Not Your Average Financial Podcast™

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

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

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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?

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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?

Episode 430: Guest Host Episode with Frank Herbik | Why Whole Life Insurance Is the Ultimate with Marvin Bulas

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Who is Frank Herbik?
  • How did Marvin Bulas get started with Tim Austin?
  • What does the concept of Bank on Yourself® focus upon?
  • Do you rely on other outside financial sources?
  • What requires self-discipline?
  • How can you achieve your financial milestones without taking unnecessary risks?
  • What about discipline and freedom?
  • Have you read Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink?
  • How about a lifetime of tax-advantaged income?
  • What is hard?
  • How does the Bank on Yourself® strategy differ from a typical market-driven approach like a mutual fund, an ETF, an IRA, etc.?
  • How about some examples?
  • Are we completely against the market?
  • What is the barbell strategy?
  • What about a better “desk drawer”?
  • How can you harness compound growth?
  • What about cash, that’s available to you, whenever you need it?
  • Could everyone benefit from this?
  • How does the insurance carrier manage and carry the risk?
  • What is the non-guaranteed component?
  • Are the companies in the insurance industry well regulated?
  • What are the living benefits?
  • What’s the difference between a typical life insurance agent and an active Bank on Yourself® Professional?
  • What’s the CFP® designation?
  • Does a typical CFP® (or CLU®) understand how to correctly structure and design a Bank on Yourself® type whole-life insurance policy?
  • What does Marvin enjoy?
  • What can smooth out a lot of things?
  • How about a case study?
  • What is the approval process to get a loan from an insurance carrier?
  • How much do you want, and when do you want it?
  • Who sets the terms of the loan?
  • What resonates with Frank?
  • Do carriers have apps?
  • Who would these concepts benefit?
  • How does age affect the growth of a whole life insurance policy?
  • What is a “sprinter” policy?
  • What is a “marathon” policy?
  • How many ways could an advisor design a policy?
  • Would you like to search on bankonyourself.com?
  • Would you like to talk with Frank at 630-330-1799 about your specific situation?

 

Episode 426: The Monster of Variable Universal Life (VUL)

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Would you like a practical guide to building a resilient business?
  • Would you like to read and review our new book, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business?
  • What was so scary about Frankenstein’s monster?
  • What is Variable Universal Life (VUL)?
  • What is the nightmare twist?
  • What are the risks of VUL policies?
  • Why did VUL policies decline in popularity after the 1990s?
  • How many VUL policies lapse each year?
  • What are the hidden costs inside a VUL policy?
  • What happens when a VUL policy lapses?
  • What is a sub-account in a VUL policy?
  • What is an expense ratio?
  • Why is 2-4% so bad?
  • Why are VUL sub-accounts more expensive than regular ETFs?
  • What about capital gains tax?
  • Why do advisors push VUL policies to high-income earners?
  • What about the 7702 section of the tax code?
  • Is VUL a good tax-advantaged investment?
  • What happened to the S&P in 2002?
  • What happens to VUL policies during a market downturn?
  • What is the net amount at risk?
  • What happens when the markets dip?
  • How does market volatility affect VUL insurance policies?
  • What is a death spiral in VUL insurance?
  • Can VUL costs increase during retirement?
  • What about the total annual fees in a VUL policy?
  • How do VUL fees compare to whole life insurance?
  • What is the total drag on a VUL policy?
  • What is a Bank On Yourself® whole life policy?
  • What are the benefits of whole life insurance vs. VUL?
  • What happened to VUL policies during the .com crash?
  • How did VUL policies perform during the 2008 financial crisis?
  • What about class action lawsuits?
  • What are the risks of borrowing from a VUL policy?
  • What is negative arbitrage?
  • Why do VUL loans often result in poor returns?
  • Why do insurance companies discourage fixed account use in VULs?
  • What are the downsides of VUL fixed accounts?
  • What does the SEC say alerts say about VUL illustrations?
  • Why is a Bank On Yourself® whole life policies far superior?
  • Have you seen The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
  • What is a fixed index annuity (FIA)?
  • What did the 2002 Morning Star report say?
  • Can fixed index annuities replace VUL for retirement planning?
  • Do you own a VUL? Would you like to know how to audit your VUL policy?
  • How about a case study?
  • What should you look for in a VUL in-force illustration?
  • What happens when VUL cash value drops significantly?
  • Can VUL policies collapse due to market losses?
  • Why are VUL loans problematic during market downturns?
  • What are the loan interest rates in VUL policies?
  • Why is VUL unsuitable for retirees?
  • What are the risks of managing a VUL policy with age?
  • What are the benefits of whole life policies for long-term care?
  • Can whole life insurance help with medical expenses?
  • How does a fixed index annuity provide retirement income?
  • What are the top alternatives to VUL policies?
  • Can you transfer a VUL policy to whole life insurance?
  • Why does the SEC say that VUL policies are unsuitable for nearly everyone?
  • What is SWAN money?
  • What are low-risk retirement strategies?
  • What are the takeaways?
  • Who needs to hear about this?

Episode 413: The Closed-End Second Mortgage Consideration for High Interest Debt

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Do you have a mortgage?
  • What about the hidden potential within the walls of your home?
  • Would you like to hear Episode 157?
  • What’s been going on with the mortgage industry recently?
  • What are the hidden costs of home ownership?
  • What is a home equity line of credit (HELOC)?
  • What is a closed-end second mortgage?
  • What are the disadvantages and risks of a HELOC?
  • What about a cash out refinance?
  • What are the options?
  • How about some examples?
  • What are the risks?
  • What are the takeaways?

The topics presented in this podcast are general information only and not for the purposes of providing legal, accounting or investment advice. On such matters, please consult a professional who knows your specific situation.

Matthew Shanlian is the Vice President of Lending for Crosscountry Mortgage, LLC. the Largest independent mortgage bank in the United States. For the past 15 years, he has focused on educating and supporting the financial services industry and their clients. Matthew travels the country to train financial professionals on Strategic Equity Planning for their clients. He believes that the having a plan for your home is paramount to a building wealth.
Reach out to Matt Shanlian | Call Matt at (330) 414-8856

Episode 401: More Proof Direct Recognition Loans are Terrible for Bank On Yourself®

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Is the policy correctly structured?
  • How about a case study?
  • Does the policy with the most cash value always win?
  • What is the difference between a direct recognition and a non-direct recognition whole life insurance policy loan?
  • What did the footnotes say?
  • What are some possible outcomes?
  • What happened to the dividends with an outstanding direct recognition loan balance?
  • What happens to the dividends with an outstanding non-direct recognition loan balance?
  • What’s the difference?
  • How much loan interest?
  • What’s the big takeaway here?
  • Why would this policy become a modified endowment contract (MEC)?
  • How about another example?
  • What happened with the dividends?
  • What about the policy loan interest?
  • What are the takeaways?
  • Why do Bank on Yourself® type whole life insurance policy loans use non-direct recognition policy loans?

Would you like to avoid direct recognition loans and loss of dividends?

Is my policy a Bank on Yourself® type whole life insurance policy?

Agent

  • Is my agent captive or independent? (Can he/she work with multiple companies or just show me one company’s product line?)
  • Is my agent trained to confidently and competently answer all of my questions? (Am I having to educate him/her?)
  • What is the agent’s training and stability? How long will the advisor be around to help me?
  • Is my agent among the ~200 Bank on Yourself® Professionals in good standing with the Bank on Yourself® organization?

Insurance Company

  • Does the company offer whole life insurance? (Do I have Whole Life or a Universal Life, Variable Life, Indexed Universal Life or Term policy?)
  • Is the insurance company mutually owned or stock owned?
  • Is the insurer’s customer service department educated enough to help me with policy loans?
  • Does this company have a high Comdex Rating and solid financial strength? Will they have the stability to be in business for the next 100 years at least?

Tax considerations

  • Will this policy become a modified endowment contract (MEC)?
  • Will both principal and gains be accessible tax-free under current law?

Riders

  • Are paid-up additions (PUAs) offered through premiums or just through dividends?
  • What is the Insurance Company’s PUA load cost? How does it compare to other whole life products?
  • What are the PUA limits (and any other gotchas)? When and why must we reduce our PUAs, even if we don’t want to?
  • Were any other riders available to help accelerate my cash value growth, like term riders?
  • If I miss a premium payment, are there protections? What will happen to the policy?
  • Is there a Chronic Illness Rider or similar available? What are the fees for this rider?
  • What are the limits on Chronic Illness, Long Term Care and Accelerated Death Benefit riders?

Dividends

  • Does the insurer who issued my whole life insurance policy pay dividends?
  • Does the whole life product I purchased receive dividends?
  • Is the dividend based on company performance, with me participating as an owner, or is it merely “interest sensitive” based on industry performance?
  • Has the insurance company paid dividends at least 100 years straight?
  • Was there significant dividend variability over the last 12 years, suggesting risk to future cash value growth?

Loans

  • If I take a loan, how will it affect the policy, short-term and long-term?
  • Do I have non-direct recognition loans or direct recognition loans?
  • When will I pay policy loan interest (at the end of year or immediately)?
  • What limits are at work for policy loans? Is there a maximum amount per loan
  • What will they allow me to borrow out at a time?
  • What is my loan interest rate on this policy? Is it above or below the industry average?
  • Is the loan simple interest or compound interest?
  • At what time interval is the loan interest being accrued (annually, daily, etc.)?
Would you like a second set of eyes to review an existing policy, or would you like to discuss your specific situation? Reach out to meet with Mark or one of Mark’s associates.

Episode 399: How to Pay for Everything in Life

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Would you like to join us live for the Bank on Yourself® Rescue Your Retirement Bootcamp on May 6th, 2025, 1PM-5PM ET?
  • What deals are you making?
  • What does it take to start a bank?
  • Where do banks keep their capital?
  • What is Tier 1 capital?
  • Who needs a liquid, regular parking spot for savings?
  • How does the money continue to grow, even while you’re using it?
  • What about major wealth transfers?
  • What are people saying?
  • Why work with us?

 



JOIN US LIVE
for the Rescue Your Retirement Bootcamp
WHO: The Top Bank on Yourself® Professionals
WHAT: An afternoon-long bootcamp
– a deep dive into the workings of Bank on Yourself® –
(lifetime access to the recording available!)
WHEN: May 6th, 2025, 1PM-5PM ET
COST: $47
WHERE: ONLINE
REGISTER NOW

 

Episode 380:[Client Spotlight] Mastering Real Estate and Bank On Yourself® with Brian Claus

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In this episode, we ask:

  • How about balancing family life, ministry and real estate?
  • Who is Brian Claus?
  • Have you heard about UnBound Now?
  • What’s Brian’s earliest memory with money?
  • What did Brian’s Dad do to incentivize saving?
  • What’s Brian’s story?
  • What happened in 2018?
  • What are the benefits of running real estate through policies instead of banks?
  • What about Dave Ramsey’s thinking?
  • What about due diligence?
  • What about selling the house?
  • What was the benefit of putting the proceeds into a policy?
  • What about the down payment for the new house?
  • What about the pool?
  • What happened with the land deal?
  • What about the other deals?
  • How did Brian access the money?
  • Would you like to view Brian’s financial map?
  • How else does Brian use these policies?
  • What about paying taxes?
  • What about the ministry through Brian’s church?
  • Would you like to visit UnBound Now?
  • Would you like to email or message Brian on the FREE Not Your Average Financial Community?
  • What are the takeaways?

Brian Claus balances family life with a career in diverse real estate ventures, from long-term rentals to Airbnbs and land sales. For over a decade, he’s worked with Unbound Now, a dedicated anti-human trafficking organization, where he’s made a meaningful impact.

Episode 374: [Client Spotlight] Bank On Yourself® and Austrian Economics with Max Brusky

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Can you imagine…?
  • What is Austrian Economics?
  • Who is Max Brusky?
  • What is Max’s podcast about?
  • Would you like to hear the BuckAround Podcast?
  • What happened to Max in downtown Chicago?
  • What happened at the Mises Circle event?
  • What is the relationship between Austrian Economics and Bank on Yourself?
  • Who is Ludwig von Mises?
  • What about Mises’ books, Theory of Money and Credit (1912) and Socialism (1920)?
  • What about sound money?
  • What is considered a store of value?
  • What about lending money?
  • What is the purpose of the central bank?
  • Is it a quasi-government agency?
  • Who appoints the central bank’s governors?
  • What is money? What is credit?
  • Who controls the money supply?
  • What leads to inflation?
  • What leads to improper business signals to investors and creditors?
  • What is a good interest rate?
  • Who sets the interest rate?
  • What is the Austrian Business cycle?
  • What is the boom / bust cycle?
  • What happens when the money is cheap and free?
  • What happens when bad decisions get subsidized by more money?
  • What does Mark have?
  • Do the Austrians have something to say about what’s going in our world right now?
  • Would you like to visit mises.org?
  • What about the Great Depression?
  • Would you like to read Murray Rothbard’s book on The Great Depression?
  • Who was Murray Rothbard?
  • What about human action?
  • Who are the Austrian economists?
  • What is the fix? Can anyone fix it?
  • What about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies?
  • What about the various agendas?
  • Do you remember the sidebar blogroll?
  • What about various Austrian economist podcasters?
  • What about Keynesian economics?
  • What about course corrections?
  • What did Thomas Jefferson say?
  • How was Max lucky?
  • Who is Robert Murphy?
  • Who is able to opt out of that system?
  • What is designed to keep you in debt?
  • What about debt, on the bank’s terms?
  • What happens when you use the cash value as collateral on a policy loan for big purchases in Bank on Yourself® type whole life insurance policies?
  • What is the great dispossession?
  • Who gets paid last?
  • How is an insurance company’s contract different?
  • What about the history of the contract?
  • What are the benefits of whole life insurance?
  • How does the death benefit make a big impact?
  • How has Max used his policies?
  • How about loaning money to kids for college?
  • What about having skin in the game?
  • What about the honor of paying back your debt?
  • What about paying tax?
  • What about donations?
  • How do the college loan repayments contribute to the kid’s inheritance?
  • What is a racket?
  • What are some creative ways to set up kids for success?
  • Would you like to visit mises.org?
  • Would you like to visit aier.org?
  • What are the takeaways?

Max Brusky is an attorney specializing in civil litigation, particularly insurance defense, coverage, and subrogation. He is currently an “in-house” and Claims Director for a national trucking company. He is a happy husband to a happy (and brilliant, and understanding) wife, and the proud father of two, one in college, one almost in college. He currently lives in Chicago’s far west suburbs, but still considers himself a Wisconsin expatriate.

Episode 368: A Better Way to Profit First with Mike Michalowicz

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In this episode, we ask:

  • Have you ever wished you were just average?
  • Are you a business owner?
  • Why do some business owners thrive and others merely survive?
  • What if it were easy to become profitable?
  • Who is Mike Michalowicz?
  • What is the commercial that changed Mike’s life direction?
  • What happened when Mike was in overwhelming debt?
  • What is Parkinson’s law?
  • What about doing fewer things, better and faster than ever?
  • What about making the (scary) choice to take profit first?
  • What did Mike realize?
  • What about cost cutting?
  • What about growth?
  • How did Mike flip the (Sales-Expenses=Profits) formula to (Sales-Profit=Expenses)?
  • Would you like to hear Episode 165?
  • How might one implement Profit First?
  • What is a behavioral intercept?
  • How might we set up a system to drive the results we want?
  • What are the core elements?
  • What is the vault?
  • What about blending the Bank on Yourself® strategy and Profit First?
  • What are the pitfalls?
  • What about Occam’s razor?
  • What about leveraging your natural tendencies?
  • What are Mike’s four healthy habits?
  • Did you know that Brandon Neely and Amanda Neely are Certified Profit First Professionals?
  • What is a Certified Profit First Professional? Would you like to visit profitfirstprofessionals.com?
  • What about Mike’s latest book, All In?
  • What do your clients want more than anything else?
  • What are the takeaways?
  • Which one of these actions will you take this week?
Mike Michalowicz is an investor, active partner in multiple companies and a prolific author. His bestselling book, Profit First, has sold more than one million copies.

Mike is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal, and he launched three multi-million dollar companies before his 35th birthday.

If you enjoyed reading Profit First, you may also enjoy his other books, including All In, The Pumpkin Plan, Clockwork, Fix This Next, Get Different, My Money Bunnies, Surge and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.