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

These “experts” promote the concept as if it makes perfect sense to make up for your gambling losses by doubling your bets.

To me, it’s appalling that anyone would advise those who are already retired to gamble their life’s savings on the volatile, risk-filled world of Wall Street.

But my message – that Wall Street is unstable and potentially as explosive as nitroglycerin – is really not age specific. The stock market can (and will) blow up in your face at any age.

For most Americans – and Wall Street goes to great lengths to hide this truth – the stock market is a promise unmet.

The success myth hyped by the financial services industry is like a casino showcasing its big winners, without mentioning that the prize pool derives from the much larger pool of losers who generate huge profits for the operators, but who themselves walk away worse off than if they had stayed at home.

Money isn’t the only price that the Wall Street casino extracts from most investors

Peace of mind is surely as much a toll. When it comes to steep ups-and-downs and hairpin curves, the stock market is unrivaled by even the most infamous amusement park rollercoasters.

Yet the rollercoaster metaphor only goes so far. For while both Wall Street and theme park thrill rides will set your head spinning and sometimes rocket your stomach into your mouth, only one guarantees a safe, predictable, rapid landing back where you began. The other never does.

The Wall Street propaganda machine is so mighty and so effective, that most Americans continue to buy into the myth that the stock market – over the long-term – is the best place to grow personal wealth. That’s the case, amazingly, even for the tens of millions of Americans whose own money-losing experiences repeatedly prove otherwise.

It’s time to let the “Big Secret” out of the bag: You Are Not Alone. Your eyes, and your personal experience, are not deceiving you. King Wall Street really is not wearing any clothes. Those who say it is are too afraid to admit that they too have been snookered by the promoters who always manage to get paid, whether you win or lose.

There are loads of numbers and statistics to validate my point. (Although I’ll bet that most people reading this column don’t need me to reaffirm what their own stock market misadventures have already proven.)

Here’s an example of the reality versus hype facts that Wall Street wants you to overlook:

The stock market has plunged more than 45% – TWICE – over the past decade. You may not vividly remember the sting of the last crash, but don’t fool yourself into thinking it isn’t going to happen again.

Even in bull markets, if you are like the average investor, you will wait too long to buy and then compound your misery by selling after the bubble has inevitably burst. What money you do manage to preserve could very well be subject to fees and taxes that will chew up a hefty chunk of what should have been yours. What’s left, the scraps, will be your only financial legacy.

So why do so many Americans continue to cling to the notion that Wall Street offers them the best hope of wealth creation?

The main reason is that no safe, non-volatile alternative has yet been able to penetrate the fortress that Wall Street and its promoters have successfully built around the collective consciousness of the American public.

Put another way: There may be a better mousetrap, but it won’t do you much good if you are prevented from knowing it exists.

After investigating more than 450 different financial products and strategies, I know a better way does exist – it’s called Bank On Yourself and it works for old and young alike. It works for those who start out rich and those who start out wanting to be rich. And, best of all, it has worked flawlessly for more than 160 years.

My research led me to conclude that Wall Street has brainwashed the American public into believing we must accept risk and volatility in order to grow a sizeable nest-egg.

Of course, I’ve taken a lot of flak for taking on the financial fat cats. But the $100,000 cash reward I’ve offered to the first person who can show they have a better strategy remains unclaimed after nearly three years.

As Benjamin Franklin noted…

You will observe with concern how long a useful truth may be known and exist, before it is generally received and practiced on.”

Make no mistake: If you don’t know what your retirement account will be worth in 10 or 30 years, you don’t have a financial plan. And if you don’t know how much income you can count on from your investments in retirement, you don’t have a plan. You are gambling.

So whether you are in or nearing retirement, or just starting out on your career path, I urge you to do your research and leave the rollercoaster rides to the amusement parks. Let Wall Street grow even richer using someone else’s hard-earned savings.

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!

That’s the conclusion of a recent Wall Street Journal study.¹ But the most shocking revelation is just how big the gap is between how much retirement income people will need to maintain their standard of living… and how much they’ve actually saved:

Many have less than one-quarter of what they’ll need

And how are they dealing with this challenge?

Facing shortfalls, many are postponing retirement, moving to cheaper housing, buying less-expensive food, cutting back on travel, taking bigger risks with their investments and making other sacrifices they never imagined.” ¹

Like Carol Dailey, who is continuing to work at age 71 because her 401(k) took a hit in the 2008 market crash.  She also cut back spending for entertainment and food, and is substituting boxed wine for the ones she used to enjoy from her favorite vineyards.

Her financial advisor is planning to help her be able to retire by shifting her assets into riskier investments that can “return 10% a year.”

Hmmm… I wonder if that’s the same financial advisor who advised her on where to invest her money prior to the 2008 market plunge?

If people could take more risk, and do it successfully, why haven’t they been doing that all along?

Isn’t that the classic definition of insanity?

How much more evidence do we need to know that 401(k)’s and “doing all the right things we were told to do financially” aren’t working?

Not everyone has been a loser in the high-stakes Wall Street casino game…

401(k)’s “were a gold mine for money-management firms.  In 30 years, the 401(k) went from a small program to a multi-trillion dollar industry supporting thousands of financial planners and money managers.”¹

The cards are stacked against you as an individual investor.  And truth be told, most Americans have no real financial security.

Wall Street’s average performance over recent decades has been flat at best, with long-term treasury bonds – the “turtles” of the investment world – outpacing Wall Street’s “hares” for the past 40 years.

Even in bull markets, if you are like the average investor, you will wait too long to buy and then compound your misery by selling too soon.  What money you do manage to preserve could very well be subject to annual fees and taxes that will chew up a hefty chunk of what should have been yours.

What’s left, the scraps, will be your only financial legacy.

If that isn’t awful enough, you get to spend months and years of your life, hands clenched and veins popping, worrying about where your money will land on the roulette wheel that is Wall Street.  Hint: Only the dealers are certain to win.

So, what lessons have we learned from two decades of “doing all the right things” with little to show for it?

1. “Retiring Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Fall Short ”, By E.S. Browning, The Wall Street Journal, February 19, 2011

-$62,734.06. That’s the “unrealized” loss we’ve had in one of the mutual funds in our retirement account, according to the statement we just received.

A $62,734.06 unrealized loss.

I keep staring at the statement, hoping that number will somehow magically turn positive.  After all, we’ve had a nice run-up in the stock market recently, and that mutual fund has one of the best long-term track records of any fund.

What the heck is an unrealized loss, anyway?

I realize I’ve lost a whole bunch of money.  And I remember working my butt off to make that money!”

A $62,734 “unrealized loss.”  Is that an oxymoron, like “Great Depression,” “small fortune,” “accurate forecast” and “quickly reboot”?

I dunno if it qualifies as an oxymoron.  But I do know it’s moronic that we pin our hopes and plans for financial and retirement security on things we can’t predict or count on!

My husband Larry is 61 and theoretically four years away from retirement.  He probably won’t retire when he’s 65 because he says he’d get bored.  But if we were relying on the conventional wisdom about saving for retirement, it wouldn’t even be an option for him.

Did you know that 40% of retirees were forced to retire sooner than planned, due to health problems, job layoffs and other factors beyond their control?

Of course, none of us want to think that could happen to us… but what would you do if it did?

Another mutual fund in our retirement account shows an $8,012.16 “unrealized” gain.

And there lies the rub:  You don’t actually lock in a gain or loss until you sell an investment.

(November 22, 2011 Update:   Our most recent retirement account statement shows our “unrealized loss” is virtually unchanged since I wrote this blog post almost a year ago.  And looking at the Dow’s ups and downs over the past year makes a day on the roller coasters at Six Flags look tame.)

Unfortunately, studies and history show that most of us are far more successful at locking in our losses than our gains.

Can you tell me what your retirement account will be worth on the day you plan to tap into it?  (Not what you hope it will be.)  If your answer is “no,” how can you even call it a plan? And what will you do if the market plunges by 50% – again – right before you planned to retire?

Contrast that with Bank On Yourself.

Last year around this time, I showed you how one of my Bank On Yourself policies had grown from the beginning of 2000 through the end of 2008, a period that included not one, but TWO devastating market crashes.

I did a side-by-side comparison with the growth of the S&P 500 over the same period.

Now I can  give you an update for 2009 and 2010 on that comparison:

Bank On Yourself-type policies get better (more efficient) every single year, simply because they are engineered to do so!

The graph below shows the typical growth pattern in a Bank On Yourself-type policy.  It’s based on one of my policies and shows the growth I’ve had so far, along with the growth I would have if the dividends stay where they are today.  Right now, dividends – like interest rates – are at historic lows.  If they increase, the growth will be greater.  Keep in mind that dividends aren’t guaranteed, however, the companies preferred by the Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors have paid dividends every single year for over 100 years.

So, will your policy growth look like the graph above?

If you’re referring to that growth curve that just keeps increasing every year at a steeper pace, the answer is “yes.”  Because, as I noted above, that’s how these policies are designed to grow.

If you’re wondering if your actual numbers will be similar to the ones in the examples of my policies above, the answer is no.  Because Bank On Yourself isn’t an off-the-shelf product.

Every policy is custom tailored to help you reach as many of your financial goals and dreams as possible, in the shortest time possible, given your situation today.  This process is illustrated in Chapters 3-6 of my best-selling book.

If you haven’t already started to Bank On Yourself, you can take the first step now by requesting a free, no-obligation Analysis.

Do you make New Year’s resolutions?

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to get your financial house in order, you need to do more than just think about it and write it down.  You need to take action.

You need to lay the foundation down now that can ensure you never again suffer a “lost decade”… or even another lost year.

And when stocks, real estate and other investments continue on their endless roller-coaster ride, you can pull out your Bank On Yourself policy statements and sleep well knowing you have taken back control of your financial future.

Executive Summary: Most modern Americans overspend, assume too much debt, and fail to invest wisely for retirement.  Tim Austin, a leading proponent of ‘old-fashioned’ spending and savings strategies, recommends a time-tested 10/10/10 financial formula: saving 10% of gross income for the near-term; 10% for the mid-term; and setting aside 10% for the long-term.  Austin’s favorite savings tool is specially-designed dividend-paying whole life insurance policies such as those structured by Bank On Yourself’s specially trained and authorized advisors.

By Pamela Yellen and Dean Rotbart

Even back in 1975, the year comedian Woody Allen wrote, directed and starred in the movie Love and Death, the perception of whole life insurance as a savings instrument designed for fuddy-duddies and masochists was already commonplace.

There are some things worse than death”

…deadpans the film’s protagonist, Boris Grushenko, played by Allen…

If you’ve ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman, I’m sure you know what I mean”

(Read: A Savings Fish Tale: Why the Last Laugh is on Planners Who Mock Whole Life Insurance)

Meanwhile, holders of whole life insurance policies such as those designed by Authorized Bank On Yourself Advisors, were more like the Little Engine That Could, consistently climbing ahead and never once loosing a penny during those 35 years.

While no ‘Whole Life 500′ index exists to document the specific annual average performance of Bank On Yourself-style dividend paying whole life insurance versus the S&P 500, even Love and Death‘s village idiot can calculate that funds saved and compounded with interest and dividends without interruption since 1975 would yield a rich, secure and predictable financial nest egg.

Once Discarded Financial Precepts Reborn

Bank On Yourself-compliant whole life insurance policies, contrary to popular lore, actually turn out to be – and to have always been – a highly reliable savings and retirement vehicle.  Indeed, many discarded money-management precepts – the kinds our grandparents and great-grandparents once treated as gospel – are, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, proving to be anything but out-of-date.

(See: When it Comes to Money Management, Grandma & Grandpa Knew Best

Ranging from the value of whole life insurance as the cornerstone of a family’s financial plan, to the concept of setting aside as much as 30% of gross income in savings and investment accounts, old-fashioned financial ideas are getting a fresh new look.

Tim Austin, the 46-year-old Founder and President of the National Association of College Funding Advisors

Among the nation’s most-respected and leading proponents of revisiting the financial playbooks of our grandparents and great-grandparents is Tim Austin, the 46-year-old Founder and President of the National Association of College Funding Advisors.

Austin, who knows firsthand that the old sensibilities enjoy increasing modern day currency, has educated more than 5,000 families since 1994 on how average American families can pay for college without going broke.

Like so many financial advisors, Austin began his career dishing out the same commonplace investment recipes that every other planner was serving their clients: a steady diet of stock and bond funds.  When Austin’s grandmother – who lived through the Depression – asked him to safely invest $10,000 on her behalf, she instructed him: ” I want you to put me in something safe.  I don’t care about the interest rate, I just don’t want to lose any money.”

Grandma’s investment, it turns out, was a defining event for Austin.  Still young and relatively inexperienced, he followed the advice of more seasoned financial planners in his firm and put his grandmother’s entire $10,000 in a bond fund in February 1987.  Everyone assured him her funds would be protected.

Then came October 1987 and the global crash known as Black Monday, which up until that time was the largest one-day decline by percentage in stock market history.  Grandma Austin’s bond fund was not spared as it was supposed to be.

The experience caused him to rethink conventional financial planning.  “It made me look at what other people were doing and I realized I just wasn’t getting – or giving – the right advice.”

So Austin charted a new course – one more aligned with his grandmother’s needs, experiences and sensibilities.

The core tenet: there is no need to ever put money at risk in order to grow it and use it reliably

Today, Austin’s typical client is 47 years of age and faces the dilemma of juggling current debt, paying for one or more children headed to college, and still setting aside sufficient funds for retirement.  With his help and some individual self-discipline, Austin says that in roughly 13 years – or by the time his clients reach age 60 – they will have paid for college, be free of all bank and credit card debt, and be socking away savings.

Austin derives his inspiration from the decades of the 1940s and 1950s, when it was commonplace for Americans to set aside 10% of their gross income for short-term needs, such as a vacation or holiday gift-giving; 10% for anticipated mid-term needs and potential emergencies, including a new car, replacement of major appliances, a new roof, and college tuition; and 10% for long-term retirement planning.

For the first two categories – short-term and mid-term – Austin recommends savings instruments, including certificates of deposit, savings accounts, money market accounts and permanent whole life insurance.

For the 10% of gross income targeted for the long-term, he recommends the acquisition of multiple whole life policies, added strategically over time, and designed for income replacement.  Under current tax law, when properly structured, such layered policies provide a guaranteed and predictable retirement income with little or no taxes due on it.

Austin’s 10/10/10 approach avoids all conventional bank and credit card debt.  Instead, he recommends clients pay cash for their larger purchases, such as a car or even a home, or utilize Bank On Yourself-style whole life policies to self-finance major expenditures, effectively repaying themselves over time with interest ultimately ends up in their policy accounts.

In fact, Austin’s experience has shown that the average family could increase their lifetime wealth by $500,000 – or more – simply by financing their cars and vacations through their policies, without taking on the risk or volatility of stocks and real estate.  (To find out how much more wealth you could have by using this method, request a free Bank On Yourself Analysis.)

While our grandparents and great-grandparents instinctively followed a 10/10/10 style of living, now it’s typical for Americans to spend 30% or more of their gross income on mortgage interest, credit card debt, car payments, and other installment loans.

“Pretty much in today’s world, consumers have swapped debt payments for the 35% of their income that used to go into savings and investing,” Austin says.  Depending upon one’s tax bracket, he notes, 30% or 35% of gross income can actually represent as much as 50% of net income.

Listening to the Wrong Prognosticators

“Over the past 30 years, it has become very easy to accept the idea of  a car payment,” Austin notes, “Whereas in the 40s and 50s, no one would have thought about having a car payment. They would have paid cash for the car.  They would have saved the money and then they would have paid cash for that vehicle and they would have started saving again for the future.”  Except for the ultra-wealthy, the idea of acquiring a new car every two or three years was unheard of.

Not only have Americans come to accept debt-financing for many purchases, Austin says, they also have lost the discipline of saving 10% of their gross income for the long term.  Here, Austin believes, the main culprit is obvious: 401(k) plans and the unrealistic returns promised by the financial advisors who promote them.

The mantra for many employees has been and remains to invest only 3% to 5% of gross income in a 401(k).  Then, assuming their employer matches their contributions and that their 401(k) portfolios will grow at an average annual rate of 12% for decades to come, the typical American now assumes – wrongly – that should be plenty enough money for retirement.

Reality, as tens of millions of 401(k) investors learned in 2008, is not quite as rosy.

(See: A Savings Fish Tale: Why the Last Laugh is on Planners Who Mock Whole Life Insurance)

The 401(k) promise, Austin says…

Allowed people to have this illusion that they really didn’t need to put as much money into the retirement savings category.  The higher you forecast their expected rate of return, the less the consumer believes they actually have to save out of their income.”

“Americans,” Austin adds, “have been substantially misled on what needs to go into their IRAs and 401(k)s in order to hit the numbers they need to have.”

In late 2010, conventional financial wisdom, much like Love and Death’s Boris Grushenko, continues to mock those who recommend or purchase whole life insurance policies.

But back in 1942, according to a report titled, Family Spending and Savings, published by the U.S. Bureau of Home Economics, a majority of Americans viewed life insurance, annuities and endowment policies as a preferred method of savings.  And time has proven them – not today’s naysayers – correct.

“It was very common that the whole life insurance agent would be coming around on Friday mornings to collect the $1 or the $5 premiums,” says Austin, who was born in 1964, but has extensively researched the period.  “Those policies were very commonly used for emergency funds, car loans, business loans and such.”

Austin believes so strongly in the value and utility of permanent dividend paying whole life insurance policies that before his clients ever put another dollar at risk, he advises them to work with a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor to structure one or more policies tailored to their needs and budget.

(To get a referral to one of 200 advisors who have met the rigorous requirements to be an Authorized Advisor, request a free Analysis that will show you the bottom-line numbers and results you could have if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan.)

Austin’s general rule of thumb is for his clients’ first step toward financial recovery to be to accumulate roughly two years of average expenses in a whole life policy that is consistent with the Bank On Yourself approach.

Austin, himself, helped develop and leads the nationwide Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor training program, so he understands the power of these advisors to help their clients restructure their entire approach to savings, spending and investing.

Savings Come Before Spending

Ideally, Austin points out, individuals would begin following his recommended 10/10/10 formula at the time they accept their very first job.  After setting aside his recommended 30% of gross income, what remains for the newly employed worker would constitute his or her living expenses.  “What remains is what you’d go out and coordinate your lifestyle around.”  (For those who can, Austin recommends keeping lifestyle expenses under 50% of gross income. His best clients, he notes, knock spending down to less than 40% of their gross income.)

(Read about how the Bank On Yourself method allows people to take advantage of opportunities that inevitably arise.)

While high school and college graduates in the 1940s and 1950s were accustomed to such pragmatic ‘home economics’ – as the field of personal finance was known back then, most men and women who walk into Austin’s Troy, Michigan office these days come peering into what they believe is the financial abyss.

“They are looking at college bills, looking at retirement, and just not seeing how the heck they are going to be able to do all this stuff,” Austin says.  “The reality is that if they stare ahead to age 70, it is going to be overwhelming.”  If he added to their trepidation by recommending that they immediately begin saving 30% of their gross income, Austin realizes his shell-shocked clients would walk out, saying, “Well shoot, I don’t have a chance, I might as well just give up.”

So rather than asking his clients to slam on the brakes and jam their financial throttle into full reverse, Austin patiently counsels those who seek his help: “You begin where you are.”

For starters, Austin asks clients to help him put their monthly budget under a microscope.  His goal: to begin reducing the percentage of their gross income that is directed at debt service to under 20% – and to do it as painlessly as possible.

“I have been specializing in this area for 20 years and I haven’t met a family, no matter what income level they are at – from $40,000 a year to $400,000, to $1 million – that I haven’t been able to find some very simple things within their monthly budget that they can trim using some very simple tweaks,” Austin says.

“So you start where you are, trying to find those dollars — $500, $600, $1,000 a month” to redirect to a whole life insurance policy, he explains.  As the cash value in a Bank On Yourself-style policy accumulates, Austin’s clients are able to use their policies to self-finance short-term and mid-term purchases.

Austin favors whole life policies that are consistent with the Bank On Yourself strategy because they have provisions that permit policyholders to continue earning interest and dividends on the cash value of their policies, even while borrowing funds against that very same cash value to pay for the kind of expenses that families previously financed with bank loans and credit cards.

NOTE: Not all companies pay the same dividend on borrowed funds.  An Authorized Advisor can recommend companies that meet all the requirements to maximize the power of this strategy.  You can get a referral to one when you request a free Analysis.

“If we look at Bank On Yourself from an engineering perspective, it is an economic machine that is built to get better with time,” Austin says.  “What happens, once you get policies going, is they snowball.  The more purchases that you finance through these special life policies, the more that these policies are going to snowball and snowball.”

For some clients who are able to build up a large cash value in their policies, the Bank On Yourself strategy actually permits them to purchase and self-finance a home – forgoing the need for a conventional 30-year mortgage.

“Thirty years from now, not only is all of the money that you paid returned to your (whole life insurance) policy, but you are going to have all of the growth from compounding interest, dividends and then some,” Austin explains.  And when the policies are properly structured, the funds grow in a tax-free environment.

A House is a Home, Not An Asset

Austin believes that housing choices and home mortgages are at the root of many American’s current perilous financial state.

In his grandparents’ day, those who needed to take out a mortgage to finance the purchase of a home put as much down as possible and signed up for a 15-year mortgage, which they paid religiously.  Moreover, once in a home, families remained there.

For baby boomers and subsequent home-owning generations, the trend has been to take on 30-year mortgages with as little down – if anything – as possible.  Moreover, Austin notes, during the course of their lives, today’s adults are likely, on average, to purchase four or five homes – often progressively more expensive – during the course of their lives.

Doing so dramatically reduces the opportunity to build equity, even while monthly principal and interest payments on a mortgage soar.  “During the first ten years of a typical 30-year mortgage, about 86% out of every dollar is interest,” Austin explains.  So for those who flip homes regularly, most of their housing dollars are lost to interest alone.

Many of Austin’s clients eventually come to realize how much better off they’d be trying to pay for their children’s college tuition and approaching retirement had they stopped at home number three or four.

Austin also bridles at the notion put forth by so many accountants and financial advisors that a home is an asset.  He doesn’t view one’s home that way and neither did his parents, who purchased their first house in 1958 and continue to live in it today, long after their sole mortgage had been paid off.

“My father never believed that his home is an asset,” Austin says.  ”He has always believed it’s a liability because my mom asks him every single year to change the carpet or make other improvements. They redid the kitchen a few years back.  He has got a pool to maintain.  And he’s got to pay taxes on the house.”

Austin acknowledges that his parents’ home may one day prove to be an asset for him and his siblings.  But his parents intend to remain in their house as long as their health permits – and even if they do eventually sell it, they’d still have to live somewhere else, he reasons.

Never Too Young To Learn

In addition to working with the parents of college-age students, Austin tries to convey his reborn 1940s and 1950s fiscal sensibilities through programs that he and his staff conduct for high school students and even those children who are elementary-school age.

If past can be made prologue for these students, Austin believes, they will grow up and enjoy a lifetime of fiscal stability and growth, unlike the baby boomer generations who pooh-poohed the common sense wisdom of their Depression-era parents and grandparents and now face such economic turbulence.

Most of today’s students are open to revisiting the financial planning wisdom of a bygone era, Austin says.  To the extent that he meets resistance, either from the students or parents, he is undeterred.

“It is a fight worth fighting,” he concludes.

About the Authors:

New York Times bestselling author Pamela Yellen is the originator of the life-changing Bank On Yourself system and related personal finance strategies. Pamela has worked as a consultant to successful financial advisors for more than two decades.

Pulitzer Prize-nominated investigative reporter Dean Rotbart has reported on business and financial topics since 1979. His editorial and research clients include numerous Fortune 500 companies and leading communications agencies.

© 2010 Hayward-Yellen 100 Ltd Partnership

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

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!

And while there are some hopeful signs of new life in the economy, this year has also brought us:

• Massive bailouts
• A tripling of an already-bloated federal deficit
• A falling dollar
• Rising foreclosures (and likely to spike as billions of dollars in ARM’s are now coming up for adjustment)
• Major banks and investment houses taking on three times (!) the risk they were before the collapse

So what do you think next year has in store for us?

No one really knows for sure.  (Well, except maybe the folks at the Psychic Hotline.)  So how do you prepare for a very uncertain future?
Here’s a quick quiz that may reveal an answer for you…

What’s the one financial asset that increased in value during the market crash of 2008?  And in 1929?  And in every period of economic boom and bust in between?

Answer:  The product used for Bank On Yourself:  Cash-value life insurance.

As I’ve mentioned, my husband Larry and I now have 18 Bank On Yourself policies.  I’ve picked one of them to show you how a dividend-paying whole life policy like this can grow over time – even when the markets are plummeting.  It’s a great example of how Bank On Yourself gives you the peace of mind that lets you sleep at night.

Here’s how much this plan has grown each year since the beginning of 2000, a period that includes not one, but TWO devastating market crashes.  In four of these years, the S&P 500 was down for the year, as you can see in this side-by-side comparison:

If you had put $10,000 into an S&P 500 Index fund at the beginning of 2000, how much do you think it would be worth today?

Take a guess before you read on.

Based on where the S&P 500 has been trading this past week (week of December 7-14, 2009, it would be worth only about $7,488!  That doesn’t even factor in inflation over that period, which would slash the value of your investment by about another 27% – to $5,466!

Have you considered that maybe – just maybe – return OF your principal is at least as important as return ON your principal?

If you could turn back the clock, where would you rather have put that $10,000 – in stocks, mutual funds and real estate?  Or in an asset that has only one direction – up – and where all your principal and gains are locked in?

If you look at the chart above again, you’ll notice how this policy – like the rest of our other 17 Bank On Yourself policies – has increased in value each year by more than it increased the previous year, even though our annual “contribution” never increases.

I’ll be getting my next annual statement for this plan soon, and – like every other year – I can’t wait to see it!  Can you imagine looking forward to receiving every account statement, because they always contain good news and never any ugly surprises?

Of course, I already know how much growth I can count on receiving this year (and every year).  The growth in these policies is both guaranteed and exponential – with no luck, skill, or guesswork required to make that happen.

But there’s also the potential to receive dividends.  Dividends aren’t guaranteed, but the companies used by Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors have paid dividends every single year for more than 100 years – including during every market correction, every bear market, and even during the Great Depression.

So, let’s fast-forward 7 years.  That’s when I’ll be 64. (Yeah, I know a woman isn’t supposed to tell her age.)  Suppose I want to retire at 65?  How much will the Bank On Yourself policy I used in the example above grow that year?

This particular policy is projected to increase by $47,709 that year, based on the current dividend scale.  I also know for sure the minimum guaranteed annual income I can take from this policy in retirement. And I can access that income stream with no taxes due on it, under current tax law.

I have NO idea how much my mutual funds will be worth nine years from now.  Or 30 years from now.  And I have no idea how much income I can count on receiving from them.  Same goes for my home value.  Do you?

And that sums up the problem with traditional investing and retirement planning methods.  They never have been – and never will be – anything other than a crapshoot.

It explains why, sadly, so many Americans are wondering, “Will I ever be able to retire?” and “What will I have to give up to be able to do that?”

But it doesn’t have to be that way!  Not when you Bank On Yourself.  Since I love what I do, I probably won’t quit when I’m 65, but it’s nice to know I’ll have a choice.

Every situation is different, and no two Bank On Yourself plans are the same, so your numbers won’t be the same as mine.  Each plan is custom tailored to fit your unique financial goals and dreams.  So if you want to find out what your bottom-line numbers and results could be if you added Bank On Yourself to your financial plan (if you haven’t already done so), you can request a free Bank On Yourself Analysis here.

Key Concept:  Unlike investments like stocks, mutual funds and real estate, where your gains aren’t locked in unless and until you sell them, all the growth you get in a Bank On Yourself policy is locked in! It doesn’t vanish because of a market correction.

Not only will you never have to worry about buying or selling at the wrong time, you will benefit from the continuous compounding of an ever-increasing base.

This also gives you some built-in protection against inflation

Can you see how, when you Bank On Yourself, you can shut out all the noise about the whip-sawing stock and real estate markets and other investments?  The peace of mind it brings you is indescribable.

We are only a few short weeks away from a new decade.  How confident are you that this next decade will give you a smoother and more predictable financial journey than the decade now coming to a close?

If you’re tired of hoping and guessing what the future may hold, and you’re ready to have a financial plan you can predict and count on, why not take the first step now?  Request your free Analysis and get a referral to a knowledgeable Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor who can show you how a custom-tailored plan can help you reach as many of your short-term and long-term goals and dreams as possible!

These Advisors are also masters at helping you restructure your finances to free up money to fund your Bank On Yourself plan.

I just heard from the Wilder family, who told me how they “stayed sane” during the market crash:

We have had Bank On Yourself plans for about three and a half years. They were what kept us sane during the stock market crash of 2008. Everything that was not in Bank On Yourself policies lost 32%, but all of our Bank On Yourself policies grew. Our goal with it is to be free of all interest payments to lenders and to secure a retirement income stream we can count on. We have used the plans to purchase a new car and pay off our mortgage. It’s a pleasure to know our car cannot be repossessed and our home cannot be foreclosed on.”

Find out how people of all ages, incomes and backgrounds have taken back control of their financial future in my New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Business Week best-selling book, Bank On Yourself:  The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future