Stop Starting Over Financially: How Your Money Actually Moves and Why That Matters

And often the question you might have, somebody else is also thinking of it. And that's what makes a good community. So if something comes to mind, please put it in the Q&A. And if you can, we encourage you to give yourself a little space to focus. Highly encourage you to put down those phones, turn off that ringer, close those tabs, and just remove all your distractions. And not because this is going to be complicated. Actually, today the goal is to keep it very simple. But sometimes what Ravi's going to present is one idea can simply change the way we look at things, maybe even something that we've been doing for many years. We also encourage you to take a few notes as we go along. Hey, and if you miss something, No worries, the session's being recorded and we're going to send it out to all of you afterwards. Our presenter today is Ravinder Keith from Ascendant Financial. Now, Ravinder has spent most of his adult life in business, and today his focus is financial education and helping people think more intentionally about how money moves through their lives. And before getting into any solutions, he's going to start with something much more basic, because if we don't understand the problem first, the solution just doesn't matter. So how does your money actually flow, and why does that matter? Ravinder, I'll hand it over to you.

Just give me a second. I'm just trying to figure out how to switch on my camera here. Give me a second, please. All right, Les, thank you for the introduction and welcome everyone. Thank you all for being here. Now I want to start with a question that may sound very simple, but I think it is a question most people have never really stopped to ask. Think about all the money that has passed through your hands since you started working, not just this year. Not just the last five years, all of it. Your salary, your business income, bonuses, commissions, any windfalls that has come along, whatever money has come into your life all over the years. Now ask yourself. How much of that money is still working for you today? Now, that may not be a question we think about very often. You probably think about how much you earn, how much you save, where should you invest, whether you're making good financial decisions, and all of those are important questions. But there is another question underneath all of them: What happens to your money after you earn it? Now, as Les was mentioning, I spent most of my adult life in business, so I've always thought about making money, using money, and trying to make good financial decisions. But one thing that I had not really thought deeply about was the flow of money itself. Where does it come in? Where does it go? And after it is used, what financial position am I left in? Once I started looking at money through that lens, I started seeing things differently. And that is really what I want to explore with you all today. My goal is not to tell you what to think. It is to challenge the way that you may have been thinking about money and give you a different perspective to consider. And if one idea makes you look at your financial life in a little different way, then I think this time would be worthwhile. I want to keep things very simple here. First, I really want you to think about three things. First, why might you keep finding yourself starting over financially? And second, what could a different flow of money look like for you? And third. How could you gradually build more control over how money moves through your life? And as we go through this, I want to keep one question at the back of our minds: What happens to the financial position after the money is used? Because that question connects almost everything that we are going to talk today. I want to keep this interactive, so if you have any questions, write your questions in the chat box or in the Q&A. My team will be keeping an eye on that, and as Les mentioned, we want to answer all of your questions to give you better clarity on this. So let's start with something very simple. You work hard for your money. The question is, where Is it actually going? Now let's look at what happens after the money comes in. For most of us, income comes in and then very quickly it starts getting allocated— housing, transportation, food. Taxes, education, family, business, and other priorities. None of that is unusual. This is just life. We all need money for different things. So the issue is not that the money is moving. The first question is simply, do we really understand where our money is going? Most people know how much they earn. They know their salary, and if they own a business, they usually have a sense of what is coming in. But what we do not always do is to step back and look at the whole flow of the money. Where is money going? What is pulling on it? How many different directions is it moving? Now let's make this practical for you. Think about your own life. What is one of the biggest places your money goes every month? Put one word in the chat. Let's make it this interactive. Is it housing, transportation, family, business, taxes, or maybe something else? Taxes, hands down taxes. Family, housing. So exactly, we all have different reasons for the money to flow out. The answers may be different, but the pattern is very similar. Money comes in and then it gets directed somewhere. So the first step is simply the awareness of this. No judgment here, no guilt, simple awareness. Where is our money actually going? And once you can see that flow more clearly, the next question becomes how much of it actually stays with you? Over the lifetime, a very large amount of money can pass through our hands. Some of it gets saved, some of it gets invested, but a large portion simply moves through our lives and gets used. And that leads to the question most people do not stop. To ask, of all the money that has passed through your hands over the years, how much of it is still working for you? Just think about that for a moment. Not how much did you earn, not how much did you spend, but how much of that financial capacity is still available to you now. That is a different way to look at money because most of us are taught to measure income. We measure the savings, we measure investment returns, we measure the net worth, but we do not always stop and measure how much financial capacity I actually have been able to retain. And there is an important difference between the 2 questions here. How much I have earned tells me what came in. How much of it is still working for me tells me what remains with me. So the question now becomes, how much came in and how much of it is still working for you? If that number is smaller than what you would like, it does not necessarily mean that you did anything wrong. It may simply mean that you have been using the same financial pattern most people use, what we have been taught in our traditional. Financial world. And this is what we are going to look at next, because before we can change the pattern, we need to understand one more thing. Is spending really the problem? I want to make something very clear here. The spending is not the problem. Money is meant to be used. Life has needs. Families have needs. Businesses have needs. We all have opportunities coming up from time to time where we need to use that capital. Unexpected things happen. That is completely normal. So it is not about feeling guilty every time money leaves your account, and it is certainly not about trying to hold on to every dollar forever. That is simply not realistic. The more important question here is what happens to your financial position after the money is used. You may have saved something carefully, and you may have made completely reasonable purchase, and you may have handled the expense exactly the way most people would. And still afterward, you may find yourself rebuilding the same financial capacity again. That is the part I want you to notice. The problem may not be the expense itself. The problem may be the reset that happens afterward. So instead of only asking How can I spend less? Maybe there is a better question here. Can I organize my financial life so that using money does not always mean starting over again? Because the money may have been needed to be used anyway, the decision to spend it on something may have been completely appropriate. The opportunity is not necessarily to avoid the expense. The opportunity is to improve the financial position we are left in after the expense happens. That is a very different way to think about spending. Not how do I stop money from leaving, but if we have to reframe the question, it is how do I avoid Losing all the capacity I have worked so hard to build. And once you see that distinction, the next question becomes: Why do we keep starting over again and again? Now we can see the pattern more clearly. We build financial capacity. Life gives us a reason to use some of that, and then very often we begin rebuilding again. This is how the pattern becomes: earn, save, spend, and start over. Now write me in the chat if you feel that this is how the financial life for most of you or each of you is. The way it is. Let me see if people have some different thoughts. Food and family. Rat race. As David says, it is called the rat race. Ben says yes. Remember, as I mentioned earlier, the problem is not necessarily the purchase. The expense has been— may have been completely reasonable. The issue is the repeated reset. Think about how many times this can happen over a lifetime. You build something, you use it, you rebuild it, and this happens again and again. Now take that pattern and stretch it out to over 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, or maybe your lifetime. So think what might be the real cost of that pattern— not just the dollar you spend, but the financial capacity you kept having to rebuild all the time. And that is the cost most people never really see on a statement. And it is not always obvious, but over time it can certainly matter. So this slide is asking you to notice one thing: How many times in your life are you willing to rebuild the same financial capacity? With that, let's do a quick poll here. And Les, if you can just help me with the poll here, think about the last biggest purchase you made. After that purchase, what happened to your savings afterward? And since I'm having a little hard time accessing that poll, one of my teammates can jump in and see what people are saying and what the responses are.

Yeah, we've got some responses coming in now. And thank you for everyone participating. Lots of back to zeros and they started rebuilding. They dropped a little bit. I still had some cushion coming up. Some good answers. I financed it instead of using savings, about 25%, and I don't really track it. So what it looks like, Ravi, 38% of people on the poll, and thanks everyone for participating, we really appreciate that, indicated they dropped a bit, the savings dropped a bit, but they still had a little bit of cushion. Seems to be the most popular answer, Ravi.

Yeah, thanks, Les, and thanks everybody for participating in this. There is no right and wrong answer here. I just want you to notice what happens after the purchase. Because that tells you something about the pattern that you are using today. And once you can see the pattern clearly, the next question becomes, does it have to work this way? Or if there is something that we can change. What if instead of always going back to the beginning, we could create a different flow? That is the idea here. Build, then use money where life requires it, then replenish what was used and continue. The key difference here is not that the expenses disappear. They do not, because we have to live our lives. The difference is that the system is designed to keep moving. Instead of use it and start over, the idea becomes use it, replenish it, and continue. That is a very different financial pattern because now the question is no longer only how much can I save, it also becomes can I build something that I may be able to use more than once over time. And I want to be careful here. It does not mean that every dollar certainly works this way, and it certainly does not happen overnight, and it does not remove the cost of using money. The idea is simply to begin building a system that may give you more flexibility, more control over time. So the shift is from save, use, and rebuild every time to a different pattern, which is to use— sorry, to build, use, replenish, and continue. And if that is the kind of flow we want, the next question becomes, what needs to happen first? For many of us, the normal order looks something like this: money comes in, life gets paid for, and then we look into saving if we are lucky enough. But what if we change what happens when the money first comes in? What if a portion of that income helps you build a financial asset? That can grow over time before the rest goes towards life. That amount will be different for everyone. That is not the point here. The point is the order. Same income, different order, and over time it may give you more options. The bills will not disappear, and they do not disappear. Life does not stop. What we are doing is we are simply making sure that something starts building an asset for us first, and that is the shift I want you to notice. Instead of asking only what is left after everything is paid for, we can ask a different question: What am I building first? And that brings to the next practical question here. Do you have to make a big change to get started? And that is an important question. Changing the flow does not mean change everything overnight. Remember, Rome was not built in a day, and we are not trying to change everything in one week here. Most of what we earn may still be needed for life. Bills have to be paid. Family still needs— the business may still need money. So this is not an all-or-nothing idea. You simply start where it makes sense for you. For one person, it may be a smaller amount. For somebody else, it may be more. The amount here is not the main point. The important part is to beginning to build that capacity and then giving it time. We can start where we can, but it is important to stay consistent and let that capacity be. Let let us build that capacity, and as it builds, you may gradually. Create more choices for yourself. You do not need to control every dollar today. The idea is simply to gain more control over time. So let me ask you something in the chat here. What do you think is harder for most people? Put one word in the chat. Is it that people have no idea about it? Is it you feel hard to start, or is it difficult to stay consistent, or being patient is something that is difficult? Put one word in the chat, and there is no right and wrong answer. If there is something else that's coming up, you're most welcome to share your thoughts. Mindset—that's a big one. Starting. Mm-hmm. Staying consistent. Knowledge. Yeah, all those are great answers. And Mike, I totally hear you. People very often say these words that they have not heard about this concept. And that is where we want to bring awareness towards this concept. And take on the legacy that Nelson Nash had about this concept and how it can change how we look at money. Discipline—that's a big one. So that's the thing: this is not a quick fix, and there could be different reasons. But the point is, if you are gradually building capacity. The next question is, what are the options here? How do I do that? So if we are changing the order and starting to build something, the question is, what are we actually building? The answer is not simply more savings. The bigger idea is to build a financial asset that can create capacity over time. Something that has value, something that can become more useful over time, and something that may give you more options later and more control down the line. That distinction matters because the goal is not simply to pile up money and never touch it. The goal is not to just store it in a traditional banking system. The goal is to build something that may be actually able to support you when life gives you a reason to use it. So instead of only asking how much have I saved, you can begin asking what financial assets am I building? The important word is the financial asset here, and it is a process that you're building it over a period of time. And what it could help me do later, that changes the conversation here, because now we are not only thinking about accumulation, we are also thinking about usefulness of that. Capacity. What is the asset becoming? What options it might create for us? How might it support the future needs and opportunities? And at this point, I want to keep this at the concept level because if the idea does not make sense first, the tool will not mean much. So the next question becomes, what kind of financial asset can actually support this process? And this is where I want to mention Nelson Nash, author of this book. I'm not too sure how many people have, have heard about this book. This book has changed my life. And what we are teaching today is really an extension of what Nelson taught us. And if you have never read this book, I would encourage you to do that because it really lays out the blueprint of how the system works. And if one of my teammates can just put in the link to this book, if somebody wants to get it, that would be helpful. One of the things Nelson emphasized was that before people can appreciate a solution, they first need to understand the problem. And that is what we are really trying to do here. First, we help you understand how money usually flows through our lives today and why that pattern may be one of the reasons Many of us feel that we are not getting ahead financially. Then we look at a possible solution and what it could look like. So now we can connect the concept to a tool. One tool that supports this process very well is the participating whole life policy. Now you may have heard of whole life insurance before. And you may already have your opinion about it, but for today I would ask you to look at it through a slightly different lens. What we are really trying to understand is how a tool like this may help you build the financial capacity over time and how that capacity can be used. Because in the end, the tool matters, but how we use that tool May matter even more, and I do not want to make this more complicated than it needs to be. But today, I want you to think about three simple things here. First, that it provides permanent life insurance protection for your family. So while you're building something financially, there is also a death benefit connected to the policy for the estate. Or the people that you really care about. So we know that God forbid something happens, our loved one will be taken care of, at least financially. Second, as premiums are paid, the cash value builds inside the policy over time. That is the part that connects back to everything that we have been talking about. You're not only paying for protection, you're also building that financial capacity inside that policy. And then the third piece is where this becomes especially relevant to our conversation. The cash value may give you another way to access money for needs or opportunities. So instead of every future expense automatically, meaning use saving and start over, or you go to the bank and borrow, you may have another option available to you. Now, this does not mean that the policy is magic, and this does not certainly mean that the borrowing is free, and it certainly does not mean that this is the right tool for everyone. It simply means that we may be able to build an asset first and then use that asset as a part of how we finance life with a system that we control. So let's have another poll here before we go any further. Let me get a sense of where you all are starting from. Unless if you can just help me with that poll. Before today, what best describes where you were with the concept of infinite banking?

Right on, Ravi. That's such a good question. We've got the poll up. Yeah, we've got 10 people answered so far. So thank you everyone for those answers. And this poll's a little more lopsided, let's say. So before today, which best describes where you are with infinite banking? We got one never heard of it, one person heard the term but never looked into it, and 9 people out of the 11 that have answered are pretty familiar and are here to go deeper.

Thanks for all the engagement and thanks for those answers. And there is no right and wrong answer here, and we are here to help you understand this concept in a way that can bring clarity to you. And if Ash can just mention the details to speak to an advisor and If you want to go deeper, we can certainly help with that for uncovering this concept, giving more clarity to the questions that you have, and to see if this is a right fit for you for what you're trying to achieve. Now, going further into this, the natural questions that comes up is, what could this actually look like in real numbers? And we can certainly take an example here. So let's look at an example of somebody starting at age 35. Let's make this more tangible. Now this is a simple example of somebody starting at age 35 and putting about $12,000 a year into the policy. And I just want to be clear here that $12,000 is only an example here. The amount does not have to be $12,000 a year. When these policies are designed, there can be flexibility built into the funding structure. The design should reflect the individual's cash flow goals and what feels comfortable sustainable and meaningful for them, and if it can help build that capacity for them for where they are. In this example, by the end of the first policy year at age 35, since the policy was started at age 35, the illustrated cash value is about $10,300, and the illustrated death benefit is about $296,000. By year 10, the illustrated cash value is about $147,000 and the death benefit is about $607,000. By year 20, the cash value is about $397,000 and the death benefit is just over $1 million. I, I do not want you to get lost into the numbers here. The important thing is to notice the progression. Year 1 looks very different from year 10. Year 10 looks very different from year 20. And year 30— year 20 looks very different from year 30. That is compounding at work without the resets that we spoke about. That is building a financial reservoir that can look like over time, not overnight, not all at once, but gradually. And the point of building that capacity is not simply to admire a number on the page. The point is that over time that value may become useful, and you do not necessarily have to wait for years before the policy can become useful. For example, the way that I designed my own policies that I had for my family, I had access to policy value within weeks. Now that may not look like the same for everyone, but it depends on how the policy is designed. And how much cash value is available. But the important point is that the excess can begin much earlier than many people assume. So the question is not only how much is in the policy; the more useful question is what kind of financial flexibility could this create for me over time? And while that financial capacity is building, there is also life protection, life insurance protection connected to the policy. So you are looking at both financial capacity during life and protection for your loved ones connected to the policy. And just to be clear, this is an example for somebody who's age 35. It could look different for different people, and that's where we can look into your numbers and see how it could work for you. So now that you look, you can see what that reservoir may look like as it builds. The next question becomes, how do you actually use it when life requires money? Let's say someone has big expense, and let's compare two different ways of handling the same $30,000 of expense. And just to be clear here, $30,000 is just an example here. It could be a $2,000 expense for a laptop. $5,000 for an annual, annual property expense, $10,000 for a family vacation, or bigger number, let's say $30,000 for a vehicle renovation or a business need. The number is not really the point here. The question is, what happens to your financial position afterward? On the left-hand side of the screen, you use your saving directly. You build up the savings, the expense comes up, you use the money, and now that financial capacity is lower. As in the poll earlier, many people mentioned that they still have the capacity, but that capacity goes lower. So the pattern becomes use— sorry, save, Use and rebuild. There is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes using savings may be the the best decision, the right decision. I simply want you to notice the pattern here. On the right-hand side, the idea is different. You first build a financial reservoir over time. Then when the need comes. You may have another way to access capital. The expense still gets paid, but instead of automatically draining the reservoir itself, the goal is to keep the system in place and replenish what was used over time and not interrupt the compounding. So in both cases, the expense is handled. The difference is what happens to your financial capacity afterward. Now think about your own life. How many major expenses have you already paid for? And how many more do you think are still ahead of you? This is also where one of the Nelson Nash core teachings become important. The banking function exists in everyone's life. The question is not whether you are doing it. The question is who is controlling that function in your financial life. Now let's have a quick— let me ask you a quick question here and let's have a poll. The last one for this evening. Les, if you can just help me with that. Now that you have heard this, what feels different about how you will think about your next big purchase? There are different options in the poll. Please choose the one that fits your thinking, and no wrong answers here.

All right, Ravi, some answers are starting to come in. 5 people answered so far. That couple of them said, yeah, they'll think about it differently now. And things are still shifting. That's good to see. And quite a few majority people came in thinking about it this way already. That's almost a direct tie, Ravi. Yeah, you got people— 13 people have answered. Yes, I'll think about it differently now, 46%. And I came in already thinking this way at 54%. So it was good engagement, and thanks again everyone for participating. Really appreciate that.

Thank you everyone for participating and Les for helping me with this. Again, there is no right and wrong answer here. I just want you to notice if this— I just want to see if this gives us a reason to shift our thinking for what we have been taught and fed by the mainstream financial knowledge. Think beyond one purchase. Think about all the money you already know is likely to leave your life over the next several years. Think about the recurring expenses that happens every year: property taxes, vehicles, home improvement, education, vacations. If you're a business owner, business expenses. Whatever is relevant in your life, those expenses are probably coming. Anyway, so the question becomes: Could some of that money move through a financial system you are building for yourself before it ultimately goes where it was already going to go? The goal is not to recover every dollar you spend, and it is not to force every expense through the same system. The goal is to retain more financial capacity along the way. And we are not necessarily trying to change what money is used for. We are trying to change what happens before the money goes there. So maybe the more useful question is, when those future expenses come up, Do I want to keep repeating the same financial pattern, or do I want to understand whether there is another way? And this does not certainly mean that every expense should be handled this way. Excessing capital has a cost. Loans need to be managed properly. There has to be discipline when you are using the system. And whether this approach makes sense depends on the person. The cash flow and their situation. That is where having someone help you understand the concept can be useful—not to tell you what to do, but to look at your cash flow, your priorities, the things that are important to you in your life, and the expenses you already know are coming—and then help you understand whether this kind of system actually fits. Into your financial life. And that really brings us back to the core idea: build first, use money intentionally, and try to keep the system moving forward. Now let's bring everything together here. The message today was never you should stop spending money. Life requires money. The question is whether every major use of money has to leave you rebuilding the same financial capacity again. So if there is one idea I want you to remember, it is stop starting over financially. And that does not mean money never leaves us. It means trying to build a capacity first and then using money in a way that may allow the system to keep moving forward. Same money, a different path, and potentially more options over time. Now, some of you may still have a few questions in your mind. You may be thinking, I'm not 35. I don't have $1,000 a month. Why would I borrow if I already have cash? Why wouldn't I just invest instead? And those are all reasonable questions. The age 35 example was just an example here. The $12,000 a year was only an example. Because we had to pick up something to show you the numbers. The amount, the design, and the reason why someone may use this concept can look very different depending on their cash flow, their goals, and their stage of life. Someone in their 30s may use it for a different reason. Someone in their 50s may have a different goal. And a different reason. Someone later in their life may be thinking about something completely different. So the better question is not, am I at a right age, or do I have enough money? The better question is, does this concept fit what I'm trying to accomplish at this stage of my life? And if it does, what could it look like for me? And this is also not about choosing one thing and ignoring everything else. You may still invest along with building your system. You may still keep cash available. You may still use traditional financing when it makes sense. And this may simply become another part of the financial system you're already building. So the question is not, what does this replace? The better question is, where might this fit? And here is one question I want you to leave with. If you keep handling your money exactly the same way for the next 10 years, are you comfortable with where that pattern may take you? And if the answer is yes, that is completely fine. But if part of you is thinking maybe there is another way, I should understand, then that may be worth exploring. We talk to a lot of people and one thing we hear quite often after they understand this concept is, I wish I had known about this sooner. I could see one of the comments in the chat was the same thing. Maybe 5 years earlier, maybe 10 years earlier. Now, none of us can go back, but after today, you have at least been introduced to a different way of thinking about how money flow— money can flow through your life in a different way. What you do with that information is completely up to you. You may want to explore it further. You may decide that it is not a right fit for you, and that's totally fine. Either way, the decision is yours. And if you're curious, this is where one of the advisors on our team can help. Think of it as a coaching conversation. We help you understand this concept. We look at your cash flow, your priorities, what you are trying to accomplish. And the other thing that you may already be doing financially, then we help you understand where this concept may fit into that bigger picture. And there is no cost for that initial conversation. The purpose is education and clarity, and then you decide what you want to do next. So I'll ask one of my teammates to put in the booking information in the chat now. And if you would like to explore it further, you can book a conversation with one of the advisors on our team and understand this concept well. And all of our— all of the advisors that we have, we use this concept in our lives as well. So we not only teach it, we, we live it, we use it. And if you decide to implement the process, the education does not stop there. There is ongoing support, education through our client portal, and coaching to help you understand how to use the system over time. Because the value is not simply having a tool, it is understanding how to use it well. With that, I would like to thank you all for spending this time with me, and I hope you leave looking at the flow of your money a little differently. And if one idea stays with you, let it be this: stop starting over financially. And with that, let's open for the Q&A and would like to answer the questions that you have. And your question may be helpful for somebody else as well. If one of my teammates can jump in and see if there are any questions and we can answer those.

Well, I think you did a really good job, Ravi, of doing that because there was no questions in the Q&A and there doesn't appear to be any questions in the chat box. So well done, I suppose.

I would just like to ask everyone, was it a good use of your time? Did you learn something new here? Yes, big time. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Not a question, but I agree. I have used the system. That's good, David. It's not about just having the tool. It's about how you use it and implement in your life. So good for you that you are using this system. All right, if there are no questions, I will like to give you this time, this evening back to all of you, and hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. And book a call with one of the advisors here. And we can certainly give you more clarity about this concept and map it to your situation. Thank you, everyone.