value life insurance with mutual companies that pays dividends. These policies grow with guaranteed interest, and non-guaranteed dividends (although dividends are highly anticipated and have a good track record of being paid).  This means that you have access to cash that is growing, liquid, and will not drop in value. Infinite banking is often misunderstood, yet it’s a strategy that has been used for centuries by our country’s wealthiest people as a means to build and protect wealth. If you have questions about Infinite Banking, we highly recommend checking out this post to get some of your top questions about infinite banking answered.  Your Top Questions About Infinite Banking, Answered 1. What if I don’t like whole life insurance? When this comes up in conversation, we often come back with the question, “Compared to what?” In reality, life insurance is hard to compare to other assets because it is fundamentally different from many assets. Rather than getting hung up on the product itself, we encourage you to take a different route. When we meet with people, one of the first things we ask them to consider is the purpose of their money. If you’re looking for growth, availability, investment capital, etc—those are purposes.  When you can define what you want to do with your money, then you can determine the best products to use. Despite what you’ve been told, insurance may be the ideal asset for the goals you want to accomplish. It may not. However, you cannot judge it simply based on whether you like it—you have to see it as a means to an end.  2. What if I don’t need insurance? We hear this question often, for many reasons. Some people view insurance as something to protect their children. Others view insurance as unnecessary because they have enough money to “self-insure.”  We think the better question to ask is, “Do you want everything that comes with insurance?” Insurance companies will never sell you more insurance than you “need,” so we prefer to look at the benefits. Beyond the living benefits, insurance protects your estate and can help ease unexpected costs (including loss of income). Insurance helps your money go further and your assets last longer. 3. Can’t I get better returns in the stock market? Let’s start with this: life insurance is not an investment. When we compare insurance to investments, we’re setting it up for failure. We prefer to look at cash value insurance as an alternative to savings accounts. Investments have risk involved, and therefore the potential for different returns. Savings, on the other hand, provide certainty and liquidity. Your cash value is the money you will access in emergencies and opportunities. In fact, you can even use your cash value to make investments.  Insurance is a long-term strategy for wealth building (and asset protection). And Infinite Banking is a both/and strategy—you can invest AND save, and you can often yield better results in the long-term with both.  4. Will I lose access to some of my cash at the beginning? In the short-term, it’s true that your cash value will have a lower value than the premiums you pay into your policy. However, in the long-term, your cash value will surpass your premiums paid after a certain period.  It’s difficult for many people to deal with this initial drop in liquidity. However, this discrepancy between your cash value and your premiums in the beginning pays the cost of insurance. This protects the contractual guarantee that the insurance company will pay a death benefit when you pass on. This trade-off protects the strength of your insurance policy, so that you can reap the long-term benefits.  5. I already have a policy; is it a good one? While a policy you have may not be optimized, having any whole life insurance policy is often more beneficial than no policy. If you were to start over, you’ve lost the years of progress you’ve made by paying into this policy.  If you’re unsure of the design of your policy, you have options beyond surrendering or selling your policy. 1035 Exchanges are one way to convert a life insurance policy that you feel isn’t working. The other solution may be to fund a new policy that achieves your goals while keeping your old policy—so you can benefit from the cash value you’ve already accumulated and build more optimal cash value moving forward.  6. I’ve heard many people talk about the “ideal” policy design—how do I know if I have that? Policy design ultimately depends on what you want out of your policy. Some policies can be designed for better long-term performance, while others provide more early cash value to access. Some policies are designed for greater guaranteed death benefit over cash value.  Depending on where you are in life, you’ll have different goals for your policy design. It’s important to speak with a professional about what you’re looking for. There is no one-size-fits-all policy design.  7. Am I overpaying for insurance? This, like the question before, takes a sensitive consideration of what you want out of your policy. However, we recommend looking at the big picture—often, people sacrifice better long-term performance because of a high premium in the first few years. Know what you can afford and know what you want—and be willing to look at the long-term. Often, with Infinite Banking, you want to pay as much as possible. That’s because you’ll optimize your cash value and build more wealth and liquidity as you go. The only way you can truly overpay for your insurance is if you “MEC” your policy, or pay beyond what the IRS has set as a limit. (To learn more about MECs, and the changes made in the last few months, read our article on the 7702 Plan.) The Reason for Infinite Banking The best time to start a policy was yesterday. The second best time is today. The longer you can fund a policy, the more you can benefit from compound interest (not to mention lower premiums). After all, you can’t guarantee your future health or insurability. If you’re on the fence, we hope this discussion will help you see the real, applicable benefits of infinite banking beyond insurance.  Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth… plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

How are your New Year’s resolutions going? We’re almost three months into 2021, and it’s a great time to take an inventory of how you’re doing. This one simple morning routine I learned from Dan Sullivan has had a greater impact on my year than anything else. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EahEyM9wj-Q Today, we’ll talk about that one little idea that has the power to change everything for you. So, if you want to find out how to master your emotions, step into confidence, and get more done… tune in below! Table of contents A Daily Morning Routine 1. What’s my biggest danger for today? 2. What is my biggest opportunity for today? 3. What strengths do I have that I can reinforce today? Setting Your Foundation with a Morning Routine Book A Strategy Call Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach is an inspiration to entrepreneurs everywhere, which is why I always appreciate his words of wisdom. Dan calls himself a simplifier—he takes processes and makes them even simpler. When his email came across my inbox, I knew I had to share it with you.  A Daily Morning Routine If you’re looking to be even more successful, and find even more inspiration in your day, creating good habits is a great place to start. That’s why Dan Sullivan proposes his specific morning routine—one that has been a game-changer for him personally.  Having morning routines and habits can keep you grounded in an otherwise uncertain world, and it can also keep you on track with your goals. It starts with questions, which help to keep you focused on your goals. Here are the three things you should ask yourself to stay on a trajectory for success: 1. What’s my biggest danger for today? Or, “What am I afraid of?” At the heart of this question is structure. What you’re really doing is assessing your fears. What are you afraid of not doing, and how will that impact your success? Asking this question as a part of your morning routine sets you up to take action in the face of fear. And it keeps your fear from growing, like when you put off a project and it snowballs, progressively becomes more overwhelming.  This question, consequently, can also help you filter out tasks that aren’t meant for you. If you’re dreading a task, and you’re dreading the consequences of not doing it, it’s likely a task you should delegate. You’re still taking action by delegating, and it gives you more freedom to do what you want to do. 2. What is my biggest opportunity for today? This is your chance to examine what you’re looking forward to in your day. If you follow these opportunities that you’re excited about, and take action, you can put yourself further ahead. In the first question, we addressed the importance of handling fear and delegating tasks. Following what energizes you is another great way to identify how you should fill your day, and what tasks you should delegate. Good tasks, activities, or opportunities are ones that will leave you feeling as energized as when you started (if not more energized). 3. What strengths do I have that I can reinforce today? The third question in this morning routine is about building confidence. It’s about taking action so that you can practice your strengths, hone them, and come out on the other side more confident and capable. There’s no better way to celebrate your strengths than by using them! If you continually work on your strengths, you allow them to develop and blossom. If you don’t use them, they atrophy. You likely know that it feels great to use your strengths, so don’t be afraid to use them often. This will help you feel more confident and step into your full potential. It also helps you be as energized as possible.  Setting Your Foundation with a Morning Routine The world is so overwhelming right now, and if you’re an entrepreneur, your mind is probably being pulled in a million directions. This exercise helps you simplify and focus on what you can do, today. It’s about pulling you into the moment and cutting out the background noise so that you can focus.  These questions are tied to the emotions you probably feel each morning—fear, excitement, and confidence. When you can work through these emotions and apply them to your day, you can move from a place of inaction to action.  There’s no better time than the present to plunge into the things you’re excited about, take action on things you’re fearful of, and celebrate your strengths. Incorporating these principles into your morning routine will help you take action and be more successful. Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Do you want to be more profitable, and enjoy the success of a thriving business, instead of running ragged on the hamster wheel of chasing the next sale? Barbara Stackhouse is writing Profit First for Dentists.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzsWDyjLA2Q Sound familiar? It’s the specific application of Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First system, tailored to the dental industry, with their unique challenges and solutions. So, if you’re a dentist who would like to build a successful practice, or a chiropractor or physician, or even a business owner in another industry who wants to find out the secret code to profitable and sustainable business… tune in below! Table of contents Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First System Leave the Grind Behind The Sales Process Profitability in Any Business Solving Business Problems Fixed vs. Variable Expenses Put Systems in Place Why “Profit First”?  Links Mentioned About Barbara Stackhouse Book A Strategy Call Regardless of your experience in the dental field, we think that Barb has amazing lessons to teach business owners. Her experience in Profit First systems make her an expert at organizing systems that help you keep more of your revenue. Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First System After discovering Mike’s Profit First system, Barb could instantly see how the Profit First system fit into the dentistry field, despite being a system geared towards CPAs. She contacted Michalowicz to see if she could go through his professional training process, despite being in a completely different industry. Now, not only is Barb a certified Profit First professional, but she is releasing a book for dentists to implement this process.  Leave the Grind Behind [7:50} “If you’re an entrepreneur, you get stuck in the grinding it out. You’re the technician in the business, you’re the person doing it all. And it doesn’t have to be that way.” Too often, entrepreneurs enter the business thinking that they HAVE to be un-profitable for a while. They grind and work hard, and hope that in five years, their business will be where they want it so they can slow down a bit. To Barb, this couldn’t be further from what should happen. Instead, entreprneuers need to work smarter and build out their own profit, so that they can be prosperous now, enjoy their practice, and set it up for decades of success. The Sales Process [8:11] “So the main other thing that I talk about—which is another big area that dentists struggle with, and even team members sometimes need training with too—is kind of the sales process in dentistry. And it’s actually the same sales process that I use myself when I talk with a client. It’s all about serving that client. And really putting the need for the sale over on the shelf and just connecting. Having that relationship first and not pushing.” Through her work, Barabara created a system to facilitate this sales process, called P SERVE. The P stands for purpose, and Barbara urges dentists or team members to understand their purpose before taking a call, and then truly giving service from the heart. SERVE, as an acronym, describes the steps in the process.  This methodology is something that Barb speaks on and teaches—to help dentists serve their clients first, knowing that the profit follows. Money flows by creating value—so serving and giving allows any business to flourish. This is very similar to Bob Burg’s Go Giver mentality. [10:34] “The more you help people get what they want, the more you will get what you want.” Profitability in Any Business [10:53] “If you are an entrepreneur, and you open a business, you have a dream of being your own boss, probably. You want to call the shots. These are the common themes that I find. But you have to make a living at it. If you’re not profitable, then you have a hobby, you don’t really have a business. So I think that profitability has to be baked into the plan, if you will. It has to be a part of what happens from the start.”  What Barb has found in her coaching is that too often dentists opening their own practices aren’t paying themselves when they start out. What she helps dentists learn is how to pay themselves first so that they can continue to keep their practice open. It starts with having a plan.  The problem is that many businesses don’t follow a “Profit First” mentality. Entrepreneurs expect to not be profitable, or they’re “waiting for the leftovers.” It can be rooted in scarcity thinking, yet once you pay yourself first, AND offer value to your clients, you can find true profit.  One key problem? People don’t really know their true overhead.  Solving Business Problems Here’s what Barb identifies as some of the key problems that dentists or other independent medical practices face: [18:50] “So I would say that one of the big ones, especially now post-covid, is team. Its sad, but a lot of team members left the profession, because of covid… So there’s been big changes in their practice. Not all, but some younger teams.”  Barb has noticed that in dentist practices, one of the biggest expenses can be the team members, however they can also be the biggest asset. When team members leave or retire, this can change an entire practice. Often, clients become accustomed to the team members, and form relationships with them too–they can have a huge impact on client retention. And of course, the second problem is personal debt. Many dentists have mountains of student debt and don’t have hope for getting out of it. Then, of course, many dentists don’t know how to read their profit-and-loss reports and see how debt factors in. They wonder where their “missing” money goes, and often it goes to debt payments that don’t appear on the reports.  This is yet another reason for entrepreneurs to follow the profit-first system: so that they can pay down debt AND save for their futures. It’s important to save and/or invest while paying down debt, so that you can tackle emergencies and opportunities that happen along the road to debt reduction. If you don’t pay yourself first, this becomes a challenging task. Fixed vs. Variable Expenses [26:53] “The difference between fixed and variable: fixed expenses generally stay the same, or about the same, every month regardless of what the production and collections does. So in a dental practice, we’re producing, we’re delivering dentistry, we’re collecting that money. And we have these fixed expenses such as, I already mentioned, our team. So payroll expenses typically one of those things that are about the same every month, you know doesn’t really fluctuate much. So, our rent, our occupancy… pretty much stays the same. We can plan on that every month. And then our equipment, and our build-out loan.” The three expenses above are the big, fixed expenses in a dental practice. These likely aren’t much different from other businesses. A retail store, for example, is likely paying the same fixed expenses—payroll, rent, and leased equipment.  [27:17] “Then we have our variable expenses, and in dentistry I have four categories for those variable expenses.” Those categories include: Supplies Lab costs (where tests are run, for example) Marketing Business admin expenses—credit card fees, telephone bills, etc.  Because these things are variable, you actually have the most control—contrary to what you may think. Barb’s advice is to start with these variable expenses (since your fixed expenses aren’t going anywhere). You do this by determining what your supply budget is and planning out what you will buy.  Put Systems in Place Anything you can do to increase efficiency and reduce costs helps everyone in the dental practice benefit. Barb often recommends that dentists who are interested in providing bonuses to their team create a separate team profit account. Then, if all expenses are paid and everything stays within the spending plan, once a quarter you can pay out profits to the team members.  Even better, if the team knows that there is a profit-sharing system in place, you can put them in charge of ordering supplies. Then they have incentive to work hard to stay within the spending plan and have what’s necessary for operation. The office becomes more efficient, and the employees know they get to reap the rewards too. Then finally, go through your line items and decide how to change spending. Determine what’s necessary for quality care, and remove what’s unnecessary, or get better prices or more efficient tools. Rather than having fiver different tools with five different functions, try finding tools with multiple functions. Ultimately, patients do not stay with your practice because of the tools or technology you have. This is true for dentists, chiropractors, or any other professional service. Clients stay with you because they have a good relationship with you.  Why “Profit First”?  [46:35] “[Profit First] is a cash flow management system that helps entrepreneurs understand that they have to flip the equation and set aside some money first, before paying all their bills. Because if you leave that money in one account, our nature is we will spend it. If we divide it up into multiple accounts, and we know what the purpose of those accounts are, our natural human behavior is that we will follow that system.” Links Mentioned Barb’s website More to Life Dental where you can: Pre-Order Barb’s Profit First for Dentists, Sign up for her Masterclass webinar, and join her email list. Dentist’s Only Facebook Group Profit First for Dentists Facebook Page Email Barb at barb@moretolife.dental  About Barbara Stackhouse Barb puts relationships and the success of others at the heart of all she does. Her focus is on teaching dentists the simple skills required for a highly profitable practice. Her profitability model uses the Profit First System. Dentists choose Barb when they want to take control of their finances once and for all. They want proper solutions using simple steps. They are seeking sustainable profits for years to come. Barb supports entrepreneur dentists through her training and coaching programs. Before embarking on her own entrepreneurial journey, Barb enjoyed many years as a hygienist in private practice dentistry. Those years in private practice helped her to understand the stresses that come along with running a busy practice. Her education includes a BS in Dental Health Education and a MS degree in educational leadership.  Barb is also a seasoned coach and consultant, having worked alongside Dr. Michael Schuster at The Schuster Center for Professional Development. Her experience and credentials have provided her with insights and real-world solutions to her client’s problems.  She is the founder and owner of More to Life Dental, where she lives out her passion for empowering dentists to take control of the financial and business side of their practice. Barb has a passion for life itself and enjoys time with her boys… 3 little grandsons who light up her life in big ways!  Bottom line is this: Barb knows the ins and outs of running a busy dental practice.She loves taking what might seem complex to some and making it simple.   Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Have you heard Dave Ramsey’s opinion of Infinite Banking and Whole Life Insurance? He says it’s a scam, a joke, hogwash, horrendous, a pile of manure, old school life insurance done poorly, a jumbled word picture, you can’t cut through the BS, screwing people, and just doesn’t feel right. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnbs0iANdMU Today, we’ll separate opinion from fact, so you can decide based on knowledge and understanding. So if you want to find out why the wealthy and independent thinkers have been using the profound guarantees and wealth-building strategy of Infinite Banking for centuries … tune in below! Table of contents Are Insurance Agents Financial Advisors? How Do Mutual Companies Work? What is a Dividend, and How is it Non-Taxed? Are You Paying for Your Own Money? What Happens When You Die? Is Whole Life Insurance Expensive?  Summing Up What Dave Ramsey Says About Infinite Banking Book A Strategy Call Dave Ramsey does a lot of good for a lot of people—he helps them to get out from under crippling debt and create better money habits. However, he has famously spoken against Infinite Banking, or what we often refer to as Privatized Banking.  Are Insurance Agents Financial Advisors? When met with a question about whole life insurance, Dave Ramsey was not thrilled about the idea, to say the least. However, his first criticism was that the advisor who recommended insurance was only an insurance agent and not a financial advisor or planner. However, most insurance agents often have other certifications—like CFP (certified financial planner) or a Series 65 (for giving financial advice).  Just because someone is able to sell insurance does not mean they can’t sell investments or give advice. Insurance is simply one certification. How Do Mutual Companies Work? Mutual life insurance companies are what infinite banking works with. Dave correctly identifies the difference between mutual companies and stock companies. Policy owners own mutual companies, while stockholders own stock companies. This means that mutual companies pay profits to the policy owners, while stock companies pay profits to stockholders. This is where his accuracy stops.  According to Dave Ramsey: “If you are the owner of the company and you’re also a customer of the company, and the only place the company gets money is from the customers that are owners, and they give you money from profit, by definition, that means it’s because they took too much from you as a customer. There wouldn’t have been a profit otherwise.” This, however, is not true. The life insurance companies make profits outside of premiums paid into life insurance policies. Companies also make money from their conservative investments–many of which are corporate and treasury bonds, as well as derivatives, mortgage backed investments, and some equities.  Policy owners receive dividends based on these profits after policy expenses. It’s not accurate to say that premiums are the only profits. His understanding of mutual companies is not accurate. What is a Dividend, and How is it Non-Taxed? Dave Ramsey says, “So the IRS has deemed, consequently, that mutual life insurance company dividends are not dividends, in the true sense of a dividend, that they are instead, and this is the IRS’s language ‘the refund of a deliberate overcharge.’ So they overcharge you in order to give you some money later and make you feel like you’re making money off of them. And it’s absolute hogwash. It’s a pass-through. Mathematically, it’s a pass-through. It’s the way it has to be, it’s the legal definition the freaking company, and the IRS says so.” The reasons the government considers dividends non-taxable because they are considered a refund of overcharged premium, but it’s important to realize that not all the dividend is an overcharge. And the government decides not to create a taxable event because they want to incentivize people to have insurance.  Here’s the bottom line—if dividends were only a return of premium, you would never receive more than what you paid into a given year. However, if you look at an illustration, you will eventually come to a point where your policy’s cash value far exceeds what you’ve paid into your policy total.  Are You Paying for Your Own Money? Next, Dave raises an objection to the policy loan provision. He says, “You’re borrowing your own money, and you’re paying them interest?! This is Infinite Banking for them!” While he raises a valid concern, policy loans are commonly misunderstood. Your cash value is accessible to you, however, it’s ideal to access your cash value through a loan so that your account can compound uninterrupted. When you take a policy loan, you’re actually borrowing the company’s money, using your cash value as collateral. This means that your entire cash value can continue to earn interest and dividends at its full capacity. You’re paying the company an interest rate to allow your cash value to grow uninterrupted.  What Happens When You Die? A huge component of whole life insurance is that it pays a death benefit to your loved ones when you pass on. This can help your spouse, children, or other loved ones continue to support themselves in a time of hardship.  Dave Ramsey, however, dismisses your cash value as something that “dies with you.” He claims that when the death benefit is paid out, the cash value vanishes. The ideal way to view the cash value of your policy is that it’s the useable portion of your death benefit. Cash value is like equity in a home. Your home equity is a portion of the full value of your house, not a separate entity. If you sell your house, you don’t get your home value plus the equity. Instead, you receive a check for the sale price, which includes equity, less any remaining balance on your mortgage. Just like with your house, when you die, your beneficiaries get the death benefit, which includes your cash value. Is Whole Life Insurance Expensive?  Dave says, “So you’re dealing with one of the most expensive insurance products in the marketplace if you’re dealing with either of those two companies, I would stay completely away from both of them.” We think that expensive is a poor way to describe whole life insurance, for a few reasons. First, permanent insurance is guaranteed to pay out—death is not a possibility, it’s a certainty. Because the company knows they’ll pay out one day, your premiums cover the cost of insurance (which they use to invest). Then, you have access to part of this death benefit your whole life, with the ability to leverage it for growth.  On the other hand, term insurance is temporary coverage that rarely pays out, offers no additional benefits. You’re paying into a policy that may offer nothing other than peace of mind. Then you have investments that Dave Ramsey recommends. While there’s potential for gains, there’s also great potential for loss. Stock market returns are not a certainty, not even the 12% returns he speaks about frequently.  In that context, is whole life insurance really expensive?  Summing Up What Dave Ramsey Says About Infinite Banking We want to reiterate that Dave does a lot of good for a lot of people! Debt can be a big burden to deal with, and he helps people learn to navigate debt. However, much of the information he shares about whole life insurance and infinite banking is misguided and inaccurate.  We think facts are extremely important, so that you can form your own opinion. After all, you belong in the driver’s seat of your financial picture. Take what you learn, separate it from opinion, and learn to apply it to your own personal economy. That’s how you’ll get results and accomplish what you’re aiming for! Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Do you want to make more money this year? Today, we’re talking with Rabbi Daniel Lapin, author of Thou Shall Prosper — Ten Commandments for Making Money, one of the deepest and most profoundly philosophical books about the wisdom you need to be successful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTujheo9dAk So if you want to learn about the steps that make success possible and make more far more money than you’re making right now… tune in now! Table of contents The 10 Commandments (of Making Money) Business is Not Piracy  Biblical Wisdom as a Foundation Thou Shall Prosper (and Be Happy) Charging Interest The Most Important Thing To Starting a Business Spiritual Characteristics Rabbi Daniel Lapin Book A Strategy Call We’re excited to bring you a unique guest who may surprise you. Rabbi Daniel Lapin is more than just a man of faith, he’s also an accomplished speaker, scholar, and author of a book on our favorite topic—Prosperity.  The 10 Commandments (of Making Money) While most financial books focus on returns and strategies and products, Thou Shall Prosper is a deeply profound look at the philosophical underpinnings of success and wealth. The book sprung into being after a series of lectures Rabbi Daniel Lapin gave on socio-political topics, when his most frequently asked question was, “How come Jews are so good with money?”  It was a question many were sheepish to ask, yet it gave the Rabbi cause to study the question. Especially when he realized he did not have the answer readily at hand. And so he pursued the history of the financial success of many Jews, and in the process debunked many of the bogus explanations.  He boiled his research down to one truth:  [7:43] “It is that the vast catalogue of ancient Jewish wisdom embedded in the Hebrew scriptures, that have been part and parcel of Jewish culture. Whether it’s a man, dedicated sages who study the word diligently, or whether it’s among secularized Jews whose conversation around the dinnertable revolves around the way they raise their families and inculcate their children. All reflect these intrinsic values and so, in a nutshell, that’s what it was. And I worked as hard as I worked in my life to condense all of that into ten fundamental principles.” Business is Not Piracy  In his research, Rabbi Daniel Lapin learned many Jews became pirates in the 17th century. They pillaged and plundered and built a trove of treasure. Then when they were ready to retire from piracy, they funded churches or other projects to reenter society peacefully. It’s dangerous to compare modern day business to the same model. The wealthy should not have to buy their way back into polite society. Today, people compare businesses to this same model, despite being very different from piracy. Businesses are lauded for their donations, yet criticized for their income. Giving to charity should be a moral act, and it cannot “right” something that is not inherently wrong, like making money. [13:02] “If giving charity is giving back to society, then what the hell were you doing to society when you were making money in the first place?” No one complains athletes make too much. Yet people complain about CEOs—they do specialized work and are the linchpin of many major decisions.  Biblical Wisdom as a Foundation Our world as we know it is based on principles and ideas found in the Bible. [23:50] “So ancient Jewish Wisdom explains that—that is the way that it teaches and explains that—you’re not allowed to exploit a lack of information in a business transaction that isn’t transparent. And so, I’m actually prohibited from offering you a price for your property without disclosing to you that I’m aware that there is a plan development or infrastructure that is going to be built there that is going to increase the value of your property—I am not allowed to make you an offer for it without disclosing that information.” In the same way, there’s a verse in Genesis 2 that says gold is very good. This is one reason that gold became a method of monetization. On its own, it has no intrinsic value. Yet we’ve interpreted the scriptures in a way that makes gold valuable to us. [25:50] “It’s just that from time immemorial, people read that God said gold is good.” Rabbi Daniel Lapin also points out that when God says it’s not good to be alone, it is not simply regarding marital prospects, like Adam and Eve. It also explains the human need for connection—it is not good to be solitary.  Thou Shall Prosper (and Be Happy) [27:59] “Many people say money doesn’t make you happy. And, you know, that is a mistake. It’s like saying a car doesn’t drive you anywhere. Well, yeah, it doesn’t. You’ve got to put gasoline in it, you’ve got to put a driver behind the wheel, but yes, with those provisos a car absolutely does get you places. There are certain provisos with respect to money as well, and with those provisos in place, money makes you very, very, very happy. “And the chief, and most important, of those provisos is that you have to make the money yourself. And I think we all know what happens to families who win the lottery. I know you may have contradictory information, but I do not know of a single instance of people who won the lottery, and two years later were happier and better off for it.”  Charging Interest Another component of our conversation with Rabbi Daniel Lapin involves the stigma of charging interest. He points out that the bible does not say you cannot charge interest; it says that you should not charge interest without disclosing all the information. This understanding allowed a lot of Jewish people to go into banking with a mind for commerce and how to provide loans in a way that benefits many.  [31:06] “You see, as part of God’s love of connection, he prefers equity to debt.” When you owe someone money, you cross the street to avoid them—that’s debt. However, when you have an equity investor in your business, you seek them out because your interests align. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Debt can cause rifts, while equity can strengthen bonds.  The Most Important Thing To Starting a Business [32:49] “I think the most important thing is that there is no one important thing. Because business and life are far too complex to be operated on the basis of a silly slogan. There are profound and consequential principles that you need to wrap your entire being around. And one of them, for instance, is that if you consider business to be a reprehensible activity [you cannot succeed].” For each of us to be successful, we must believe, honestly, that we are doing something great for others. Because, if you view yourself as a thief and a pirate, you will not be very successful in your industry. Find your specialty, find your area of interest, and make it worthwhile to the world. Then, if you’re good at what you do, and have a passion, you’ll be paid for it.  Spiritual Characteristics There’s more to making money than a simple transaction. You must build relationships to make money—whether personal, business to business, or even on a “brand” level. Giving value, being skilled, and finding opportunities are components of wealth. These qualities simply scratch the surface. These are the spiritual qualities of money, the things that you express that are valuable—optimism, integrity, ingenuity, and more. You are not a thief for making money. You bring innate skills to the table in order to make that money. Your wealth can reflect your spiritual qualities.  Rabbi Daniel Lapin Rabbi Daniel Lapin is an author, speaker, and TV host. He immigrated to the United States from South Africa after studying mathematics, physics, and economics in Israel and the United Kingdom. His books include America’s Real War, Business Secrets from the Bible, and Thou Shall Prosper-The Ten Commandments for Making Money. All have been translated into Chinese and Korean. Rabbi Lapin is a frequent speaker for trade groups, political and civic organizations, financial conferences, and companies around the globe. He regularly appears on radio and television shows. Newsweek magazine included him in its first list of America’s fifty most influential rabbis. His weekly podcast now enjoys over 100,000 downloads, as do his weekly columns. With his wife Susan, he hosts the daily TCT television show Ancient Jewish Wisdom. An enthusiastic boater who has sailed his family across the Pacific, Rabbi Daniel Lapin lives in Maryland. With him, he has his seven children that he and his wife homeschooled. His website is www.YouNeedaRabbi.com   Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Right now, you have a fantastic opportunity to use whole life insurance as a place to store cash, build capital reserves, get better than bank rates on savings, AND the ability to earn never-ending compound interest, even WHILE you’re using the same money for something else. And you don’t have to qualify to access your capital. You can thank the 7702 Plan for that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lMnZARrqys But is this long-time financial bunker of the wealthy about to become an obsolete vintage classic? The recent spending bill Trump signed into law went into effect on January 1, 2021. As a result, we’ll be seeing some critical changes to the IRS code that has made Privatized Banking such a powerful opportunity.  There’s still much to be determined, but today, we’re looking at tax code changes and how they affect you. So if you want to find out what these changes mean for your ability to get the profound guarantees and wealth-building strategy of Privatized Banking… tune in below! Table of contents What is the 7702 Rule? What is a MEC? What’s Changing with 7702 Plans? MEC Qualifications Changes in Guarantees The Impact of the 7702 Plan Changes 7702 Plan Changes and MECS Did the 7702 Plan Change Destroy Privatized Banking? Book A Strategy Call What is the 7702 Rule? In short, this is the part of the tax code that enables Privatized Banking strategies with life insurance. The way life insurance has been defined in the past, according to the Federal Government, offers many tax advantages. Tax-deferred growth, which can sometimes be experienced tax-free if used properly, Tax-free policy loans, And an income-tax free death benefit. Because of these tax advantages, there is a provision that prevents whole life insurance from being abused. If too much premium is funneled in too quickly through Paid-Up Additions, a policy can become a modified endowment contract (MEC). What is a MEC? Up until the 80s, people were abusing the benefits of life insurance by purchasing a small face value, funneling in extra premium, and calling it life insurance. Then, they were reaping all the tax benefits. In 1984, the government put a stop to that by placing limits on over-funded policies. While still possible to do, once a policy becomes a MEC, it no longer carries the same tax advantages. The trick to Privatized Banking is to design policies with as much premium as possible, without a policy becoming a MEC. That way, you can get as much cash value as possible, while still reaping the benefits of tax advantages. What’s Changing with 7702 Plans? The bill, signed in December, went into effect in January. The 5,593 page document has taken time to wade through, but here’s what we now know. Regulations for what constituted a MEC are changing. MEC Qualifications Prior to this bill, a life insurance policy had to pass something called a 7-pay test to qualify. The test determines how quickly a policy could be considered “paid-up,” or fully funded. If your policy was paid-up within the first seven years of the policy, it would fail the test and become a MEC. Now, the MEC test will be based on a floating rate relative to the Prime rate. Changes in Guarantees One of the greatest strengths of a life insurance policy is certainty: there are guarantees built into the policy that keep your money secure—and growing. Previously, the minimum guaranteed interest rate on policy growth was 4%, however the government lowered that rate to 2%. However, it’s important to note that insurance companies have been successfully navigating a low-interest rate environment for a long time. And just because the floor has lowered does not mean rates can’t be higher. The Impact of the 7702 Plan Changes While these changes will affect policies going forward, it’s important to note that any policies currently in-force will not change. Life insurance is contractual, and companies are required to uphold current contracts. New policies, both whole life and universal life, will be affected. However, we see this as a positive change overall. Low bond yields overwhelmed insurance companies as they worked to meet their contractual obligations. This new minimum will allow insurance companies to continue to meet their guarantees in this low-interest-rate environment. It’s important that life insurance companies maintain their longevity and integrity, and the returns were almost too good for how low bond yields were in 2020. We want mutual companies to succeed, because it allows our policies to succeed, too. Remember, mutual insurance companies share profits with policy owners—if yields go up, so do dividends. The lower guarantee threshold allows companies to stay afloat in leaner times. 7702 Plan Changes and MECS One of the other powerful side effects of lower interest rates is that you can funnel in more premium dollars per death benefit without a policy becoming a MEC. In the long run, this can improve compounding, and in the early years of your policy makes more cash value available to you. This happens because of the cost of insurance. Based on the face value of the death benefit, and actuarial tables, the insurance company carefully calculates the cost of insurance. Base premiums are based on this calculation, and in the early years of a policy most of your premium goes to paying the cost of insurance. Paid-up additions allow you to funnel money in beyond that amount, which means more of your premium will go into your cash value. These additions can improve the amount available to you in early years. The downside is that your guaranteed cash values will be lower because of the lower guaranteed rate. Did the 7702 Plan Change Destroy Privatized Banking? Ultimately, we don’t think so. While adjustments will need to happen when designing new policies, we see this change as an opportunity to grow. The changes we see will contribute to the sustainability of mutual insurance companies, allowing more people to partake in the benefits of Privatized Banking for years to come. We think that’s a win. While some guarantees have changed, and the government has redefined MECs, the strongest aspects of permanent insurance have not been changed. Guarantees still exist, there are still tax advantages, and the policy loan remains. In other words, the way we use Privatized Banking strategies is unchanged. Only time will tell how some of these changes play out, and we look forward to seeing them unfold. Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

If you want to achieve the impossible, connect with the most powerful people in the world, achieve the next level in your business, strengthen your relationships, lead your community, and make an impact… listen in, because we’re talking with Steve Sims. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHXpuecDrjM Quoted as “The Real Life Wizard of Oz” by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazine, Steve Sims is the best-selling Author of BLUEFISHING—The Art of Making Things Happen, a sought-after coach, and a speaker at a variety of networks, groups and associations, as well as the Pentagon and Harvard—twice!  So if you want to transform your life, attract influencers and high net worth clients… tune in below! Table of contents Steve Sims The Number One Mindset Tip “You Are the Room You’re In” How to Grow Entering with a Solution Steve Sims’ Millionaire Parties A Note to Entrepreneurs Links Mentioned Book A Strategy Call Steve Sims Steve Sims is a master at helping people achieve the impossible with the most powerful people in the world. Or, if you ask him, he’d say he’s good at achieving the stupid, or the unexplained. That’s because, as Steve shares, once you label something as impossible, you’ve created a mental barrier for yourself. So if one thing is clear, Steve knows how to transcend the unthinkable, and impact the world.  Steve has had many paths in life, all of which hae led him to where he is now. For the last 25 years, he’s been in what is technically the concierge and spa business. In his own words: [2:27] “One of the famous stories everyone knows was I had a client who wanted to have a meal in Italy, and he wanted it to be unforgettable. And so I closed down the Academia, the Galleria in Florence, that houses Michel Angelo’s David. Set up a table of six at the feet of David. And halfway through the pasta I had Andrea Bocelli come in and serenade them. And so I’m basically the Make-A-Wish foundation for people with really, really, really big checkbooks.” Now, Steve acts as a mindset coach to help people get the clients that they deserve and want, rather than the clients they get.  The Number One Mindset Tip When asked what his number one mindset tip is, Steve answered to not identify the problem. Which at first may seem completely counterintuitive. That is because in his experience, people spend the bulk of their energy telling you why they can’t do something. Either they don’t have the money, or the time, or the resources.  The trick is to shift to how you can do something. The answer may be to set aside thirty minutes a day to reach your goal, or write grants to fund your project, or build more cash flow with a side hustle. Maybe, the solutions are far more creative than that, as Steve Sims shares with us in the interview. There’s an infinite number of solutions for an infinite amount of ideas—it just takes work and a vision.  As Steve says: [5:02] “Have you ever noticed that when you get into a room full of entrepreneurs, you’re at home?” That’s because the entrepreneurial mindset is energizing—it’s about innovation, creativity, and finding solutions. It’s the exact opposite of the—”Here’s why I can’t”—mindset.  “You Are the Room You’re In” You’ve likely heard the statement before—you’re a combination of the five people you spend the most time with. One of Steve Sims’ strategies, regardless of his position, has been to surround himself with wealthy people. This could be people of intellectual wealth or monetary wealth. This strategy has allowed him to grow, and to be the person with all the solutions, instantly making him one of the most valuable assets in a room of wealthy people. How to Grow [10:38] “Sometimes the greatest growth comes from the most devastating problems and mistakes and issues.” Later in our conversation, Steve shares a personal story of how he was flown to China for work, then fired. What seemed like a dark situation turned out to be a phenomenal opportunity that led him to being a bouncer and making connections with some of the most affluent customers in the establishment.  This growth was fueled by the idea that he could not remain stagnant. He is always seeking opportunities and solutions, so that he can becomes a better version of himself each day. [15:02] “I say, ‘If I don’t try to get there, I’m going to stay here.’ Whoa. I don’t want to be me, even today. You know, I live well, and I’m absolutely fine, but I don’t want to be me this time next year. And I remember someone saying to me the definition of Hell is to have met the man you could have been.” Entering with a Solution Steve Sims will tell you, he’s not a networker in the typical sense. He’s not about the watercooler talk or casual conversation, he’s all about solutions. That’s how he made some of his greatest connections—he didn’t enter a conversation until he had a solution to present.  Part of being the solution requires listening and paying attention—you must understand the problems people are facing, so you can position yourself to be the person to solve them. The second component is to ask questions.  The best question to ask, in Steve’s opinion, is “What would help?” You provide at least two solutions, so that you’re offering a choice. This removes the liability off of you–you’re not leaving room for an answer you don’t want, such as ‘”no.” If you can create a scenario in which the answer is what you want it to be, you’ve made yourself valuable. Steve Sims’ Millionaire Parties After Steve’s solution-finding epiphany, he started to throw parties exclusively for millionaires (in the 80s and 90s). Through these parties, he made a name for himself, and created a niche commodity for the types of people he wanted to work with. And he found new solutions to his own problems—one of which involved a liquor license. Steve Sims’ was required to have one to sell alcohol, which meant jumping through hoops. However, giving the liquor away did not require a license. So he made the alcohol free, and increased the ticket price from $500 to $1500. The parties became increasingly exclusive, and Steve ended up better for it because he didn’t dwell on the problem of “can’t.”  A Note to Entrepreneurs In closing our conversation with Steve Sims, we circle back to the story of dinner with Michel Angelo’s David. There’s a story beneath that popular anecdote that few people know. And that’s that as he was setting up this once-in-a-lifetime event, he got pushback from the museum curator all the way through.  When the night finally rolled around, everything was perfect. It could be called Steve’s magnum opus. And he asked the curator how he, Steve, of all people pulled it off. There were answers he expected to hear—he’s well connected, he’s passionate, he’s an accomplished negotiator. However, what the curator told him was that Steve was the first to have asked for these things.  At first, this deflated his ego a bit. This remarkable event was the first of its kind simply because no one had asked. Yet that detail was the lesson—until you ask for what you want, and pursue your dreams, they won’t exist. It’s not that they’re not possible, they simply have not happened yet. Links Mentioned https://www.stevedsims.com/book/ https://www.stevedsims.com/podcast/ https://www.stevedsims.com https://www.forbes.com/sites/petertaylor/2016/05/11/the-5-keys-to-success-from-the-man-with-the-worlds-coolest-job/?sh=ee63994550dd Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth… plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Americans are saving more money than ever, yet interest rates are at an all-time low. If you’re looking for the best place to save money, it might be time to stop saving with banks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl02XkqwwDg A recent CNBC article states: “In the midst of the coronavirus crisis, many Americans are spending less and saving more. At the same time, banks are paying next to nothing on those deposits.” Are you, too, looking to stash cash, but want to make sure you’re doing the most with your money? Today, we’re talking about this unspoken challenge from a fresh lens.  So if you want to learn about one of the best places to save money, so you don’t have to give up returns or resort to high risk in search of them… tune in below! Table of contents Why More People are Saving Interest Rates and the Federal Reserve  Decline of Customer Service Bank Accounts and Lending Where Is It Best to Save Money? Whole Life Insurance: Emergency Fund and Alternative High Yield Savings Account Why Isn’t it Mainstream? Book A Strategy Call Why More People are Saving Americans are saving more money than ever, yet savings rates in the banks are at an all-time low. So how does a scenario like this happen? We think primarily, COVID-19 has been an eye-opener for the world. On one hand, workers who were affected by job closures have likely realised that they didn’t have enough money saved to fall back on. While a tough lesson to learn, the fact that Americans have been successfully saving more money gives us hope. After all, having money saved is what enables you to weather economic storms (and seize opportunities when things are going well). On the other hand, business closures meant a lack of things to do. Movie theaters and aquariums closed, museums closed, and restaurants and shops closed. Pretty much all indoor, and many outdoor, businesses had to shut down for a good portion of the year. This also means that many families turned to other alternatives for entertainment, in other words: free. Hiking, swimming, and being outdoors became more popular. Americans started saving more money by default, because so many businesses put a halt on operations. So not only are people choosing to create better savings habits, they’re also creating better spending habits. Now that you have the money, it’s time to ask—where is the best place to put your money? Interest Rates and the Federal Reserve  A tumultuous economy means changing interest rates. The Federal Reserve controls interest rates, and in order to boost the economy, they’ve lowered rates dramatically—almost to zero. Meanwhile, they’ve also pumped trillions of dollars into the banks. Now, banks are at a surplus—meaning that overnight lending between banks is down, as are savings rates. In the past, banks and would use high-interest rates and “prizes” to incentivize opening accounts at their establishment. Now, with a surplus, there’s no need for banks to offer this incentive. High savings rates are the banks way of broadcasting that they want your money, and they’re willing to offer something in return. Now, banks can lower these incentives almost to zero, because they aren’t relying on that money to come in. We’re seeing a mis-match in supply and demand. While there’s a high demand for a safe place to store liquid cash, where it will also grow, there’s relatively low demand from banks for new accounts. Decline of Customer Service A decline in customer service is one of the unfortunate consequences of this low interest rate market. Because banks do not need new accounts, they are not incentivising new customers; this also means that there is no incentive for them to provide better customer service. Combine that with a high demand for saving and a pandemic, and the issue worsens. Lobbies are closed, drive-through lanes are cramped, and phone service is difficult. Bank Accounts and Lending Under normal circumstances, banks have higher interest rates on savings accounts and money market accounts because they do want your money. Ultimately, because that’s how they make theirs. You see, banks don’t lend their own money to their customers. They leverage their customers’ money—YOUR money. For example: If you deposit $100,000 into a savings account, making 0.05%, you’ll earn $50 on that deposit. Then, say that bank agrees to loan that same $100,000 to someone else for their mortgage. If they offer an interest rate of 3%, that’s $3,000 of interest. So the bank is making 60 times what they’re paying you in interest. In other words, for a $50 dollar investment in your savings account, they’ve made $3,000. We’re not arguing that the banks shouldn’t make a profit. However, we are saying that this is the reason for low interest rate markets—to bolster banks and get money recirculating. Yet what if you could store your money elsewhere, earn a better savings rate, and be able to leverage that money in the same way as the banks do? Because if the bank can do it, so can you.  Where Is It Best to Save Money? Utilizing a strategy we call Infinite Banking, you can do what the banks do, and at a better savings rate than you’ll get with the banks. It starts with a specially designed whole life insurance policy, with a mutual company. This concept that has been used for hundreds of years, yet it feels like it’s one of the world’s best-kept secrets. Why? Because today, it’s primarily the super wealthy who use this strategy. Whole Life Insurance: Emergency Fund and Alternative High Yield Savings Account To clarify, life insurance is not a savings account, however, it is the best place to store liquid capital that we have found. One of the great strengths of a whole life policy is the savings rate. Whole life insurance has a cash value benefit, on top of the death benefit. This is cash that you have access to while living and is guaranteed to grow each year. You can also receive non-guaranteed dividends, however, most companies have paid dividends for over a hundred years. To do what the banks do, you can take a policy loan. Rather than liquidating your cash value, you’re using your value as collateral to get a loan from the insurance company. When you withdraw money from a savings account or money market fund, you stop the full compounding growth of your money. When you take a whole life insurance policy loan, you keep your money in place so it can compound uninterrupted…and you still have money to use. Then, you can use that policy loan for cash flowing investments and opportunities. As Robert Kiyosaki says, you should look to use “other people’s money” (OPM) as often as possible. The more you can create situations of leverage, the more you can grow your wealth at the same time as you create new streams of income and cash flow.  Why Isn’t it Mainstream? One reason Privatized Banking strategies aren’t well-known is because insurance companies are very conservative with how they spend money. This says something about the strength of the insurance companies and how they’ve survived every economic downturn. One way these companies cut spending is by limiting their advertisements; instead, they rely on their producers or agents to do the advertising or word-of-mouth ads for them. Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

There is a major problem in the world today: it’s not people disagreeing with one another… it’s that they cannot disagree agreeably, civilly, and most importantly, persuasively! Here, at the end of a turned upside-down year, the gift we need most is a solution. That’s where The Go-Giver Influencer comes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtLxPvRHxZ4 In this interview, we’re talking with Bob Burg, co-author of The Go-Giver Influencer.  So if you want a way to find common ground where there appears to be only irreconcilable conflict, and get the secret to achieving your goals, this is the answer you’re looking for… tune in below! Table of contents Who “The Go-Giver: Influencer” is For What is Influence? Healing Political Rifts The 5 Secrets of Genuine Influence 1. Master Your Emotions 2. Step Into the Other Person’s Shoes 3. Set the Proper Frame 4. Communicate with Tact and Empathy 5. Let Go of Having to Be Right About Bob Burg Who “The Go-Giver: Influencer” is For Bob Burg, along with his co-writer John Mann, has now written four books about the “Go-Giver” parable. The first story is about the seemingly counterintuitive steps to success that can make a vast difference in your life. The Go-Giver Influencer is the second book which tells yet another parable of success, and important lessons about relationships. [5:09] “John and I… really wanted to take [the concept of] influence to a deeper level because of its importance. Now, in both of the other parables… influence was certainly a part of it. It was even law number three—the law of influence in The Go-Giver. So we have to really look at, ‘What is influence, and why is it important?’” The answer is people skills. Talent can only take you so far in business and in life. And of course, hard work keeps your talent honed. Yet without people skills, you’ll have a hard time making actual progress toward your goals. Everything we do in life is filtered through the relationships we have with other people. That is where The Go-Giver Influencer comes into play. What is Influence? [8:18] “I think that’s the essence of influence, it’s pull. Pull as opposed to push, right? As in, how far can you push a rope? And the answer is not very fast or effectively. Influencers don’t push… their will on others. They don’t try to push their ideas on others.” You can’t push your way to what you want—it won’t end well for anyone, nor is it sustainable. Influence is the art of pulling, or better yet attracting, people. In fact, the best influencers do this genuinely, because they understand that there’s power behind being inviting. [10:20] “[Genuine influencers] will ask themselves questions. How does what I’m asking this person to do… align with their goals? With their needs, with their wants, their desires?… How am I helping them overcome a challenge…Now, when we ask ourselves these questions thoughtfully, intelligently, genuinely, authentically—again, not as a way to manipulate another human being to our will, but as a way of building [inaudible]—[we earn] that person’s commitment, as opposed to trying to depend on some type of compliance.” Healing Political Rifts 2020 has been a tough, sometimes contentious year, and the rift between political affiliations has only grown. We’ve been most concerned by the conversations across political divides, which have put a strain on relationships of all types. And we’re even seeing a shift in the conversation. Between parties, we used to see, “I’m right, you’re wrong” discussions. Though not the healthiest outlook, there was still discussion. Now, the conversation is, “I’m right, you’re evil.” [18:44] “This is a totally different frame, and one which makes it nearly impossible to engage. Because you’re not going to engage with evil. Evil is incorrigible. There’s nothing you can do with evil. So because of that, what people have done on both sides is hunker down, listening only to the information that supports what they already believe.” This creates rifts, and healthy communication can’t take root in this type of environment. Healing these rifts and re-opening conversation begins with a willingness to engage. The second step is to try to understand where the other person is coming from, and why. This doesn’t mean you have to agree. Yet, you must attempt to understand those thought processes. The 5 Secrets of Genuine Influence 1. Master Your Emotions [22:09] “It’s only when we’re in control of our own emotions that we’re even in a position to take a potentially negative situation or person and turn it into a win for everyone involved. The challenge is, as human beings we’re emotional… Now, what we’re not saying is to deny your emotions…What we can say is, make sure you’re the master of your emotions and they’re not the master of you.” 2. Step Into the Other Person’s Shoes It’s easier said than done. [23:10] “The fact is, most of us don’t have the same size feet. So we literally can’t step into another person’s shoes. More importantly, we can’t figuratively step into another person’s mind, or set of beliefs, because we’re not them.” [24:18] “And the only way we can really step into another person’s shoes is to ask questions and then listen. Really listen. Listen not to shoot them down or to disagree, or to tap into our own biases…just listen.” 3. Set the Proper Frame [25:00] “A frame is simply the place where it all begins. The frame can be defined as the premise; the foundation from which everything else takes place.” To have productive conversations, have the right foundation. Just as you must master your emotions, you must also be intentional about the environment you create. Before posting a retort on a Facebook post or making a quick comeback, consider how you want to frame your response and what sort of frame will give you the results you want. 4. Communicate with Tact and Empathy [29:51] “My dad always defined tact as the language of strength. Which I love, because it takes strength to not just blow up… Tact can really be defined as a way of communicating an idea to someone that they ordinarily would not be accepting of, in a way that, not only are they not defensive of you or your idea, but they’re open and accepting of considering your idea. Empathy is what makes this possible, because it means that we realize this person feels a different way than we do. And we may not understand their feeling exactly because we’re not them, but we can understand they’re feeling something.” 5. Let Go of Having to Be Right [30:40] “We don’t mean, don’t care about being right, okay? Of course, you want to be right; you want to prepare to be right, you want to have the information to be right, but let go of your attachment to having to be right… Because when we’re not open to this, we become that person, ‘My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with the facts.’ And that person can never learn. When we’re at least open to not having to be right, we go into learners mode. And we can actually equip ourselves with the information to be more right, more times.” You also broadcast to those you’re speaking with, and those watching that you’re seeking truth, not just seeking a winnable argument. About Bob Burg Besides coauthoring the bestselling Go-Giver books with John David Mann, Bob has authored several popular books, including the critically acclaimed, Endless Referrals: Network Your Everyday Contacts Into Sales and Adversaries into Allies. His total book sales are well over a million copies. The American Management Association named Bob one of the 30 Most Influential Leaders and he is one of Inc.’s 100 Great Leadership Speakers. Richtopia named him one of the Top 200 Most Influential Authors in the World. Bob is an advocate, supporter, and defender of the free enterprise system and believes that the amount of money one makes is directly proportional to how many people one serves. He is also an unapologetic animal fanatic, and served on the board of directors of Furry Friends Adoption & Clinic in his hometown of Jupiter, Florida. For more information, articles and free resources, please visit www.burg.com. Find Out Your Next Step to Time and Money Freedom Do you want to use Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We would love to help you.   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/. By the way, to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth … plus gives you the ability to have your money do 2 things at the same time, boosting your investment returns.  Go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

If you’re planning to leave an inheritance to your children, there’s a new rule in the Secure Act that will probably cause your kids to pay more taxes if you pass on your retirement plan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yQ22dT2H6I Today, we’re discussing how the Secure Act, passed in 2019, affects your retirement plans and may front-load taxes to kids who inherit these plans.  If you want to know what the Secure Act is, how it applies to you, and what you can do about it… tune in below!   Table of contents The Key Takeaways of the Secure Act Contributions Part-time Workers Get 401(k) Options Tax Breaks Parental Aid The Secure Act and IRAs How the Secure Act Impacts Inheritance Maximize Your Inheritance Book A Strategy Call If you have an IRA, the following changes to the tax laws are important for you to know. These changes can affect how your inheritance is distributed from an IRA, making it prudent to reassess your financial strategy. We want to help you continue to maximize your retirement and still leave an inheritance, should you choose. Staying on top of the changes and making some smart pivots can save you and your family on heavy tax penalties down the road.  We have designed this article as an overview of the changes so that you can meet with your CPA and financial advisors with confidence. It’s always crucial to be informed, yet work with a professional on the specifics. The Key Takeaways of the Secure Act Before we can dive too deep into the impact of these changes, and what you can do differently, it’s important to look at what those changes are. Contributions Previously, you could make contributions to your traditional IRA until age 70 ½. Now, you can make those contributions indefinitely. This also means that you don’t have to take your required minimum distributions (RMDs) until age 72. The implications could be an increase in taxes, for two reasons: Your account has more time to grow. While growth is good, this also raises your tax liability. That two-year window (or more) gives room for tax brackets to change, and it’s more likely that taxes will increase than decrease. So if you’re taking a higher distribution, and the taxes increase, the tax hit could feel even greater. Part-time Workers Get 401(k) Options In the past, part-time workers were not eligible for 401(k) plans. Now, the Secure Act has created a provision for long-term part-timers to make contributions to a 401(k). This broadens the scope of who is eligible for government-sponsored retirement plans, which could entice more people to participate.  Those who are eligible? Anyone who works 1,000 hours in a year, or who has worked 500 hours a year for three consecutive years.  Tax Breaks The Secure Act also rolled in some tax breaks, many specifically for businesses. One of the bigger breaks is for businesses who set up automatic enrollments for employees. This means that rather than opting into a 401(k) plan, employees may have to opt-out.  Parental Aid Along with other changes, a provision was added that will allow parents to withdraw $5,000 without penalties, to help cover birth and adoption fees. This can help offset some of the typical costs of new parenthood.  This is significant, because in the past any withdrawals from a qualified plan before a certain age would incur a penalty. Similarly, parents will now be able to withdraw up to $10,000 annually without penalty from a 529 plan to repay student loans. The Secure Act and IRAs One of the reasons provided for the change in required minimum distributions, is that people are living longer. Often, people are working longer, too. On one hand, this allows the money more time to grow, and helps it go farther in retirement. On the other hand, it also raises questions about the tax implications in the long-run.  We think one of the most prudent questions to ask yourself is: “If I’m not paying this tax on my income today, what will that tax implication be in the future?” Because unfortunately, tax-deferment isn’t a free pass. While there are some strategies in which a deferral makes sense, there are other factors to consider, such as: Will your income increase over time? Will taxes increase over time? Can you afford to live your current lifestyle on the interest of your IRA or 401(k)? How much do you want to leave to your heirs? (And how much will be taxed?) How the Secure Act Impacts Inheritance With an inherited IRA, we can see one of the biggest changes. In the past, a non-spousal inheritance of an IRA could be taken in small distributions over the beneficiary’s lifetime. This was referred to as a stretch IRA. Now, that inheritance must be taken in full over 10 years. According to Investopedia, this will create an additional $15.7 billion of tax revenue for the government.  Our understanding is that you can either take these distributions incrementally over ten years, or in a lump sum at the beginning or end of the 10-year window. However, this is taxed as ordinary income. So regardless of how you take these distributions, there’s a possibility that that income is taxed in a higher bracket. What we don’t know is how those brackets will change. Because not only can the percentage change, the margins of the brackets can change as well. This means that a well-intentioned inheritance can be less impactful than you intend it to be.  Maximize Your Inheritance When leaving an inheritance, we all want it to be as substantial as possible. When it’s undercut by taxes and fees, the impact we intend to make might not be possible. The Infinite Banking Concept with whole life insurance is one way to pass on a tax-free inheritance and ensure that your intentions are carried out.  This type of strategy gives you the freedom to spend and save more, while still leaving your children with a brighter future. And it works well with other assets and retirement accounts. Take control of your finances today and live a more empowered life with both freedom of time and money.  Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Curious about how investing in raw land could help you accomplish your financial goals? In this episode, we’re talking with Mark Podolsky, The Land Geek, the raw land investor who’s completed over 5500 land deals, with an average ROI of over 300% on cash flips, and over 1,000% on the deals he sells with financing terms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMB7SWZLyn8 So if you want to learn from a raw land investor who’s replaced his income and helped many other people do the same … tune in below! Table of contents How Do You Invest in Raw Land? Doing Your Due Diligence with Raw Land What Happens Next? How to Make Your Offer Irresistible Raw Land Creates Value The Risks of Raw Land Investments Privatized Banking and Raw Land About Mark Podolsky Links How Do You Invest in Raw Land? In our interview, Mark starts us out with a case study, using Bruce as a hypothetical. In this instance, Bruce lives in St. Louis, yet owns 10 acres of land in Texas. He also owes $200 of back taxes. He’s advertising two things here: no emotional attachment to that raw land, and there’s some sort of financial distress. You, as the raw land investor, would look at the comparable sales on his 10-acre parcel for the last 12-18 months. Then, you take the lowest comp divided by four, giving you what Warren Buffett would call a 300% margin of safety. Then you’ll send an actual offer. Pretend the lowest comp is $10,000. You would send an offer of $2,500. Chances are, Bruce will accept the offer, because it’s better than nothing. In Mark’s case, 3 out of 5 people typically accept his offers. Then it’s time to do his due diligence. Doing Your Due Diligence with Raw Land When Mark Podolsky talks about due diligence, here’s what he means: Does “Bruce” still own the property? Are the back taxes only $200? What’s the ingress and egress? Are there any breaks in the title’s chain? Are there liens or encumbrances? Is there legal access? What are the neighbors doing? How far is the property from other services? What are the roads like? What is compelling about the property? It’s crucial that before you make an investment on a property, you know all the important factors. You can also enlist help: Mark himself outsources this step to his team in the Philippines, because they are connected to an American title company. It’s not costly either. For larger investments, working with an American title company directly is beneficial. Or you can even outsource through Craigslist. Taking the time or spending the resources to vet your land thoroughly will pay off in the long run. What Happens Next? The trick to raw land investments, after you vet the property, is to sell in 30 days or fewer. Then, you can make it cash flow similarly to a rental property, and be ready to invest in the next plot of land. So who do you sell to? Fortunately, with raw land, you have built-in buyers: the neighbors. Intrinsically, the neighbors are going to have an interest in this land more than anyone else to start.  They may want it to protect their privacy, or to build out their estate. Giving them the first pass can often have a huge payout. Should that not pan out, you have several other options to find buyers. Start with your buyer’s list, then you can start looking online: Craigslist Facebook Marketplace (or buy/sell groups) Land sale websites How to Make Your Offer Irresistible How you package and sell the land makes the offer irresistible. You ask for a $2,500 down payment and recoup your investment. Then, Mark recommends this: a monthly payment of $449 over 84 months at 9% interest. This way, you have a onetime sale, earn your capital back, and then you have monthly cash flow without renters, renovations, or rehabs. Because you’re not dealing with tenants, you’re also exempt from Dodd Frank, RESPA, and the SAFE Act. [13:28] “The game we play is, can we create enough of these land notes, where our passive income exceeds our fixed expense, and now we’re working because we want to, not because we have to?” Raw Land Creates Value One of the many benefits to raw land investing is that it doesn’t just line your own pockets. You’re fulfilling the needs of the seller. In our case study, Bruce was looking for a way out—he wanted to be free of the land and get caught up on his taxes. Then, you have buyers with a need, so you’re also solving their problem. It’s a win for all sides. Nor can you forget about the county region. The county collects more tax revenue this way, so you’re helping to improve schools, hospitals, and county services as well. There’s value all the way down the line. The Risks of Raw Land Investments The first risk of investing in raw land is the environmental risk. Before buying any property, there’s another component to add to your “due diligence” list. Go to the epa.gov site to ensure you’re not buying a Superfund site. A Superfund site is a site that ensures that the company that pollutes the land is liable for cleaning it up. If you buy it, it does not make you liable, however, it can complicate the selling process. The second risk to raw land is overpaying. You make your money on the buying of the property, so if you’re not paying 25-30 cents on the dollar, you’re overpaying. People will accept offers like that because they’re often trying to rid themselves of that land. Mark equates it to selling off the clutter in your garage. [26:20] “Close your eyes and picture your garage right now, okay? And imagine I sent you an offer on all that stuff in your garage [for] 25-30 cents on the dollar. How happy would you be to accept that offer? Now yeah, you could go and try to take pictures of each item in your garage and try to sell them on OfferUp or eBay, but you’re busy. Right? That’s not what you want to do. It’s the same thing with the people who own raw land. They don’t want to learn how to market their own land.” Privatized Banking and Raw Land The power of the deals that Mark structures is that he recoups his investment immediately upon selling. So his monthly cash flow is pure profit. If you combine that with the power of the Infinite Banking Concept, you can continue to leverage your cash value repeatedly and pay your initial investment back. This means that you can do more deals more quickly, because you are borrowing against your value and not carrying the loan for long periods of time. About Mark Podolsky Armed with only $3,000, gut-wrenching fear, and absolutely no real estate experience… Mark bought his first few parcels of raw land in 2001. Today Mark is the author of Dirt Rich, the ultimate guide to helping you build a passive income. He’s also the owner of Frontier Properties, a very reputable and successful land investing company, and has been buying and selling land full time since 2001. By focusing on working smart, not hard, he has completed over 5,500 land deals with an average ROI of over 300% on cash flips, and over 1,000% on the deals he sells with financing terms. Prior to his land investing success, Mark had a high-stress, soulless corporate job, and felt trapped in a state of solo-economic-dependency (i.e. his income stopped as soon as he stopped working). Escaping solo-economic dependency changed Mark’s life in so many positive ways that he decided to teach, coach and mentor others to help them achieve their financial goals. Even though Mark invests a lot of his time helping others, he stays actively involved in running his land investing business, and is dedicated to teaching the most current and relevant “real world” land investing methods to his students. Links The Land Geek , Mark’s company Mark’s course, “Wholetailing” (available free to our listeners) Mark’s email: mark@thelandgeek.com Find Out Your Next Step to Time and Money Freedom Do you want to use Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We would love to help you.   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/. By the way, to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus gives you the ability to have your money do 2 things at the same time, boosting your investment returns.  Go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Most people never maximize their full financial potential. That means they don’t accumulate the assets they could, and what they do save and invest isn’t protected and gets eroded too quickly. Then they take distributions in a way that shrinks their income, and they’re always trying to outrun the fear of running out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2qIGF_hwn4 Sound too close for comfort? This doesn’t have to be you.  We’re talking with another of our stellar advisors on The Money Advantage team, Scott McCright. You’ll hear the tenured experience he’s gained in over 27 years of working with clients, and his approach as an educator, strategist, and engineer. So, if one of your goals for the NEW YEAR is a fresh start financially, where you take ownership and lock in a plan you’re CONFIDENT will maximize your potential and do the most with your money… tune in below! Table of contents Introducing Scott McCright Defining Financial Freedom Strategizing for Full Financial Potential Mindset Matters Opportunity Cost Reach Your Financial Potential with Privatized Banking Book A Strategy Call As we usher in this New Year, it’s time to think about your finances with fresh eyes. We recommend starting by zooming out: by looking at the big picture of your finances, you can maximize your lifestyle with efficiency. That means maximizing your income, your protection, your assets, and ultimately, realizing your full financial potential. To do that, you have to know how the pieces fit together.  Today, we’re sharing with you a way to think differently.  Introducing Scott McCright Scott is a member of the team here at The Money Advantage and offers a really valuable perspective to our clients. What we’ve seen time and time again is that he treats everyone as he would treat his friends. And that is so crucial to our mission here at The Money Advantage and treating finance like a team sport. After spending time in the Navy, Scott transitioned into the financial services world in 1993. He started first in insurance, and then moved to securities, when he had a realization. He was seeing time and time again that everyone was told to do exactly the same things. The advice wasn’t tailored for the individuals, and no one was really hitting it out of the park either. How could everyone expect to have different results when they were making the same mistakes? So he joined hands with other professionals, to see if there was a better way to help people.  [7:25] “I’m a big believer in, ‘There’s not one specific product that’s going to get you where you want to go.’ It’s more in the how and the why you do things than it is the where.” Defining Financial Freedom The financial landscape has gone through many changes over the last few decades, though people can more or less agree on one thing: they are looking for financial freedom. We think one of the best places to start, as highlighted by Scott’s quote above, is figuring out your “how” and “why.”  Get clear on what you want. What does financial freedom look like to you? What will you be able to do once you reach financial freedom, that you cannot do now? There are a few things that happen here when you get really clear on your vision. The first is, you can create a plan, or a strategy. If you’re working with a team of advisors, bringing your ideas to the table can be a great asset to the process. The next thing that happens is, you create a sort of discipline, because you’ve pinpointed the future that you want for yourself. You’re motivated, rather than defeated by what you don’t have.  This combination pulls you out of the narrow view and allows you to think about your big picture finances. It’s easier to create long-term strategies to reach your full financial potential when you’re working toward specific dreams. This is the time to make sure that all the pieces and parts of your financial life are going to work together to get you there.  Strategizing for Full Financial Potential [10:03] “I think everybody always says taxes, well—taxes are a big thing… I’m a big believer in thinking, well okay, if I’m going to climb the mountain, I’ve got to have a way to get back down. People don’t plan for that, they plan on going up, but they don’t plan on coming down. And that’s where people fail.” Strategy is an important part of your financial life. From income, to taxes, to acquiring assets—you must know where you’re going. Or to pull from Steve’s analogy, you have to know how to go up the mountain and how to come back down.  It’s easy, too, to put it all on paper and know what you’ll do over the next 30 years. Except life happens over that time, and you must be flexible. Scott says: [11:09] “I always tell people, you know, life gets in the way over those next 30 years, so don’t get discouraged if the plan has to change slightly. But you do have to have goals and aspirations and some discipline to get where you want to go. And that is why working with a financial professional is like the checkup, going to the doctor all the time.” Mindset Matters [16:19] “I think one of the problems I see more than anything else is, for some reason, people are taught to live in a scarcity mindset. So they’re making decisions based on reaction.” To reach your financial potential, it’s wise not to be reactionary in your approach. Often, those reactive decisions come from a place of fear or emotion, rather than logic. You can also call this a scarcity mindset—where you live in a state of “not enough,” which affects your financial decision making accordingly. Our goal is to help foster an abundance mindset, where you look for and see opportunities to reach greater prosperity.  Operating from a state of abundance, no matter your financial circumstance, allows you to slow down and think about the best next step for prosperity. So when the stock market crashes, you’re not jumping to move money around out of fear. Instead, you can take the time to move confidently in the best possible direction. Money is not a finite pie, though it may feel like it sometimes. Especially if you’re allocating every dollar to a place on your budget. Abundance thinking is about assessing what you have and asking yourself how you can maximize the use of it so that you can create more streams of income and more assets.  Opportunity Cost [21:17] “The one thing I think people miss is that every financial decision that they have to make—whether it’s daily, weekly, monthly, annually—has a direct impact on every other decision they have to make.” You’ll have to make tough calls sometimes, like buying a new refrigerator, or fixing your car, where you must pull money out from somewhere. It’s important to remember that you finance everything you buy. In Scott’s words: [22:07] “We either spend cash and lose the earning ability on that cash, or we borrow people’s money and pay them interest for the use of it.”  So how do you use this principle of financing what you buy to make better decisions? You do what the wealthy do—you don’t relinquish control of your money. One way to do that is to create your own privatized banking system, using whole life insurance. Reach Your Financial Potential with Privatized Banking [25:04] “So what does life insurance do? It gives us tax favorable places to put our money that we can tap into today for other opportunities.” Other products make you relinquish control—a 401(k), traditional IRAs, the stock market—these are all designed with as little control for the consumer as possible. If someone asked you to play Monopoly with them, but reserved the right to change the rules whenever they wished, would you play? And yet the government designs qualified plans to change in their favor.  We’re not saying that it never makes sense to have a 401(k) or an IRA. However, whole life insurance is an ideal foundation because: You’re in control of your money You’re not penalized for accessing it It offers guaranteed growth and security Whole life insurance is one of the keys we use in our own finances at The Money Advantage. That’s because it creates a bridge to all other assets, and helps you to reach your full financial potential. Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Considering Infinite Banking, or IBC, but still a little skeptical? https://youtu.be/UNw8fUMhiNU In this episode, we’re talking with Dr. Robert P. Murphy, a free-market economist, who has testified before Congress on energy markets and monetary policy and has given many interviews on TV and radio. He is the author of hundreds of articles and several books on economic topics created for the layperson, including one of his most recent: The Case for IBC. So if you want to hear from a highly respected economist perspective just why Infinite Banking works … tune in below! In this episode on The Case for IBC, you’ll hear: How the Nelson Nash Institute came to be Common misconceptions about whole life insurance What Dave Ramsey gets wrong about “buy term, invest the difference” Why IBC is about more than just the rate of return The future of dividend rates And more! Table of contents In this episode on The Case for IBC, you’ll hear: The Nelson Nash Institute The Case for IBC Other Common Objections of IBC The Future of Dividend Rates Closing Remarks The Nelson Nash Institute [7:00] “Carlos and I wrote a book called, How Privatized Banking Really Works…. That phrase [Privatized Banking] was actually Carlos, his idea.” [8:23] “If you’re doing IBC, you’re not contributing to the problem, because the Austrian view is commercial banking that expands and contracts the credit supply. So if you’re…financing your purchases via policy loans, then you’re not contributing to the boom/bust cycle in the Austrian view.”  [8:58] “…Carlos and I were going around, giving presentations to the public and life insurance agents would hire us often to come do that, you know, presumably knowing that they were going to be able to sell more if we came and talked to a crowd about…the big picture here… And so over time we just realized this isn’t going to work. We need a more formal way of both, you know, training agents to make sure they know what Nelson’s principles are and how to design these policies correctly, but also so we feel comfortable… [putting] the public into the hands of certain life insurance professionals… So that was the birth of the IBC practitioners program.” You can find out more about Nelson Nash here: Nelson Nash: The Father of Infinite Banking (IBC) The Case for IBC [13:30] “… often this concept clicks with [business owners] sooner than with other people, is [because of] the importance of cash flow. So for like a salaried employee, you know, they kind of know every month how much money is coming in the door, and then they have their bills. And they’ve just got to make sure… [they] spend less each month than what’s coming in.” [15:20] “I came across a pretty sophisticated critique of IBC a while ago, from another economist, and he said, ‘You know, this concept actually makes sense. What they’re really doing here is using an asset as collateral to then borrow money from some other institution to finance their cash flow. And they happen to be using life insurance or using…the cash surrender value, and a dividend paying whole life insurance is the collateral… When in principle you could take your house, as long as you have a bunch of equity, and go to a commercial bank and take out either a home equity loan or a HELOC.'” “And so… the concept the economist was arguing was, ‘It has nothing to do with life insurance, and the only reason they’re doing it with life insurance is to get the commission.'” “So I go through and explain why, actually, that’s a perfect illustration of why Nelson was right to pick this vehicle or platform of a dividend paying whole life policy.” Other Common Objections of IBC [19:54] “So another common one is… ‘Oh everyone knows a whole life policy is a terrible place to put your money, you should buy term and invest the difference.’” [20:47] “The way we put it is that the whole life insurance policies are the platform upon which IBC is implemented. So yeah, if people don’t want their foundation, then they’re going to be hesitant to step onto it.” [22:06] “It’s going to be clear, we’re not arguing that you should never get a term policy… but virtually, you know, they are trying to make the other case saying that you should never get a whole life policy, it is always advantageous to buy term invest the difference…So the big issue is, it’s an apples to oranges comparison.” The Future of Dividend Rates [29:40] “My prediction is that the Feds are going to keep the interest rates low until the point at which the dollar starts significantly slipping against other currencies. And/or domestically, prices start rising such that…it’s too painful and they have to start ratcheting up rates to stem that.” [30:20] “They can’t just keep interest rates at one percent, if price inflation is running at eight percent. They’d have to raise rates just like they did in the late 70s, early 80s.” Closing Remarks [38:00] “It’s not a get rich quick scheme, it’s a get rich slowly scheme… Like it’s amazing how much the thing grows. That’s basically just the power of compound interest.” [38:30] “There are plenty of people who were up to their eyeballs in credit card or student loans or other types of debt. And they talked to somebody who knows how IBC works…[and they see] with the same cash flow, you can just rearrange what you’re doing and dig out of this much more quickly, and be on a better foundation. So I would just say to people, don’t think this is something that only pertains to wealthy people.” Organize Your Finances or Get Life Insurance Today Do you want to use Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We would love to help you.   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/. By the way, do you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus gives you the ability to have your money do 2 things at the same time, boosting your investment returns?  Go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more. Thanks for Tuning In! Thanks so much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below! Don’t forget to subscribe to the show to get automatic episode updates for The Money Advantage podcast! And, finally, please take a minute to leave us an honest review and rating on Apple Podcasts. It’s a quick way to pay it forward and help more people find our work. And I make it a point to read every single one of the reviews we get.

Want to optimize your money and maximize your wealth and income for life, and curious about how we can help?  Been listening for a while and want to learn more about our company and what we can do for you? Today, we’re taking you behind the scenes of The Money Advantage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pS5o1gL_vzE So, if you want to get to know us, what we do, and why we do this work … tune in below! Table of contents “Why” The Money Advantage Rachel Marshall  Bruce Wehner What is The Money Advantage Philosophy? Our 9-Step Signature Process Foundation Protection Increase Finance is a Team Sport Book A Strategy Call “Why” The Money Advantage Today, we’re sharing more about who we are and why we do what we do. First and foremost, the Money Advantage exists to help wealth creators build financial freedom. There are three key components to this wealth building: Cashflow Strategies Privatized Banking Alternative investments We’re your team of financial architects, and our goal is to help you get into a position where you never run out of money. What we so often see is people who make a lot of money, yet aren’t being as efficient as possible. This can create a lot of financial stress. Money is emotional, and that causes people to hold their financial state close to their chest. Yet by not talking about money, we do ourselves a disservice. So we also look for ways to help people improve their money mindset.  Rachel Marshall  Rachel Marshall is the co-host of The Money Advantage Podcast, co-founder of The Money Advantage, and Chief Financial Educator. The education that she provides, through podcasts and articles and videos, helps you understand your financial life so you can choose a way forward. Her role is to look for any way possible to help you understand how to keep control of your financial life.  Rachel has been a lifelong teacher—helping others learn the concepts she was learning herself. She looks most forward to seeing that flash of inspiration and awareness when someone understands something they didn’t know before.  Nine years ago, Rachel went into this business with her husband, Lucas. It stemmed from a desire to build their own financial freedom. And what they realized was missing, at the time, was liquidity. After recognizing the need of wealth creators to maximize cash flow and have access to capital, they recognized the tremendous value of Privatized Banking and began their own policy. Then, a near-death experience truly opened her eyes to the importance of the death benefit and helping others build the greatest legacy possible. Bruce Wehner Bruce Wehner is the Chief Cash Flow Strategist & Lead Advisor at The Money Advantage. Growing up in the 60s’ and 70s opened Bruce’s eyes to the financial struggles of business owners like his father. After Nixon removed the gold standard, massive inflation made it difficult for businesses to stay afloat, and interest rates were continuing to spike year after year. This got him thinking about personal finance, and how businesses worked.  He then began a teaching career of 17 years, in which he experimented with entrepreneurial pursuits. It was at this time that he became involved in the insurance business and real estate. Eventually, he landed in St. Louis, where he remains today, and works with e3 Consultants Group and The Money Advantage. Bruce is also a certified Nelson Nash practitioner, which means he focuses first on guarantees. Wealth building is first about the money you protect, not hitting a home run. So he helps people create financial teams and protect more of their wealth through guarantees.  What is The Money Advantage Philosophy? The financial status quo is to build the biggest pile of money possible and then live off of that money in the future. What happens too often with this strategy, is that the money is in the control of everyone else–investment managers, banks, and mortgage companies. This typical philosophy takes the control out of the individual’s hands. Then, that money is subject to future taxes, which are unknowable. Yet taxes are likely to increase, not decrease.  We believe that cash flow is the way to build time and money freedom. This is the money that you get to keep from day to day. This can be through regular income, business revenue, or from cash flowing alternative investments. The freedom that comes from cash flow then gives you the freedom to choose what you do with your time.  We don’t believe in the typical philosophy of retirement, where you build a pile of cash and then stop working. We would much rather see people enjoy their lives from day one and continue to thrive well into their older age through fulfilling wealth creation. And that looks like gaining control.  Our 9-Step Signature Process This is the exact process that we use to help people like you master financial control and freedom. This will help you fulfill your money’s highest purpose, so you can live a life of the highest significance. We split these steps into three phases: Foundation, Protection, and Increase. Foundation This is where we start with anyone we work with, which helps take you out of “survival mode.” This can happen at any income level, by the way, when your money isn’t working with you and you never seem to have enough.  Money Mindset—In the first step of our foundational process, we help shift your mindset around money. We help you recognize the thinking patterns of abundance, stewardship, and value creation. This mindset of wealth is the foundation of your success. Cashflow Awareness—Once you’ve mastered your mindset, it’s time to assess where your cash is flowing each month. Though it can be a painful process, this step moves you from confusion to clarity.  The Money Finder—Once you know where you’re starting, you can identify leaks and plug holes in your financial buckets. This can look like loan repayment strategies, restructuring your insurance, or optimizing taxes.  Protection Once you’ve completed the first three steps, you can protect the wealth that you have. This phase ensures that if something happens to you, no one can swoop in and steal the wealth that you’ve created for yourself. It’s better to do this before you need it, because it’s often too late to put in place when an event occurs.  Livelihood Safeguard—Insurance can protect your income in the event of disability, poor health, and death. Liability insurance can protect you from scenarios you may never dream of. This step takes you from risk to safety. Legal Security—Estate planning and business entity formation can protect your investments, business, and your entire estate from creditors.  Privatized Banking—Setting up a savings strategy through Privatized Banking can protect your money in many ways.  Increase Finally, we have the increase phase. Typical financial philosophy would suggest this first. However, without the other phases, your money is at risk and out of your control.  Unique Ability Investing—Once you know yourself, you can leverage your unique abilities for the right investments. This can help you choose the best investments that win, and move from aimless to focused.  Time and Money Freedom—If you can maximize your cash flow through unique ability investments, you can build freedom of money and time. You won’t have to work for money, instead, you can make your money work for you.  Legacy Creation—By creating a legacy through proper strategy, you can build generational wealth and expand your impact and significance.  Finance is a Team Sport The Money Advantage is a team. When you work with us, you work with our whole team, not just one advisor. That means we leverage the unique abilities of each team member to help fulfill your needs and nothing falls through the cracks. We feel that this helps you get more education, more access, and more expertise.  What sets us apart is our family office model, where you access a coordinated team of experts working together on your behalf towards your goals. Our Integrated Resource Network helps you get access to every aspect of your finances. Tax planning, investment strategy, insurance, and much more. No one person can be an expert in it all, and when you work with us, you’ll be able to have a well-rounded strategy with all of our experts. That’s how you’ll know that every aspect of your financial life is going to work in complete harmony. Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Now and then, you have the chance to meet extraordinary people and learn more from their story than you ever thought possible. This conversation with Steven Sashen of Xero Shoes is one of those opportunities! https://youtu.be/ZxaGb90SUtY In this episode, we’re talking with Steven Sashen about shoes, speed, and success. He’s one of the fastest men over 55 in the country, co-founder of Xero Shoes that’s creating not only a brand, but a movement, he’s also turned down a $400K funding offer on Shark Tank. So if you want to learn from a successful entrepreneur, so you can build a life and business you love … tune in below! Table of contents In the Business of Making Xero Shoes From DIY to Worldwide Recognition Turning Down Shark Tank Xero Shoes: A Fast-Moving Company Chance vs. Control Taking Responsibility of Your Finance Cash Flow in Business Xero Shoes About Steven Sashen We believe that his ability to create a community and a movement is something that you can benefit from as business owners and entrepreneurs. No matter where you’re at in the journey, we think you’ll find something valuable in this conversation with Steven Sashen. Enjoy the show notes below. In the Business of Making Xero Shoes When you think of how a business gets its start, you probably think of all the planning, designing, and prep work that goes into a brand. However, that’s not quite how things happened for Sashen. [3:27] “The way it actually happened is my favorite thing, which was a complete accident. So what happened was…a little over 13 years ago, I was 45, I got back into sprinting after a 30-year break, which I don’t really recommend. I was getting injured constantly for like two years. And finally, a friend of mine, who’s like a world champion runner…said, ‘Try running barefoot and see if you learn anything about why you might be getting injured.’”  This planted the seed, and Steven discovered that running barefoot allowed him to correct his movements with more ease and fluidity. From DIY to Worldwide Recognition When Steven Sashen finally hit his stride, everything changed. That’s when he knew he must lock-in the benefits of this natural movement. He had heard of natives in Mexico who ran with sandals made from scraps of tire. So he created his own version. With some rubber from a shoe repair shop and cords from Home Depot, he created what we could consider his first prototype. Here and there, friends would request their own. Then one day, he was approached with the opportunity that started it all.  A barefoot running coach was writing a book, and said that if Sashen treated this hobby like a business and made a website, he’d feature it in the book. In the following three and a half years, Xero Shoes became a DIY sandal-kit company. Now, Xero Shoes sells a complete line of casual and performance shoes, boots, and sandals.  Turning Down Shark Tank Early on, Xero Shoes appeared on Shark Tank. And though they were offered $400,000 Sashen turned the money down. This sparked a lot of discussion on whether he made the right decision.  [12:38] “People kept telling us all along that we should be on the show, we didn’t even know what they were talking about. And then we found the show.” Steven Sashen realized that, were they to get on Shark Tank, regardless of the outcome, it would be free exposure to millions of people. [13:37] “The thing that was really valuable is that once they told us they wanted us on the show, it really made us focus on who were are, what we did, and what we wanted.” [15:40] “So the key moment though, was that thing with Kevin, where he offered us 400 grand for half the company, [and] we were offering 8% of the company. We had done a lot of research about valuations of footwear brands. And so we knew what the range for yes and no was, we were very negotiable. We just didn’t get that far, and so it was a non-starter.” Xero Shoes: A Fast-Moving Company [20:12] “You’re constantly running two races when you’re running a business. One is a speed race: velocity is important. The more you can do, the better. The faster, the better. At the same time, there’s certain things you can’t rush. And luckily, my wife and I have different skillsets and mindsets. So I’m the sprinter. She’s the detail-oriented, long-distance person.” [20:48] “The line that I have is that all businesses rise to the neuroses of their founders.” Essentially, combining skill sets in a business is the key to success. The more you can balance out, the greater accomplishments you can achieve together. This is the model that Steven and Lena have operated under, and found outstanding success. Chance vs. Control In business, Steven Sashen shares some interesting insight. He relates it back to barefoot running, where he had to analyze the information his body was giving him and make corrections, all in a split second. [28:02] “It’s a weird thing, because you’re going to take in all that information and you’re going to make a decision, and you’ll either be right or not. It’s not like you can take it all in and you’re going to get the right answer…Like the line…’1000 miles begins with a single step.’  I asked a guy who translates from Chinese, I said, ‘Since there’s not a tense thing in Chinese, isn’t it as true [to] say a journey of 1000 miles is a single step?’ And that’s the way that I think it’s like; you take a step, you reevaluate. You take the next step, you reevaluate as best you can.” He and his wife thought Xero Shoes would always be a DIY sandal company. Yet if they had stuck to this plan instead of reevaluating, their lives and their business would be completely different. This is the difference between a vision and a set goal.  Taking Responsibility of Your Finance Living successfully and building time and money freedom isn’t simply about finding the perfect product or advisor. At the root, it’s about finding the best process for yourself, and taking responsibility and control of your circumstance.  [49:31] “As human beings, we’re looking for the things that will get us what we want. And if someone says, ‘Here’s a simple thing that will do that”…off we go. It’s rarely that simple. But when it comes to running or walking or hiking, you do become your own best coach.”  Finance is the same. The better education you can give yourself, the more you can learn and then trust your gut and take control, the better outcomes you’re likely to have. Without the education and the confidence, there’s no perfect product. Cash Flow in Business [50:50] “If you don’t know what’s happening with the money in your business, you’re not going to have a business. End of story.” [51:15] “We used to have what Lena referred to as the February problem. We had to pay for our product in December/January, it was going to land in February, and we weren’t able to sell it until March. So we had this February dip in income that we had to cover somehow…And if you don’t know things like that, if you can’t project–‘Here’s when I don’t know how to make payroll”–then that dip is going to be even worse.’” Xero Shoes xeroshoes.com  About Steven Sashen Steven Sashen is a serial entrepreneur who has never had a job, a former professional stand-up comic and award-winning screenwriter. And a competitive sprinter—one of the fastest men over 55 in the country (maybe the fastest 55+ Jew in the world!). He and his wife, Lena Phoenix, co-founded the footwear company Xero Shoes, creating “a MOVEMENT movement,” which has helped hundreds of thousands of people “Live Life Feet First” with happy, healthy, strong feet in addictively comfortable footwear. Steven and Lena also appeared on Shark Tank, where they turned down a $400,000 offer from Kevin O’Leary.   Find Out Your Next Step to Time and Money Freedom Do you want to use Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We would love to help you.   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/. By the way, to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus gives you the ability to have your money do two things at the same time, boosting your investment returns.  Go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Want to shelter your assets from the prying eyes of the IRS, claims of creditors, or the public? Cash surrender value and life insurance proceeds are exempt from creditors in most states. In this episode, we’re talking about the privacy and creditor protection of life insurance. https://youtu.be/yu7D09hTe3M So, if you want to know how to protect your wealth, from future risk of litigation, civil suits, bankruptcy, or even divorce … tune in below! Table of contents Where Creditor Protection of Life Insurance Fits In The Bigger Picture Privacy and Protection Liability Liability Insurance and Auto The Privacy of a Life Insurance Policy Creditor Protection of Life Insurance Cash Value Federal Law How Creditor Protection of Life Insurance Policies Varies by State When Life Insurance Exemptions Don’t Apply Other Types of Asset Protection Is Life Insurance Protected From Creditors? Where Creditor Protection of Life Insurance Fits In The Bigger Picture Life Insurance is just one step in the greater Cash Flow System. While it’s nestled into Stage 2, Protection, it also improves everything else around it.  Infinite Banking helps you keep more of the money you make in Stage 1, amplify your cash-flowing asset strategy in Stage 3, and accelerate your Time and Money Freedom. Privacy and Protection Liability Privacy and protection liability are never something you need until you actually need them. In other words, most of us operate as if “it won’t happen to us,” and when an event occurs, it’s too late to protect against. For protection from creditors, and protection in bankruptcy, it it’s not the wealthiest who need protection the most. Although they’re the most likely to protect their wealth. The people who should be most interested in asset protection are those who have fewer assets and cannot afford to lose them. Asset protection isn’t the most exciting topic, yet it is something that the wealthy think about. Success leaves clues–follow these clues that the wealthy leave and see how they grow and protect their assets.  Liability Insurance and Auto A Property and Casualty insurance agent once said people don’t think about liability until after the fact. So much so, that many people think that their auto insurance covers all liability. It doesn’t. So if your dog bites somebody at the park, and causes an injury that lands them in the hospital, those hospital bills can come back to you. If the bills are above your liability coverage, a creditor can take this debt and potentially use up your assets to cover it.  Small or random incidents like this can happen, and they do happen all the time. Then, because we don’t think we need protection from them, we don’t have it in our times of need. It’s one thing to have an emergency or opportunity fund, it’s another thing to have a protected asset to act as this fund, that creditors cannot garnish or seize.  The Privacy of a Life Insurance Policy Life insurance is an incredibly private asset, meaning that no one can really see past that insurance barrier and know how much wealth you have. Privacy, especially around finance, is a significant concern in our society. Privacy is a huge advantage of whole life insurance. You don’t need to report your life insurance policy’s earnings to the federal government. It’s so private, in fact, that you need not report it as an asset when applying for federal aid. If your child is applying for college assistance through FAFSA, you don’t need to include your life insurance policies on the form. This can help your student receive better funding. Nor are you required to list it as an asset on loan applications, although sometimes it can help you secure better loans. Creditor Protection of Life Insurance Cash Value As a living asset, whole life insurance has tremendous benefits in the way of Privatized Banking. It’s a tool for legacy and estate planning, via the life insurance policy proceeds, which provides peace of mind. It won’t drop in value, it’s accessible to you, and it improves every other area of your financial life. We often focus on these aspects of life insurance, but we haven’t really addressed creditor and bankruptcy protection before.  Life policies offer a private safety net that benefits society as a whole. By contract, the life insurance company is obligated to pay policy proceeds to the beneficiary. Because the life insurance proceeds are for the benefit of the beneficiary, life insurance offers protection under both federal and state law. This benefit to society is why these exemption laws exist. Life insurance, like all insurance, transfers risk away from the policyholder. At the highest level, creditor and asset protection is about keeping your wealth safe from events that could cause loss. These events include: lawsuits divorce bankruptcy or overdue debts When events like these occur, your assets can be garnished or attached to a claim. The protection varies widely, however, a certain amount of your cash value is exempt from creditors and bankruptcy. Federal Law Federal Bankruptcy Code protects the actual insurance element, the life insurance death benefit proceeds, and up to $13,400 of dividend, interest, or loan value in the life insurance policy. The government adjusts this value every three years, though it remains modest. Additionally, the debtor must be the owner of the policy. In most cases, federal law will only apply to federal cases. Otherwise, you must comply with the regulations of your state. Though it’s important to note that some states will allow you to choose between the Federal Bankruptcy Code and the state code. How Creditor Protection of Life Insurance Policies Varies by State What states protect life insurance cash value from creditors? There are wide variances in the state code regarding life insurance and creditor protection. In some states, they protect cash value from bankruptcy but not creditors. In other states, it’s protected from creditors but not bankruptcy. Some states have a limit to their protection, such as the first $10,000, while other states are much more generous. Furthermore, state law often protects both cash value and life insurance death benefits in non-bankruptcy contexts. Otherwise, exemptions are often only extended to the beneficiaries of the debtor. In some states, the exemption only applies to the insured’s family members. It’s important to check out your state’s specific laws about asset protection, which you can find here: Is Your Cash Value and Death Benefit Covered? Check out the interactive map for easy navigation. When Life Insurance Exemptions Don’t Apply Unfortunately, life insurance isn’t a viable solution for creditor exemptions in every instance. As we said earlier, it doesn’t work well if you’re already in hot water with a creditor. If you paid your premium to defraud a creditor, for example, the protection won’t apply. You’ll find that you won’t have protection if you assign your policy to secure a debt, either. Other Types of Asset Protection Aside from life insurance, there are other ways of protecting your assets. One simple and affordable way to protect yourself is with umbrella insurance or liability insurance. You can add this to your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance and it’s very cheap. Most times, you can get up to $1 million in coverage for as little as $200-$300 a year. Accidents happen, and if they happen on your property, someone can hold you liable. If someone slips and falls, and you have that coverage, you won’t be stuck footing their bill.  This can also extend to other liabilities, like auto accidents. Auto and home liability insurance doesn’t cover everything, so it’s important to know your limits. Additional umbrella insurance can keep you from making a big payment for a mistake. And when your coverage is $1 million, most liabilities will be settled. Is Life Insurance Protected From Creditors? Asset protection is just one element of cash value life insurance, but it’s a big deal to have money that is private and secure from garnishment or seizure. We frequently discuss the power of keeping more of the money you make, and it doesn’t just apply to taxes. Keep control of as much of your wealth as possible, even in uncertain or difficult times.  There’s no better time than the present to own life insurance, before you’ve found yourself in a less-than-ideal situation. To learn more about ways to protect your assets from creditors and bankruptcy, read this Investopedia article.  Organize Your Finances or Get Life Insurance Today Do you want to use Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We would love to help you.   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/. By the way, to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus gives you the ability to have your money do 2 things at the same time, boosting your investment returns.  Go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Should you be concerned about asset protection?  What types of risk should you know about?  What you don’t know about protecting your assets CAN hurt you. In this episode, we’re talking with Douglass Lodmell, one of the nation’s leading asset protection experts and founder of Lodmell & Lodmell about asset protection and how it works.  https://youtu.be/d173g5beiU8 So if you want to learn about the keys to asset protection, why insurance isn’t enough, and how to protect real estate, other physical assets, securities, and liquid assets … tune in below! Table of contents Where Asset Protection Fits into Your Cashflow Creation System How to Keep Your Wealth What is Asset Protection? LLCs and Limited Partnerships as Asset Protection Setting Up Your LLC Misconception of LLCs The Next Level of Asset Protection Asset Protection Trust Fraudulent Transfer About Douglass Lodmell Contact Douglass Lodmell Where Asset Protection Fits into Your Cashflow Creation System Protecting assets with legal planning will maximize your peace of mind.  But it’s just one small step of a greater journey.   That’s why we’ve put together the 3-step Entrepreneur’s Cash Flow System.   The first step is keeping more of the money you make.  This includes tax planning, debt restructuring, cash flow awareness, and restructuring your savings so you can access it as an emergency/opportunity fund.  This step frees up and increases your cash flow, so you have more to save, and consequently, more to invest. Then, you’ll protect your money with savings, privatized banking and legal protection.  This is where estate planning fits in.  You’ll know that no matter what happens to you, your wishes will be carried out, your assets will remain intact, and your wisdom will empower generations after you.  Finally, you’ll put your money to work and get it to make more by investing in cash-flowing assets to build time and money freedom and leave a rich legacy. How to Keep Your Wealth Once you’re wealthy, the trick is to stay wealthy. One of the number one reasons that a person’s wealth comes crashing down is a lack of proper asset protection. Unlike other countries, the United States is very litigious. To put it bluntly, people don’t sue the poor, so you have additional risks to mitigate when you build wealth.  Douglass Lodmell, of Lodmell & Lodmell, is one of the nation’s leading asset protection attorneys. His firm handles $4 billion worth of assets. He shares with us the pyramid of asset protection, and why it matters. What is Asset Protection? Asset protection comes in many forms. If you don’t have any assets, that’s asset protection. Similarly, having assets that are exempt from creditors acts as protection. For example, you could have a $15 million home in Texas, and $100 million in debt, and no one could touch your home because of Texas’ homestead exemption.  Another protected asset? Retirement funds, because under the ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act), the government decided not to allow people to lose retirement money through lawsuits. Otherwise, the burden would be back on the government. True protection begins with a review of all your assets. Then you can identify what’s exempt, and where to strategize. Asset protection strategies take your assets back off the table and away from creditors and lawsuits.  Life Insurance as Asset Protection Life insurance is another asset that typically falls into the exempt category, however this varies from state to state. In some states, your entire policy could be exempt from creditors, while in other states, only a portion is exempt.  When you’re looking to protect your life insurance, first you must look at your state. If you have 100% exemption, you don’t need to do anything else. If it’s not, then you look for other ways to protect it, either through holding companies or directly into asset protection stocks. LLCs and Limited Partnerships as Asset Protection Limited partnerships and LLCs have charging order protection. They protect assets because creditors cannot foreclose on a limited partnership and get the underlying asset. All they can get is a charge, which you can think of as a lien against the debtors interest in that limited partnership. This is the foundation of an asset protection strategy. Setting Up Your LLC When setting up your LLC, you must consider jurisdiction. If you do not establish your LLC in the jurisdiction where you’re investing in, it has no value. For example, you wouldn’t invest in California real estate, and then set up your LLC in Wyoming because you like the statute better. Otherwise, if you get into trouble in California, California law applies to your case. You’ll just end up paying more fees. LLC is great for most assets, especially real estate, which reduces your liability as a landlord and protects the value of a property. Your inside liability is protected to a certain amount through an LLC, which is why you must appropriately spread your properties under different LLCs. The distribution depends on your risk tolerance. LLCs also protect from outside liability, or events that don’t occur directly inside the property.  Other assets you can put under an LLC? Rare and expensive cars, boats, planes, and other similar assets.  Misconception of LLCs A common misconception is that you must have an LLC for every property you own. However, this only really applies to inside liability. If you own an LLC on every property, you’ve just created more paperwork and more fees for yourself.  Instead, consider separating properties under LLCs based on equity value rather than property number. That way, instead of 12 LLCs for 12 properties, you’re more likely to have one or two LLCs.  Of course, it’s important to refer to your jurisdiction when making such decisions. The Next Level of Asset Protection LLCs are like the base layer on the pyramid of asset protection. The next layer is a holding company that contains all of your LLCs. While the base-layer may comprise single-member LLCs, you’ll want to have a multi-member LLC at the holding company level. This is also where you do get to choose your jurisdiction for your holding company.  Good jurisdictions include: Nevada, Wyoming, Delaware, Arizona, and Alaska. These states are much better at protecting assets. Asset Protection Trust After the holding company, you have the third and final layer: the asset protection trust. Sometimes, the holding company may be enough to cover all of your assets. $600,000 or less in assets means you can probably stop at the holding company layer, with significant umbrella insurance. Once you go upwards of $1 million, those entities may not be enough. That’s because your assets may block a creditor from foreclosing on the asset, but they won’t eliminate the creditor. They can still get a lien or charge against the holding company.  To eliminate the creditor, you’ll need the asset protection trust. This trust, set up with special provisions, blocks creditors from reaching assets within the trust. It’s also called a self-settled trust, which means you’re creating the trust for yourself, and you’re the beneficiary. In order to keep these assets safe from creditors, you must also make the trust irrevocable. That way, you cannot reverse the trust and put all assets back under your name and within your creditors’ reach. Otherwise, a judge could compel you to reverse your trust. Fraudulent Transfer Fraudulent transfer doesn’t refer to a physical move. It refers to legally transferred titles. If you sign your house over to your brother right after losing money in Vegas, that’s a transfer. However, because it’s done with the intent to delay, hinder, or defraud a creditor, it can be reversed.  In some cases, it doesn’t even matter if the event has occurred or not. If there’s mold on a property, and you fear you’ll be sued and make title transfers to protect yourself, the courts can interpret that as a hindrance.  The trick to asset protection is that you have to do it before anything happens, otherwise it can be fraudulent. You must protect assets before you have a creditor, so that in the future no one can say you’re dodging a specific event. Douglass’ philosophy is that as soon as you need your first LLC, you should build your asset protection structure. Be cautious of a do-it-yourself protection plan. It’s an extremely complicated structure, and it’s too easy to make your assets work against you. Even calling and getting an analysis can leave you better off.  About Douglass Lodmell Douglass Lodmell is Managing Partner of Lodmell & Lodmell, P.C., one of the nation’s leading Asset Protection Law Firms. Originally from Geneva, Switzerland, Douglass stood out at an early age as one of the brightest minds of his generation. His capacity to make the complex simple allowed him to excel during law school, receiving the Jacob Burns Medal, an award given to the single student with the highest GPA. He completed his Legal Masters (LL.M.) in taxation at the nation’s leading tax program, New York University School of Law.  Today, Douglass’ law firm protects over $4 Billion in client assets. Douglass spends much of his time teaching, speaking, and leading thousands of business owners, corporate executives, investors and other professionals who have often worked most of their lives to accumulate wealth of various types, including real estate and securities. Douglass is also author of the book The Lawsuit Lottery: The Hijacking of Justice in America.  Contact Douglass Lodmell Lodmell & Lodmell 800-231-7112 doug@lodmell.com Organize Your Finances or Get Life Insurance Today Do you want to use Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We would love to help you.   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/. By the way, to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus gives you the ability to have your money do 2 things at the same time, boosting your investment returns.  Go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.

Are you considering whole life insurance and want to know which is better: Direct vs. non-direct recognition? What does it mean? Why does it matter? How does it impact you? And should it be a part of your decision-making process? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1UZ_EYIns0 In this episode, we discuss the why, how, and what of direct vs. non-direct recognition, so you have the knowledge you need to decide. So if you want to know how a life insurance company’s treatment of dividends when you have a policy loan affects your policy’s growth over time and your future ability to borrow against your policy for Infinite Banking, find out whether it matters, and most importantly, tune out the biased opinions of some who say you should ALWAYS have it one way, and NEVER the other, and really understand it, so you can get the best whole life policy, tune in below! Table of contents Where Whole Life Insurance Fits Into the Bigger Picture What Does Direct or Non-Direct Recognition Mean? Direct vs. Non-Direct Recognition How Policy Loans Affect Dividends Fixed vs. Variable Loan Rates Should You Choose Direct or Non-Direct Recognition? Choosing the Best Company Ready to Start Your Life Insurance? Where Whole Life Insurance Fits Into the Bigger Picture Privatized Banking with whole life insurance is just one part of the bigger journey. That’s why we’ve developed the 3-step Cash Flow System. It’s your roadmap to go from just surviving, to a life of significance, purpose, and financial freedom.  The first stage is the foundation.  You first keep more of the money you make by fixing money leaks, becoming more efficient and profitable.  Then, you protect your money with insurance and legal protection and Privatized Banking.  Finally, you put your money to work, increasing your income with cash-flowing assets. What Does Direct or Non-Direct Recognition Mean? When you’re shopping for a life insurance policy, you’re going to hear the terms direct and non-direct recognition thrown around often. The terms have roots in the relationship between dividends and policy loans. Whole life insurance dividends are the non-guaranteed part of the life insurance contract, though historically companies have an excellent track record of paying dividends. Each year, companies will declare their dividend rates.  However, companies handle dividends differently depending on whether you have an outstanding policy loan. Direct recognition companies directly acknowledge outstanding policy loans and will pay dividends accordingly. This often means that they have a different, unpublished rate for any money that is being borrowed against.  On the other hand, non-direct recognition companies pay dividends at the same rate, regardless of any policy loans. The trade-off is that Non-Direct Recognition companies only have one dividend rate, which often seems lower than direct recognition dividends.  However, companies all declare dividends differently, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison. It’s tempting to see a higher dividend and jump on it, however, these rates are projections. Factors such as the age of your policy and your paid-up additions can affect whether you get more or less than the projection. Whether or not you will use your policy as a family bank will also change which option you go with. Direct vs. Non-Direct Recognition With direct vs. non-direct recognition companies, there are strong opinions on either side of the argument. We truly believe that there is a middle ground, and caution you against anyone who explicitly states that one or the other is ALWAYS or NEVER better. This simply isn’t the case. If one of these things was truly better by a significant margin, they would not both exist today. And yet both models are going strong. In truth, there are no deals in the life insurance industry—it’s all a balancing act. If a company projects a dividend, there’s always a trade-off to balance it out. A whole life insurance contract should be mutually beneficial. You benefit from having lifetime coverage, a compounding cash value, and other guarantees. However, the company can only offer these guarantees because of premiums, dividend structures, and other balances. You should want them to be successful and stable too because it directly benefits you. Would you want a company that can’t hold up their end of the contract? How Policy Loans Affect Dividends The ability to take loans against your cash value is the cornerstone of the family banking strategy. The value is that you never reset your compounding interest because you’re not making a withdrawal. So your money can grow uninterrupted, while you can still use it.  With policy loans, the direct versus non-direct argument comes into play. direct recognition means that although you have growth on all of your cash value, any collateralized portion will have a lower dividend rate. Non-direct recognition means that the whole cash value is growing at the same rate.  Say “Company A” declares a 5.5% dividend, and “Company B” declares 4.5%. It is tempting to think that Company A has a better deal. However, that company could be direct recognition, and that rate may not accurately reflect your rate if you plan on borrowing against your policy. To understand this, we have to step into the shoes of the company. They want to get the highest rate while remaining conservative, so they have longevity. So it makes sense that to project higher dividends, they balance it somewhere.  Fixed vs. Variable Loan Rates The rate at which you’re loaned money correlates to the dividend rates. Some companies will offer both fixed and variable loan rates, which you can decide at the time of your loan. Often, a fixed rate is higher than a variable rate, yet offers certainty that your rate is locked in. A variable rate tends to be lower, yet gets adjusted each year based on costs.  It’s important to note that the dividend rate will usually stay higher than the loan rate.  The dividend and the loan are both interest-rate driven components, and one won’t change independently of the other. This means that even though your loan rate could change from year to year, it will almost always be lower than the dividend rate. This stabilizes your policy. Should You Choose Direct or Non-Direct Recognition? When you look at direct vs. non-direct recognition, neither is significantly better than the other. Direct recognition companies may offer slightly higher dividends, however, they compensate by having a lower rate on policy loans. Non-direct recognition companies often have lower projected dividends, however, all of your money, collateralized or not, will earn the same rate.  It’s also important to note that companies won’t advertise whether their dividend projections are gross or net. In the grand scheme of things, the performance of your policy will be more or less the same no matter what you choose. Companies don’t guarantee dividends, and the projections don’t fully represent how your account will grow. So though a non-direct Recognition company may make more sense from a privatized banking strategy, research shows accounts will average about the same, regardless. There are no deals in the life insurance industry, everything is a trade-off, and everything balances out. When looking for the best company, we recommend looking instead at financial ratings and their dividend history. Current dividend rates and future projections won’t tell you much—they’re not guaranteed. However, you can learn a lot from what has happened, and how companies manage their finances and dividends accordingly.  Check the company ratings through Standard and Poor, Moody, and other rating companies. Research the overhead costs of each company, which can tell you a lot about a company. Look at customer service, as you’ll be working with this company for life. A trustworthy company will be worth more to you in the long run—and whole life insurance is all about the long run.  Choosing the Best Company There’s so much more to choosing a life insurance company and policy than direct or non-direct recognition. The wisest thing you can do is to be confident in the values of your advisor team. Remember that life insurance is one piece of your financial picture, and it can help all of your assets work better. The best decision you can make is the one you make today. The decision that helps you advance yourself, do the most with your money, and move one step closer to time and money freedom.  Ready to Start Your Life Insurance? Are you ready to move forward with Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today and accelerate time and money freedom? Book a free introductory call with our advisors. https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar

Are you looking for opportunities to invest in real assets for cash flow?  Today, we’re talking with Dave Zook, a successful investor and syndicator who creates value for people and opportunities for investing in ATMs. We also discuss investing in other real assets: multi-family apartments, and self-storage.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HCjitn757s So if you want to learn about investing for cash flow in real assets that withstand market turmoil, tax-efficient investing, and creating momentum through stacking investments … tune in below! Table of contents Where Does Investing Fit in the Cash Flow System? How Investing in ATMs is Tax Advantaged Applying the Tax Code to ATMs How Does Investing in ATMs work? An Opportunity for 7 Years The Future of Investing in ATMs Begin Investing in ATMs Today About Dave Zook The most popular alternative investments we talk about on The Money Advantage is real estate. Interestingly enough, investing in ATMs is almost like real estate, though it probably hasn’t crossed your radar. ATM investing is a great way to invest for cash flow, and Dave Zook has changed the game.  No matter how large your pile of money is, cash flow is what allows you to build time and money freedom. You’ve got to have money flowing. Investing in ATMs is one way to create a cash flowing investment, with some significant tax benefits.  Where Does Investing Fit in the Cash Flow System? Investing is just one step in the path to time and money freedom. That’s why we have created the 3-step Business Owner’s Cash Flow System.  It’s your roadmap to take you from just surviving, to a life of significance, purpose, and financial freedom. The first step is keeping more of the money you make by fixing money leaks, becoming more efficient and profitable.  Then, you’ll protect your money with insurance and legal protection, and Privatized Banking.   Finally, you’ll put your money to work, increasing your income with cash-flowing assets. How Investing in ATMs is Tax Advantaged Dave Zook stumbled into ATM investments after landing a tax bill of about $500,000. He realized that despite all the time and effort he had poured into his business, he’d still have to give half of his earnings back to the government. That’s when he researched tax strategies, many of which we talk about on The Money Advantage. He discovered the secret to tax-free wealth using the incentives that the government wants you to take. Through investments and practices that support the economy, the government will reward you with deductions.  Multi-family apartments were Dave Zook’s starting point to take these tax benefits. Providing housing is one of our favorite ways to slash taxes. It creates monthly cash flow, and it provides a necessary service to the public. The government doesn’t want to act as a landlord, so by properly structuring your real estate deal, you can partake in certain deductions. Not to mention, your privatized banking system is an ideal way to fund the purchase of properties. This strategy helped him continue to have fun in his line of work, while simultaneously making money that he didn’t have to lose. Thinking differently put Zook in a position to keep more of what he had and put it to work in more ways. By bringing his tax liability down to around 0-3%, Dave could invest in other asset classes like self-storage and ATMs. After passively investing in ATMs for a few years, a sponsorship team approached Zook to become a partner and scale the business. Now, they’re one of the top 5 ATM operators in the country.  In Zook’s words, “The times where you learn the most are when you’re experiencing either great pleasure or great pain.” Having only a few days before April 15th to come up with a couple hundred thousand dollars, was the catalyst for major change in his life.  Applying the Tax Code to ATMs Section 179 of the tax code is a great incentive for businesses both big and small. It also makes investing in ATMs more favorable. This section incentivizes businesses to invest in new equipment. The government then allows them to write off the entire purchasing price in the year of purchase.  Since late 2017, businesses have also been able to use bonus depreciation on qualifying assets, alongside section 179. For example, let’s say you sell an asset for a profit, and then purchase an asset that gives you 100% bonus depreciation. In the first year, you can write off the entire purchase. This allows you to reinvest and offset capital gains. Proper strategy, discussed with a tax professional, can help you determine whether this strategy will work for you.  Dave Zook maintains two different tax strategies for investing in ATMs. The first is using the 100% bonus depreciation to offset some other income like capital gains or depreciation recapture. However, if you do nothing and allow the ATMs to do their thing, they’ll cash flow. What happens is the depreciation from your purchase of the ATMs will offset the cash flow and the tax liability. This way, the income from your ATMs will be tax free for the first four years of a seven-year investment. The first one is a more aggressive strategy, while the latter is a conservative approach. Yet both will manage your tax liability. Maintaining your tax liability is often about balancing the asset depreciation of your active income versus the appreciation of your passive income. If you focus on building an immense pile of money without thinking about tax liability, you can destroy your momentum. In Dave’s words, “If you’re getting hit with a big tax bill, that’s your fine or your penalty from the government for not doing what they want you to do.” How Does Investing in ATMs work? When entering an investment, it’s important not only to think of the tax impact. You must also consider how the investment will work in your personal economy. Research and strategy and your own principles will help you determine whether an investment is right for you.  In the ATM space, there are two sorts of operators: the mom and pop operator, and the institutional operator. Dave’s team buys large portfolios in the institutional space, then brings small portions to individual investors. So he invests in $10-20 million portfolios and offers units of six machines to investors at $104,000. This allows individual investors to take part in institutional-grade portfolios. Previously, an individual would never have had a shot at pitching an ATM to a business like a 7-Eleven. Now, that space is open to individuals who go through institutional portfolios.  Dave’s company deals largely with essential businesses and places that are open 24/7, which means they’ve maintained profit throughout 2020. The demographic of those who use ATMs is exploding. Not to mention, ATMs are in high foot-traffic areas where people would reasonably want access to cash.  To make this type of investment work, it’s got to be a win for all involved. The investor, the partners, the location, and the customers will all have to see this as a win. That’s also how they divide the revenue stream. The management team, the investor, and the location will all receive a piece of the profit. Fortunately, these ATM portfolios are often in existing locations, so you can predict the profitability based on its transaction history.  An Opportunity for 7 Years When you invest in ATMs, you’re really investing for cash flow and tax benefits, rather than specific machines. The ATM is the mechanism to extract value from that small piece of real estate. You’re taking a three-foot by three-foot space of prime real estate, and you’re monetizing that space. It’s like the concept that J. Massey shared about cell phone towers and billboards. You’re monetizing a particular piece of real estate in an optimal way.  Dave’s business model is available to accredited investors only. To be accredited, you must: You must have a net worth of $1 million, outside of your home or Have an income of $300,000 if married, or For a single individual, have an income of $200,000 Dave has a portfolio open now until December 22nd, which pays out $2,184 per month. This is a 7-year investment of $104,000. Though not a liquid fund, your money is not at risk for 7 years. With the bonus depreciation, your money is truly at risk for about 3 years. After that point, you’re looking at pure cash flow.  The Future of Investing in ATMs While many believe that the use of cash is declining, Dave argues that cash users have never been more prevalent. He has invested in the ATM space since 2011, at the advent of Venmo, virtual wallets and crypto currencies. At the time, people believed that cash would fade out of use, yet it’s still highly circulated even today. In fact, cash transactions have grown by over 50%, and Dave’s ATM portfolios are doing better than ever before.  If cash transactions do become less prominent, there will be other ways to extract revenue from the same plot. You must evolve with the times and fill new gaps in the marketplace. In fact, Dave is already looking for fresh ways to monetize the space.  Dave’s company is strategizing for the future of ATMs. Aside from placing ATMs in prime locations, his company is looking to monetize digital toppers for his machines. These are standalone units with their own infrastructure, which can deliver marketing messages. Future scalability could see unique, personalized marketing messages based on collected data. This will not only deliver specific messages to the location’s demographic, but sold to other companies.  Begin Investing in ATMs Today Dave’s current opportunity closes on December 22nd. He is also expecting to open another portflio in the first quarter of 2021. If you’re interested in investing or learning more, you can get a full report from Dave. You can visit his website, The Real Asset Investor, or email him directly at atm@therealassetinvestor.com to get the report. This report will provide all the details to help you make the most informed decision possible.  About Dave Zook Founder and CEO, The Real Asset Investor Dave is a successful Business owner, Syndicator, and an Investment and Tax Strategist. He has acquired more than $150MM of Real Estate since 2010. This includes several thousand Multi-family apartment units, institutional grade self-storage facilities, and Cleaner Energy distillation units. His team is also one of the top 5 ATM operators in the country. Dave and his wife Susan, along with their 4 children, live in Lancaster, PA. Organize Your Finances or Get Life Insurance Today Do you want to use Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We would love to help you.   Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/. By the way, to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus gives you the ability to have your money do 2 things at the same time, boosting your investment returns.  Go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more. Thanks for Tuning In! Thanks so much for being with us this week. Have some feedback you’d like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section below! Don’t forget to subscribe to the show to get automatic episode updates for The Money Advantage podcast! And, finally, please take a minute to leave us an honest review and rating on Apple Podcasts. They really help us out when it comes to the ranking of the show, and I make it a point to read every single one of the reviews we get.

Do you want to use whole life insurance to store cash, build an emergency/opportunity fund, and create a legacy, but you wish you’d learned about this concept when you were younger? Do you feel like you’re too old for the Infinite Banking Concept (IBC)? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZX91AY2tYlo Fortunately, it might not be too late for you to get started. In this episode, we’re going talk about how life insurance works when you start a policy later in life, and how you can make the most of it. So if you want to see if Privatized Banking can still work to build cash value and accelerate time and money freedom, even if you’re starting a policy as a senior, tune in below! Table of contents Where The Infinite Banking Concept Fits In The Bigger Picture How Old is Too Old for Infinite Banking? The Impact of Privatized Banking Later in Life How Can You Use Privatized Banking Now? Transfer of IRA Family Banking Privatized Banking As Income Social Security and Pension Maximization Volatility Buffer Permission to Spend Accelerated Death Benefit Rider Not Too Old for Infinite Banking Book A Strategy Call Where The Infinite Banking Concept Fits In The Bigger Picture The Infinite Banking Concept is just one step in the greater Cash Flow System. While it’s nestled into Stage 2, Protection, it also improves everything else around it.  Infinite Banking helps you keep more of the money you make in Stage 1, amplify your cash-flowing asset strategy in Stage 3, and accelerate your Time and Money Freedom. How Old is Too Old for Infinite Banking? Many people assume that because Privatized Banking takes time, that after a certain age it’s no longer a viable strategy for them. In reality, there’s more time than you’d think. Your results, after a certain age, will depend more on what you’re hoping to accomplish than anything. Most people look at life insurance and think of term insurance, the simplest insurance, and have preconceived notions. It’s insurance that is pure cost. And based on experiences with term insurance, people are hesitant to pursue insurance strategies later in life. However, whole life insurance can work for you even if you start in your senior years. Whether you’re hoping to bridge income, leave a legacy, or round out your estate plan—it’s likely not too late. You can be in your 70s and start your first policy. In reality, most insurance companies will take policies until age 80. So clearly, they believe that it’s valuable enough for someone in their 70s. Ultimately, this is possible because of the careful actuarial planning of life insurance companies, which allows them to insure people up to that point. The Impact of Privatized Banking Later in Life One of the biggest concerns we hear is that the cash value won’t be as large. While it’s true that your break-even point may be later, the trajectory will be more or less the same. The opportunity cost lost in your cash value may only be a few hundred dollars. The amount of cash value is proportionate to the way the policy is designed, and the premiums paid because of that design. The most significant loss is the face value of your death benefit. What would be a $2 million death benefit for a 30-year old is going to be about $1 million for a 50-year-old. For a 70-year-old, it may be closer to $500,000. However, that half a million will have a better impact on your legacy planning than nothing. The reason the death benefit will decrease the older you are when you start a policy is that the cost of insuring you goes up. Insurance companies know that they’ll have to pay a claim on everyone they provide whole life insurance to; however, they use very careful mortality calculations to do so. The likelihood they’ll pay a claim on a 30-year-old is minuscule. So the costs of insurance are more likely to be covered. Someone in their 70s is likelier to have a claim paid sooner, which means the company has a smaller window to cover the costs of insurance. So the same premium will buy less death benefit. How Can You Use Privatized Banking Now? Although whole life insurance itself may be available to you, Privatized banking strategies do take time. Does that mean if you’re in your 60s or 70s that it’s no longer available to you? Fortunately, you’re probably not too old for Infinite Banking. We have several real-world examples of people who have started policies in their 70s and have used them to implement wealth strategies. Here are some ideas of what you can do with your insurance. Transfer of IRA With a new policy, one woman in her 70s decided to transfer her IRA into a whole life policy. She wanted to leave a legacy for her children and saw the advantages of paying taxes today, to transfer a tax-free inheritance. Additionally, she has no interest in real estate or starting a business, but she does take an annual trip to South America. Usually, she pays for this trip by saving a few hundred dollars a month. So instead, she’s decided to borrow against the policy, and use the money she saves to pay down the loan. She believed at one time that she may be too old for Infinite Banking strategies, yet she’s found practical ways to implement these strategies. Family Banking Another person used their cash value to buy a rental property for their children to live in. They charged reasonable rent so their children could have housing, while they worked on their credit scores and saved money. They then took the cash flow from the property to pay the policy loan back. Another way to use the family banking strategy is to take the cash value, loan to your children to buy cars, and have the children pay you back. If you don’t think your children will pay you back, consider this. Your children are likely your beneficiaries. So they’ll get the same amount whether they pay you back or not. The death benefit will be reduced by any outstanding loans when paid out. By repaying the life insurance loans now, your children increase their payout at a later date. Keep in mind that you can also set up the repayments to be processed straight from their bank accounts. Privatized Banking As Income Another key component of Privatized Banking is the ability to supplement your retirement income. Not only can it be an additional stream to pull from, but it also makes all of your assets perform better. Here are a few examples. Social Security and Pension Maximization Social security is taxed at a maximum of 85%–which means that only 85% of your social security income is subject to taxes. If your other income is below $44k, you can lower the portion of your social security income that is taxed. And if you can reduce your income below $32,000 you won’t have to pay any taxes on social security income. And many people will say, but how do I live on that? That’s where Roth IRA and whole life insurance dividends come in. The use of these assets will allow you to pull interest and dividends, or even take policy loans to supplement your income. And the reason you don’t pay taxes is that you already paid the taxes on that money before your contributions or premiums. So you can slash taxes paid on your Social Security and stay in a lower tax bracket, all while drawing a significant income. It’s in the tax code, making it a legal tax strategy. You can also use whole life insurance for pension maximization. Volatility Buffer Whole life insurance can also act as a buffer against any market volatility. With this strategy, you can increase the longevity of your investments by years if you’re drawing income from an investment portfolio. The idea originated with Wade Pfau. The strategy is to draw your income from your life insurance when the market is down. It’s hard to recover from a down year when you have to take money out of your investments, and it can quickly bleed you dry. The ability to instead draw income from another account allows it to bounce back. Permission to Spend Another reason whole life insurance can be beneficial to you in retirement is the “permission to spend” idea. That is, if you want to leave a legacy and still want to use your other assets, whole life insurance acts as a permission slip. The knowledge that you’ll have a death benefit to leave to your heirs can give you the peace of mind to use your existing assets—reverse mortgages, SPIAs, and other income-producing strategies won’t leave your heirs without. Accelerated Death Benefit Rider Towards the end of your life, you can use the accelerated death benefit to pay for unknown expenses. This is a good last resort, and safety net, that can give you tremendous peace of mind. If you have the accelerated death benefit rider, the insurance company will give you access to your death benefit if diagnosed with a terminal illness. This benefit can be used for medical expenses and, in reality, anything you wish. However, life insurance is an asset that you’ll want to keep for as long as possible, so we don’t recommend using whole life insurance as your primary income. You can best utilize your policy as a support asset, one that provides you with peace of mind. Not Too Old for Infinite Banking If you’re in your senior years and you think you’ve missed the opportunity to start your privatized bank, you’re probably not too old for Infinite Banking. You have more time than you think. This asset provides you with liquidity, certainty, and the promise that you won’t outlive your money. If you’re wondering how whole life insurance fits into your personal economy, we’d love to help. We exist to help you do the most with your money, so you can build time and money freedom. Book A Strategy Call Do you want to coordinate your finances so that everything works together to improve your life today, accelerate time and money freedom, and leave the greatest legacy? We can help!   We spend a lot of time and attention educating and sharing the benefits of Privatized Banking, so it can come across like we’re the whole life insurance people. However, when it comes to working with clients directly, we don’t start with products.  Family Banking is the middle of the process, not the start, not the end, and not the complete picture. Helping you think differently about your money starts with your individual financial picture and goals.  Book an Introductory Call with our team today https://themoneyadvantage.com/calendar/, and find out how Privatized Banking, alternative investments, or cash flow strategies can help you accomplish your goals better and faster. That being said, if you want to find out more about how Privatized Banking gives you the most safety, liquidity, and growth  … plus boosts your investment returns, and guarantees a legacy, go to https://privatizedbankingsecrets.com/freeguide to learn more.