Infinite Banking for your Kids

How would you like to help prepare and secure your child’s financial future for all stages of their life including college and all the milestone that follow? 

Not ever having to worry about whether your child will be beholden to banks for massive student loans, crippling credit card debt, or any other type of bank debt?

Instead you could give your child the ultimate financial gift. 

Put them in driver’s seat so they can re-write the financial rules to escape the bank-controlled money system that plagues families from one generation to the next.

It’s the so-called “Rat Race” for a reason. 

But it doesn’t have to be your child’s financial destiny. 

The truth is our kids are destined to follow the same financial path we do. 

If you borrow money from a bank from one car purchase to the next, finance your home from mortgage to the next, contribute to a 401k plan praying the stock market can consistently perform so you can finally retire (March 2020 has seen the market crash 25% because of the Covid19 crisis!), I’m going to tell you something that deep down you probably already know. 

You’re saving money in the wrong place! 

Worse yet, your kids will adopt the same or similar money habits from you when they become adults.

Undoubtably, you're a proud parent who wants the best for your kids.  Why pass on a lifetime of financial insecurity?

The challenge Middle Class America has is not knowing what we can do differently for our kids instead of the traditional options… like bank savings accounts and 529 Accounts.  These savings options are mediocre at best.

The big question is: how can you give your child the best head start in life so they can avoid repeating the same financial blunders you've made?  Yes, you!  We all have to own our mistakes in life so let's keep it real.

What I’m going to share with you will help you give your child access to a tax-free reservoir of wealth they can use over and over and over again…at any point in life! 

Not only can it help pay for college but for ALL THE MILESTONES in their life. 

From buying their first car, their first home, start or buy a business, the opportunities they'll be able to take advantage of is unlimited.  That's the power of IBC.  It puts those who implement the strategy in the position to be "Master & Commander" (great movie by the way) of their financial ship!

And IBC will even be there to providing TAX-FREE income in retirement, too.

It’s been called “the Swiss Army Knife of Financial Planning” because of all its uses. 

I’ve even heard the Infinite Banking Concept® referred to as “the black box secret for the ultra-wealthy” because affluent families use it TO HAVE ACCESS to cash reserves WHENEVER NEEDED and FOR ANY PURPOSE.  Plus money kept in these accounts allow families to transfer wealth from one generation to the next.

It's the ultimate wealth building secret

And for kids, the power of time and uninterrupted compounding growth is the perfect recipe to help them navigate their entire financial life. 

I call it the “Junior Estate Builder” and this plan is so simple you’ll be surprised to learn it’s worked for over 150+ years secured by the safest financial industry in the world.

It’s where I put my kid’s savings because I know it will be there for every big event in their life and I invite you to do the same for your children.

In the next few minutes I’m going to share how you can give your child the best financial tool to navigate their life. 

  

This simple, proven financial strategy is so flexible it can be used for any purpose no questions asked. 

Imagine your child having a place to grow wealth without ever experiencing market losses and economic downturns, political uncertainty and social upheaval, or any global event that cut an asset in half without warning.  

With the Junior Estate Builder, every year is a good year

I know it sounds too good to be true but it does exist and it's even written into the IRS tax code.  It just happens to have the worse name ever which is why I choose to call it the "Junior Estate Builder".

With this strategy, your child will no longer be beholden to banks for loans.  No more worrying about getting dinged on their FICO scores, and having to verify income or employment will be a thing of the past.

I can tell you it’s such a peaceful existence to never having to deal with bank loans, high interest rates, and onerous fees. 

Then consider what your child will do for retirement.  401k plans were never meant to be the primary source for income in retirement.  They are fundamentally flawed plans.  Think about it.

Money in a 401k plan is tied up for decades.  Early access is penalized and taxed.  

The only option for growth comes with risky and complicated market-based options with many hidden fees.  In truth, these plans serve Wall Street and the government better than they will for your child. 

Wall Street locks in the revenue for decades with no performance guarantees in return, then the IRS takes a sizeable portion in taxes every year for life. 

Is this really a good plan?  Is it really the best you can do?

It only seems that way if it's all you know!

Well, most parents only know about 529 Accounts too, and like 401k plans, these are severely flawed as well.  

529 Accounts put money at risk like 401k plans, can be used for only college expenses, and once spent will never provide any additional value or benefit to your child... EVER!  

In short, 529 Accounts are a risky, single purpose strategy with no additional value past college. 

The greatest benefit to the Junior Estate Builder is how it can be used to help pay for college, but more importantly, it can be used as a private banking system to accumulate long-term wealth during your child's life.

Imagine a multi-use strategy where your kids can re-use the money over and over again to acquire assets like real estate, or start a business, or perhaps buy an existing business so they can be their own boss.

They can also use the money you save for them to finance all the cars they'll ever own, maybe even put their own kids (your grandkids!) thru college...

Ultimately, it will even provide tax-free income in retirement.

Remember when I mentioned that the Junior Estate Builder is the “Swiss Army Knife” of financial planning?  This is a versatile, flexible, and predictable money system unlike the traditional bank and Wall Street system that holds you captive with your own money.

The sad truth is that traditional financial planning amounts to life-long financial servitude to banks and Wall Street because those institutions control your largest assets.  Congress writes the laws and changes the rules all the time.

Does it make sense to be penalized for early access and eventually get taxed on every dollar withdrawn in 401k/IRA accounts?  These plans are designed more for our government's benefit (great source of annual revenue) and the average American accepts it blindly because “it’s what everybody does!”

And this bank/Wall Street monopolized money system keeps you from discovering the truth about this strategy which hides in plain sight waiting for you to discover it.

It's the secret traditional banks and Wall Street hope you never learn about.

And keeping you in the dark is the best way to ensure your child will learn the same money habits you have now which keep you and your kids tied to banks and Wall Street in perpuity.

This is the financial destiny your child will inherit from you but the strategy sessions I offer will help you and your child change the course of your financial future by getting your child started on a path that puts them in the financial driver’s seat during their lifetime.

As a parent I know you have the best intentions  

I have no doubt your intentions for your child are no different than my parents had for me.

They did what they thought was best for me as a child and most families still do something similar.

For me, it was one those passport savings account books that are now a relic of the past, especially with interest rates at 0% these days! 

Back when I was growing up interest rates were much higher than they are now, so it was pretty cool to see the money my savings account grow at 6-8% each year during the 80’s. 

My parents were dutiful savers and thankfully that discipline certainly rubbed off on me.

Problem is despite my parents work ethic and discipline to save as much as they could for me, they chose accounts that conditioned me at an early age to think of banks as trusted institutions.

The de facto place to always save money.  How was I to ever learn otherwise?  I have a feeling you can relate.

Unfortunately, I had no Rich Dad or wealthy uncle to help me learn about money.
 

For this reason I went to work in the financial services industry after college.  Fast forward 21 years and I’ve tried just about every financial vehicle that exists. 

And of the places I’ve put money, there has only been one strategy and asset class that has worked like clockwork each year.  

This strategy has given me access to money tax-free to deal with financial curve balls as well as financial opportunities (the ability to purchase multiple homes, rental properties, an apartment complex, precious metals, you name it), and do so without ever interrupting the foundational portion of my net worth.  

I stopped contributing after-tax money to mutual funds that left me susceptible to tax consequences each year, including years when I lost money in the market. 

No more maxing out my 401k’s/IRA’s where I was putting my money in financial prison for 3 to 4 decades. 

I even stopped directing money to my kids 529 Accounts.

The more I realized how beneficial this strategy was for me, the more I thought how I should be setting up my kids with the same strategy for when they come of age.

The traditional advice of using 529 Accounts just didn’t make much sense compared to the alternative I had discovered for myself back in 2007.

What really drove home the point for me was my experience as an advisor and seeing 529 College Savings Accounts take massive hits when the market corrected from 2007 to 2009.

It wasn’t just 401k retirement plans that suffered during the last big recession, kids with their 529 accounts, especially those about to go off to college suffered as well.  We are witnessing it now again with the Covid-19 pandemic.

My experience as an advisor also helped me learn the other downside to 529 Accounts which is that not every child goes on to college. 

Money in 529 accounts are taxed and penalized on the earnings if not used for educational purposes.  No such rules or restrictions on a Junior Estate Builder plan.

This was the icing on the cake for me.  No 529 Accounts.  Instead I would set my kids up what I now call the Junior Estate Builder.

I’d give my kids the freedom of choice and direction in life without ever being hamstrung by banks, Wall Street, or even Congress. 

The truth about money is this:

The only fix is taking matters into your hands  

You cannot continue to rely on banks, Wall Street and Congress created plans to create the future you desire.

You have to OWN AND CONTROL your future and you have to teach your kids how to OWN AND CONTROL their future as well.

The Junior Estate Builder gives you the ownership and control with your own “privatized banking system” and it's actually quite simple.

Through the use private dividend-paying Whole Life contracts structured for maximum cash values, I create and OWN the pool of money I use to finance my cars, homes, make investments, pay my taxes… and yes, even to supplement my future income in retirement TAX-FREE.   

All of it is accomplished without ever needing to finance (borrow money from a bank having to agree to their terms), relying on Wall Street roller coaster, or lock up money in lobster traps (401k/IRAs) Congress creates to capture tax revenue each year when I retire until the day I day.

Everything it does for me, it will also do for my kids who each have their own contracts.

Quite simply, the Junior Estate Builder will do for my kids more than any 529 Account could ever do AND do better than any 401k plan could do.

The freedom of this strategy is going to teach them how to be financially independent from banks and Wall Street so they can live the life they aspire to without the financial obstacles that handcuff Middle Class America.

Most importantly, with the power of compounding interest and youth, my kids and yours will have the benefit of time to make even small amounts today go an extraordinaryly long way tomorrow!

Each of my 3 kids have their own Junior Estate Builder.  It’s where I direct their savings and each year their accounts grow larger and larger, just like the adult versions I have for myself and my wife where between the two of us, we have 8 properly designed IBC® Whole Life contracts and counting.  Including my kids contracts, our family has 11 Infinite Banking designed Whole Life policies we direct money to each year.

Think of that for a moment.

Instead letting banks and Wall Street controlling our wealth, my family has total control of a growing pool of money every single year that we can use for any purpose.  

Two simple reasons why this works so well:

1. These are private placed contracts backed by mutually owned (shares are not traded publicly) life insurance institutions that have paid dividends for 150+ years consecutively, even thru the Great Depression. 

2.  These plans are an uncorrelated asset class meaning it has no connection whatsoever to the stock market so will never suffer a market drop.

In fact, unlike Wall Street,  these financial institutions put their own skin in the game by guaranteeing a minimum amount of growth each year no matter what happens in the economy. 

I have the ultimate peace of mind knowing the money I put away from my kids will always be there for them.

I especially love that my kids' financial plan is now all-inclusive for any direction they choose to go as adults. 

Imagine the financial freedom you could be giving your kids where they have the resources to own cars, buy a house, start or invest in a business without the need to ask a bank for financial assistance. 

Attending college is an important milestone but as a parent I really believe we need to look beyond transitioning our kids from high school to college. 

Let’s face it, these days it gets harder and harder to get ahead. 

One thing that often goes overlooked is that the better prepared our kids are to transition to adulthood, the less likely we will have to support them financially in their 20’s, even their 30’s.

You’ve probably heard college graduates are returning to live their parents more than ever these days.

Marriage, having kids, and buying their first homes are being delayed later and later these days.

The number one reason is because they don’t have the financial resources to step out on their own.   

And the results have been proven to work over and over and over again.

So you may be wondering, if this is so great, why haven’t I heard of the Junior Estate Builder?

Now in the financial services business you probably realize Wall Street and Banks will do anything to manage your money. 

They’ve monopolized  401k plans and 529 Accounts to the point all financial recommendations narrowly focus only on stock market-based portfolios. 

For Middle Class America, these are the choices talked about.

That’s the biggest reason why the Junior Estate Builder is the best financial secret hiding in plain sight.

It’s not a Bank and Wall Street created product or service.  Quite simply, they can’t, don’t, or won’t recommend it because it directs money outside of their control!  Remember, it's a very specific type of dividend-paying Whole Life policy.  Furthermore, it has to be structured just right to avoid becoming taxable later in life.

By now you should know when money is locked into 401k/IRA plans, that money becomes tied up for life! 

When the need for money arises, where must a family turn if they are prohibited from accessing their own the largest asset they own?

Middle Class America is forced to borrow money from banks, of course!  They refinance their home if possible or rack up sizeable credit card debt that will take years to pay off.

It’s a system designed with purpose to keep you on that Bank/Wall Street treadmill.

And unless you do something different for your kids, this treadmill is all your kids will likely ever know!

But it doesn’t have to be.

You now have a choice to take action.

You can take the next steps to help your kids avoid the same financial pitfalls.

I’ve made getting started so simple and easy for my clients, that way your kids don’t have to be another financial statistic who don’t have a rainy day fund or have enough to retire on when they are adults. 

The best part? 

You will know down to the dollar and year, how your child’s plan will perform, you will finally have the missing piece that moves your child’s financial life forward from one milestone to the next because they will have access to money tax-free when and where they need it. 

To setup the Junior Estate Builder system correctly, you must be able to do 3 things:

1.  You have to be able to think long-term.  This is not a get rich quick scheme.

Remember, saving for college is one milestone but your child will have many more milestones ahead of them.  Give them the resources to prosper at every stage of their life.

2.  You have to have the financial discipline to save money consistently.  $100 a month is the minimum.  If your budget allows for more, you can add more.

3.  Put the plan on auto-pilot.  It won’t require any luck, skill, or guesswork on your part to be successful because the contract is has guarantees, flexibility, and access to cash whenever it's needed.

If you can do these 3 simple things, you will ensure your child the ability to take advantage of any opportunity life presents them.

OR...you can continue doing what you’re currently doing for your kids hoping the plan works and in the case of 529 Accounts, hope it’s utilized for college. 

I have no doubt your kids will be grateful for any amount put away for their future. 

I know I was grateful for what my parents saved for me, but if you’re the type of parent that really wants to give your kids an edge financially, you owe it to your child to see how this plan can work for them.

Here is the next step to take:

Visit my calendar and request a strategy session here:  www.IBC.guru

Thank you,

John Montoya

Here’s Why You Should Only Work with an Infinite Banking Authorized Practitioner

When you need to prepare your taxes, you go to your tax professional.

When you set up your living trust, you go to an estate planning attorney.

When you want to buy or sell a property, you go to a real estate professional.

Foot issues?  See a podiatrist.  Is your baby is sick?  Go to a pediatrician.  Kitchen remodel?  Hire a contractor that specializes in kitchens.  And on and on we can go.

If this sounds like common sense, it’s because it is.  The point is we seek out specialists in their field when we have specific goals we want to accomplish.  It’s the best way to assure that we get what want-- the best advice from experienced professionals.

When it comes to the Infinite Banking strategy, there are specialists across the United States who have completed the necessary training and been approved by the Nelson Nash Institute to teach and implement the Infinite Banking strategy properly.  You can find an authorized practitioner here:  https://infinitebanking.org/finder/

Here is why you should only speak to an IBC Authorized Advisor:

Whole Life insurance is a financial product.  Infinite Banking is a financial strategy.

There’s no end to the amount of incomplete information about life insurance on the internet.  

There are many life insurance options and no one size fits all.  Anybody who tells you should only buy a certain type of life insurance product probably isn’t qualified to be giving advice in the first place or have a professional agenda to steer you to something only they can offer.

The best life insurance product is the one that accomplishes an individual’s goals and everybody’s situation and priorities are different.  If obtaining life insurance protection is your goal, you should work with a professional who can educate on the pro’s and con’s of all the different life insurance products available. 

Pretty simple.

Taking it a step further, if you are interested in learning more about Infinite Banking, it’s important to know Infinite Banking can be accomplished with different financial products but none as well as a participating Whole Life policy from a mutual life insurance company. 

Definition of product:  an article or substance that is manufactured or refined for sale.

Definition of strategy:  a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim.

If you want to incorporate Infinite Banking into your personal financial picture, then you want a strategy, not a product.  To that end, you want a specialist who knows the field better than the rest.

In working with an IBC authorized practitioner, you’ll be working with someone who practices the strategy and can speak about their personal experiences.  They should be able to tell you exactly how they’ve used the strategy to build wealth.  If they can’t do that, they have not fully implemented IBC. 

Furthermore, any advisor can speak about a Whole Life policy but most advisors don’t even own a Whole Life policy let alone practice Infinite Banking.  Owning and practicing Infinite Banking with a properly designed IBC Whole Life policy is a world of difference!

In addition to the specific Infinite Banking training they receive, all IBC authorized advisors must own their IBC designed policies in order to be certified practitioners by the Nelson Nash Institute. 

   

It’s worth mentioning that not all Whole Life policies are the same and certainly not up to the criteria needed to be used for Infinite Banking.

Example, people who buy final expense whole life policies technically have a whole life policy but this is far different policy from the type of whole life policy an IBC authorized advisor would use for Infinite Banking.  Final expenses have little to no cash value growth and no flexibility or collateral capacity to use for banking purposes.

Another example are Gerber baby policies.  These are technically Whole Life policies but they are non-participating policies which means they pay no dividends.  They also cannot be used for banking purposes. 

Switching gears, it pains me to say that there are advisors who advocate and teach Infinite Banking but are not Infinite Banking authorized advisors.  They have not been interviewed by the Nelson Nash Institute, passed the necessary curriculum and gone thru the mentoring program to be approved as an IBC authorized advisor.   They contribute nothing to the community of advisors who have committed to upholding the highest levels of integrity to the public who are asking for the Infinite Banking strategy.

All IBC authorized advisors take very seriously a code of ethics to structure and implement only the correct type of Whole Life policies for the Infinite Banking strategy.  It’s because advisors were using the Infinite Banking name and peddling different recommendations that Nelson Nash created what was first called the Infinite Banking Institute, later changed to the Nelson Nash Institute by the board of directors to honor Nelson and his legacy.

My advice:  work with an IBC authorized advisor who is trained and vetted versus those who fail to meet the requirements and can potentially put you at risk by recommending policies that are not right for the IBC strategy. 

If an advisor is promoting IBC but is not a verified advisor on the Nelson Nash Institute website, you should ask him/her why that is.   

Action Plan:  3 Steps

1.      Connect with an IBC authorized advisor.  Get a high level overview and learn the basics of the strategy.  If it makes sense logically, request a customized plan.

2.      Complete a financial analysis with your IBC authorized advisor.

3.      Schedule an online or in-person appointment to review your IBC recommendations.  If the plan makes sense for you, start the underwriting process to implement. 

John A. Montoya

www.IBC.guru

JLM Wealth Strategies, Inc.

IBC® Authorized Practitioner

CA Life#0C42222

 

Life Insurance Myth: The Company Keeps Your Cash Value When You Die

There’s a lot of noise on the internet about life insurance.  Some of the things I read makes my eyes roll.  I'm going to shed some light one of the myths/misconceptions thrown around on the internet and accepted as truth by the misinformed.  

Here's what I came across this week:

The cash value belongs to the insurance company, not you. No matter what anyone else tells you, you don't get the cash. I'll keep it brief but here goes:  When you die, the insurance company gets your cash value. Full stop. Your heirs only get the death benefit.

Ugh... Stop it, please.  This faulty thinking would have you believe that when you sell your home, you get to keep the purchase price AND the equity… yikes.  Obviously, that’s not how it works in reality.

The cash value is yours.  It belongs to one else!

To better understand why cash value belongs to only you, you need to understand how life insurance actually works. 

Let’s start with a simple Term policy because it has no cash value.  Term policies pay a death benefit only.  That’s it and it will do so for only a period of time which means 99% of the time, you will outlive this policy.  (Ironically, all that cash you paid for the Term policy is kept by the insurance company...)

Unlike Term policies, Permanent life insurance builds cash value and how this happens is where the confusion starts and stays.  The first thing you should know is that there are two types of permanent life insurance policies:  Whole Life and Universal Life (including Indexed Universal and Variable Universal).

Of these two types of permanent policies, it's extremely important to understand that only Whole Life cash policies can endow.  (There are other major differences between Whole Life and Universal Life but for the purpose of this blog post I will stick to the subject line...)

Endowment is a huge deal.  It means the cash value will eventually equal the death benefit. 

This is an important detail because it means as the pages in the calendar turn, the cash value is replacing a portion of the death benefit in a Whole Life policy. 

If you live to end of the contract period, typically age 121 on current Whole Life products, the life insurance company will simply cut you a check for the cash value at the very end.  Congrats, you made it to endowment!

A great analogy in how this works is a comparing endowment to a mortgage.

Every mortgage begins with majority of every payment going towards interest and a very small percentage of principal that which builds equity.  Over time (a really, really long time) eventually your equity starts to build faster and faster until the mortgage balance is paid off.

A similar thing happens with a Whole Life policy.  

In the beginning, Whole Life policies are front loaded just like a mortgage.  As a result there is very little cash value available right away because the majority of the premium is supporting the cost of a permanent death benefit.  There leaves very little left over to create early high cash values.  In fact, it may take you years to build any cash value if you've purchased a Whole life insurance policy designed for maximum death benefit which is the way the majority buy Whole Life. 

For this reason, the Dave Ramsey's and Suze Orman's of the world lambast traditional Whole Life policies as the worst financial  product ever.  BUT... you'll never hear them or their followers talk about minimizing the death benefit of a Whole Life policy and using a Paid-Up Addition (PUA) Rider to create high early cash values which is what you would get with an Infinite Banking designed Whole Life policy.  This is a glaring omission from supposed experts who should be able to explain how Paid-Up Additions work in a Whole Life policy to create cash value right away.

(DISCLOSURE:  I am an Infinite Banking authorized advisor with the Nelson Nash Institute and have been teaching the strategy since 2007.)

As the years pass (even if you have a traditional Whole Life policy with no PUA rider) your cash value will start accumulating because a Whole Life has a fixed guaranteed premium and cash values are guaranteed to grow increasingly larger every year. This being the case, the cash value will eventually equal the death benefit (endowment).   Guarantees are a big deal.

If you're wondering why Universal Life policies don't endow, it's because their cost "chassis" is built on a 1 year renewable term which gets more expensive as you age.  The long-term danger of owning a Universal Life policy is that the rising costs will eventually deplete the cash values putting the owners in the uncomfortable position as they get older of choosing to keep up with rising premiums to maintain their death benefit (that they thought would be permanent) or have the cash values depleted to cover the rising costs.  

In my opinion, Universal Life policies should not even be considered in the permanent life insurance category because the rising cost of insurance eventually depletes the cash values.  This is why Universal policies can't endow.  

Here’s the Big Takeaway #1: 

Your cash value is the net present value of the future death benefit.  REPEAT.  Your cash value is the net present value of the future death benefit.

Part of the net present value is the time factor.  If you have a Whole Life policy right now, even those Whole Life policies without a Paid Up Addition's Rider, your cash value is working its way every year to becoming equal to the death benefit by the end of the contract.  If you have any type of Universal policy, we should probably talk...

THIS IS A MATHEMATICAL CERTAINTY

This means the cash values will eventually be paid to your beneficiaries.  So no, the life insurance company does not ever get to keep your cash values.  When a person dies short of endowment, the insurance company covers the difference between your cash values and the death benefit.  That is their contractual obligation to you and your listed beneficiaries.  

Remember when you sell your house, you don't get the purchase price AND the equity!

Going just a bit further because learning is fun, having a cash value policy is like investing in reverse if such a thing existed.

Let’s say your goal is to have a $1 million net worth by the time you’re ready to graduate to the big classroom in the sky.  Investments are inherently risky.  Nothing is guaranteed.  However, a permanent life insurance policy guarantees you’ll have that $1 million estate to pass on to your heirs instantly no matter how your investments turn out or what happens in your life (Not even death or taxes can get in the way.  How cool is that?!).

This may already be a lot to chew on so please pay attention because I’m coming to my 2^nd point.  This is where people really fall for the claim about life insurances keeping the cash values.  Beyond how a cash value policy will endow over time (get closer and closer to equaling the death benefit as you age), there is another life insurance term you need to understand.

Big Takeaway #2

The difference between the cash value you are accumulating and what the policy will pay out is called the “net amount-at-risk”.  The key word there is: net.  The net is the difference between the death benefit and cash value.

Who is actually “at-risk” for paying out the money beyond the accumulated cash value?  Well, it’s the life insurance company because you transferred the risk of performance (creating that $1m estate payout) to the people at the life insurance company in exchange for a premium.  You essentially exchanged a guaranteed future outcome for a portion of your present cash flow.

Here’s an example:

Keeping this simple and high level, let’s say you have a cash value policy purchased years ago with a (C)$1,000,000 death benefit.  Over time you’ve paid premiums and accumulated (A) $350,000 of cash value.  The net amount at risk to the life insurance company would then be (B) $650,000. 

Getting back to “No matter what anyone else tells you, you don't get the cash”, this is wrong because the cash value goes to your beneficiary along with the net amount-at-risk the life insurance company has to come up with to honor the death benefit payout. 

Just add the two amounts together to equal the death benefit.  (A)$350,000 + (B)$650,000 = (C)$1,000,000 death benefit. 

To make sense of it, you simply have to understand A + B = C.  

Or if you prefer, C - A = B.

In summary, there are 2 things to understand here.

1.                  Endowment.  The cash value will equal the death benefit at age 121 (or age 100 for policies bought when products only insured to that age.)  Be 100% positive you have a policy that endows.

2.                   Net Amount At-Risk.  Until endowment happens, the net amount at risk is the difference between the cash value and the death benefit.  (C-A=B)

With these 2 points, you now understand why the life insurance company does not keep your cash value...EVER!  It is paid out as part of the death benefit when you die or back to you if you live to endowment.

Congratulations on now being smarter than the average person buying life insurance!



If you think you might have a Universal life policy, please double-check! I've lost track of how many people I've talked to who have told me they have a Whole Life policy only to discover they bought a Universal Life policy.  

I'm available to help answer your questions.  You can find me at www.IBC.guru.

Thank you,

John Montoya

IBC - Which is Better? Direct vs. Non-Direct Dividends ("YOU'RE MAJORING IN THE MINORS!")

Let's start by getting a couple things out of the way when it comes to dividends on a participating Whole Life policy:

1.  You have growing cash value (guaranteed interest and non-guaranteed dividends that become guaranteed once declared) when loans are taken.

2.  One option is not necessarily better than the other.  That said, someone trying to sell you a policy might try to persuade you otherwise for their own purpose (they might only work with one type of company).  

3.  Infinite Banking Authorized Practitioners are (or at least should have been trained to be) completely agnostic.  They shouldn't favor one over the other for reasons explained below.

What follows below is a deeper dive into the world of Whole Life dividends to help further your Infinite Banking (aka IBC) knowledge.  

-----

There are two types of dividends you can get in the Whole Life world. 

1. Direct Recognition Dividend
2. Non-Direct Recognition Dividend

From a marketing point of view, advisors will “sell” non-direct as the best option because dividends are unaffected by loans. 

However, this is a half-truth. 

There is no free lunch which we all know to be true in life.  Same lesson applies here with direct vs non-direct.  If a life insurance is paying the same dividend regardless of whether a person requests a loan, that means there is something else going on. 

Here is the other half for the full picture on non-direct dividends.  Life insurance companies that pay a non-direct dividend pay out lower dividends to everybody to offset the cost of borrowing from the general fund of the life insurance company for those who do take loans.   

Essentially, those who do not take policy loans are subsidizing those that do.

So the question becomes would you rather have the potential for the highest dividend you can get every year?  Or would you be happy with a lower but level dividend for all years?  With a direct recognition dividend, you have the highest potential for dividends without having to subsidize other people who may or may not take policy loans.  You still get declared dividends when loans are outstanding.   They are not taken away from you because you have a loan.  However, you will get a reduced portion of the dividend if a loan is taken.

Back in 2007 I emailed Nelson Nash, author and creator of Becoming Your Own Banker (the pioneer of IBC) and he surprised me by calling me out of the blue.  He was already well into his 70’s at that time.  I wasn’t expecting an email back let alone a phone call.  I had emailed him about direct vs. non-direct because I wanted to know which was better for my own situation before I started recommending a particular choice to my clients.

The first thing he said to me after introducing himself was to thank me for reading his book and for  helping him to spread his message about IBC by being a professional in the industry.  Then in his thick and sage Alabama accent which I recognized as Nelson’s right away even though we’d never spoken before (no introduction needed!), he said something I have never forgotten.

He said in that kind, old man Alabama drawl, “Now son, you’re majoring in the minors!”

What a thing to say!  If he didn't already have my utmost attention, he surely had it then.

Now you have to know Nelson had a certain way of teaching fundamental truths.  If you’ve read Becoming Your Own Banker (it’s worth re-reading from time to time), you know he uses analogies and euphemisms quite a bit to explain important points that should not be taken for granted.  

That's exactly what he did with me over the phone at 7:53am PST while I was packing my little ones into the car for a ride to their pre-school.  It instantly hit me what he was saying and has stuck with me ever since.

Direct vs. Non-direct ultimately doesn’t matter in the big picture of IBC.  

The whole point of Infinite Banking is to own and control a system of money that you are constantly directing your flow of money into so you can eliminate the middle man (traditional banks).  The freedom of control and use of money for any purpose while enjoying all the perks of an ultra-safe and ultra-liquid cashflow management system where you are guaranteed to have uninterrupted (tax-free even!) growth and access for life is the main point.  

Banks become super wealthy because they rob of us this freedom by fooling us into believing we need them.  We don't!  They are the middle man in the money game that seeks to control the flow of your money for their profit.  

He went on to explain to me that all I need to do is have “a good administrator (life insurance company) to handle administration and paperwork.”  The dividends will be there as they have been for 150+ years and counting. 

So to return to the discussion of direct vs non-direction and understanding the difference… while it may be good to know (especially if the only thing learned is a half-truth), it ultimately isn’t the reason why you choose to go with one life insurance company or another. 

Getting back to Nelson’s bigger picture, if a person is really doing IBC correctly, they are going to have multiple policies (with different companies – direct and non-direct dividends) over time which will eventually incorporate their total cashflow.   

It’s not an either/or proposition on which is better because you are going to receive dividends whether you have a loan outstanding or not.  It essentially comes down to: 

Are you okay subsidizing yourself and others who take loans (non-direct) and therefore take a reduced dividend for all years or obtain the highest potential dividend based on your own loan borrowing and repayment schedule… 

But as Nelson reminded me years ago: don’t lose sight of the bigger picture ("don’t major in the minors!").

Nelson instructed everyone to do 4 things to achieve Becoming Your Own Banker:

1. Think long-term.
2. Don’t be afraid to capitalize (open a policy and max-fund a properly designed Whole Life policy).
3. Don’t steal the peas (repay your loans at a “higher interest rate” – another euphemism meaning re-capitalize quickly so have capital for your next opportunity).
4. Stop working with the middle man (i.e. traditional banks).

If you have more questions you'd like answered about Infinite Banking, let me know!  You can find me at www.IBC.guru.

Thank you,

John A. Montoya

JLM Wealth Strategies, Inc.

Bank On Yourself® Authorized Advisor

IBC® Authorized Practitioner

CA Life#0C42222

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