Not Your Average Financial Podcast

Episode 398: The Golden Parachute

April 18, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Are you interested in 3 ways to leverage cash value life insurance for a secure business exit?
Who has an exit plan?
What are the benefits of a golden parachute?
What happened in the ’80s?
What lowers the risks of takeovers?
What are some example scenarios?
Do you have a Bank on Yourself type whole life insurance policy in the business?
What about securing a legacy while also ensuring business continuity?
Would you like to join us at the FREE Not Your Average Financial Community at notyouraverage.mn.co?

Episode 397: Can You Bank On Yourself® with over 200 Rental Properties? with Bryan Powers and Ben Berry

April 11, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What about getting started?
Who is Bryan Powers?
Who is Ben Berry?
What is Bryan’s story?
What do they love about Bank on Yourself® type whole life insurance policies?
How have they used their policies so far?
What are some problems with borrowing money from the SBA?
Is it compounding?
Can you see a new perspective?
How would it feel to discover an extra million?
What leads to a whole lot less financial stress?
What about retiring early?
What about the ongoing relationship?
How about the next generation?
What about adjusting as life happens?
What about reaching financial milestones without taking unnecessary risk?
What about resilience?
Who wins? …the banks?
How did Menard’s emerge as a giant?
What are Bryan’s aspirations with his policy?
How is this different from a self-directed IRA?
Would you like to listen to Episode 209?
Would you like to text Ben at 563-570-2367?
Would you like to email Ben at bencberry@gmail.com?
What principle would Bryan leave for his kids?
What are the takeaways?
What is the most important thing?
Doesn’t it make sense to build the foundation first?

Ben Berry is a financial strategist dedicated to empowering individuals and businesses to achieve financial control and stability. Recognizing the limitations and volatility of traditional investment and retirement planning, Ben and his wife, Erica, embarked on a decade-long exploration of more ethical, rational, and reliable wealth-building methods. This pursuit led him to develop strategies focused on predictable, long-term growth, independent of market fluctuations.

As a Bank on Yourself® Professional and licensed insurance agent, Ben is the owner of Berry Financial Services in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He specializes in crafting personalized financial strategies that diverge from conventional approaches offered by stockbrokers, lawyers, and other financial advisors. His expertise encompasses a range of solutions, including strategic real estate investments, effective college funding strategies designed to minimize financial burden, and the development of secure, lifetime retirement income plans.

Ben works with clients seeking predictable wealth accumulation and financial self-sufficiency, with a particular focus on generating tax-free retirement income. He provides proven, tax-efficient financial solutions designed to help clients regain control of their financial destinies and achieve their long-term financial goals.

Bryan Powers has been an entrepreneur since 2000, owning a recording studio, a live music venue and a couple of restaurant franchises to include Lenny’s Sub Shops and McDonald’s. In 2013, Bryan started Family Home Solutions, a Real Estate Investment Company that expanded into a Local Property Management Company, Realty Brokerage and a Real Estate Acquisitions and Dispositions company. Powers currently shares ownership in over 200 single family rental units and AirBnb properties in 3 states as well as a 356-bed student housing apartment syndication. In 2018, Powers co-created the Angler Aid Brand, a fishing first aid and safety company that is now widely distributed online and through Bass Pro Shops.

Since 2023, Powers is co-owner of the Mobility City franchise markets in Southwest Missouri and Arkansas. Mobility City is a Boca Raton based franchise system that has quickly become Southwest Missouri’s Premiere Mobility Products store and has plans to open a second location in Northwest Arkansas by May of 2024. Bryan has also served on the board of two local non-profit organizations as well as serving on the advisory council of 2 national franchise systems.

Bryan is a Husband, Father of 3, and Grandfather of 1 and loves time at the lake with family, travel, and music composition.

Episode 396: Double Bonus Strategy: Enhancing Employee Benefits With 162(a) Plans

April 4, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Would you like to meet with Mark?
What are the challenges for small businesses?
What’s wrong with a small business’s 401(k) offering?
What is the problem with fees?
What is the problem with liquidity?
What are the penalties?
What about the severe loss of control?
What about forced participation?
Why, with all of these problems, does everyone set up 401(k)s?
What about a financial Frankenstein?
Is the proof in the pudding?
How are we fairing?
What is the average 401(k) balance for a 55 year-old?
How might a business owner attract the best talent and offer the best benefits?
Why are Bank on Yourself® type whole life insurance policies superior?
Would you like to hear Episode 36?
What about tax?
What about eliminating restrictive rules?
What about going from a 401(k) to a 162(a)?
What are executive bonus life insurance contracts?
What are the administrative costs?
What are the additional benefits?
What are the considerations?
What are the backup options?
How about an example?
What is a double bonus?
What about the tax?
Would you like to hear Episode 206?
What can the employees do?
What about the taxation of social security benefits?
What if tax rates double on you on income in required minimum distributions or other qualified distribution income?
What are additional benefits of the 162(a)?
Would you like to establish a better than a 401(k) alternative that benefits your employees profoundly?
Would you like to meet with Mark?

Episode 395: Buy-Sell Agreements: Your Exit Strategy Blueprint

March 28, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Have you subscribed on YouTube and/or your favorite audio platform?
Could your business survive without you?
Why do most small businesses fail to survive after a generation?
Are you thinking long range with your business?
When was Hoshi Ryokan in Japan founded?
What is a buy-sell agreement?
What are the benefits?
Who wants to buy the business from someone who has passed away?
How does a buy-sell agreement guarantee a buyer?
What are additional benefits?
What are the events that trigger a buy out?
Who writes and funds a buy-sell agreement?
How about an example?
What about a sinking fund?
What about a bank loan?
What is the most efficient way to fund a buy-sell agreement?
What are the benefits of funding a buy-sell agreement with life insurance?
What about a story?
What about cross-purchase?
What happens when tragedy strikes?
What happens next?
What are the considerations?
Would you like to book a meeting with Mark or one of Mark’s associates?
What are the steps?
What about the business valuation?
What are the correct policies?
What is the timeline of funding?
What is the premium amount?
What about drafting the buy-sell agreement?
What about policy ownership?
What about cross ownership?
What about performance review and adjustments?
What about the key stakeholders, partners and team?
What would happen to your business if a key person or partner suddenly dies or becomes disabled?
How would we manage the transition?
How much capital would we need to buy out a partner’s interest and over what time frame?
Have we considered how changes in our business’s value might affect insurance coverage needs or terms of our buy-sell agreement?
What terms should we include to handle disputes or changes to the business environment?
Are there any specific clauses we need to add for certain scenarios (i.e. divorce, bankruptcy of a partner or an external offer to buy the company, etc.)?
What about Bank on Yourself® type whole life insurance policies?
Would you like to meet with Mark?

Episode 394: What Counts as Financially Successful Today?

March 21, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Would you like to unlock the magic and Request a Meeting?
Where did Mark travel as a kid?
Do we live in the future?
What about the stagecraft?
What does financial success look like for Americans?
Would you like to view the Houston Chronicle article?
How much would it take to feel financially successful?
What about Generation Z?
What does social media have to do with it?
What are the numbers?
What’s the viability of the numbers?
Who has seen Inventing Anna?
What about Leon Festinger’s social comparison theory?
What about F.O.M.O. and envy?
What’s the allure?
What does this do to the human soul and human psyche?
Has the American dream become an American fantasy?
What are the differences in the generation’s views?
What about overcoming the social media hype?
What about digital detox?
What about volunteering?
What about mindfulness and self-awareness?
Are you being manipulated?
Are you comparing yourself?
Who can help?
What about blocks?
What happens when people have lost it all?
Who doubles down on the risk?
What about figuring out a better way?
What are the ten secret places…?
What about creating a business?
What about hiring family?
What about real estate?
What did Reader’s Digest say about life insurance?
What does your financial success look like?
What is the reality?
Who gets to define your financial success?
Who taught you think this way?
Are you ready to lift off?

Episode 393: [Client Spotlight] Financial Independence in the W-2 with Jon Thiele

March 14, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Should you quit your day job?
What does it take to truly be a leader?
How do you unhook yourself from “default” mode?
Who is Jon Thiele?
What’s Jon’s daily morning ritual?
What’s extremely important?
How did Jon’s career evolve?
How did Jon find Mark?
What happens when “the math isn’t mathing”?
What questions did Jon ask other advisors?
What has become richer?
What has bothered Jon?
What breaks compounding?
How has the money grown?
What happens with a financial contractual agreement?
What about non-direct recognition policy loans?
What has Jon’s family done with policy loans?
What about paying back a loan from the insurance company with simple interest?
What happened when the hurricane hit Florida?
How does one bring banking back down to the “you and me” level?
What would Jon like to do with his policies in the future?
Would you like to hear Episode 298?
Can you take another policy loan if you already have a loan taken out?
How do you define leadership?
Would you like to reach out to Jon on the FREE Not Your Average Financial Community?
What are the takeaways?
Would you like to meet with Mark or one of Mark’s associates?

Jon Thiele is a W-2 employee, who is passionate about the company he works for, not just for their mission, but for the opportunities that the company has allowed for his career to expand to include fields outside of what he went to school for (which was Architecture). Although he is an Architect, licensed in California and Florida where he and his wife and two kids currently live, he has spent the last couple of years in the Financial Planning & Analysis side of business and has most recently taken on the role of Chief of Staff to one of the Finance VPs. Jon met Mark just before the COVID pandemic began in 2020, and started his journey with Bank on Yourself®. He continues to study ways to be “not so average” with his finances, and he looks forward to passing down this knowledge to his children, as they get older.

Episode 392: Dave Ramsey is Not Your Doctor – The Poison Pill of Buy Term and Invest the Rest

March 7, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

How’s that working out for you?
Who is A.L. Williams?
Would you better off investing with some term on the side?
Would you better off with a Bank on Yourself® type whole life insurance policy?
What about a twin study?
What happens after 29 years?
What are the takeaways?
Would you like to meet with Mark or one of Mark’s associates?

Episode 391: Bank On Yourself® In Action: Real Life Business Case Studies

February 28, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Would you like to listen to Episode 388?
What are the challenges faced by most entrepreneurs?
How is this playing itself out in the real world?
How about guarantees?
How about liquidity?
How about more success?
What challenges would this solve?
How can business owners level up their cash flow?
What do Bank on Yourself® type whole life insurance policy offer business owners?
What about lines of credit?
Are the banker’s trophy catch?
What about paying the interest?
What about times of business downturns?
What are the limits of lines of credit?
What about collateralization?
What about interest rates?
What about compliance?
How about a case study?
Is it worth the risk?
What is the insurance company contractually obligated to do?
What is the top ten list?
How about a guaranteed interest rate?
What about credit checks?
What about your credit score?
What about repayment terms?
What about loans being called?
What about tax-free access to funds?
What about the dual benefit of insurance and savings?
What about protection against market volatility?
What about compounding interest working in your favor (not the bank’s)?
What about estate preservation?
How might having a guaranteed line of credit help you and your business?
How about another case study?
What about inventory financing?
What about the fourth quarter and the Q4 rush?
What about another business case study?
What’s the catch?
What are the considerations?
What about paying off the loan?
What other major expenses are in your business?
How about this case study?
What about paying the tax payment from a policy loan?
What about paying off policy loans with windfalls?
What is thrilling?
How much?!
What are the takeaways?
Would you like to meet with Mark or one of Mark’s associates?

Episode 390: [Client Spotlight] From Island Paradise to Master of Banking with Harry Looknanan Jr.

February 21, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What would life be like when you’ve reached financial freedom?
Who is Harry Looknanan Jr.?
Who knows how to manage in crisis?
What happened in 2007?
How did Harry meet Mark?
What about peace of mind?
What has Harry been able to do since having a Bank on Yourself® financial strategy?
What about the contingency fund?
What about penalties and tax on rolling out of a qualified plan before age 59 1/2?
Who loses money when the market drops?
What happens to compounding in that case?
What’s important to you?
What components did Harry know he needed in his financial strategy?
What’s the beautiful thing?
How about increasing the yield without taking unnecessary market risk?
What do I need to do differently?
What 5 simple things do you want to accomplish in your financial life?
What is there to lose?
What is there to gain?
Are you a business owner? Would you like to reach out to Harry on LinkedIn?
What are the takeaways?
What are the contingency plans?
What do you achieve?
What do you focus on?
Who do you inspire?

Harry Looknanan Jr. works in commercial banking at the country’s largest financial institutions. He enjoys the conversations with the owners of companies, listening to their story of starting in the garage and helping them solve their biggest problems. When he’s not banking, he enjoys spending time with my wife and Bentley (Dodson-Australian Shepard) indoors in the summer, and outdoors in the winter. He also scuba dives and binge-watches Sci-Fi movies in his free time.