Personal Finance

Are you Unknowingly Giving Up Control of your Finances?

Do you make a great income but still feel stuck financially?

Well, you’re not alone.

Most of our clients don’t understand how to make their money as efficient as possible. That’s where we come in. We find money that’s hiding in plain sight, that people are giving up control of unknowingly and unnecessarily.

If you’ve ever met with a financial advisor, traditional financial advisors are really good at pointing out problems.

“You don’t have enough money saved for your kids to go to college. Therefore, you need to save more for college.”

“You don’t have enough money to fund your retirement income. Therefore, you need to save more money for retirement.”

But the thing is, you’re probably doing the best you can with what you have, and if you could save more, let’s face it, you would be saving more. The question is, how to do it?

This is exactly what makes us unique. We’re trained to identify where you’re giving up control of your money unknowingly and unnecessarily. And these are two keywords. Unknowingly, meaning you don’t realize you’re doing it. And unnecessarily, meaning a simple shift, sometimes just in perspective, can change what you’re doing that’s actually holding you back. It’s our mission to help as many people as possible make the best decisions possible financially, and oftentimes that means making their money work more efficiently.

 

What does it mean to make your money work more efficiently?

Well, it means putting your money to work for you, not the government, not the banks, and not Wall Street. Maintaining control of as much cash flow as possible is what will move you ahead financially. It’s not enough to point out a problem. It’s not even enough to offer a solution. What makes us unique is that we actually help you find the money within your current cash flow to pay for the solution. Basically, we would have minimal or no impact on your current cash flow to solve a problem and provide a solution.

There are five major areas of wealth transfer where we look for these inefficiencies in your personal economic model.

    1. Taxes
    2. Retirement
    3. Mortgage
    4. Education
    5. Major Capital Purchases

Identifying these five areas is literally how we find money that’s hiding in plain sight. Ultimately what happens is we can provide you with a solution to your problem with minimal or no impact on your current cash flow.

Let’s face it, none of us wake up in the morning and say, “Hey, how can I hold myself back financially today?” No, we think we’re making the best decisions that would be moving us forward. But what if what you thought to be true turned out not to be true? When would you want to know about it?

If you’d like to get started with our solution to find the money within your current cash flow so you’re able to achieve your financial goals sooner, visit our website at Tier1Capital.com to schedule your free strategy session today. Or if you’d like to learn exactly how we use this process to identify inefficiencies in the cash flow model, check out our free webinar where we go into the four steps to financial freedom.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

Is having a paid-up rider worth it on my Whole Life Insurance Policy? | Tier 1 Capital

Are you thinking about buying a whole life insurance policy and wondering if it makes sense to add a paid-up additions rider? If that sounds like you stick around because we’re going to go over exactly why it may make sense to add that rider to your policy.

First of all, you may be wondering what in the world is a paid-up additions rider.

Quite simply, it’s a rider under the umbrella of a whole-life policy that allows you to put extra cash into the policy. That extra cash buys a paid-up additional life insurance policy. Think of it as a single premium whole-life policy under the umbrella of your whole-life policy.

 

So basically with this rider, you’re able to build up cash value quickly in the policy and no further premiums are going to be due to support that death benefit.

But how would that benefit you as a whole life insurance policy owner?

The first part of answering that question is that we have to step back and look at what a whole life insurance policy looks like without the paid-up additions rider. And in general, most whole-life policies have zero cash value in the first year, zero cash value in the second year, and very little cash value in the third year. So it’s not really efficient on its own without the help of a paid-up additions rider. That’s mainly due to the fact that the insurance company has to pay for setting up those policies.

There are a lot of expenses behind the scenes that need to be supported, and the insurance company takes care of those expenses upfront before building the cash value in those whole life insurance policies.

It’s a lot like building your own business. In the first few years, you’re not going to see any profits because you need to get that machine working efficiently. By design, a whole life insurance policy becomes very efficient after the fourth or fifth year. From that point forward, it literally gets better and better because, by design, the insurance company has to reserve more money to pay for the second promise, which is to have the face amount of the policy in cash at the age of maturity.

So by adding this paid-up additions rider, especially in the early years, we’re able to build up that cash value more quickly within the policy. You may be saying, “Olivia, I don’t even want to loan against my policy. I just want death benefit for my family, for my whole life.”

And I would make the argument that the paid-up additions rider still makes sense, even if you don’t plan on loaning against your policy. And here’s why.

The paid-up additions rider could give the policy a lot of flexibility down the line. You could think of it as prepaying premiums, in a sense, and that your policy has this extra cash. And if you become in a cash flow pinch down the line and can’t pay your premium, or can’t afford that cash flow to pay the premium, you could take a loan or surrender against that paid-up additions rider to fund those premiums. Your policy then remains in effect and at maximum efficiency.

One thing we’ve learned over 37 years in the financial services business is that life happens and things happen beyond our control that prevents us from being on a straight line and doing the things that we said we were going to do 20 years ago or ten years ago or even two years ago. Because of the paid-up additions rider, you’re literally building in flexibility for future premiums.

The last thing you want to do is five years down the line after this policy has been issued, say, “Hey, I don’t have the money to fund this premium and I’ve already paid all these other premiums. I’m just going to surrender the policy.”

After five years there’s not going to be a lot of cash value in that policy, and you’re going to lose all of the premiums paid and all of that death benefit forever.

And here’s the point.

You know, we had mentioned earlier that the policy becomes very efficient after the fourth year. So think of it this way. Right when the policy is becoming more efficient, let’s say you have a cash flow issue and you can’t make the premium. Having had the paid-up additions rider could give you some premium relief.

But think of it this way, if the policy becomes more efficient after the fifth year and it’s going to get better every year after that, it’s sort of like, the worst time to own the policy is in the first four years. You go through that and now just when it starts to get good, you walk away from it. You don’t want to do that. To walk away from a policy in the fifth year or later is analogous to buying a ticket to a movie, buying your popcorn and your soda, sitting through the previews, and just when they say, “Now for our feature attraction,” you get up and walk away. You would never do that and we would never suggest that you do that with a whole life insurance policy.

If you want to get the most out of your whole life insurance policy, you’re definitely going to want to add a paid-up additions rider of some sort. It acts as a bridge, so it takes these inefficient years and makes them more efficient. And after the policy becomes efficient, you could take off that rider and reduce the cost of the premium. But if you want the flexibility of being able to make more choices down the line and ensure the life of your policy, you’re going to want to add this rider.

If you’d like more advice on this, be sure to check out our website at Tier1Capital.com to get started. We have a button for a free strategy session or a web course on exactly how we use this process to make our clients’ cash flow more efficient.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make. It’s how much money you keep that really matters.

How multi-duty dollars can fund the growth of your business


Are you a small business owner and looking to grow your business, but wondering how you’re going to retire one day?

If that sounds like you, stick around because today we’re going to talk about how you could continue to fund the growth of your business and still save for the future.

As small business owners, everyone knows that the number one issue is often cash flow. There are constant demands on our cash flow and the question of how do we manage everything?

Think of it this way. There are several types of cash flow to pay attention to.

Cash flow needed to operate your business.

Cash flow needed to reinvest in your business.

Cash flow needed to grow your business.

Cash flow needed to support your family.

With all of these demands on your cash flow. Every single day, it becomes incumbent upon you, the business owner, to make your money and your cash flow as efficient as possible so you can manage all of these demands.

The first step in making any change, is to acknowledge that there may be a better way out there and to be open to hearing about it.

 

Whenever we sit down with a business owner and it comes to the recommendation of doing a cash flow analysis.

They all say unequivocally, “Well, I’m using my cash flow properly,” or their CFO will say, “Well, we’ve already done this. We’re using our cash flow efficiently.” Or their accounting firm will say, “Well, you know, we’ve done the analysis. They’re using their cash flow efficiently.”

I’m here to tell you, you’re probably not using it as efficiently as you possibly can.

What does it mean to make your cash flow efficient?

Well, first of all, we like to get $1 to do the job of many dollars. And we like to make sure that the cash flow is working as hard as possible for you, not for the banks, not for other institutions, but for you, your business, and your family. So getting $1 to do the job of many dollars, we call that multi-duty dollars.

How do we get $1 to do multiple jobs?

The first step is to identify dollars that can be working harder for you. We usually find that in how you’re making major capital purchases and how you’re financing your debt. It’s not what you buy, it’s how you pay for it that really matters. That’s where efficiency can come in.

Recently we worked with a retail operation and they said they were using their money efficiently. The problem was they needed over $300,000 to fund their buy-sell agreement. The question was, where in the world were they going to find $300,000 to do that?

Well, we looked at how they were making major purchases and we looked at how they were handling their debt. Lo and behold, we found over $400,000. They were completely blown away. But again, it’s not what you buy, it’s how you pay for it that matters. So basically, we took the dollars that they were utilizing to pay off their debt and we converted it to create an asset that they can use to fund their buy-sell agreement.

So think about it.

We got $1 that was used for debt and we made it $2 by not only paying off their debt but also creating the asset that they needed to fund their buy-sell agreement. Multi-duty dollars. The same principle of converting liabilities into assets can be utilized for funding your own retirement or major capital purchases for your family, like sending your kids to college, or financing major purchases for your business, like equipment or vehicles for your business. 

Also, you could use it to expand your business so you don’t have to choose.

“Hey, I need to get out of debt as soon as possible. Let me put all my extra cash flow towards this goal.” You can achieve that goal, but also save along the way to achieve your own financial goals and put you in a more secure financial position.

So here’s the point. Over 35 years ago, I began working with a young couple who happen to be business owners, and I said, you know, let’s set up some life insurance that you can utilize along the way. Basically, this will be your exit strategy. You can borrow against the money for whatever you want between now and the time you retire. But then, when you retire, you can live off the growth of that policy. And sure enough, that’s what they did over the years. They borrowed against their policy to grow their business, expand their building, buy equipment and buy cars. They used it to educate their children, but they always borrowed and put it back.

Now, they recently sold their business. They came into a huge windfall and they’re getting all this advice to tie up their money to prevent themselves from having to pay taxes. But, because of all the work that we did, their legacy is intact and consequently, they can use the proceeds from the sale of their business to fund their retirement instead of their life insurance, and all of that money is now going to be utilized for legacy purposes for their children and grandchildren.

The point is we got $1 to do multiple jobs over a 35-year period, and it gave them the flexibility to do the things that they want to do for their children and grandchildren.

If you’re tired of giving away control of your cash flow, and you’re looking for a cash flow analysis. Feel free to hop on our website at Tier1Capital.com to schedule your free strategy session today.

Also, if you’d like to learn more about how our process works for families and business owners, check out our free web course, the Four Steps to Financial Freedom. It’s right on our website.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

 

How to Get the Best Rate of Return!

Today we’re going to talk about rate of return and why rate of return isn’t the end-all-be-all of any financial plan.

If you’ve ever sat down with a financial advisor, watched an ad for a financial advisor, or turned on the finance section of the news, you know that they talk about rate of return a lot. But in our opinion, the risk that’s required to obtain that high rate of return is spoken about enough. 

When it comes to risk, are you willing to leave your money at risk in the jungle every single day for the rest of your life in order to earn a high rate of return? Keep in mind that the rate of return isn’t guaranteed and nowhere is it written that you have to lose 50-70% in the market in order to get a high rate of return. 

The second thing that isn’t spoken about nearly enough is taxes and what impact our taxes and the current tax laws have on your savings and investments. Whether it’s a qualified government plan like an IRA Simples, SEP, 401k, or 403b or a non-qualified investment account where taxes are paid on growth annually, your money is exposed to taxes. And, as you know, it’s impossible to accumulate wealth in a taxable environment. You may look rich on paper, but the after-tax rate of return is not the same as the pre-tax rate of return that’s often advertised. 

So, keep in mind, whenever you’re looking at a mutual fund prospectus, they’re publishing the pre-tax rate of return. We’ve said it before: It’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep. And along those lines, how much are you keeping after fees? There are money management fees, broker advisor fees, and any number of other fees whittling away at your money. 

 

So when you’re thinking about investing and going for a high rate of return, don’t forget to consider the effect of market losses, taxes, and fees. Do not ignore the elephant in the room. What happens if you need to access that money? What’s the rate of return on your money going to be after you access it to buy a new car, put a down payment on your home, pay for a wedding, or send your children to college. The answer is zero. After you drain that tank, after you take the money out of that account, not only are you paying taxes on that money, but you’re also losing any interest. You’ll never see the interest you don’t earn on an account. 

These are all factors that need to be considered when designing your financial roadmap and your financial game plan. If you’d like to learn more about our process and how a reasonable rate of return can often get you to your financial goals with less risk, less taxes, and, obviously, less fees, be sure to check out our website at Tier1Capital.com to schedule your free strategy session. Or if you’d like to learn more, be sure to check out our free web course, The Four Steps to Financial Freedom, to learn exactly how our process works and how it could work for you.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

5 Best Tips For Financial Success

So your cash flow is tight, but you still want to set yourself up for financial success in the future. If that sounds like you stick around to the end of this blog because today we’re going to go over five things you could do right now to set yourself up for success.

Let’s get started with the five things you could do today to move you ahead financially down the line, whether you’re just getting started or maybe your income isn’t as high as you’d like it to be, these things can make a huge impact on your financial future regardless. 

The first thing you can do is to start saving today, no matter how small the amount. There’s an old proverb that says “The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step,” and that’s the key. Pay yourself first, no matter how small that amount is. That’s right. Start saving and start saving on a consistent basis. These days we have so many subscriptions and auto-pays and everything else in our checkbook every single month and it seems like there’s always more. Pay yourself first. No matter how small the amount. 

This brings us to number two: never drain the tank. Keep this in mind. You’ll never see the interest you don’t earn. Once you put that money aside for savings for your future self, don’t drain the tank. Don’t use it to go on vacation. And don’t use it to go buy your car. Now, we’re not saying don’t use that money. What we’re saying is to use your money in a way that you’re able to always continuously earn compound interest on the money. So it’s always working for you, but you’re using other people’s money to make your money more efficiently. It’s the key fact. Leverage will move your head. Never drain your tank. 

The third thing you can do to move forward and set up your future self is to live within your means. For many of us, that might mean that we need to set a budget and stay within that budget. 

Number four: keep your savings liquid, and free from taxes, losses, and government regulations. Conventional wisdom teaches us to save our money in places where it’s inaccessible, places like qualified retirement accounts like IRAs, simples, SEPs 401k’s or 403b’s. Where we have to pay a penalty if we access before age 59 and a half and at all times we have to pay taxes, and it’s taxable as income when we access that money or non-qualified accounts where the growth is taxed every single year on that account. And we all know you can’t accumulate wealth in a taxable environment. 

Rule number five is probably the most important. Not all debt is bad, especially when you own your debt. You see, when you own your debt, you’re in control of the terms and conditions of that debt, meaning that you can set up the interest rate. You can set up the payment plan. You can set up how the money is going to be used. The bottom line is you’re in control. But think of it this way. Before you pay that loan, you control the value of that payment. 

Let’s say it’s $450. So, this month, you control $450. The next day, when you make a payment to a credit card or on a car loan, you no longer control that loan. The lender controls that $450. Now, here’s the key. When you control your debt and you own your debt, you get to control the payment before you make the payment and you get to control that same amount of money after you make the payment. That’s complete control. And that’s why we’re sticklers for putting our clients in control of their money. Why? Because when you’re in control of your money, you’re in control of your cash flow and you’re in control of your life. 

Think about it this way. When it comes to owning your debt, it could be likened to having money in your pocket and sliding it over to your right pocket. At all times you have full liquidity, use, and control of that money. The bottom line is this, when it comes to your money, keep it in your pants. 

If you’d like to get started on your financial journey, visit our website at Tier1Capital.com. We have a free web course, The Four Steps to Financial Freedom that goes through our process step by step and could show you how to get ahead financially.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

Pros and Cons of a Disability Waiver of Premium

So you’re thinking about getting an Infinite Banking Concept Policy and you’re wondering, “Should I include a disability waiver of premium or not?” If that sounds like you, stick around to the end of this blog post because today we’re going to cover top to bottom why a disability waiver of premium may make sense for your situation.

A lot of times when agents are designing an IBC policy, they’re solely focused on the rate of return. So they don’t end up including any riders that have a cost to them, like the disability waiver of premium. 

But keep in mind for sure, having disability waiver of premium will reduce the rate of return. And depending on the company you’re using, they may only charge the rider on the base policy, so the cost is going to be negligible. And again, depending on your situation, it may be well worth having that extra protection in case something happens to you. For example, you get sick or injured and cannot work, therefore you have no money coming in. And then the question becomes, how are you going to pay for the policy? 

So, let’s take a step backward. What exactly is the disability waiver of premium rider and what does it do and why would you want it? Well, the disability waiver of premium rider is a rider on the policy that has a small cost that ensures your premium gets paid even if you’re not paying it yourself. So if you become disabled and unable to work, the insurance company is going to cover the cost of your premiums. And depending on the company you go with, they may cover the costs of the premiums for the base policy and any riders included on that policy. 

So we think if that’s the situation, it may very well be an advantage for you to include that rider primarily if you’re the main breadwinner in your family or you’re a dual-income family and you’re depending on your income for lifestyle and savings. 

So think about it, right now you’re designing your IBC policy and you have certain goals in mind of how you want to use that policy. Why would those goals change if you become disabled? Just because you’re not working doesn’t mean that your financial goals are going to change. Keep this in mind: you can always take the rider off of the policy. However, if your policy isn’t issued with the disability waiver of premium, you can’t go back and add it on later. So, it’s something you should really put some thought and consideration into, especially if you’re a younger person, let’s say, under age 50. 

So now let’s take a look at what happens if you get disabled, you’re unable to work, and you did not have the disability waiver of premium rider on your policy. So, if you don’t have the rider, the first thing you have to ask yourself is: is there enough cash in your policy to keep the policy going if you can’t make the premium payments? Another question you have to ask is: how are you going to make those premium payments? And the third question would be, again, if you’re disabled and you didn’t have the rider, how is the policy going to continue and how are you going to use and/or access the money in your policy going forward if there are no premiums going in? 

Think about this, if you have an IBC policy properly designed with the waiver of premium rider and you become disabled, and hey, maybe your financial goals have changed, maybe your new financial goal is to maintain your lifestyle and your financial security, which is a great goal. This properly designed policy will allow you to do it. You’ll have complete liquidity use and control of that cash value with no questions asked, which is very important at this time of your life, because let’s face it, you have no proof of income. Traditional means of accessing money from a bank or credit card are now going to be difficult because you have no source of income and the premiums are being covered by the insurance company. Imagine the peace of mind that comes with that. 

So keep in mind having the rider on a policy protects not only your income, but also think about it, the policy has a death benefit and the reason you’re setting it up is to be in control of your finances and to be in control of your money. Why should those goals change if you become disabled and you have actually less money coming in? And as we mentioned earlier, the cost of the rider is generally negligible. It’s a very small amount. And more importantly, insurance is a transfer of risk to begin with. So you’re transferring the death benefit risk. But more importantly, now you could transfer the disability risk all for a negligible cost. So it may be beneficial to you to include that rider in the policy design, especially if the cost is very small. 

Although, IBC policies are designed for maximum cash accumulation, so you maintain full liquidity use and control of your money throughout your financial journey at the end of the day. We do use a life insurance policy to accomplish that. 

If you’d like to talk about whether the disability waiver of premium makes sense for your situation, be sure to check out our website at Tier1Capital.com to get started today. If you’d like to learn more about our process, click on our website to watch our free web course the Four Steps to Financial Freedom.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

How Do Banks Make Money?

Have you ever wondered how banks make money? Well, stick around to the end of this blog post because we’re going to go over the velocity of banking and why it’s vital to control the finance function in your life. 

When it comes to banking, there are three main characters to consider: 

  • The Depositors, who save their money at the bank
  • The Borrowers, who need access to money and are willing to pay a premium 
  • The Bank, who connects the two 

So the temptation is to say, okay, the depositor gets 1%, the borrower pays 4% on a loan, and the bank gets to keep the 3% in the middle. That oversimplifies and ignores velocity banking.  Fortunately, there’s a company, Bauer Financial, that does financial reports on banks. Bauer financial reports will show you exactly how velocity banking, or turning the money over, makes huge profits for the bank. 

So, here’s an example of a Bauer financial report from 2016 for Bank of America. Bank of America had $860 billion of deposits for which they paid the depositor $1.9 billion in interest to attract those deposits. Now, the borrowers of Bank of America paid Bank of America $44.8 billion in interest. This came from credit cards, mortgages, home equity lines, fees, and business and personal loans. So, if you look at the ratio of interest paid by the bank, 1.9 billion, versus interest paid by the borrower to the bank, 44.8 billion, that’s a 23.5 to 1 ratio. 

That’s 2,350% more being earned by the bank than is being earned by the depositor. But here’s the kicker. They’re using the depositors’ money to make their money. The bank has zero skin in the game. 

So, this just illustrates how powerful velocity banking is and illustrates perfectly why Nelson Nash’s fourth rule, Never Rely on Banks, Especially For Lending Money is so important. 

Nelson knew the importance of pulling yourself away from the banking system because they control you. And when you control the financing function in your life, now you are in control. And more importantly, you’re no longer controlled by the banks. 

The best way we know how to put this to work for us is with a specially designed, whole life insurance policy designed for cash accumulation, so that you could capitalize your own money and borrow against it and pay yourself back. Not only will you earn the interest in the policy like the depositor in the bank, but if you charge yourself more than what the insurance company is charging you, you also get to keep those profits. And again, you’re in control of the process and you get both sides of the street. 

We always preach about being in control of your cash flow, and if you’re looking to get started with implementing this process in your life, be sure to visit our website at tiercapital.com to get started today. Feel free to schedule your free strategy session to get on our calendar or check out our free web course where we go through a deep dive on how we put this process to work for our clients.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

5 Essential Rules of the Infinite Banking Concept

Do you have an IBC policy or are you thinking about getting one? If that sounds like you stick around to the end of this blog post because today we’re going to go over the four essential rules that need to be followed for any IBC policy to be put to work for you.

Rule Number One: Think Long-Term.

In Nelson Nash’s book, Becoming Your Own Banker. He explicitly says you have to think long-term. Remember, he was trained as a forester, so he thinks 70 years in advance. And like Nelson would say, “I will not be here. And probably neither will you. But somebody will and they will pay the price of you, not thinking long term.”

So what does this look like when it comes to designing your IBC policy? Well, it can look like maybe putting 10% of your premium towards the base policy and 90% towards the PUA, the paid-up additions, and the cash value part of that policy. And what that does is it directly violates rule number one. Think long-term.

So with this design, you’re getting a lot of cash value upfront, which could be great for your short-term needs. Maybe you want to make an investment as soon as you place the policy.

But what about the long term? How is this policy going to serve you and how is it going to serve you best? And it’s usually not with a 10/90 split.

Keep this in mind. When Nelson Nash discovered the infinite banking concept, there was no such thing as a paid-up additions rider. Because he was a long-term thinker he realized that he had to get the premiums, the base premiums of his life insurance to equal his mortgage. And then he knew at some point the cash value build-up would be four times his mortgage, allowing him to weather any financial storm created by inflation or manipulations in the financial markets.

Rule Number Two: Don’t Be Afraid to Capitalize.

And what Nelson meant by that was don’t be afraid to put in as much money as possible for as long as possible. Again, the temptation might be to do the 10% base, 90% paid-up adds. And that might work for some people who want to use their policies more aggressively early on. But what we found is, again, people are long-term in thinking and the best or the most efficient way of funding a policy or capitalizing your policy is 40% base, 60% paid-up additions.

Let’s take a step back here. When we say don’t be afraid to capitalize, we also don’t mean overextend yourself. If you’re looking for ways to make your cash flow more efficient, and to fund your policy more, we could help. Visit our website at tier1capital.com to schedule your free strategy session.

Rule Number Three: Don’t Steal The Peas.

If you’ve read the book Becoming Your Own Banker, I’m sure you remember the example of the grocery store owner and the temptation of them stealing the peas, going out the back door with their groceries, and not paying for them. So what he meant by that was if you are going to set up an IBC policy and you are going to borrow against your policy, make sure you put the money back, because if not, you are no better than the grocery store owner who goes, who bypasses the cashier and goes out the back door with his groceries. You’re stealing the peas and you cannot and will not or should not do that.

Rule Number Four: Don’t Deal With Banks More Than You Have To, Especially For Access To Cash Or Borrowing.

What did Nelson mean by that? He fully understood fractional reserve lending. He knew that if you pulled yourself away from the fractional reserve lending system and went to infinite banking, which is 100% reserve lending, he knew that you would no longer be contributing to inflation in America, and more importantly, you would be in control of the financing function in your life.

So let’s recap the four rules.

  • Number one, think long term.
  • Number two, don’t be afraid to capitalize.
  • Number three, never steal the peas.
  • And number four is, don’t deal with the banks more than you have to.

In January of 2019. I got a phone call from Nelson Nash and we chit-chatted for a little bit and Nelson said to me, he said, “Tim, I need to rethink my four rules. I think I need to add another rule.”

I said, “Nelson, what? What would that rule be?”

And he said, “Real simple. I’m going to graduate from this world one day and I’m going to leave my family a significant amount of death benefit. And if they don’t have large enough holes in their policies, they’re not going to have a place to store that money. I think we need a fifth rule.”

Rule Number Five: Make Sure That You Have Enough Holes in Your Policies to Accommodate a Windfall.

So that could be in the form of a policy loan against your policy or having term insurance that you’re able to convert into new policies when that windfall happens.

If you’re looking to regain control of your cash flow and put these four plus rules to work for you and your situation, we’d be happy to help. Visit our website at tier1capital.com to get started today. You could schedule your free strategy session or check out our free web course where we go through a deep dive on how we put our process to work for you.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

The Secret Behind Policy Loans

On a daily basis, it seems as though we talk to one of two people. The first is a young person who sees no need for cash-value life insurance, and the second is a person in their forties, fifties, or sixties who is saying, “Man, I wish I had this information and acted on it 20 years ago.”  Here’s the secret: cash value life insurance is a timeless asset. 

So how is whole life insurance designed for cash accumulation a timeless asset? For every milestone in life, there is an opportunity to take a policy loan to finance that cost. 

For example, maybe you just graduated college and you have some student loans. You could take a policy loan to repay those student loans and then pay yourself back. And maybe you want to get married. You could take a policy loan and then pay yourself back. And then maybe you have a kid and you want to send them to a private school so they could get a good education. You could finance that expense through your life insurance policy and not have to worry about being pinched for cash flow in all these places throughout your life. 

Perhaps you want to borrow against your cash value to buy rental real estate. You can borrow against the cash value for the down payment, take a conventional mortgage for the balance, and have your tenant pay back both of those loans for you. And then when the policy loan’s paid off, guess what? Now you can buy another piece of property using the same process. 

Maybe you’re feeling entrepreneurial and you’re ready to start your own business. Guess what? Your policy cash value is available and you could take a policy loan to self-finance that start-up. 

Or, what if you’re already a business owner? You can borrow against your cash value to expand your business, purchase inventory, or make a new hire. 

The point is this: you start out with a policy here at the beginning of your life and at some point you pass away. In between, there are multiple opportunities for you to have these milestones in life, and you can self-finance those. Borrow, pay back, borrow, pay back, borrow, pay back. Then you retire, use the dividends to supplement your retirement income, and pass away. Then, the death benefit goes to your family income tax-free. 

So think about this: From the time you graduate from college, let’s say from age 21 all the way until the time you die, you have complete liquidity use and control of that cash to finance all of the milestones in life. And then you have a legacy built in for your family or charity of choice. 

If you’d like to get started with this timeless asset of cash value life insurance designed for cash accumulation, please visit our website at tier1capital.com to get started today. Feel free to schedule your free strategy session or take a look at our web course where we go into detail about how we put this process to work for our clients.

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.

Infinite Banking Concept: Repaying Your Loans

Why is it important to repay your policy loans? You may have understood or heard that policy loans are unstructured, which basically means there’s no coupon booklet or payment process. You’re in control of the process, which means you determine if, when, and how quickly those loans are paid. But now the question becomes, why is it important to pay back those loans? 

Oftentimes, when people are thinking about the infinite banking concept, they’ll take a policy loan and then question, “Why do I have to pay this back? It’s my money.” Well, they don’t fully understand the process. 

You see, when you borrow against your cash value in a life insurance policy, you’re getting a separate loan from the insurance company’s general account. The money in your policy stays in your policy and it continues to earn uninterrupted compounding of interest. The second part is the loan that you get, which is literally a loan against the equity of your policy. The life insurance company calculates the equity and calculates how much they can loan you based on that amount of equity. So you are taking a loan from the insurance company. And the importance of paying it back is that the faster you pay it back, the less interest you pay the insurance company and the more equity that’s available for you to loan or borrow again. This is the concept of turning over your money so that the velocity of money can benefit you. 

Keep this in mind. Every purchase you make is financed whether you pay cash, go through the traditional financing method, or take a life insurance policy loan. Only with traditional financing do you get a coupon book that says you need to pay this amount back at this rate. And with the traditional savings account or the life insurance policy loan, it’s a double-edged sword in that you don’t have to pay it back and you don’t have to pay it back. But keep in mind, we always say it’s not what you buy. It’s how you pay for it that matters. And when you’re in control of the banking function, you get to control the terms and conditions. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pay it back. 

One of Nelson Nash’s cardinal rules, (he had four cardinal rules), number three was “Don’t Steal the Peas.” And what did he mean by that? He meant that if you borrow money against your life insurance policy, you should pay it back. Why? Because you’re going to need money again in the future. And if the money’s not back in the policy, then you’re going to have to go back to the traditional way of borrowing with a bank. And now you’re not in control. 

So you may be wondering what happens if I don’t pay my policy alone? And that’s simple. Sometimes people have this policy loan, and, especially if it’s a large policy loan, the policy loan will continue to accrue interest. Meaning, that if you don’t pay back at least the loan interest, that loan interest will get tacked on as loan principal and tie up more of your policy’s equity year after year. 

And that can put you in a position where it becomes so insurmountable that you have to either walk away from the policy or reduce the face amount of the policy in order to eliminate a large portion or maybe even all of the loan. But keep in mind, that can also trigger a taxable event, and that full taxable event will happen in the year of surrender, meaning anything that’s surrendered over the premiums you paid is going to be fully taxable as ordinary income. So that’s not really a position you want to put yourself in. 

So the next question becomes: if I have to pay interest back to the insurance company and have the risk of a taxable gain, what is even the benefit of taking this policy loan? 

Well, that’s simple. The benefit is that you’re in control. We have many clients who take loans and pay them back. We have many clients who take loans, start a repayment process, and have to suspend or reduce the amount they’re paying back because of a temporary cash flow situation. That’s the beauty of being in control of the process. You set the terms and conditions of the loans and you could pay it back, stop, reduce, whatever. Again. That’s the issue of control. But what we’re talking about also is that if there’s a long-term situation where the cash flow isn’t there to pay back a large, perhaps insurmountable loan, you do have options. And that’s where we can help you. 

If you’d like to get started with a specially designed whole life insurance policy designed for cash accumulation to put this process to work for you. Or if you currently have a life insurance policy loan or are thinking about taking one, please visit our website at tier1capital.com and schedule a free strategy session today. We’d be happy to discuss the options with you. 

And remember, it’s not how much money you make, it’s how much money you keep that really matters.