Book Summary: Bank on Yourself – The Life – By Pamela Yellen

August 11, 2020June 13, 2021 Stan

You need to go where the money is – the bank. Bank on yourself describes a strong financial method to having money flow into your economy instead of out of your economy. These principles are very sound and work.

A special note – Pamela is an excellent marketer. She has done a great job of creating a valuable system with the tutelage of Dan Kennedy, she monetized it well. This is a complement because through her marketing, she is liberating people from our traditional banking system which is leveraged to the hilt.

Why is this important to me?

I always want to ask this question as if I am sitting in your shoes. Will this summary benefit you if you review it? People today do not have robust savings. The savings rate in the U.S. is the lowest it has ever been. The financial community has been pitching 401K plans, 529 Education plans and other retirement vehicles. The problems with these instruments are numerous. People who wanted to retire in 2008 couldn’t because of the financial meltdown.

Traditional banks utilize fractional reserve lending and with the debt crisis at historic levels, there is risk with the largest banks. Stocks have been a roller coaster ride and the insiders have done well, the little guy – not so much.

Bank on Yourself is full of testimonials of people who have utilized the system. What I am going to profile are some of the high level, long term strengths of this system.

1. Insurance – The vehicle to creating your own banking system is Whole Life Insurance. I know that Dave Ramsey and Suzie Orman pooh-pooh insurance all day but the fact remains that this is the safest vehicle out there for investing and with discipline can be the best. Insurance is guaranteed tax free growth and has been around for 200 years. These policies are 100 years older than the IRS. Using this vehicle to create a banking system would have eliminated all the bust cycles that have plagued the economy in the last 25 years.

2. Taxes & Liability – Any financial plan has to be full cycle meaning that if you get sued, you will not lose your fortune. This is the case with insurance in most states. If you are a doctor and get sued, they can NOT touch your life insurance banking system. Taxes yield another huge advantage to this system. You can take a loan from your policies to buy a rental property and at an interest rate and write the interest off just like a typical mortgage. The strongest concept is that you are paying yourself back. The volume of interest goes to you and not the bank. Just like any business, it takes time to build up these reserves.

3. Habit – The key concept to remember is that if you finance purchases then you pay interest. If you pay cash for your purchases then you give up the interest. If you pay yourself the interest with your own banking system then you can achieve compound results. It is said that.34 cents of every dollar goes to interest expense. The critical point here is to understand that the “volume of interest” is what is important. In a conventional mortgage, the first 10 years of payments almost all go towards interest. That is the secret money maker for regular mortgage banks. The habit with this system is that you have to pay yourself back just like any creditor. The only reason this system will fail is if you steal from yourself. I cannot stress this enough, you have to pay yourself back.

I have touched briefly on this subject but I suggest strongly that you study it and implement it. You can check out other resources on the site for more information.

I want to give you a personal example of the power of this system. I have been using it since 1999 and each year my policies have grown and the money has allowed me to buy other businesses. (My insurance banking system has not been affected by the Tech bust of 2000 or the financial meltdown of 2008. They have grown every year because it is guaranteed growth.) This strategy has allowed me to capitalize my own business without traditional banking loans. This is a big deal and the key to Economic Value add. Banking on Yourself is a long term strategy. If you are looking for a quick investment fix then this is not the tool for it.

I hope you have found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is cash is always flowing. The real question is where. The goal is to have it flow to you.