Because of this, most baby boomers have been forced to postpone retirement an average of five years.¹

I’m often asked how using the Bank On Yourself method to save for retirement compares to traditional plans, so I put together this short video that reveals seven reasons Bank On Yourself makes an excellent retirement plan alternative.

Click the play button in the video below and see how many of these seven advantages you’d like to have in your financial plan…

1.  Bankers Life and Casualty Center for a Secure Retirement, May 2011

If you’ve been having a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that you’ve been treading water in your financial plan for what seems like forever, these three graphic “snapshots” reveal the ugly truth.

These snapshots clearly illustrate the fatal flaws in the conventional wisdom that’s been shoved down our throats for so long about saving and investing.

This is your retirement plan powered by Wall Street

A quick look at this snapshot tells you everything you need to know…

Let me ask you a question…

Where is it written that you must suffer a lost decade – or more – growing your nest egg?

Isn’t that what Wall Street wants us to believe?

The fact of the matter is that the only guarantee Wall Street gives you is that they’ll get paid whether you win or lose!

It’s also why they desperately don’t want you to know about the peace of mind, guarantees, and predictability you get when your retirement plan is powered by Bank On Yourself.

Once again, a picture is worth a thousand words, so let’s compare the growth in a Bank On Yourself plan side-by-side with what the Wall Street Casino offers:

The chart on the right above shows the growth pattern in a typical Bank On Yourself-type policy.  The growth is exponential (in the mathematical sense of the word).  That means the growth curve gets steeper every year you have the policy – with no luck, skill or guesswork required to make that happen.

And while these plans grow more slowly at the start (there’s no such thing as a magic pill!), the growth is at its peak at the time you need it most – retirement.

The chart above is based on the actual growth I’ve received in one of my own policies so far, along with the projected growth based on the current dividend scale.

Dividends aren’t guaranteed, but the companies preferred by the Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors have paid them every single year for more than 100 years.

So now let’s take a look at another bit of conventional financial wisdom gone awry…

We were taught we could count on the equity in our homes to be a major part of our retirement nest-egg.  A lot of people who thought they were doing the right thing made extra mortgage payments, so they could have the “security” of knowing their home was paid off in full when they retired.

They plowed money they could have put into safe savings into their homes instead – which got them a ZERO rate of return on their hard-earned dollars AND locked up their money in a depreciating asset.

And here’s a snapshot of where that got them…

News Flash!  There’s a better way!  Did you know that you can save up enough cash value in a Bank On Yourself policy to be able to write a check to pay off your mortgage in full, any time you choose to do that?

My husband and I could do that TODAY – if we chose to.  But we made the smart decision to leave that money in our Bank On Yourself plans where it is working much harder for us.

How much harder is that money working for us?  This blog post I wrote on the rate of return of a Bank On Yourself plan reveals why you’d need to get a 7-8% return in a tax-deferred account, like a 401(k) or IRA, to equal the return of a typical Bank On Yourself plan.

And that’s without the risk or volatility of traditional investments!

Now let’s take a look at the promise of gold.  Again, a picture is worth a thousand words…

I’ve found most people who are buying gold today have no clue about the volatile history of that metal.  And those who forget (or are ignorant of) the past are condemned to repeat it.

And keep this in mind – Bank On Yourself doesn’t have to be an either/or proposition, because you can use the money in your plan to make purchases or to take advantage of opportunities and investments.  (It’s your money, after all!)  Your policy continues growing as though you never touched it.  (Work with a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor to make sure your policy is from a company that offers this feature.)

Having your money in something that’s safe and liquid doesn’t take away your options!

This is the time of year when people often take stock of where they are today, and where they’d rather be in the future.

If you still believe that Wall Street holds the key to your financial security, and if you believe the economic challenges we’ve been facing that have caused the unprecedented volatility in the market are over with… then keep doing what you’ve been doing and hope it all works out.

But if you’re determined that the next ten years are going to be a lot better than the last ten or more, then today is the day to take the first step towards a financial future you can predict and count on by requesting your FREE Analysis, if you haven’t already done so.

When you do, you’ll find out if you qualify for a Bank On Yourself plan.  It can take up to 60 days for your policy to be approved.  So you can see why you need to start today to hit the ground running in 2012.

Request your free Analysis now… and find out how much your financial picture could improve by adding Bank On Yourself to your financial plan.

The contest even inspired one reader to write a poem!

I’ve been studying these topics full time for nearly a decade now, and even I learned some new things.  So, whether you use the Bank On Yourself method or not, or you consider yourself to be an expert or a novice at understanding money and finances, you should read this!

You will undoubtedly learn some things you didn’t already know!

There were so many great contest entries, it was really tough for our team to single out only the five best entries, and the winners of the iPod Touch, Amazon.com gift certificate and more are listed below.

The contest question was:  How is dividend-paying whole life insurance different from a savings account, besides the death benefit?

Our readers gave a dozen or so distinct, key differences between the two, and I’ll summarize a number of them in a moment.

However, I think one really critical advantage of a dividend-paying whole life policy wasn’t mentioned…

Many retirees today can’t stomach the volatility or unpredictability of investing in stocks and other traditional investments and were counting on their interest income from CD’s, money markets and savings accounts.

Most Americans today have NO clue when or even if they'll ever be able to retire!

Unfortunately, they made their plans based on assumptions, NOT guarantees.

Few retirees anticipated interest rates being around 1% for an extended period of time, which is the reality they’re facing today.  And the impact is catastrophic…

Let’s say you have $500,000 saved up, and your plan was to live off the interest when you’re retired, so you don’t have to draw down your savings.  And, like many people, you may have based your assumptions on being able to get an average of 5% interest per year.  That means you anticipated your savings throwing off $25,000 a year.

But “reality” didn’t live up to your best-laid plans.  Now you’re 70, and, at 1% annual interest, you’re only getting $5,000 a year, NOT the $25,000 you had planned on.

Unfortunately, you’re faced with several choices, none of them very pleasant – give up any luxuries and probably some things you consider necessities, go back to work, and/or cash in some of your savings.

If you need to eat into your principal and you have to withdraw $20,000 to make up the difference, well, that’s $20,000 you’ll NEVER be able to earn a dime on again!

It wasn’t “supposed” to work out this way, but you never had any guarantees!  Just like you  have no guarantees when you’re investing your retirement savings in stocks, real estate and other traditional investments.

As a result, most Americans today have NO clue when or even if they’ll ever be able to retire!

Shockingly, the average family headed by a person between 60 and 70 years old has only 25% of the amount they’ll need for retirement saved up! (Source:  October 2011 AARP Bulletin)

So, how does a dividend-paying whole life policy solve this dire problem?

These policies provide you guaranteed, predictable annual increases that are the largest when you need it most – retirement!

If you use the Bank On Yourself method, then you know – right now – what your guaranteed annual increase will be when you’re 75.  And when you’re 80, 95, or 100 – or in ANY given year.

In addition, you KNOW that your guaranteed increase gets larger each year, which also gives you some protection from inflation.

And this critical difference between Bank On Yourself and EVERY other savings or investing product or strategy changes absolutely everything for you between now and the end of your life!

And that’s a big part of the reason so many of the contest entrants also expressed such gratitude for their Bank On Yourself plans.

Many of the contest entries pointed out other key differences between dividend-paying whole life (“DPWL”) and a savings account, including…

1. Savings accounts pay a variable (read:  unpredictable) interest rate.

To keep it very simple, DPWL policies pay you a guaranteed interest rate (typically 4% or so) on your cash value.  PLUS, you have the potential to receive dividends.  Dividends aren’t guaranteed, but the Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors only recommend companies that have paid dividends every single year for at least 100 years.

DPWL dividends aren’t calculated like any other kind of dividends.  They are credited based on the death benefit of your policy.

Key Concept:  The ONLY way you could receive just the guaranteed annual increase is if the insurance company stopped paying dividends now and never paid you a single dividend until the day you die.

2. You can spend or invest the equity in your policy and the policy keeps growing as though you never touched a dime of it! With a savings account, when you withdraw funds, they no longer earn any interest.

NOTE – only a handful of insurance companies offer policies with this feature, in addition to all the other features required to maximize the power of this concept – another reason to be sure to work with a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor who knows which companies to use and can structure your policy to maximize the growth and minimize your taxes.

To get a referral to one of only 200 advisors who have met the rigorous requirements to be an Authorized Advisor, request your free Analysis now.

3. You can borrow your equity in the policy without having to apply or qualify for it, and you can’t be turned down for a loan!  Plus, you can pay it back on your own schedule, not someone else’s.

If you borrow from a savings bank using your account as collateral, you have to go through an approval process, and you must pay it back on a pre-arranged schedule.  You’ll be charged a penalty if you’re late making a payment.  Many banks will only allow you to borrow up to 50% of your account value, and they can seize your money to cover your loan in full, if you miss a payment.

4. You can immediately withdraw 100% of the money you put into a savings account.  As noted by one contest entrant, Dan Proskauer, “This is not true for dividend-paying whole life.  It’s a long-term commitment, and if you liquidate it early, you will lose capital.”  (Dan isn’t a financial advisor, but he knows more about this than most experts do.  Dan shared his fascinating story on this blog, and I encourage you to check it out.)

And that is what I’m referring to when I say that Bank On Yourself isn’t a “get-rich-quick” scheme.  It takes some patience and discipline.  But for those who have those traits, it pays a lifetime of rewards and provides you with more advantages and guarantees than any other financial product or strategy.

5. Interest you earn from a savings account is taxable at the federal and usually state level, too.

It’s possible to access the growth in a DPWL policy with no taxes due, under current tax law.  This happens through the proper combination of dividend withdrawals and loans against your cash value.

6. Life insurance companies are far more regulated than savings banks.  Unlike banks, which can loan out every dollar ten times, life insurance companies can’t do that.  They are legally required to maintain sufficient reserves to pay future claims.

Learn more about the multi-layer safety net for life insurance companies here.

7. DPWL provides asset protection benefits for both your cash value and death benefit in many states.  (Check with a professional on the rules for your state.)

And that sums up the biggest differences listed by subscribers between dividend-paying whole life and a savings account.

You may also be interested in learning what the rate of return is on a properly designed Bank On Yourself-type policy.

For these reasons – and many more – I know of no better place to park your money than in a properly designed Bank On Yourself-type policy.

And I’ll pay you $100,000 to prove me wrong!

That’s right!  My offer to pay $100K to the first person who can show they use a different strategy that can match or beat Bank On Yourself still stands – nearly three years after I first threw out the gauntlet!

Go ahead – I dare you to take the Challenge!

Bank On Yourself is the best sleep-through-the-night financial security blanket I’ve come across after researching over 450 different financial products and strategies over the past 20 years.

Don’t you owe it to yourself and your family to at least find out what your bottom-line numbers and results could be if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan?

Stop hoping and start knowing what your financial future will be!

It’s easy to find out when you request your FREE Analysis.  Please do it today, if you haven’t already!

And now for our contest winners…

As I mentioned, there were so many terrific entries, it was hard to pick out only five winners.

But here they are (all are being notified by email that they have won)…

1.  The iPod Touch winner is Michael S.  Michael brought out some of the advantages business owners can get by financing business purchases with Bank On Yourself.

Michael also confessed to occasionally forgetting all the advantages he’s getting from his three policies (something other readers can relate to, I’m sure) and how reading this blog and reviewing his policy statements and information “reminds me of all the benefits to stay with the plan.”

2.  The $100 Amazon.com Gift Certificate winner is Craig Yenni, who was inspired to write this delightful poem!

Here are the three winners who will each receive their choice of a $25 Dining Gift Certificate or a personally autographed copy of my best-selling book:

1.  Rose Hillbrand, who made several helpful comments not only in this contest, but also on other blog posts over the last several years.

Rose was an “early adopter” of the Bank On Yourself wealth-building method.   Her story – captured on video – is very moving.  Check it out here.

2.  Gentry Eddings, who pointed out the problems with the reserve requirements for banks and the pitfalls of FDIC insurance for banks.

3.  Kevin C. also wins for figuring out that he could search this website for comments I’ve made comparing DPWL to a savings account.  (I didn’t even remember saying the quote he found.  And I’ve now tweaked it in this blog post.  Thanks, Kevin!)

And thanks so much to everyone who participated!

Did you learn something new from this contest and post?  Let us know in the comments box below…

Saving Your Nest Egg in Tough Times

Pamela Yellen was recently interviewed by AARP about the Bank On Yourself wealth-building method for an article on “Saving Your Nest Egg in Tough Times.”

Scroll down to the second paragraph below the “50/50, if you’re 50″ subhead to read the advice Pamela gave for investors age 50-65 who are fed up with watching their hard-earned nest-eggs shrink yet again.

What about investors over age 65?

Pamela also gave advice for investors between the ages of 66 and 85 who want to add more guarantees and predictability to their financial plan and bump up their returns without the risk of stocks and other investments.

Although there wasn’t space to include that advice in the AARP article, this is an increasingly popular option for Americans up through the age of 85.

This little-known option provides many advantages that annuities and CD’s do not have, including…

• Provides guaranteed growth and a higher return
• Exceptional flexibility and liquidity
• Protection from estate taxes
• Automatic long-term care coverage at no additional costs (in states where it’s available)

The Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors are well-versed in this option and can conduct a free Analysis that will help you determine which plan is best for your unique situation.

If you’re not sure where you’ll find the funds to start a plan, don’t worry.  The Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors are masters at helping their clients of any age restructure their finances to free up seed money to fund a plan that will help you reach as many of your long-term and short-term goals as possible – in the shortest time possible.

Remember – Wall Street already lost more than 45% of the typical investor’s savings TWICE in the last decade.  How would it affect you if this latest stock market rout is just the beginning of another look-out-below crash?

To find out how you can add predictability and guarantees to your financial plan and have the financial security and peace of mind that you want and deserve, request your FREE Analysis now.  You’ll be connected with one of only 200 financial advisors in the country who have met the rigorous training and requirements to be a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor.

Would you be prepared if you suffered a 30% pay cut?

A shocking new report reveals that the average person’s pay levels off when they’re in their 40′s.  After that, about all you’ll be likely to count on will be cost-of-living adjustments to keep pace with inflation.

That will come as a real surprise to many people who assume their pay will continue to rise as they get older.

And if you lose your job while in your 50′s, you’re likely to remain jobless longer than when you were younger, according to the report.

Read this sobering and well documented article from the Wall Street Journal.¹

What’s your best self-defense?  When planning for retirement, assume the only salary increases you’ll get will be cost-of-living adjustments.  And identify a worse-case scenario – such as a 20% pay cut during your final ten years in the workforce – and try living on that income and putting the rest into savings.

A surprising reason why consumer spending is so slow these days

A paper by a Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco researcher reveals that the recession has so far cut spending by $7,300 per person from what it was during the housing boom.²

That equals about $175 per month less being spent by each person, on average.

What’s most fascinating is the question the paper’s author, senior economist Kevin Lansing, posed…

People are wondering why consumer spending is so slow these days.  What they should be asking is:  Why was it so strong in previous years?  You’re comparing it to an artificial economy that was driven by debt.”

Looking back, how do you feel about all that money we Americans were spending when we were treating our homes as ATM’s?  Did you avoid falling into that trap?  If not, did the stuff you bought give you lasting satisfaction?  If you could turn back the clock, would you do anything differently?

Tell us in the comments box below…

When refinancing your home doesn’t make sense

While treating our homes like they’re ATM’s was dangerous to our financial health, a new trend has emerged that is equally dangerous.

Anxious to shed debt and prepare for retirement, people are now opting for larger monthly mortgage payments and shorter-term loans.

In the first quarter of 2011, an astonishing three out of four homeowners who refinanced their mortgages paid additional money at closing in order to reduce their balance.³

To me, this is a classic – and potentially very dangerous – example of following the conventional wisdom.  Didn’t we learn anything from the real estate crash and crisis?

None of the payments of principal you make into your home make money for you.  The equity in your home earns a zero rate of return, and it’s also not liquid.

What if you need or want access to some or all of that money now locked up in your home, but you can’t sell or refinance it or you’d have to take a big loss to do it?

Life has a way of throwing us curve balls when we least expect it.

Think about this for a moment:  What if you had enough saved up that you could pay off part or all of your mortgage if and when you choose to?

Isn’t the real key to financial security and reducing money stress about having options and choices?

This won’t happen if you’re saving and investing using the “hope and pray” method most Americans do in the Wall Street Casino.  That’s a sure-fire recipe for financial insecurity.

But it can and does happen for savvy Americans who use the Bank On Yourself system of building wealth safely and predictably.

I’ve always been open about how I walk my talk and use the Bank On Yourself method.  I even post copies of my own policy statements on this website.

Rather than pay down our mortgage faster, my husband and I have always taken out 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.  The lower payment allows us to save more money in our Bank On Yourself plans, and, as a result, today – if we choose to – we could write a check to the bank and own our home free and clear.

But we’d much rather have that money in our Bank On Yourself plans where it is working much harder for us.  Plus, we can get access to that money any time we want or need it by answering just two questions: 

How much do you want… and where do you want it sent?”

This won’t happen overnight, but almost anyone can do what we did.

The Bank On Yourself system gives you many additional advantages, including:

• You can borrow your equity in your policies and they will continue earning interest and dividends as though you’d never touched the money (NOTE: Only a few companies offer this feature)
• You set your own repayment schedule, and if you have to reduce or skip some payments, no one will hound you or put a black mark on your credit report
• You don’t have to sell or liquidate your investments to get access to capital
• While you do pay interest on your loans, the interest ultimately benefits you, as explained in detail on pages 100-103 of my best-selling book
• You control the money in your plan – there are no government restrictions or penalties on when or how much money you can withdraw or borrow from your plan
• You can take a predictable, guaranteed income in retirement from your plan, with little or no taxes due, under current tax law
• This is an asset class that has increased in value every single year for more than 160 years
• You would need to get a 7-8% return in a taxable account, like a 401(k) or IRA, in order to equal the return of a properly structured Bank On Yourself plan.  But you don’t have the risk or volatility of stocks, real estate and other traditional investments to get that!

1. “The Other Midlife Crisis,” by Ellen E. Schultz and Jessica Silver-Greenbert, Wall Street Journal, June 18, 2011
2. “Fed Says Recession Cost $7,300 Per Person in Lost Consumption” by Vivien Lou Chen, Bloomberg.com, July 11, 2011
3. “When Refinancing Doesn’t Make Sense,” by Jilian Mincer, SmartMoney, July 11, 2011

401(k) savings reach a 12-year high

However, half of all workers aren’t confident about their retirement future. No wonder, considering 56% say they’ve saved less than $25,000.¹

According to an article in USA Today², many 401(k) participants increased their contribution some this past year.  If you’re one of them, or are considering doing that, here are some things to think about:

• After a “lost” decade for stocks, before the market turned around in 2009, the 10-year returns of the S&P 500 were negative. Even after a near-record recovery, the 10-year returns remain meager – just 2.7% on an annualized basis for the ten years ending in April.³

That just about equals the inflation rate for that period, wiping out any real gain you might have had for the decade.  It also assumes you have no fees or costs (401(k)’s have some of the highest costs) AND assumes you’ll pay no taxes!

• And speaking of taxes… what direction do you think tax rates are going over the long term?

If you think they’re going up, as most people we’ve surveyed do, and you’re successful in growing a nest-egg in your 401(k), you’re only going to pay higher taxes on a bigger number!

• And speaking of 401(k) fees, have you read the shocking exposé Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Dean Rotbart and I co-wrote? Millions of people have become “Zombie Investors” in their 401(k)’s and needlessly give up 40% or more of their hard-earned money. Read it now and find out if you’re one of them.
• Don’t forget that the balance you have in an account that’s invested in the stock market is only a number on paper. It’s meaningless until you sell your assets and (hopefully) lock in your gains, as so many retirees and pre-retirees have discovered. The result is uncertainty and broken dreams of retirement.

An amazing video tribute to human ingenuity

I get lots of videos sent to me, but this one is truly worth watching…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Get on your knees and say “no” to shopping?

The “Reverend Billy” believes consumerism has come to control our behavior.  So he started the Church of Stop Shopping – replete with a gospel choir – to help and inspire Americans to resist the urge to buy “stuff” and focus instead on enjoying the simple things in life that bring us happiness.

Learn more about it here and tell us in the comments box below what you’ve found helpful, to remind you to keep your spending in check.

Great Father’s Day gift idea!

Why not gift your father a copy of my New York Times best-selling book for Father’s Day?

The book, Bank On Yourself: The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future, is available on our website at a 38% discount – less than Amazon sells it for.

Buy it now and give your father the priceless gift of financial wisdom.

1.  Employee Benefit Research Institute 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey
2.  401(k) Savings Are on the Rise, USA Today, May 12, 2011
3.  NoLoad FundX Newsletter, May, 2011 issue

This is an inspiring story of how people are using the Bank On Yourself method to be in a position to take advantage of some amazing opportunities…

Here’s a new reality: You need cash now more than ever. Not credit. Not equity. Cash.”

- “Why Cash is King,” Men’s Health, November, 2010 issue

"Bank On Yourselfers" Joni and Dave Schultz

Take Joni and Dave Schultz, who just happen to be my sister- and brother-in-law.  Joni is a hospital department supervisor and Dave just retired from his job in construction.

They came to visit us recently, and Joni’s first comment when she walked in the door was, “Now I get it!  I understand why Bank On Yourself is so much better than using a credit card or finance company, and why it’s even better than paying cash for stuff!”

Joni and Dave started a Bank On Yourself policy about five years ago, in order to supplement their retirement income and add predictability to their financial plan.

But they’d never used it to finance any purchases… until now.

Opportunity knocks…

Joni figured it would be a smart move to convert their home’s electric system to a solar-powered system.  It would save them thousands of dollars every year on their electric bills, which would come in handy, now that Joni is hoping to retire in five years and Dave’s already retired.

Plus, they wanted to make a contribution to a greener planet.

But converting to solar can be an expensive proposition.  Fortunately, Joni discovered that their electric company was offering a 50% credit to anyone putting in a qualifying solar system… but only for a limited time.  So she borrowed $23,500 from her Bank On Yourself policy in order to pay for the system, in full.

A portion of the money went towards something that had long been on their wish list – landscaping and paving their patio and installing an outdoor grill.  (“You know, food really does taste better when cooked on a high-quality grill,” Joni says.)

But Joni and Dave will also qualify for very generous federal and state tax credits for the solar system when they file their tax return, bringing their out-of-pocket cost for it to close to ZERO!

Their electric bill will fall from hundreds of dollars a month, to just under $15 a month, saving them thousands of dollars every single year, for as long as they live in the house!

Joni borrowed the money from her policy without an application, without the approval of a loan committee, and she can’t be turned down for a loan!

She set her own loan payback schedule, and when she finishes paying it off, she’ll have the solar system, a great patio to relax on and entertain, AND all the money she paid for it will be back in her policy, where it will then help fund her retirement.

Want to find out how much guaranteed income you could take in retirement – regardless of what happens in the stock and real estate markets?  Request a free Analysis and find out.

Additional benefits of using the Bank On Yourself method to finance purchases include…

You do pay interest on policy loans, however, that interest ultimately ends up in your policy, as I explain in detail on pages 100-102 of my best-selling book, Bank On Yourself: The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future

Some companies – like the one Joni’s policy is from – offer a feature that lets you continue earning the exact same guaranteed annual increase, plus any dividends, on the money you borrowed! Which means you can use your money and it keeps growing for you just the same!

If you used a savings or money market account or CD to save up enough to pay cash for a big purchase, you earn ZERO interest on the money you take out to buy something, of course.  Not to mention that the interest rates on these accounts are ridiculously low. The growth in a Bank On Yourself policy beats these other accounts by a mile

If you ever need to reduce the amount you pay back, or even skip it for a few months if you run into a tight spot, you can do that, and no bill collectors will call, you won’t pay any late fees or get a black mark on your credit report

You have the advantage of having a “rainy-day/opportunity fund” that doubles as your retirement fund – growing consistently and predictably every single year – even when stocks, real estate, and other investments tumble!

Unlike Joni’s 401(k) plan, which she had contributed to for decades with little to show for it other than sleepless nights, you can know the minimum guaranteed income you can take in retirement from a Bank On Yourself policy.  And you can access the money with little or no tax consequences, under current tax law

For these reasons – and many more – financing things through a Bank On Yourself-type policy beats traditional financing, leasing, or even directly paying cash for things!

Opportunities come in all shapes and sizes…

For example…

• The Bowsher Family used Bank On Yourself to help raise $100,000 for their church.  This is a very creative way to raise funds for your church, temple or favorite charity that almost anyone can use

Watch the video to learn how

• Greg and Christy Gammon used their Bank On Yourself policies to get the funds to be able to adopt a baby girl when that opportunity came up unexpectedly.  They’ve also used it to finance some real estate investments

Watch the video of the Gammon’s inspiring story here

The ways you can use Bank On Yourself are limited only by your imagination!

But to be in a position to take advantage of these opportunities, you need to get your Bank On Yourself plan in place now, if you haven’t already.

Being a good financial citizen requires that you first build that great wall of cash.” ¹

And we challenge you to find a better place to “store” that cash than in a Bank On Yourself policy.

A wall of cash protects us from everything.” ¹

If you want a better financial life, “small steps, taken consistently over times, are truly the road to success,” according to financial behavior researcher, Sara Wedeman, Ph.D.¹

So, if you haven’t already added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan, why not take the first step now, and request a free analysis that will show you how a program tailored to your unique situation can help you reach both your long-term and short-term goals as quickly as possible?

Don’t know where you’ll find the money to fund your plan?  A Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor can show you at least eight places to free up funds –  and sometimes that can happen with no additional out-of-pocket cost to you.

Not sure how a Bank On Yourself policy is different from the ones the financial gurus talk about? Learn the difference and see the proof here.

1. “Why Cash Is King,” Mike Zimmerman, Men’s Health, November 2010

Dan Proskauer

It was almost two years ago that Dan Proskauer – a Vice President of technology engineering for a major health care company who holds three U.S. patents – first heard of Bank On Yourself.

Dan lives below his means, has significant savings discipline, and is a sophisticated investor.  But when the financial crisis hit, Dan realized he had nothing to show for decades of saving and investing his hard-earned money and “doing all the right things” we’ve been taught to do.

He felt angry, betrayed… and willing to open his mind and find out if there was something better out there.

Dan is very analytical and has since spent literally hundreds of hours investigating Bank On Yourself.  He has already started seven Bank On Yourself-type policies because, as he puts it, “the more I look into Bank On Yourself, the better it looks.”

Dan recently contacted me and generously offered to share his findings with you.  Whether you already use Bank On Yourself, or you’ve been considering adding it to your financial plan, you’ll learn something of value from this interview. You can listen to the interview by pressing the play button below, or you can download the entire interview as an MP3 and listen on your own player or iPod…

You can also download a transcript of the interview here.

In this fascinating interview, you’ll discover…

• Why Dan has cut back his 401(k) contribution to what his employer matches… and why he’s considering stopping funding it altogether
• What he discovered were the problems with traditional college savings plans, and why he believes Bank On Yourself is a better option
• The surprising result of Dan’s research into the rate of return of a Bank On Yourself-type policy – and why he feels the additional “intangible” benefits make it the best way to build a financial foundation in both good times and bad
• Why Dan has seven different policies – and is getting ready to start more
• Where Dan found the money to fund his policies
• Why Bank On Yourself will hold its own against things people worry about – including inflation, deflation and fluctuating interest rates
• The two downsides to Bank On Yourself that Dan found
• Why Dan believes it’s critical to use a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor to set-up your policy… and how getting knowledgeable, on-going coaching and advice can result in your having far more wealth over your lifetime, while ensuring you don’t lose the tax advantages of Bank On Yourself
• Why Dan – like hundreds of thousands of others who use the Bank On Yourself method – says the only regret he has is that he didn’t know about this sooner
• Dan’s advice to anyone who’s still sitting on the fence and hasn’t started yet

You can listen to the interview by pressing the play button below, or you can download the entire interview as an MP3 and listen on your own player or iPod…

You can also download a transcript of the interview here.

The more I look into Bank On Yourself, the better it looks.”
~Dan Proskaur

We want your feedback! Tell us what below what YOU think of Dan’s interview below…

The date was May 3^rd, 1999, and to quote Yogi Berra, nearly eleven years later,

The Wall Street spin-makers are pointing out what a “big accomplishment it is for a measure that was below 7,000 only a year ago” to recapture the 11,000 level.

Before we pop the cork on a bottle of champagne, here’s a few sobering questions to ask yourself…

Q: How much has inflation reduced the purchasing power of your dollars over the past 11 years?

Q: How much will your retirement or investment account be worth 11 years from now?

Q: How will you feel if the markets stall for another 11 years? (Fact: Historically, it’s the norm, not the exception, for the Dow to end up going nowhere for very lengthy periods of time.)

Q: How would your plans for retirement be affected if we experience market crashes this decade as deep and as devastating as the two we suffered during the last decade?

Q: Does your financial plan rely more on hope and luck than on guaranteed, predictable growth?

Ready to have a financial plan you can predict and count on?  Request a free Analysis that will show you how much money you could count on having in retirement.

After researching over 450 savings and investing products and strategies, I ultimately concluded that Americans have been brainwashed into believing we must risk our money in order to grow it.

Do you know the difference between “saving” and “investing”?

Part of the problem is that Wall Street and the financial planning industry have led us to believe that “saving” and “investing” are the same things.  However, they are not.

The money you have in savings is money you don’t want (or can’t afford) to lose.  The money you invest is subject to loss.

Most people today “invest to save,” and as a result, have no idea what their nest egg will be worth when they hope or plan to tap into it.

This is not a financial “plan,” which the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines as “a means of accomplishing something.”

It’s gambling.  And it has led to a nation of people wondering if they’ll ever be able to retire, and what they’ll have to give up in order to do that.

Bank On Yourself is based on an asset class that has increased in value during every stock market decline and every period of economic boom and bust for more than a century

That asset is dividend-paying whole life insurance, but with some little-known options added to the policy which turbo-charge the growth of your equity (“cash value”) in the policy.

These policies grow by a guaranteed and pre-set amount every year.  In addition, the growth is exponential, meaning it gets better (more efficient) every single year you have the policy, simply because you stick with it.

And, no luck, skill, or guesswork is required to make that happen.

Once credited to your policy, both your guaranteed annual increase, plus any dividends you may receive, are locked in. They don’t vanish due to a market correction.

These policies give you peace of mind for retirement planning, because you’ll know the minimum guaranteed income you can take in retirement, and for how long you can take it.

And if someone asks you if you know how much your plan will be worth in 10 years, 20 years, or whenever you hoped to tap into it, you can (finally) say “yes”!

As April 15^th looms, and most people agree taxes are only likely to increase over time, keep in mind that it’s possible to take retirement income from these policies with little or no tax consequences, under current tax law.

If you’ve already added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan, congratulations!  You can laugh when Wall Street crows about hitting a level we first crossed nearly 11 years ago.

And if you haven’t started to Bank On Yourself, take the first step now towards taking back control of your money and finances by requesting your free, no-obligation Analysis that will show you how Bank On Yourself could
help you reach your long-term and short-term goals and dreams.

If you haven’t already started to Bank On Yourself, please take the first step today and take back control of your financial future!

1913 Form 1040 Tax Return

I recently came across a copy of the very first IRS Income Tax Form 1040 our forefathers were required to file and wanted to share it with you.

But BEFORE I show you the rest of it, take a guess at the answers to these four questions:

1. What percentage of taxable income do you think the average family paid back then?
2. What was the top percentage paid by the very wealthiest Americans?
3. How many pages long do you think that first tax return was?
4. How many pages were the instructions needed to complete the form?

The answers to these questions may shock you!

Did you take your best guess at the answers?

Good! Now take a look at how close you came to the correct answers here.

What direction do you think taxes will go long-term?

Most people I’ve talked to say that’s a no-brainer- they’re going to go up.

Many people love the ability to tax-defer income that comes with IRA’s and 401(k)s. But they forget that if you’re successful building your savings in one of those plans, you’re probably just going to end up paying higher taxes on a bigger number!

One of the many advantages of Bank on Yourself is that the income you take from the policy is taxed like a Roth IRA. You fund the plan with after-tax dollars and can then take retirement income from the plan with potentially no taxes due, if you follow certain rules.

That’s according to current tax law, which, of course, could change (just like they could change the tax laws on IRA’s and 401K’s, etc).

But the beauty of Bank on Yourself is that even if the tax laws changed, you would still get 17 other major advantages and guarantees!

And that’s why I have a standing offer to pay $100,000 to the first person who can show they use any other financial product or strategy that can be match or beat Bank on Yourself.

If you’re skeptical, I encourage you to take the $100,000 Challenge. You could pick up an easy $100K if you can beat Bank of Yourself.