Loans

Episode 461: No. 9 The Black Belt Warning: The Real Dangers of Large Policy Loans and How to Avoid Lapse Tax

July 3, 2026 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Have we gone mad here?
Should we save more?
Should we just hope the market cooperates?
What is the four step process for the black belt?
What discipline is required to handle large loan balances?
What is the most important business in the world?
Should premiums and income match?
What is the black belt strategy?
Is it a black belt for a reason?
Would you like to start with capturing your monthly cashflow with No. 1 The White Belt?
Would you like to work with the most important people in your life, No. 2 The Yellow Belt?
Would you like to climb up and out on eliminating debt with No. 3 The Orange Belt?
Would you like to strategize to protect your retirement and business with No. 4 the Red Belt?
Would you like to structure a cash flow system with No. 5 the Green Belt?
Would you like to tackle massive expenses with No. 6 the Purple Belt?
Would you like to bring the generations along and up with No. 7 the Brown Belt?
Would you like to rise to cash flow mastery with No. 8 the Black Belt?
How does this actually look in practice?
How about some case studies?
Is the black belt a set it and forget it strategy?
Can the policy loans get quite large?
What happens if the loans are not repaid?
Will the policy collapse?
What is taxable as ordinary income?
What is phantom income?
What happens to the death benefit?
How can you prevent your warehouse from being destroyed?
Who are you working with to protect your wealth?
What did Nelson Nash say in Becoming Your Own Banker?
Why do they use whole life insurance as tier one capital?
What are the key takeaways?
Would you like to meet with Mark Willis, CFP®?

Episode 460: No. 8 The Black Belt Strategy: Expand Your Banking System Until It Handles 100% of Your Income

June 26, 2026 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Have you tied on your belt?
What is happening with the CPI?
Where is worker confidence listed with ABRI?
What is the median savings for people in the U.S.?
What age bracket is buying whole life insurance in droves?
What is the black belt?
Are you leaking wealth?
Is your wealth working for you or someone else?
Would you like to start with capturing your monthly cashflow with No. 1 The White Belt?
Would you like to work with the most important people in your life, No. 2 The Yellow Belt?
Would you like to climb up and out on eliminating debt with No. 3 The Orange Belt?
Would you like to strategize to protect your retirement and business with No. 4 the Red Belt?
Would you like to structure a cash flow system with No. 5 the Green Belt?
Would you like to tackle massive expenses with No. 6 the Purple Belt?
Would you like to bring the generations along and up with No. 7 the Brown Belt?
What did Nelson Nash say?
What happens to ALL of your money?
What does the bank do with your money?
Can your system accommodate your income?
Have you read Becoming Your Banker by Nelson Nash?
What will wreck your margins?
What is theft from yourself?
What about opportunity cost?
Who pays retail?
Where does your money live?
What is bank-owned life insurance (BOLI)?
How much life insurance do banks purchase?
How much of that banking function do you want to control?
How do we turn our headwind into a tailwind?
How do you live on less than you make?
What is the aim?
Can you expand?
Should your premium match your income?
What did Jim Conrad say in his dollar diagram?
What would happen if…?
How does the black belt work at scale?
Can you finance every big transaction in your life?
How do you eliminate the dreaded wealth transfers?
Who has the discipline for this?
Is this a set it and forget it plan?
How about some examples?
Who is sleeping better?
Who treats his policies like a family office command center?
Do you have a repayment strategy?
Do you have windfalls?
Who has self-control?
Who has patience?
When does the power come?
What is the significant danger to this strategy?
Could the policy trigger a surrender or lapse?
What is phantom income?
Who is trained and able to engineer policies for you?
What about business growth?
What about legacy?
Would you like to meet with Mark?

Episode 459: No. 7 The Brown Belt: Create a Family Banking System That Lasts Over 100 Years

June 19, 2026 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What can span three or more generations?
Have you considered the family office?
Would you like to get going with capturing your monthly cashflow with No. 1 The White Belt?
Would you like to advance to working with the most important people in your life, No. 2 The Yellow Belt?
Would you like to climb up and out on eliminating debt with No. 3 The Orange Belt?
Would you like to review strategies to protect your retirement and business with No. 4 the Red Belt?
Would you like to architect a cash flow system with No. 5 the Green Belt?
Would you like to tackle massive expenses with No. 6 the Purple Belt?
Have you heard the old proverb?
Do we prepare the people for the money?
Have you read Perpetual Wealth by Kim Butler?
What does this strategy involve?
What is tax free under current tax law?
What about the fund and the family council?
Would you like to plan and participate in an intentional family retreat?
What opportunities would strengthen everybody?
Have you crafted a family mission statement?
How does a family keep the fund distinct from a “family piggy bank”?
What will the next generation learn?
What about family loan requests and family fund underwriting?
What happens when the family approves a loan?
How many families don’t ever talk about money?
What is the reward?
Will your wealth be a blessing or a curse to the future generations?
What do Americans fear more than dying?
What are the takeaways?
Would you like to meet with Mark or one of Mark’s associates?

Episode 458: No. 6 The Purple Belt: How to Finance Massive Annual Expenses

June 12, 2026 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Why is the consumer sentiment rating in the basement?
What is projected to run dry?
What are people voting with their wallet for?
Would you like to begin with capturing your monthly cashflow with No. 1 The White Belt?
Would you like to continue on with the most important people in your life, No. 2 The Yellow Belt?
Would you like to climb up and out on eliminating debt with No. 3 The Orange Belt?
Would you like to review strategies to protect your retirement and business with No. 4 the Red Belt?
Would you like to architect a cash flow system with No. 5 the Green Belt?
Is this for the faint of heart?
Are you at the intermediate or advanced level?
What about uninterrupted compounding?
Are you a business owner?
How about an example?
How big are your checks to the I.R.S. every year?
What is growing year after year?
How about private school tuition?
What about Amazon sellers?
Does a policy loan have to be repaid?
What about property taxes?
What about property and casualty insurance premiums?
What about charitable pledges?
What about major annual business operating expenses?
How does one pay off a giant loan?
Should everyone listening to this do a purple belt strategy?
What happens when a loan meets or exceeds cash value?
What about the sale or 1031 exchange of real estate?
What about receiving a substantial inheritance?
What about large bonuses or commissions?
What about the sale of intellectual property?
What about receiving a lump sum?
What about extra income?
What carries real risk?
What is the Plan B?
What are the serious consequences?
How do we work to make sure the loan never threatens the contract?
Is your money working full throttle?
What about steady, predictable growth that you can control?
Is that big expense dead weight?
How might you benefit from the cash flowing through your life?
What did Nelson Nash say?
Do you control the financing function of your life?
What did Pamela Yellen say?
Can you weather the storms that are coming?
What are the takeaways?
Would you like to meet with Mark?
Would you like to join our FREE! Not Your Average Financial Community?

Episode 457: No. 5 The Green Belt: Not Just a Policy, A Cash Flow System

June 5, 2026 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Are you crossing your fingers and hoping Wall Street delivers?
Would you like to start with capturing your monthly cashflow with No. 1 The White Belt?
Would you like to follow up with the most important people in your life, No. 2 The Yellow Belt?
Would you like to catch up on eliminating debt with No. 3 The Orange Belt?
Would you like to review strategies to protect your retirement and business with No. 4 the Red Belt?
Does financial mastery unfold in a straight line?
How about a cash-flow management system?
How does the green belt obliterate the main-stream 0h-so-average financial advice?
How many policies can you get?
What is the key mindset shift?
How does one build a portfolio of policies?
What are the lifetime wealth leaks?
What happens to the 529 plan?
How are you buying cars?
What compounds into serious money?
What about family vacations?
What about investments? What about entrepreneurial pursuits?
What are 15 creative green belt solutions?
What about tuition?
What about vehicle and major purchases?
What about real estate (without a credit check)?
What about business expansion?
What about a family vacation or memory?
What about home renovations and repairs?
What about medical and health costs?
What about milestone events?
What about tax bill buffers?
What about opportunities?
What about emergency funds?
What about charity and legacy?
What about down payments?
What about self-insurance?
What about retirement and fun money?
What is the biggest expense staring at you right now?
How are you managing the cash value?
Does every dollar in your policy have a job to do?
Is the cash value untouchable?
Is the cash value perfectly liquid?
Who borrows without a real plan?
What about a proper buffer?
How does the green belt balance this out?
What are the buckets?
How can you gain total confidence?
How might one command their money with purpose and clarity?
How does the disciplined approach change the game?
What are the takeaways?
What are the action items?
Would you like to meet with Mark or one of Mark’s associates?

Episode 450: The Tardus Income Snowball and Bank On Yourself® – Are They Your Financial Game Genie? with Ben Berry

April 17, 2026 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Who is Ben Berry?
Would you like to check out Episode 397?
What is Tardus Wealth Strategies?
Would you like to hear Episode 376?
How does the Bank on Yourself tool integrate with the Income Snowball?
Do you remember Nintendo, back in the day?
Do you remember the Game Genie?
Why is control so important in wealth creation?
What are the headwinds working against your money?
Would you like to view video and/or Subscribe on the YouTube page?
How might we think and learn about money differently?
What is a myth?
What can Wall Street legally claim?
What does it mean to change the environment where your money lives?
Who wants the wind at your back?
Is this going to take me all the way to the end?
Will I make more than that in my stocks?
What about the payout or withdrawal rate?
When will passive income exceed your living expenses?
What are the options?
What is a “MELOC,” and how does it differ from a HELOC?
What did Mark Twain say?
How many questions are involved in a whole life insurance loan?
How do you take a HELOC?
What kind of impact would non-direct recognition loans have?
Are you constantly breaking the compounding of your growth?
What is the “eighth wonder of the world”?
What breaks compound growth?
What one little glitch could be the difference between success and failure?
What are the wrong tools?
Is it a cheap knock off?
Are you taking on unnecessary risk?
What becomes more expensive as you get older?
What won’t work with the income snowball?
What about building capital?
How about moving to stable, long-term assets?
What are the paths to getting started?
When is the liquidity ready to deploy?
What about building with monthly cash flow?
Do you need to lock money away for forty years?
What asset can you build right away?
What instantly multiplies your family’s legacy?
What will improve?
What will happen to your lifestyle?
What will happen to your demeanor?
What are the risks of the income snowball?
Who is doing the due diligence?
What is Plan A? Plan B? Plan C?
What do you need to pay attention to?
Who is on your team?
Would you like to reach out to Ben at bencberry@gmail.com?

Ben Berry is the owner of Berry Financial Services, LLC, where he helps individuals, families, and business owners take back control of their financial lives. As a Bank On Yourself® Professional and Safe Money Specialist, Ben focuses on building predictable, tax-advantaged wealth strategies designed to support long-term security and generational impact. His approach integrates advanced business planning, life insurance solutions, contingency capital, and asset-mapping to create clear, customized financial pathways. Known for translating complex concepts into practical guidance, Ben equips clients to make confident decisions in an uncertain world. He is passionate about education, relationships, and helping people build wealth they can depend on.

Episode 443: Don’t Diversify! Put All Your E.C.S. in one basket!

February 27, 2026 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Is there a nagging worry?
Will the nest egg actually last?
What about efficiency?
What about control?
What about safety?
Do you need to spread your money thin across a lot of baskets?
What is Mark’s core philosophy on planning?
What is the E.C.S. factor?
What can eat through savings like a wildfire?
How prepared are you, really?
What has the average U.S. family saved?
How many years has the typical boomer pushed back retirement?
How much time do you take to plan your vacation?
How much time do you take to plan your retirement?
Who is your coauthor?
When does Mark walk away?
What dilutes your returns in TDFs?
When will you need the money the most?
Is your money locked up?
What does the government force?
What about safety?
What did Grant Thompson say?
What was supposed to be safe?
What about taxes, fees and regulations?
Would you like to listen to Episode 206?
Are there investment fees or other fees on whole life insurance?
Who owns it?
What questions are asked?
What about the growth in the contract?
What about tax?
What about required RMDs?
What about market timing?
What is locked in?
What about dividends and PUAs?
What about creditors?
What about bankruptcy proceedings?
What beats inflation?
What is private?
What is predictable?
What is proven?
How can many families increase their retirement income?
How can you get more upside and less downside?
Are you in the driver’s seat of your financial life?
Is diversification gambling?
What about social proof?
What did Pamela Yellen say in the Bank on Yourself Revolution?
What did Nelson Nash say in Becoming Your Own Banker?
What did the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College find?
What did Ray Dalio say?
What happened in 2008? 2022?
What is uncorrelated?
What did Suze Orman say about whole life insurance?
What does Warren Buffet say in his letters?
Wouldn’t it be nice to reclaim those years?
What about cash value and dividends?
What can you dream?
What can you buy?
What about age?
What about losses?
What about the illusion of safety?
What holding led to 20% greater net worth?
What basket doesn’t crack?
What if taxes went up 10%?
What if taxes doubled?
What about peace of mind?
Would you like to meet with Mark or one of Mark’s associates?

Episode 434: NEW BOOK! Part 2 – Bank On Yourself®: Liquidity, Compounding and Lifetime Income

December 26, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

Would you like to hear Part 1?
Why does uninterrupted compounding beat every mutual fund?
Would you like to go to bankonyourselfbook.com to get the new book?
What do Brian Kay, Tim Austin and Pamela Yellen know that other financial gurus have failed to tell us?
How far does the influence of Bank On Yourself® reach?
What is persistency?
What can (and will likely) change in a government sponsored program?
What is the power of uninterrupted compounding joined with liquidity?
What asset can you leverage to take advantage of an opportunity?
What about meeting life’s financial milestones without taking unnecessary risks?
What about taking advantage of unexpected opportunities?
What did Warren Buffet say?
How long will you live?
What is a fail-safe way to protect against running out of money?
How might you secure guaranteed income in retirement?
How is Bank On Yourself® a concept and philosophy that transcends product?
How are these insurers built differently?
Why does Warren Buffett love insurance companies as an asset?
What is built to last?
How do I replace my income?
How might I do it passively?
Would you like to go to bankonyourselfbook.com to get the new book?
What are the action items?

Episode 433: NEW BOOK! Part 1 – Bank On Yourself® Origins and Why Now? with Pamela Yellen, Brian Kay and Tim Austin

December 19, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

How can you build wealth safely and predictably?
Who is Pamela Yellen?
Who is Brian Kay?
Who is Tim Austin?
Would you like to go to bankonyourselfbook.com to get the new book?
What’s Pamela’s story?
How did Pamela meet Brian and Tim?
What’s Brian’s story?
Should you turn over your financial independence to other parties?
Should you become your own source of financing?
Should you recapture the interest you have paid to other sources?
Should you be careful with borrowing and debt?
How did Brian meet Tim?
Can paying for college be an affordable reality without taking unnecessary risks?
What’s Tim’s story?
What was happening in the 1980s?
What are the strategies that worked in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s?
How is risk finicky?
Do you have to have debt to get where you want to go?
Do you have to be in the market to be successful?
What about uncertainty?
What about anticipation and preparation?
How might we crisis-proof our finances?
What is the average household debt?
How many people are behind on paying their debt?
What percent of retirees, age 66-71 have debt?
What about medical emergencies?
How many would be able to cover their expenses if they had a one-week delay on their paycheck?
Why is this book necessary?
What are the action items?
Will you join us next week for Part 2?

Episode 432: Why Does the SEC Chair Paul Atkins Have 54 Life Insurance Policies?

December 12, 2025 by Not Your Average Financial Podcast

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In this episode, we ask:

What does he know, that we don’t?
What is his net worth?
What does the SEC chair do?
What is the cornerstone of his wealth?
Is this a quiet vote of confidence in life insurance over volatile securities?
What protections does life insurance offer that stocks don’t?
What is a state insurance department?
What are consumer protections?
What reserves are the insurance companies required to hold?
What about reinsurance companies?
What is a state guarantee association?
Why 54 policies? Is this overkill?
Is he diversifying?
What is a life settlement?
What’s the importance of having multiple policies?
What are the benefits?
What gives you tax-free access to cash?
Did you know you are forced to take money out of qualified government accounts by a certain age?
Do required minimum distributions (RMDs) exist in life insurance?
What do retirement researchers like Roger Ibbotson, David Blanchett, and Wade Pfau say about life insurance?
What is the efficient market frontier?
What about the volatility buffer?
What about taking distributions from the life insurance cash value during crashing stock values?
How can a policy be “overfunded”?
How many policies will be enough to buffer volatility?
How about an example?
If one policy is good, are 54 policies better?
What is a modern tool for building resilience?
What is the purpose of each policy?
What about policies with various carriers?
What about different terms on paid up additions (PUAs)?
What about guarantees?
Do you want to meet one-on-one?
What about policy loan rates?
How do the rates vary by company?
What is a 1035 exchange?
Would you like to subscribe to this podcast?
Who needs to hear this?
Would you like to meet with Mark or one of Mark’s associates?

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