Brandon and Amanda Neely are the President and CEO of Wealth Wisdom Financial. They make financial planning more accessible through podcasting and through developing personalized financial strategies for individuals and couples, as well as profitability strategies for small businesses. They work virtually to help real estate investors all over the United States to create smart, stable financial futures. They reside in the Oakley neighborhood of Cincinnati.
“A banker is a fellow who will lend you his umbrella when the sun is shining but wants it back the minute it begins to rain.” - Mark Twain
Ain’t that the truth? Now, let me ask you one of the most powerful questions, “What’s the economic forecast?”
As investors, we’ve been taught to use “other people’s money” (OPM) as leverage to help us gain traction in real estate. Another powerful question: when OPM is your strategy, who are the “other people”? Remember, leverage can work both ways - for and against you! And what do other people want so badly that they’re willing to part with their money and hand it to you? Were you just handed an umbrella on a sunny day?
When banks control the environment where your money lives, they win every time. 34% of all American income goes to servicing debt. If time is money, that means a full one-third of the day is spent working as slaves to a bank!
Think of how many folks you know who are in debt up to their eyeballs and working 60+ hours a week, or stressing over non-paying tenants, or feverishly rushing from property to property, hoping they can sell a property before the balloon payment comes due. For too many real estate investors, the road to becoming a wealthy landlord turned south toward the highway of serfdom, with their banker holding the upper hand.
Is there any other way?
Where is it written that you must service your debts and pay off a banker before you can enjoy the fruits of your investment? Where did we get the idea that banks were the only ones who could provide the function of banking in our society?
Here’s what too many people never get to hear: You can be your own source of financing. You can provide the function of banking yourself.
Debt-free is good. OPM is good. Taking control of your financial future is best!
When you control the financial environment in which your money lives, you win.
How? The answer may shock you. I’m talking about a modernized form of dividend-paying whole-life insurance. It works like a source of capital to provide a pool of money liquid and available for whatever you need. The funds you accumulate in your life insurance grow safely and predictably every year - no matter what’s happening in the stock or real estate markets. You can use the equity in your policy like a line of credit to yourself - and you have complete control over how, when, and if you pay your money back to your policy. You are in complete control of the entire process.
If you’d like to not only protect yourself from the next recession but anticipate and take advantage of it, then prepare for it now by doing what the banks do, not doing what they tell you to do. Banks purchase a huge amount of life insurance. The larger the bank, the more life insurance they typically own. It’s never too late to make a plan and start preparing.
Imagine we’re in the middle of another financial calamity. Everyone is seeing their 401(k) accounts become “201(k)s” and real estate values are plummeting. Your friends are nervous about losing their assets. But instead of fear and instead of begging a banker to lend you his umbrella, you’ve established yourself as your own source of capital, using the cash value in your properly designed life insurance policy.
You’re in control. When you see the real estate values crashing, instead of fear, you see opportunity. You borrow from your own policy’s cash, and within days cash is directly deposited into your bank account and you’re ready for closing. No tax obligations. No government red tape.
Never underestimate the power of being
in control. With this kind of leverage, the kind of leverage you own, you can borrow from your policy and still have it grow as if you did not take the loan. You read that right. That’s a rare feature often misunderstood and overlooked by most insurance agents and financial advisors.
And when this strategy is properly implemented, you overcome the biggest hurdle in the financial universe: uninterrupted compound growth - what has been referred to as the 8th Wonder of the World.
The only thing better than being debt free is to be the banker. Then you’re the one lending the umbrellas!
There’s more to this than just picking up the phone to call your local insurance guy. Most insurance agents (and certainly most Wall Street brokers) have never heard of this strategy. You don’t want to put your money with an “I’ll just Google it” advisor.
If you’d like to talk to someone who has been specially trained and authorized to specifically design a Bank on Yourself policy as described above alongside wholistic financial planning, please contact us at: hello@wealthwisdomfp.com or call us at (513) 447-6501. Yes, we’re local!