Dr. Bryan Kuns

A family and occupational medicine practitioner for 25 years, the doctor realized that, at age 50, he and his wife might only have one more chance to get it right.  “I need some more guarantees than taking a chance and gambling again with my retirement,” Bryan realized.

A little over one year ago, he heard about Bank On Yourself.  Intrigued, he began reading everything he could get his hands on about the concept.  Then he requested a referral to a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor and a Free Analysis.

It’s an answered prayer.  I’m sleeping a lot better at night, now.  The guarantees that this program has are what I was looking for.” –Dr. Bryan Kuns

Bryan offered to share his story 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 interview, you’ll discover…

• Why Bryan felt that that the financial advisors he’d been working with were more concerned with their retirement plan than his

• What Bryan learned about good debt versus bad debt… and why paying cash for things isn’t the best answer
• How Bryan is using his policies to become his own source of financing for his personal needs, as well as for his practice – and why he won’t miss filling out those nosy, lengthy loan applications
• How Bryan is using his policies to become his own source of financing for his personal needs, as well as for his practice – and why he won’t miss filling out those nosy, lengthy loan applications
• Why the guaranteed and exponential growth of the death benefit gives you peace of mind knowing your loved ones will be taken care of if you pass away before fully funding your policy
• The value of leaving a legacy for your family that ensures financial security for generations to come
• Why the asset protection provided by life insurance was an added incentive for Bryan
• How Bryan introduced this concept to his daughter… and why he feels it’s important to teach children how to fish for a lifetime
• The difference between a financial plan based on hope and one based on guarantees

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.

If you haven’t started to Bank On Yourself yet, it’s free and there’s no-obligation to request an Analysis and find out what your bottom line numbers and results could be if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan.

When you request your Analysis, you’ll also get a referral to one of only 200 financial advisors in the country who have taken the rigorous training and meet the requirements to be a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor, like the one Bryan is working with.

I only have one chance at having a really, really good retirement, and because of this whole concept and program, I am now very excited about retirement and the future and my children’s lives and future.” – Dr. Bryan Kuns

Request your free Analysis now, so you can have the peace of mind that comes with knowing your financial future will be one you can predict and count on!

These days, money in and money out is mostly electronic, meaning the speed at which our children must make the right or wrong financial decisions has accelerated.  Launch your teens’ money management education by explaining to them why most adults fail.

Let children know that the solution can be found in the proven strategies of fiscal self-reliance that are embodied in the Bank on Yourself system and help your teens create their own vision of a secure and rewarding financial future.

There are plenty of practical steps you can take to make the entire subject matter more interesting to teens.

By Pamela Yellen and Dean Rotbart

Russ Bragg has a higher financial IQ than most parents. He started out as a credit analyst for an international bank and began offering comprehensive financial planning services in 2000.  He is an expert at helping clients define and then achieve financial independence.

For Bragg, you might imagine, educating his teenage son and daughter about proper money management would be a no-brainer.

If, on the other hand, you have teens of your own, you already know better

Enticed by credit card solicitations with low interest rate come-ons, Bragg’s independent-minded son was in credit counseling by the time he was 18.  Bragg’s daughter, on the other hand, while still a student, applied for and received a prestige credit line that even some of Bragg’s agency clients are unable to qualify for.

“Same mother, same father, same food, same air” and two very different outcomes, observes Bragg wryly of his children’s money management styles.

Many otherwise more-than-adequate moms and dads – those who’ve mastered subject matter as sensitive as teenage smoking, drinking, and drugs – have found their skill sets sorely lacking when it comes to the topic of money.

Welcome to Survivor: Teen Money…

A sprawling multi-year marathon and obstacle course that pits a tribe of well-intentioned parents, grandparents and other adults against the strong-willed, often perplexing sensibilities of the untamed adolescent mind. The challenge? One of modern family life’s most difficult: teaching teens to handle money responsibly.

I remember writing once that as a society we are more comfortable talking about sex and those other issues than we are about money”

Recalls Susan Shelly, a veteran journalist who has written or contributed to more than 30 published books, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Money for Teens.

As Ms. Shelly now knows, both as an author and as the mother of one current and one lapsed teen, the mission, although strenuous, is not impossible.

In fact, Ms. Shelly and other experts believe the teen years are the perfect time to acquaint youth with the saving, spending, earning and investing habits they’ll need for a lifetime.  The root of many adult money problems can be traced to a lack of advice or bad advice that men and women received during their teenage years, experts say.

Complicating matters, today’s generation of teens face opportunities and risks unknown just a decade or two earlier

Among these, says Richard Martinez, Jr., president and CEO of Young Americans Bank, is greater spending power than ever before. “Parents are putting more money into their kids’ hands,” says Martinez, whose Denver-based institution is the country’s only FDIC-insured bank designed specifically for young people.

Every moment of their waking day our children are bombarded with messages and pressure from peers urging consumption and instant gratification.  Moreover, technology has elevated buying-on-a-whim to an art form.

Sitting at their computers or thumbing the keys on their smart phones, the current generation of teens can download or order a world of music, entertainment, games, books and services that either didn’t exist a decade ago or at least required the teen to leave the house to purchase.

The need to drive – or be driven – to a retail store sometimes created a sufficient buffer to quell a teen’s impulse to spend, or at least presented the prospect of giving mom and dad an opportunity to intervene.

No longer.  These days, money in and money out is mostly electronic. Direct deposit, debit cards and online banking have each accelerated the pace of money – and accordingly, the speed at which our children must make the right or wrong financial choices.

The task of educating today’s teens can be divided into two parts:  What to say and how to say it effectively

Parents, grandparents and other adults whose own lives and finances have been greatly enriched by following Learn about the Bank On Yourself method… are among the strongest advocates of teaching their time-proven concepts and rules of fiscal self-reliance to teens.

“Financial education for teens and even into college would be just tremendous” as a means to prevent so many of the costly money mistakes that people make as adults, says Reid M. Mortensen, head of Dayspring Financial Solutions in Alton, Illinois, and a Bank on Yourself Authorized Advisor.

Indeed, many successful Bank on Yourself policyholders are one-time honors graduates of the school of fiscal hard knocks.

Rather than safely building wealth and controlling their own financial destiny – recapturing interest payments along the way, those who are unfamiliar with Bank on Yourself too often assign control of their money to large impersonal banks and brokerage houses, paying those giants outrageous interest and fees, and primarily helping them grow wealthier.

Many Bank on Yourself parents and grandparents purchase policies for the benefit of their teens or help their teens start their very own policies

Gerald M. Lohman, an Bank on Yourself Authorized Advisor from El Paso, Texas, has worked closely with his 26-year-old daughter since she was 15 to regularly review her policy and guide her on how to use it to self-finance purchases and investments.

“I have shown her how the (self) financing system works and how she should be a part of that system through her own plans,” Lohman explains.

Other adults begin by sharing the details of their Bank on Yourself-structured whole life insurance plans with their kids even before their children become teens – thus allowing their sons and daughters to witness the wide variety of advantages the Bank on Yourself method provide.

Tim Austin is a well-known and highly respected financial advisor who works closely with parents and their teenage children on strategies that will allow them to pay for college without going broke.  Austin, too, is a big believer in the Bank on Yourself philosophy of financial self-reliance for parents and teens alike.

For his adult clients, he recommends a 10/10/10 style of living: setting aside 10% of gross income for short-term needs; 10% for anticipated mid-term needs and potential emergencies; and 10% for long-term planning.

While the short-term, mid-term and long-term needs of teens may look different than those of their parents – teens are concerned more with paying for college and a car, for example, than retirement – Austin believes teens should nonetheless follow the same 10/10/10 formula.  “If you make $1,” Austin advises parents to instruct their children, then “30 cents has to go into three different avenues.”

Recommended Reading For Parents and Teens

Talking to teens, and getting them interested in proper money management, need not be all spreadsheets and financial reports.  Some parents use games such as the classic Monopoly and Robert Kiyosaki’s popular CASHFLOW 101 to broach the subject of money management.  Teen-friendly movies, television programs, books and even songs, such as Gwen Stefani’s hit Rich Girl – “No man could test me, impress me, my cash flow would never end…” – can be a jumping off point to a meaningful conversation about dollars and good sense.

In the end, teens need to be given a clear, alternative vision to the “spend, spend, spend” mentality that surrounds them, recommends Aurael Christall, a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor whose own fortunes were reversed when the Bank on Yourself method helped her rebound from the financial stress of making a career change eight years ago.

“Teens need inspiration,” especially those who witness their parents facing a never-ending financial struggle, living on a shoestring and hustling paycheck to paycheck to make ends meet, Christall observes.

Adults, she believes, can and must paint the vision of a different, Bank on Yourself-style future for their teens – “a life where money doesn’t have to be a constant strain or burden, where it can be a joy.”

With a goal as important as that, Christall notes, “you can never start too young.”

©  2011 – Hayward-Yellen 100 Ltd Partnership

Using the following core principles, Austin’s clients have reversed years of debt accumulation and money struggles, allowing them to pay for their children’s college educations, repay all bank and credit card loans, and save safely and effectively for retirement.

Here in a nutshell is what Austin advises:

• Whole life insurance consistent with the Bank on Yourself strategy should be a cornerstone of every family’s financial planning

• Save at least two years’ worth of anticipated expenses before investing a single dime in risk-bearing instruments

• Set aside 30% of gross income, then budget your lifestyle around the remaining 70%.  Ideally, keeping spending to only 50%, or even 40%, of gross income

• Put 20% of gross income into short-term and mid-term instruments, including whole life policies, certificates of deposit, money market funds and savings accounts.  Save 10% of gross income for retirement in multiple whole life policies, added strategically over time, and designed for income replacement

• Avoid all bank, credit card and installment credit.  When possible, buy cars, major appliances and even pay for your mortgage with cash, or by self-financing through a Bank on Yourself-compliant whole life insurance policy

[Request a free Analysis and find out the bottom line numbers and results you could have if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan]

• When you buy a car, hold onto it as long as it remains mechanically sound.  Only purchase a new car when you are left with no choice.  The same approach should apply to other major capital expenses

• Stop thinking of a home as an asset.  Moreover, stay longer in fewer homes – or even a single home, thereby greatly reducing total interest spent on mortgages

• Teach your children, even at an early age, about the wisdom of saving, spending and investing with a 1940s and 1950s sensibility

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

People are understandably nervous, as evidence abounds that the economic recovery is faltering.

An astonishing fact was revealed in a cover story in “The Hulbert Financial Digest” July issue, titled, “Slow and steady wins the race.” The digest is an independent rating service that has tracked investment newsletters for the past 30 years.

It turns out that, “the investment advisor in first place for risk-adjusted performance over the last 30 years has been largely in cash for more than two decades.”

What does that mean? It means that, unless you were willing to take on lots of risk and volatility, you would have been better off burying your money in the backyard in Mason jars for the past three decades!

What passes as a pathetic excuse for financial and retirement “planning” was exposed in this month’s issue of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine¹.

The article profiled a California couple working with a financial and money management firm to ensure they have enough money to retire in two years, when the husband turns 62.

The article details all the steps the couple has taken to properly plan for this event over the last ten years. The husband summarizes it by saying…

I’ve done everything I could possibly do to get ready.  Now it’s up to the market”

Huh?!?! Isn’t that like scraping and saving your hard-earned dollars for decades, stuffing them all in a sack, and dropping it on a craps table in Vegas??

Yet this is what passes for financial “planning”

It may come as no surprise that a new survey by Senior Market Advisor Magazine revealed that 55% of seniors currently without an advisor said there’s “absolutely nothing [an advisor] could do to earn their business.”

I was recently asked by Selling to Seniors magazine to comment on this.  My response shocked the editor – and it will probably shock you, too.  You can read it here, along with two overlooked options available to seniors who want to be sure their money will last as long as they do.

Another recent article on, “The Great Stock Myth,” in The Atlantic² revealed that, “even after a decade of lousy returns and a spectacular market crash, more than a quarter of Americans expect annual returns in the stock market to average 10 to 20 percent.”

The article points out that if the stock market’s return over the next decade or so is 2 to 3 percent above inflation, as some experts are predicting…

You’ll need to save close to 40 percent of your annual income to replace almost half of your income”

The article concludes, “whether Americans know it or not, they have spent decades basing their retirement plans on expectations of big capital gains in their houses and stock portfolios. Unless we suddenly become willing to save a huge chunk of our income every year, we may need to rethink our retirement plans.”

Housing fades as a means to build wealth

An article this week in The New York Times³ discusses why housing values are likely to only keep up with inflation and may ultimately return the money an owner put in, but will not multiply the investment.

This is actually nothing new. I have written about this for the past five years.  Home prices have only appreciated around one percent more than inflation each year for the past century, according to Robert Shiller, co-creator of the Case–Shiller home price index.

So, if you can’t count on the stock market or real estate values to fund your retirement, what can you count on?

You can Bank On Yourself

Bank On Yourself is based on a twist on an asset class that has increased in value every single year for more than a century – including every period of economic boom and bust:  dividend paying whole life insurance.

The Bank On Yourself concept involves adding little-known riders and options to the policy that supercharge the growth of your equity (“cash value”) in the policy – especially during the early years of the policy.

This lets you use it as a powerful financial management tool from day one.

The growth in these policies is not only guaranteed and predictable, it is also exponential – it gets better every single year – and no luck, skill or guesswork is required.

It gives you peace of mind when planning for retirement, because you can know the minimum guaranteed income you can take – and for how long you can take it.

Plus, you can get your hands on that money with little or no tax consequences under current tax law.

However, no two plans are alike.  Each one is custom tailored to help you achieve as many of your short-term and long-term goals as possible – in the shortest time possible.

If you haven’t already requested a FREE Analysis, why not do so today?  There’s no obligation to find out what your bottom-line numbers and results could be if you added Bank on Yourself to your financial plan.

Still have a few questions?

Find the answers here:

• What’s the rate of return of a Bank On Yourself-type policy?
• What do the companies used for Bank On Yourself invest in?
• How are these policies different from the ones the financial “gurus” talk about?
• Where do I find the money to fund a plan?
• I have good savings habits and little debt – how will Bank On Yourself help?
• How do I get started?

1. “Get a Jump on Retirement” – Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, August 2010
2. “The Great Stock Myth” – The Atlantic, August 13, 2010
3. “Housing Fades as a Means to Build Wealth” – The New York Times, August 22, 2010

Fascinating Fact #1: 61% of boomers fear outliving their money in retirement more than they fear death

That’s according to a new study.¹

Maybe you’re one of them.  It appears that lots of boomers should be scared out of their wits – almost half of them could run out of money in retirement, according to a new study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

In fact, most employees recently surveyed – regardless of age – say they aren’t saving enough money for retirement.²

Many people are adjusting to “the new normal” by postponing retirement.

But you may not have a choice:  Nearly four in ten retirees say they were forced out of work earlier than they’d planned, because of layoffs, poor health, or the need to take care of a loved one.³

And, for those already retired, 60% say they have been forced to do without things they had taken for granted, to make ends meet.⁴

Things like meals out, new books and movies, travel, new clothes and home improvement projects.

Can you live without those things?  Sure.

But why should you have to, after a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice?!?

Can you imagine how different things would be if you knew you would have a guaranteed and predictable income in retirement – one that does not depend on the roller coaster ups and downs of stocks, real estate and other investments?

While the “experts” lament that there’s been “no place to hide” during the financial crisis, none of the hundreds of thousands of people who use Bank On Yourself lost a penny in their plans when the markets crashed.  Their plans have never skipped a beat and continue growing every year by a guaranteed, predictable and exponential amount.

However, no two policies or plans are alike – each is tailored to the client’s unique situation.  To find out how much your financial picture could improve if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan, how much income you could take in retirement (guaranteed) and to get a referral to a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor, simply request a free, no-obligation Analysis here, if you haven’t already done so.

Fascinating Fact #2:  Social Security may be in far worse trouble than we thought

By law, the Social Security’s trustees’ annual report is supposed to be published by April 1.  This year, however, the trustees have postponed it indefinitely!

Why does the program’s financial condition continue to remain hidden from public view?

Could it have something to do with the fact that the trust fund is nothing more than a bunch of IOU’s… and the run on revenues has turned into a stampede?

In my opinion, Social Security is the biggest Ponzi or pyramid scheme ever conceived!”

To make matters worse, a new AARP survey revealed that 50% of those age 50 and over say Social Security is or will be more important to their retirement than they expected when they were younger.

And 25% say they rely, or plan to rely, on it for most of their retirement income.

Shockingly, only 12% of people over 50 expect to be able to rely on savings and investments for most of their income.⁵

Good luck with that!

Fascinating Fact #3:  Deferring your taxes is one of the worst financial moves you can make

I’ve explained in my best-selling book and elsewhere why the notion that it’s a good idea to use 401(k)’s and other “tax-qualified” retirement plans to defer your taxes is just one more example of how dumb the “conventional wisdom” about money and finances is.

Now, an article on Forbes.com entitled, “Pay More Taxes Now!” confirms everything I’ve been saying…

As the article points out, we already know tax rates are going up.  (Does anyone actually believe tax rates are going to go down over the long term?)

If tax rates do go up, and you’re successful in growing a nest-egg, you’re only going to end up paying higher taxes on a bigger number!

Even if tax rates remain the same, it’s estimated you’ll pay 10-20 times more in taxes over a thirty-year period!

My advice – and Forbes.com’s advice – is to pay your taxes now.  At least you know what they are!

A Bank On Yourself policy is taxed like a Roth IRA.  You pay your taxes up front, and then you can access the growth with little or no tax consequences, under current tax law.

But, you may be wondering, what if the tax laws change?

Of course, the tax laws could change.  For that matter, they could change the tax laws on 401(k)’s, IRA’s and Roth IRA’s.  But the tax advantages of Bank On Yourself are just the icing on the cake.  Even if the tax laws changed for Bank On Yourself, you’d still have all the many other advantages and guarantees of this time-tested method, including:

The Bank On Yourself concept 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

Your money in one of these policies grows by a guaranteed and preset amount every year.  In addition, the growth is exponential, meaning it gets better (more efficient) every single year you have the policy – with no luck, skill or guesswork needed to make that happen

A properly structured Bank On Yourself-type policy incorporates little-known riders which turbo-charge the growth of your equity (“cash value”) in the policy, especially during the early years of the policy. This enables you to use your policy as a powerful financial management tool from Day One

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

Can you imagine how much brighter your financial picture would be if you still had every penny of principal you put in AND all the growth you’d received?

You have peace of mind for retirement planning, because you could know the minimum guaranteed income you can take in retirement, and for how long you could take it

And that’s just a partial list of the benefits of Bank On Yourself, which is why the $100,000 cash reward I’ve offered to the first person to show they use a different product or strategy that can match or beat Bank On Yourself remains unclaimed.

There’s no cost or obligation to receive an Analysis that will show you how a custom-tailored program can help you reach your long-term and short-term goals and dreams – in the shortest time possible.

Fascinating Fact #4:  Apparently, money can buy happiness

A Gallup survey – the largest of its kind – found that people almost universally agree that a lot of having a “good life” has to do with material prosperity.⁶

And not having to worry about whether your money will run out before you do significantly reduces stress and lets you focus on the more positive, fun things in your life.

Which is part of the reason most people say the only regret they have about Bank On Yourself is that they didn’t start sooner.

If you haven’t already added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan, now’s the time to make sure you never suffer another lost decade… or even another lost day.

When you request a FREE Analysis , you’ll get a referral to one of only 200 advisors who have taken and passed the rigorous requirements to be a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor.

Tip:  Ask your Authorized Advisor if you can qualify to “turn back the clock” by up to six months to jump start your Bank On Yourself plan and turn your back on the stomach-churning ups and downs of the stock and real estate markets.

1. “Reclaiming the Future:  Challenging Retirement Income Perceptions,” Allianz Life Study
2. Harris Interactive
3. Employee Benefit Research Institute
4. Harris Interactive
5. AARP Bulletin exclusive survey, July/August 2010 issue
6. Gallup poll

Walt Disney borrowed from his life insurance in 1953 to help fund Disneyland, his first theme park, when no banker would lend him the money.¹

Following the 1929 stock market crash, famous retailer J. C. Penney borrowed from his life insurance policies to help meet the company payroll.² Had he not had ready access to capital, the company probably would have been forced to close its doors, adding even more people to the unemployment line.

In 2002, Doris Christopher sold her kitchen tool company, the Pampered Chef to Warren Buffett for a reported $900 million.  Seven years earlier, she launched the company with a life insurance policy loan.³

Foster Farms was founded in 1939 when Max and Verda Foster borrowed $1,000 against their life insurance policy to buy an 80-acre farm near Modesto, CA.⁴

Senator John McCain secured initial campaign financing for his presidential bid by using his life insurance policy as collateral.³

So-called “permanent” or cash value life insurance (versus term insurance, which is like renting insurance) builds up cash value that policy owners can use in difficult times as a ready source of money to cover personal or business expenses for emergencies and even to cover insurance costs.

Almost every day, I receive grateful emails and calls from folks who use the Bank On Yourself method about how they used their equity to get them through a job loss, disability or other family emergency.

That’s as important today as it was in America’s Great Depression, when whole life policy loans helped save thousands of homes, businesses and family farms.

Keep in mind that Bank On Yourself-type policies are dividend-paying whole life policies that incorporate little-known riders or options that turbo-charge the growth of the cash value in the policy, especially in the early years of the policy.  A properly designed policy could have up to 40 times more cash value in the first years than a traditionally designed whole life policy (the kind Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey and 99% of all financial “gurus” talk about).

It’s a virtual certainty that the policies owned by the famous business owners profiled above were not the super-charged version.  But clearly these policies can be lifesavers for the policy owners.

If you haven’t already done so, take advantage of a free Analysis now.   It will show you how Bank On Yourself can give you the peace of mind that comes with having a cash cushion to see you through tough times. It will also show you how it can help you take control of your financial future, along with revealing the bottom-line numbers and results you could have if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan.

An interesting fact is that there was $116 billion in life insurance loans outstanding at the end of 2007.⁵

Life insurers have $4.3 trillion invested in the U.S. economy, making them one of the largest sources of capital in the nation.⁶

And life insurers paid more than $19 billion in federal, state and local government taxes in 2007.  That figure doesn’t include taxes paid by all the people the industry employs or business that supply the industry with services.⁷

In short, the life insurance industry is a key driver of our economy!

While access to credit and capital remains tight for both businesses and consumers, those who use Bank On Yourself have been able to have access to the money in their plans by answering just one question:

How much do you want?

You never know when you’ll have a family emergency or hit a rough spot.   Unfortunately, it’s part of life.Unfortunately, most Americans don’t have much of an emergency cash reserve to fall back on in tough times.  71 percent of all workers surveyed recently said they’d have trouble meeting their current financial obligations if their paycheck were delayed by even one week, according to the American Payroll Association.

If you don’t have a liquid cash cushion, you’ll typically have to use credit cards, ask friends and family to help out, or you’ll have to sell some of your investments to raise cash.

None of these options is ideal. And if you do have cash you can get your hands on quickly in a money market or savings account, the moment you withdraw your money, you’re earning ZERO interest on it.

One of the most important lessons about money and finances I’ve learned in recent years that’s not taught in most economic courses is this:

You finance everything you buy!

That’s because you either pay interest to someone else when you use their money… OR you give up the interest and investment income you could have earned, had you kept your money invested instead.

So, even paying cash has its drawbacks.

But Bank On Yourself is a way of managing your money that’s actually “Better than Debt Free.”

Wondering where you’ll find the money to start a Bank On Yourself policy?  Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors are masters at helping you restructure your finances to free up seed money.  There are at least eight places they look. Don’t count yourself out.  Request a free Analysis to find out what’s possible.

Bank On Yourself beats financing, leasing or even paying cash for things by a long shot.  Here are 7 reasons why:

1. You can access your equity in the policy any time you want and for any reason you want

2. No nosy credit applications are required, you don’t have to beg for money or pledge your first born to get it.

3. You can pay back your loan on your own schedule, not someone else’s

4. If you hit a tight spot, you can reduce or skip some payments, and no collection agencies will call, no goon squad will come to repossess your stuff or foreclose on your house, and you won’t get a black mark on your credit report

5. While you do pay interest on policy loans (at a rate that’s often less than rates available from financial institutions), the interest you pay ultimately ends up back in your policy, as described on pages 100-102 of my best-selling book

6. If your policy is issued by one of the handful of companies that meets all the necessary requirements, when you take a policy loan, your policy can continue growing as though you hadn’t touched a penny of it! You’ll continue to earn the same pre-set and guaranteed cash value increase every year AND you’ll receive the same dividends as if you had no loans against your policy

While dividends aren’t guaranteed, Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors use companies that have paid dividends every single year for over 100 years – including during the Great Depression.

7. Policy loans are not taxable as long as the policy remains in force

Bank On Yourself:  The ultimate financial security blanket?

Let me ask you a question.  How long do you think it will take for the Dow – which has dropped below 10,000 yet again – to get above the 13,000 level and STAY there?

Do you think it could be one year?  Two years?  Five years?  Maybe even ten years?

Let’s be honest – none of us really has a clue!

But are you wondering what’s so important about the 13,000 level?

Actually, the Dow will have to reach and stay above 13,127 to get you back to where you were more than 11 years ago!

That’s based on inflation of over 31% over the past 11 years and 2 months.⁸

What do you have to show for all those years other than sleepless nights and broken retirement dreams?

But it doesn’t have to be that way!

Hundreds of thousands of people use the Bank On Yourself method, and not one of them lost a penny in their plans when the markets crashed.

Their plans have ALL continued growing safely and predictably, just as they have for well over a century.

As Independence Day approaches, consider how Bank On Yourself can give you independence and freedom from…

The stomach-churning ups and downs of stocks, real estate and other investments

The control that banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions have over you

Wondering and worrying if you’ll ever be able to retire and what you’ll have to give up to do so (Bank On Yourself lets you have a guaranteed income stream you can predict and count on, giving you peace of mind for retirement planning

You control your money, not the government (government-sponsored retirement plans have more strings attached to them than a puppet)

So, if you haven’t added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan yet, request a free, no-obligation Analysis now that will show you how you could reach your goals and dreams – without the risk or volatility of traditional methods.

I urge you not to put it off another day.  You have nothing to lose and potentially much to gain!

1. www.justdisney.com
2. www.nndb.com/people
3. Courtesy of Barry Dyke, author of The Pirates of Manhattan
4. http://www.fosterfarms.com
5. LIMRA analysis of A. M. Best annual statement data
6. ACLI
7. LIMRA analysis of A. M. Best annual statement data
8. www.inflationdata.com

The Dow has dropped below 10,000 several times recently – a level it first reached more than eleven years ago and has since bounced over and back an astonishing 63 times!

Millions of people who were counting on their homes to help fund their retirement now have no equity to count on, because they owe more than their homes are worth.

Credit is still extremely tight for both businesses and consumers, underscoring just how little control we have when we have to rely on other people’s money.

As we face continuing economic challenges, many people are wondering… what does the future hold?

Ever hear the old saying, “Change is the only constant?”  Today that is clearly true more than ever!  Stephen Covey, author of the run-away best seller, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, tells the following story:

A night watchman on a huge battleship alerted the captain that their ship was headed directly towards a light in the distance.  The captain immediately sent the message, “Change your course 10 degrees south.”  A few minutes later came the reply, “Change your course 10 degrees north.”

Perturbed, the captain signaled back, “I am the captain.  Change your course 10 degrees south!”  Five minutes later came the reply, “I am a seaman first class.  Change your course north.”

Fuming, the captain sent one final message, “I demand you change your course.  I’M ON A BATTLESHIP!”

I strongly recommend you change your course,” came the response.  “I am a lighthouse.”

The moral of the story is pretty clear, isn’t it?  The new economic realities are the lighthouse, and it’s insane for us to demand that everything in our way move over so that we can keep cruising straight ahead in our comfort zone.

If you were the captain of the battleship, what would you do?  Hold your course… or change your course?

Well, each of us is the captain of our lives.  We have a choice of changing our course and surviving… even flourishing, for that matter.  Or staying our course and plunging head first into disaster.

So my question to you is, are you staying the course, hoping and praying that somehow things will magically work out?  Or, are you becoming the captain of your ship and taking back control of your financial future?

Wall Street wants you to believe that if you just keep hanging in there long enough (paying them fees and fattening their wallets), you’ll be okay.

And they have the audacity to call this a financial or retirement “plan”!

I can promise you they won’t remind you that over the last 80 years, the Dow was in a stall that lasted from 12-25 years 65% of the time!

They are praying you don’t find out about the stock market study¹ that revealed…

During the 20th century, there was a 77-year span with no price appreciation in U.S. stocks, after adjusting for inflation

Out of the past 207 years, stocks have spent 173 years – more than 80% of the time! – either faltering from old highs or clawing back to recover past losses

The study’s author, Robert Arnott, concluded:

As investors become increasingly aware that conventional wisdom of modern investing is largely myth and urban legend, there will be growing demand for new ideas and more choices”

Yet, the “experts” and talking heads have no better solutions to offer, do they?

It’s all the “same old, same old,” and maybe they’ll throw in some new twist.

Pfui!

You’ve probably heard that old chestnut, “Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.”

How many times have you already been fooled, only to keep coming back for more?

The ultimate financial security blanket in both good times and bad…

While the “experts” lament that there’s been “no place to hide,” none of the hundreds of thousands of people who use Bank On Yourself lost a penny in their plans when the markets crashed.  Their plans have never skipped a beat and continue growing every year by a guaranteed and predictable amount.

However, no two policies or plans are alike – each is tailored to the client’s unique situation.  To find out how much your financial picture could improve if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan, how much income you could take in retirement (guaranteed) and to get a referral to a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor (a life insurance agent with advanced training in this method), request a free, no-obligation Analysis.

When tough financial challenges and family emergencies arise, those who use the Bank On Yourself method have been able to gain access to capital to see them through by answering just one question:

How much do you want?

But please understand – Bank On Yourself isn’t a magic pill – there aren’t any.  It does take a little patience and discipline.  but for those who have those traits, it pays a lifetime of benefits, including:

The Bank On Yourself concept 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

Your money in one of these policies grows by a guaranteed and preset amount every year.  In addition, the growth is exponential, meaning it gets better (more efficient) every single year you have the policy – with no luck, skill or guesswork needed to make that happen

A properly structured Bank On Yourself-type policy incorporates little-known riders which turbo-charge the growth of your equity (“cash value”) in the policy, especially during the early years of the policy. This enables you to use your policy as a powerful financial management tool from Day One

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

Can you imagine how much brighter your financial picture would be if you still had every penny of principal you put in AND all the growth you’d received?

You control the money in your policy, not the government.  You can use it when and how you choose, without the restrictions or penalties common to 401(k)’s and other government-sponsored retirement plans

You have peace of mind for retirement planning, because you could know the minimum guaranteed income you can take in retirement, and for how long you could take it

You can take an income from the policy with little or no tax consequences, under current tax law.  If you believe tax rates are going to go up over the long term, keep in mind that when you defer your taxes in a 401(k) or other government-sponsored plan, you’ll only pay higher taxes on a bigger number!

When you pass on, you have the peace of mind of knowing your loved ones could receive a death benefit many times greater than the value of your plan

I haven’t even listed all the advantages and guarantees of Bank On Yourself here.  But this gives you an idea why Bank On Yourself can give you the peace of mind and solid financial foundation that are missing from most people’s financial plan.

And I’d like to point out that no one has stepped up to the plate and offered a different financial product or strategy that can match or beat the advantages and guarantees of a properly structured Bank On Yourself policy.

My offer to pay a $100,000 cash reward to the first person who can do that still stands.

There’s no cost or obligation to receive an Analysis that will show you how a program custom tailored to your unique situation could improve your financial picture and help you turn your back on the stomach-churning twists and turns of traditional investments.

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

1. “Bonds – Why Bother?” by Robert Arnott, Journal of Indexes (May/June 2009 issue)

Let’s start by answering the question…

Life insurance companies are highly regulated and required to maintain sufficient reserves to ensure they can pay all future claims.

They are regularly audited by the state insurance commissioners’ offices, and sometimes by dozens of states, to ensure they are on solid financial ground.  And a multi-layer safety net exists to assure your money in a life insurance policy is secure.

You may be wondering, “What about AIG?”  Many people missed the fact that AIG’s problems were caused by a holding company, not its life insurance subsidiaries.  Their insurance companies were walled off from the problems, have always been solvent and did not receive a bailout.

The companies recommended by Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors are among the financially strongest life insurance groups in the world.

They enjoy some of the strongest surplus positions in the industry, approximately double the industry average.

These companies are, in essence, owned by policyowners, rather than stockholders, which allows them to focus on the long-term interests of policy holders, rather than the short-term demands of Wall Street.

Here’s what the companies used for Bank On Yourself invest in:

Over 90% of their portfolio is invested in investment-grade fixed-income assets

Less than 1% is invested in U.S. Treasury or other government debt

Their bond portfolios are well diversified across many industries and companies, with no investment representing more than 1% of assets

Due to their financial strength and reserves, they have the ability to hold on to any assets that may decline in value for many years until they recover

They had virtually no exposure to the risky investments that caused the market meltdown of 2008

They have NEVER missed paying an annual dividend to policyowners for more than 100 years, including during the Great Depression!

Both your principal and gains are locked in – they don’t vanish due to a market correction

You can know the minimum guaranteed value of your policy in any year and also the minimum guaranteed income you can take from your policy

To find out what your bottom-line numbers and results could be with Bank On Yourself, request a free Analysis here

For these reasons – and many more – we know of no better or safer place to store your money!

The bottom line is that you have to park your money somewhere.

That could be in stocks, mutual funds, bonds, CD’s, money markets, real estate, currency, commodities… or under your mattress.

How many people have lost money in these financial vehicles, including you?

Many families’ nest-eggs have been lost in every one of these conventional investing and saving methods, dashing their hopes and dreams for a secure financial future.

As most people are aware, even putting your money into “insured” saving accounts and CD’s isn’t a sure thing; the FDIC’s insurance fund was almost $21 billion dollars in the red at the end of 2009 and the number of banks at risk of collapsing is growing daily!

Putting your money in your mattress also has its risks – it can be stolen or catch on fire.  And inflation will surely make it worth less every year.

And now, we can’t even be confident that U.S. treasury bonds are a safe place to put our money.

But we challenge you to find any credible proof that anyone has lost money in a life insurance policy in the last 100 years!

For the record, the $100,000 cash reward I’ve offered to the first person to show they use a different product or strategy that can match or beat the advantages and guarantees of a properly structured dividend-paying whole life policy still remains unclaimed.

Go ahead and take the $100,000 Challenge! Because if there is a better strategy than Bank On Yourself, I want to know about it, so I can use it for my family and share it with others.

One more thing.  I know some people are going to ask which companies the Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors recommend, as discussed above.

Please understand I’m not going to list them.  First, because I’m not in the business of referring any specific company.  And also because it’s not enough to know which companies are the strongest and have the best product for the Bank On Yourself concept.

You also need the help and coaching of a financial advisor who has advanced training in this method and knows how to structure the policy properly and how to use it to maximize your lifetime wealth.

It takes even an experienced advisor at least a year of full-time training and experience to become proficient at this.

Experience has shown that without the guidance of a knowledgeable advisor, there’s an excellent chance your policy will be structured wrong. As a result, it won’t grow nearly as fast, you could lose the tax advantages, or both.

That’s what led to the creation of the Authorized Advisor training program, and only around 200 advisors across the country have passed the rigorous requirements.

You can get a referral to one of these specialists when you request a free, no-obligation Analysis that will show you how much your financial picture could improve if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan.

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

And please tell us what’s on your mind 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!