Not Your Average Financial Podcast™

Think different about your money, your economy and your future. Be curious. Be stable. Be sane.

Episode 55: Banks vs. Mutual Insurance Companies

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In this episode, we ask:

  • What are banks?
    • How do banks work?
    • What happens when you put your money with a bank?
    • Is a checking account safe?
    • What about interest bearing savings account?
    • If you put ten thousand dollars into the interest bearing savings account, how much do you get credited to your account?
    • What is the bank’s business?
    • Why do they lend money?
    • How far does modern banking go back?
    • What was Jekyll Island? Who was there?
    • What is the Federal Reserve?
    • How much do banks have to keep on reserve?
    • When did the FED update the requirements for the reserves?
    • Where is all of your money?
    • What happens when you deposit money into the bank?
    • Why do we call deposit accounts the “safe” place?
    • Is there another way?
  • What are mutually owned life insurance companies?
    • How long have these companies been in force?
    • What does Benjamin Franklin have to do with insurance?
    • How are these different from a bank?
    • Are life insurance companies allowed to inflate the money supply?
    • Are life insurance companies allowed to participate in fractional reserve banking?
    • What are the reserve requirements for an insurance company?
    • Which is safer? The institution who has 10% or less on reserve or the company that has to keep over 100% on reserve?
  • How many banks went bankrupt in 2008?
  • How many life insurance companies in 2008?
  • If banks are so safe, why did so many fail?
  • If there isn’t going to be a bailout next time, how many more banks are we going to see go down?
  • Have you ever looked into who owns banks?
  • Have you ever heard of BOLI (Bank Owned Life Insurance)?
  • How much life insurance do banks purchase, according to the FDIC?
  • How do banks benefit from BOLI?
  • Should you do with your money what banks are doing with theirs?
  • What is COLI? Corporate Owned Life Insurance
  • Is a mutual life insurance company policy SAFER than a bank?
  • What happens if a life insurance company fails?
  • How are life insurance companies regulated?
  • What are insurance companies invested in?
  • Are life insurance companies convenient?
  • Do we spend more or less as availability to money becomes more convenient?
  • How would a life-insurance driven debit card affect dividends?

Episode 54: Rules of Thumb for Taking Out a Bank On Yourself Policy Loan

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In this episode, we ask:

  • When are the appropriate scenarios for taking a policy loan?
  • Are you thinking like a banker?
  • Do you want your income to equal your premium?
  • What are the rules of thumb?
    • When should you use a policy loan? Would it take you more than six months to save for that?
      • Why six months? Is that arbitrary?
    • When should you pay cash? Is paying cash better than taking a policy loan?
  • What about loan interest?
  • How does the dividend date come into play?
  • Is there any room left in your policy?
  • Do you have the cash?
  • How quickly do you plan to pay the loan off? …More than six months?
  • What does the room in the policy look like? …What is the best and highest use of that cash?
  • Where will your money work hardest for you?
  • Why put money into a policy first and then take a policy loan?
  • How long does that process take?
  • What is “saving on the other side of the purchase” ?
  • How is this different from going into debt?
  • When is it a good time to break the rules above?
  • What are some things you should take loans out for?
    • A phone?
    • A laptop?
    • A health insurance deductible?
    • A down payment on a home?
    • Home remodeling?
    • Car repairs?
    • Large emergency costs?
    • Payroll?
    • Inventory?
    • What is the threshold?
  • Are these hard and fast rules?
  • What’s the minimum you can repay on the policy loan monthly?
  • There are no fees?
  • It takes about a week to get policy loan funds?
  • You can loan up to roughly 85%-90% of your cash value?
  • Is your money sitting still or in motion?
  • Do you budget your cash value?
  • Are you double counting dollars?
  • When should you not take out a loan?
  • Have you seen It’s A Wonderful Life?
  • Why do banks love your cash value as collateral for a bank loan?
  • Have you read the fine print?
  • Do you still have questions? Talk with us!

Episode 53: A New Perspective with Les Himel (Part 2)

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In this episode, we ask:

  • If compounding stumbles, do we gain or do we lose?
  • What troubles has Les Himel experienced with Wall Street?
  • What is macrodiversification?
  • What is microdiversification?
  • What about mutual funds?
  • What about bonds?
  • What about stocks?
  • How do we improve on a portfolio?
  • How do we turn our portfolio into a business model instead of Wall Street model?
  • What is 7702 of the tax code and why is it important?
  • How do you minimize volatility?
  • How does minimizing volatility benefit compounding?
  • What is the fabric of our society?
  • How is life insurance regulated?
  • What are the important specifics?
  • How does an insurer participate in the market?
  • What is the dividend pool? How is calculated?
  • What is the type of tax-free growth that Les has seen in the last 20-30 years?
  • What is the cumulative rate of return on the S&P? How does this affect results?
  • What should be the core of a portfolio?
  • How can you know what the reasonable outcome will be as you age?
  • What are you going to do to become wealthy? How can you make sure?
  • How does money affect sleep?
  • What are the three major ages in our life?
  • What are some typical pitfalls at each stage?
  • If we have a 401(k), what happens to our family if we die?
  • What are the takeaways?

Lester N. Himel discovered the use of specific types of Life Insurance to enhance and expand the performance of investment portfolios several years ago; this after spending 28 years in a variety of positions on Wall Street. Like most financial professionals, he considered stocks, bonds and similar instruments as the core of a reasonable investment approach. In those last several years, Les has found the better way.

Les comes to this field with a very broad financial background. He started as a compliance officer, worked in administration, was an institutional bond trader, developed an Emerging Markets business, and was also involved with “alternative investments”. Now, as one of only 200 Bank on Yourself authorized advisors, and with his ability to integrate far-reaching insights, he guides clients to financial success. Les prefers low risk and “guarantees”, and has an ability to simplify explanations of what, why and how. Les has achieved various FINRA registrations, and is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC).
Lester resides in Westchester County, New York with his family and stays very busy working with clients across the country.

 

Episode 52: A New Perspective with Les Himel (Part 1)

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In this episode, we ask:

    • What has Les Himel learned in his 28 years on Wall Street?
    • What are the myths of standard conventional wisdom?
    • What are the rules of thumb we should always be able to rely on?
    • Can you get 10% or more per year in the market?
    • How much lower will taxes go?
    • What was the highest marginal tax rate in recent history?
    • How does anyone pay over 90% in taxes?
    • What happens when you go up in scale on your income?
    • Will you be in a different tax bracket in the future?
    • Are you looking at your finances in a 1 or 2 year time frame or in a 30, 40, 50 year time frame?
    • What are the realities of the stock market?
    • What is a cumulative rate of return?
    • How much was the cumulative rate of return on the DOW from 1900-1980?
    • What about 1980-2000? Why does Les call this time the “roaring 20”?
    • What happened on Black Monday?
    • What was the average climb during the 1980-2000 period?
    • What’s the story with the 401(k) in the 80s?
    • What are arithmetic averages?
    • What is a return?
    • What is the difference between a return and a change?
    • When do you truly receive a return?
    • Does your investment advisor take fees and taxes into account when they present an update to you?
    • How does volatility affect your future?
    • What’s the difference between an average and real dollars?
    • How can you calculate the change of how much you’ve really made or lost?
    • If you take the Standard and Poor’s Index (the S&P) from December 31, 2000 until the changes of December 31, 2016, what happened with volatility, and what was the average rate of return?
    • How do investment advisors anticipate the future earnings?
    • Do stocks perform in a straight line?
    • How can the cumulative rate of return help make sense of actual performance?
    • How can you check your math?
    • How does the math of the rate of return vs. the cumulative rate of return affect you?
    • Are you willingly putting up with the volatility, the fees and taxes for a whopping 3.35% return?
    • How does this affect pension funds and 401(k)s?
    • What is the reality?
    • What’s the difference between what we think we know and what we actually see?
    • When you look at the math, what do you come up with?
    • Do you have time to make it up?
    • Is compounding flexible?
    • Why does volatility destroy compounding?
    • Do stocks and bonds narrow volatility?

Lester N. Himel discovered the use of specific types of Life Insurance to enhance and expand the performance of investment portfolios several years ago; this after spending 28 years in a variety of positions on Wall Street. Like most financial professionals, he considered stocks, bonds and similar instruments as the core of a reasonable investment approach. In those last several years, Les has found the better way.

Les comes to this field with a very broad financial background. He started as a compliance officer, worked in administration, was an institutional bond trader, developed an Emerging Markets business, and was also involved with “alternative investments”. Now, as one of only 200 Bank on Yourself authorized advisors, and with his ability to integrate far-reaching insights, he guides clients to financial success. Les prefers low risk and “guarantees”, and has an ability to simplify explanations of what, why and how. Les has achieved various FINRA registrations, and is a Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC).
Lester resides in Westchester County, New York with his family and stays very busy working with clients across the country.

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 51: [Toolbox] Does Buy and Hold work?

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Should you buy and hold index funds? Should you buy and hold ETFs?
  • What is buy and hold?
  • What did Einstein say is the 8th wonder of the world?
  • Have you been influenced by this idea of buy and hold?
  • Have you ever been told to “stay the course” in your accounts?
  • Where can you find buy and hold?
  • What are the problems of buy and hold investing?
  • Why is there so much clickbait with buy and hold?
  • What is Warren Buffet’s favorite holding period?
  • Can you hold a stock forever?
  • What about your finite life?
  • What is the max we can do?
  • How long does the average person hold their stock?
  • What about back in the 1960s?
  • Do we buy and sell at the right times?
  • What about the recent advice in Tony Robbins’ latest book Unshakeable?
  • What is “financial winter” ?
  • When does “financial winter” come?
  • How often does “financial winter” come?
  • How much on average has wall street lost every single year?
  • On average how much can you expect to lose every 3 to 5 years?
  • Was 2008 just a “financial winter”?
  • What is the problem of losing 14% per year?
  • Is it acceptable to lose 34% every 3 to 5 years?
  • How much more do you have to earn after that sort of loss?
  • Do the bad years hurt much more than the good years help?
  • What is the problem of “bouncing back”? Do you actually “bounce back”?
  •  Did you break even? Did you lose money?
  • If your main point to stay in a 401(k) is to avoid the penalty, does it matter with a 14% annual loss?
  • But what about the match?
  • How can you protect your cash?
  • Would you like your money to grow in a straight line or like a roller coaster?
  • Where does your money live?
  • What emotions are involved with buy and hold?
  • Why not take the straight line?
  • How does volatility affect your lifespan?
  • How often do dips happen?
  • What kind of life do you want to live?
  • What about active management?
  • What about passive (buy and hold) management?
  • What’s better than buy and hold? Active management? Safety and liquidity?

Episode 50: [Toolbox] Gaining from Financial Chaos and Disorder

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In this episode, we ask:

  • What is the opposite word for fragile?
  • Have you read the book Antifragile by Nassim Taleb?
  • What is fragile?
  • What is robust?
  • What is antifragile?
  • What happens when harm is involved?
  • Is there more upside or downside?
  • Do we learn from our mistakes?
  • How does this apply to the financial system?
  • Is our system fragile?
  • Are we more stable / robust?
  • Are we antifragile?
  • What is hormesis? 
  • What are some examples of healthy hormesis?
  • How can you increase your upside and decrease the downside?
  • How can you lower your exposure to the negative?
  • How can small shocks affect you?
  • How do big shocks affect you?
  • How does weightlifting make you antifragile?
  • Do you know the concept in mythology of Hydra?
  • What’s the difference between a starfish and spider?
  • What about redundancy?
  • What is the barbell strategy?
  • What is a speculative investment?
  • Do you have a pile of cash to take advantage of opportunities as they arise?
  • How is the barbell strategy like the financial triangle?
  • What is touristification?
  • Why do we systematically try to remove randomness and uncertainty from our lives?
  • How is the rational person able to adjust things based on new information?
  • Do you take in new information, on the ground, as you go?
  • What was the strength of Steve Jobs?
  • Why did he ignore focus group data?
  • Do you know what you want?
  • Which is more robust as time goes on… the iPhone or the chair?
  • Which is more robust as time goes on… the old or the new?
  • Which is more robust as time goes on… printed books or the Kindle?
  • Which is more robust as time goes on… Wall Street or Life Insurance?
  • What is the truth behind the financial instruments where we keep our cash?
  • Do you ask “What’s wrong with this financial instrument?”
  • What are some antifragile lifestyle choices?
  • What does this have to do with money?
  • How can you make your financial system more antifragile?
  • What question should you ask your stock broker?
  • What can we do differently?
  • Do you have the option to take chances?
  • How can you lower your downside in your financial structures?
  • How can you raise your upside in your financial structures?

Episode 49: [Toolbox] How Banks Win (Hint: It’s not about the Rate of Return)

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Who is winning?
  • Why are the banks winning?
  • How much are we saving, according to the Economic Policy Institute?
  • What’s the real, the median rate of savings for American families?
  • Is $5,000 dollars enough for total family savings?
  • When did we become a nation of debtors?
  • What is the median income in the U.S.?
  • How much are we spending?
  • Why are so many of us slaves to the bank?
  • When will we be free from the debts and creditors?
  • What about buying a car?
  • How much of a car payment is going toward interest?
  • What’s the volume of interest?
  • How much of a mortgage is going toward bank profits?
  • Are you almost doubling the cost of the home by financing it?
  • What’s the volume of interest?
  • Where is our attention?
  • What matters most for retirement?
  • How is the rate different than the volume?
  • How much are you saving?
  • Are you paying attention to your financial environment?
  • Is there something better than paying cash?
  • Is there something better than being debt free?
  • How can you recapture the volume of interest back from the banks?
  • Does rate of return even matter?
  • What is the flow of interest?
  • What does the bank do with your money?
  • How much interest does the bank pay you?
  • What’s the rate of return the bank receives?
  • What’s the volume of return the bank receives?
  • Have you read Debt: The First 5,000 Years?
  • How do banks make so much money?
  • What is Fractional Reserve Banking?
  • How do banks leverage other people’s money?
  • What happened in the late 1980s/early 1990s with the Savings and Loan debacle?
  • What happens to your money when you hand your money over to the bank?
  • What is FDIC?
  • Were the banks in great shape in 2008-09?
  • What happens when the rates are artificially pushed down?
  • Are you thinking like a banker?
  • How much are the banks really making on the TARP money?
  • Are banks evil?
  • Would you like to own your own FDIC insured bank? Do you have buckets of money and a decade of free time?
  • Can a bank make a loan without a deposit?
  • Can you accomplish your own personal banking system with dividend paying whole life insurance?
  • Do you want to do what banks tell you what to do with your money?
  • Do you want to do what banks do with their own money?
  • What does it take to start thinking like a banker?
  • Are you in control of your financial environment?
  • Are you using the tail wind to your advantage?
  • What strategic adjustments can you make to advance?

 

North American Households: Savings and Debt

Episode 48: The Secret 10/10/10 Formula – How Much Do I Need To Save?

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Is it possible that you’ve been told something that isn’t true?
  • What is the 10/10/10 rule?
  • What about 10 percent to short term needs?
  • What about 10 percent to anticipated mid-term needs?
  • What about 10 percent to long term retirement planning?
  • How the heck can I save 30% of my income?!
  • What is the average American’s savings rate?
  • How am I supposed to squeeze even 2% savings out of our income?
  • What are some strategies to get a larger savings?
  • How might you restructure your debt?
  • How might you rethink your tax refund?
  • How can you get a bigger paycheck throughout the whole year?
  • What lifestyle changes can you adopt?
  • Do you need to buy a car annually?
  • Can you carry your coffee from home in lieu of buying out?
  • How much can you save by switching to a lower cell phone plan?
  • How can you find a way to not use a traditional cable subscription?
  • How much can you save annually?
  • Have you heard our Habit Shift episode, Episode 46?
  • What are some additional strategies?
  • How can you work with your 401(k) and other long term savings?
  • Can your short term needs be taken care of first?
  • Have you considered liquidating illiquid assets?
  • What good does a 12% return on your brokerage account do for you?
  • How much does the average American spend on debt payments? 34%
  • Is the bottom of your bucket leaking faster than the money coming in?
  • When did we shift from savings to debt?
  • How could past generations save 30%?
  • How did we flip it upside down?
  • How can we right the ship?
  • Do you have to wait for Congress or your employer to start saving?
  • What is the best plan?
  • What if you can’t save 30%? 10/10/10
  • Can you save 6%? 2/2/2
  • Can you save 15% 5/5/5
  • Can you save 21? 7/7/7
  • What’s possible for you?
  • Can you put your savings on autopilot?
  • Can you track your progress?
  • Can you make more income?
  • Can you live within your means?
  • Can you save?
  • Where can you save?
  • What is the foundation of the financial pyramid?
  • Where can you stash your cash?
    • For Safety and Liquidity
      • Under your mattress, in a tin can, stashed in the basement, inside a safe, in the drywall, in a hole in the yard (liquid, no interest, poorer security, loss, inflation issues, may literally be eaten by pests)
      • Savings Accounts (automatic transfers, banks pay virtually no interest)
      • Certificates of Deposit (CDs) (varying terms, higher interest than a savings account, fees for terminating early, safe, guaranteed, not as liquid)
      • Money Market Accounts (insured, earns a bit of insurance, lump sums required, withdrawals are limited)
      • Money Market Mutual Fund (comes with a higher interest rate, a subset of mutual funds, restrictions and limitations, low returns, no insurance, relatively safe)
      • Dividend Paying Whole Life Insurance (a blend of life insurance and savings, benefits while you’re alive, compound interest, cash equivalent, liquid, guaranteed, comes with increasing values for the rest of your life, safe and liquid, borrow at below market rates, mutual benefits, established) What is diversification? Insurance against loss. What is the best financial vehicle that solves against loss? Insurance.
      • Watch out, there is a high likelihood these are problematic: Variable Life (risky, increased expenses, lacking guarantees), Indexed Universal Life (risky, penalties), Term Insurance (not liquid, only “renting” a death benefit).
      • Downsides: Long term commitments. Sounds easy, but it may be hard to save consistently over the long term.  Keep it for 10 years or longer, ideally over your whole life. Whole Life Insurance contracts are not a get rich quick scheme —  they require discipline.

 

Episode 47: Invest in Yourself

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In this episode, we ask:

  • How are YOU your greatest asset?
  • Can you commit to investing in yourself?
  • How do you help yourself build a larger income?
  • How do you advance yourself?
  • How can you be more disciplined?
  • Do you pay attention?
  • Are you depreciating yourself?
  • Do you live cheap? Do you live within your means?
  • Do you go too far in that regard — over simplifying, down to the bone?
  • How do you advance your career?
  • Does making a lot of money solve it?
  • How do you find a good balance?
  • Do you have a good balance?
  • How might you accomplish your goals?
  • Early on, how is wealth created?
  • Can you get rich through subtraction?
  • Can you get rich through addition?
  • Can you get rich through multiplication?
  • How do you increase your income?
  • Can you be willing to accept any job at the start?
  • Is your income based on your time?
  • How can you leverage your time to your advantage?
  • Can someone else do this 80% as good as you can?
  • What can you learn? What skills can you take on?
  • You can always always always outspend your income.
  • Once you get paid, what do you do with the cash?
  • How do you get the cash out of sight, out of mind?
  • How do you create multiple streams of income?
  • How can you find other ways to make money in related ways to your primary source of income?
  • How do you keep your money liquid?
  • How do you reach up?
  • Do you grow to be like the people you’re around?
  • How can you take responsibility?
  • How can you take the game to the next level?
  • What is the opposite of taking responsibility?
  • What happens when you blame your circumstances?
  • Do you want to participate in your whole life?
  • Do you realize that you’re getting caught up in a line of thinking?
  • Why do people over-control their spending?
  • How can you make an extra 10K this year?
    • Uber? Lyft?
  • What if you cut out 10K of expenses in concert with making 10K of extra income?
  • Do you limit yourself?
  • Are you worth it?
  • How might you save properly?
  • Why invest in yourself?
  • How might you save more?

Episode 46: Habit Shift

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Why do we do what we do?
  • Who writes financial “infotainment” articles?
  • Why aren’t finances commonly taught in school?
  • Who are the guides along your path who are looking out for you?
  • How do you take action with the information you learn?
  • How do you get unstuck?
  • How do you describe a habit?
  • Can you find a way to get it done?
  • Where is the motivation?
  • What do you do with frustration?
  • What do you do with anger?
  • Do you have courage to overcome the inertia?
  • Where does the majority of effort go into a habit shift?
  • How do you redirect?
  • How do you break through excuses?
  • Have you ever had a breaking point?
  • Do you wonder why someone else is doing better than you are?
  • What is the first thing you think when you get out of bed?
  • How do we make a habit shift?
  • Who is Dr. Sean Young?
  • Have you read his new book, Stick with It?
  • What does A.B.C. stand for?
    • Automatic – i.e. biting your nails, unconscious routines
    • Burning – i.e. addiction; irresistible urge; burning desire; nearly automatic
    • and Common – i.e. repeated, conscious behaviors
  • How do you identify the particular tool for changing that behavior?
  • What does the acronym S.C.I.E.N.C.E. stand for?
    • Step ladders – a way of little by little, moving forward, one step at a time. Set little goals, one by one.
    • *Community – Being around other people that you want to be like, social support, competition
    • Important – Whatever changes you’re going to accomplish will be able to last. Is it important to you?
    • *Easy – You have to make this easy. How can you make it so easy to do?
    • Neuro-hacks – Psychological tricks that help reset the brain by looking back at past behaviors. How might you set up a neurohack?
    • Captivating – People keep doing things if they’re rewarded with things they need.
    • *Engrain – This is the process that the brain uses to reward consistent change. How can you do this over and over again?
  • Who said “Don’t break the chain!” ?
  • If you can only implement a portion of this, what are the primary go-to tools from S.C.I.E.N.C.E.? Easy and Engrain.
  • What examples are there?
  • When you really need to change a common behavior, what’s the best strategy? Community.
    • How might you surround yourself with people who you would like to be with? How can you adopt some of those patterns yourself?
    • What books, conferences and podcasts can you take you to the next level?