A Gold Handcuffs Escape: From Attorney to Financial Freedom

You get to a point where when you're so far in, the golden handcuffs are on.

Today's guest is Neil Dietrich. He started as an attorney and then he did something that most attorneys don't do. He walked away from certainty. An exceptional, authorized infinite banking practitioner, a leader of people on our team.

Infinite Banking is the most compelling argument I've ever come across in my life. This isn't about selling, it's about educating. The learning and the support is unparalleled. I chose this career because I wanted to bet on myself. If I've done this right, I've passed the knowledge, not the policies, the money or anything like that. I pass the knowledge down over the generations.

All right, welcome back to wealth on Main street, the show where money finally leaves the ivory tower and takes off the suit and learns how real people actually live, work and build wealth. And today's guest is one of our favorites and especially the story, the story that leads up to where we are today with Neil. Because on paper, the math and the path don't really make a whole lot of sense. He started as an attorney trained to argue spot risk, protect people from worst case scenarios, lots of billable hours, precedent, fine print or maybe salary, can't remember. And then he did something that most attorneys don't do. He walked away from certainty. And he joined our team at Ascendant Financial, not as the expert, not as the finished product, but as a student of a better way to think about money and control. And since that time, he's grown into a trusted teammate. An exceptional, authorized infinite banking practitioner, a leader of people on our team and inside our organization. He's no longer someone who's just getting started. He's frankly someone that I would encourage all of you to pay attention to. And so today we're talking with Neil Dietrich about reinvention, about why people sometimes choose a different path and pursue a different career. And what happens when legal thinking meets long range wealth thinking. And so if you've ever wondered, is there more for me than the path I'm already on, or if you're curious about what happens when someone trained to see risk learns how to see opportunity as well, you're in the right place. And so let's get to it. Neil, welcome to the show.

Holy smokes. Jason, the checks in the mail. That's quite the intro. Thanks so much.

You like that, huh? Well, take us back for a moment. What did life look like when you were practicing law and what was quietly missing that most people wouldn't have seen?

You know, it's interesting. So I was, I was a government counsel for a Crown attorney or crown counsel for my 16 years. Thirteen was doing the criminal prosecution. So always worked for, for the man.

Right.

The government. And, and it was, I learned a lot. It was a rewarding career. A lot of got to work with a lot of great people. But you know you get to a point where just the way the government is structured, they have certain objectives and you know, do those align, do those continue to align with your value system?

Right.

And so you know fighting the good fight, which I always felt and helping victims out, that always resonated with me. But there, there something like there felt like there was a shift in some of the values maybe post pandemic objectives and, and I was at that point so I was going back here probably about 42. And you get to a point when you, you know any public sector employee can sort of resonate with this. You get to a point where when you're so far in the golden handcuffs are on. And they weren't quite on me yet. Right. Where you go, oh I only got five years to go, right. I, I had, I still had, I had to work till I was 60 and I was 42. So I'm like I still have enough Runway here. And I became a client of Ascendance in I want to say 2020 or early 2021. And I you know implemented this, the process of becoming my own banker, started building out my family banking system. And I'm a, you guys know, I'm a passionate guy. Yeah. And so I was telling people about it, got my family members involved in.

That one showing up at every single webinar that we put on quite a few.

Yeah. And it happens. And it wasn't until my brother in law said to me so when are you going to start doing this? Ah, like well what are you talking about? And, and then my advisor said it to me, when are you going to come and join our team? Like well you know, I got this law thing going on.

Right.

But you know that planted some seeds and those seeds obviously found some fertilizer and grew a little bit more in my mind and I, I couldn't see what I didn't know at the time. But you know then you guys had that event, you had that event in. It was October 2023 I believe came out to Edmonton. That was a big do I go to the event? Do I pay for the plane ticket? And my good friend who's now colleague Ron Esteban, him and I were like, we talked each Other into it. We came out and started with Ascendant six months later. So, yeah, it's. It's been a great ride. It's just. I love that. Absolutely love that.

And how did your. How did your legal background, like, initially help you as an advisor? So when you saw the process, you caught it, you began to implement it within your family, and you're speaking about it with other family members, and you're learning more as you see more. But what about your legal background initially helped you as an advisor? And what surprised you most once you started sort of really grasping this process through the lens of an advisor?

I'm going to go back a little bit further because I think there's a funny story to unpack here. I. When I first was listening to you guys on the podcast as a. As a prospective client, so if we want to think of my legal background, I was listening to the two of you, and, you know, I was surprised by what I was hearing because it was new as a paradigm shift, and I didn't want to talk to Ascendant. So what I did, using my legal background is tracked down a couple of the guests through LinkedIn, through Facebook, and I spoke to them first.

Oh, wow.

That is so good.

Shout out to Sean Summers. You know, that was one of the guys I talked to.

Did he ask you for any bitcoin?

Yeah, yeah. If anyone's in Niagara, you can attend Sean's bitcoin meetup group.

Exactly.

Right.

Great guy. You know, Iron Bank, I think, is what he calls his bank.

Right?

Yeah. And so I didn't talk to you guys. I was like, you know, crown attorney, super skeptical. Right. So I'm like, I'm gonna talk to somebody who has no vested interest, who doesn't know me, who. Who. No vested interest. Let's just have a canon conversation, right? Yeah. And fast forward five years. Here I am on the podcast.

That is so amazing.

I love that. But. But just to kind of unpack the advisor part. So that's a client piece, right. And. And sort of seeing it. And, you know, as. As counsel, you're looking for compelling arguments. What's a compelling argument? And how do you box somebody else in the other side in? Right. So I was trying to find the flaw or the flaws, and I was turning over every stone and reading and going back and forth. Jason, you might remember you sent me a text, don't major in the minors. Yeah. And so I do remember that. So I was doing that back and forth. I obviously became a client. You know, I got in the pool and I started swimming, which is so important. But then as an advisor it was like, well, I've never done sales in my life, right. I have no sales background, not even like I didn't even work retail as like a student, right. And I got here and I was working and then I realized I've been doing sales for a long time because you have to craft really good and compelling arguments in court. And this isn't about persuading anybody, it's mostly about teaching or I think it's completely about teaching.

And.

This is at the risk of this sounding a little hokey. Infinite Banking is the most compelling argument I've ever come across in my life. It just when you understand it properly and you put on the noise canceling headphones that Nelson teaches us about and you stop listening to somebody who says, I can sell you insurance. That's not what we're doing here. Right. You need a coach. And so my skills as counsel is to develop, was to develop compelling arguments to relate to people, understand, really unpack what they're thinking about and show them shine a light on the banking system that they have and its positives and it's overwhelming negatives versus what, how we can help them with their objectives. And they're going to decide, we're going to bring them to a point of clarity. We're going to get them confident in whatever decision they make. There's not going to be any pressure. This isn't about selling, it's about educating. I wasn't sold into ibc, I was educated on it and I made a confident decision about it. Both to become a client and to become an advisor.

Very well put.

Okay, so you want to keep the.

Wealth in the family. I get it. I hear you. Me too.

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I think that's interesting, Neil, and I love the context because, I mean, we, we all know a lot of legal professionals, but not that many of them actually really get that court experience. There's a lot of people who do various types of law, a lot of times in papers and contracts, but not so much in the courtroom. So you've got a different vantage point. And I'm curious, you know, thinking about this, because when you have that court experience, you're trying to win the case for your client, for your, that you have that intention. It's. There's really a win lose situation. And that, you know, that, that differentiator versus coming here to this world where no one is a client, you had that perspective of, you know, being cautious, being careful. I want to know all the facts and all the information. And now you can probably see that in people who have maybe a similar experience, and they're, they're trying to unpack and look for those flaws like you identified. But there's no win or lose situation here. It's just like you get the education and you make it. You make a choice. You get the empowerment to make a choice. Do you want to proceed? Do you not want to proceed? Do you want to do this? Do you not want to do this? If you don't want to do it now, that's fine. Maybe a year from now you'll change your mind because your life has changed.

Absolutely. And just speaking on that choice, I was thinking about this the other day. We all have people that in our lives that we rely on for advice and counsel in different areas. And so when somebody who's new is coming across this concept, they may turn to somebody in their life, like an accountant or a financial advisor that maybe they have some stocks with. And that's fine. It's no problem. But it's interesting because in the legal system, when you bring in an expert into court, there is a legal requirement, there's a test that that expert has to meet to be able to give evidence, to be able to tell the court about certain things in their zone of expertise. And they can't, they can't go outside of their lane. They're not allowed to. Okay. And so one of the things that I've been sort of seeing is it's important that if you are listening to people out who are not authorized Infinite bank bank banking practitioners, that you understand what they can do for you, or are they veering outside of their, their lane of expertise. Right. I, I'm not an Accountant. I have some cursory understanding of the Income Tax Act. Whenever I tell people about this is my understanding of how it may work. Please confirm that with your accountant that they're the expert. I couldn't get qualified in court as, as an expert in tax. That wouldn't happen. I don't have the credentials. And it's really important that any, when people are trying to come to clarity that on the infinite banking concept that they are listening to somebody who has been actually trained in how to implement the process. Because, you know, I, I, you know, that's the way my mind works. Would the person you're listening to be able to be legally qualified as an expert in court to give an opinion evidence about what you're asking them about? If they're not, should you be listening to them?

That's logical. That makes perfect sense. And it's interesting to me in speaking to any of our teammates through where they are in their journey, conversations that they've had with prospective clients, with existing clients. And I'll ask you the same. What, what do you hear often from prospective clients or existing clients that remind you why this work matters?

It's coming from a place of compassion, which is always important. But when I see, and I'm not so much sure it's necessarily that I'm hearing it from clients or prospective clients, but I could see that if, if they had a bad day or a, like a bad event in their life, we always see those GoFundMe campaigns and those, those come from, you know, people who care and compassion and looking after one another. And that's really important. But I think about what if we could get rid of those because everybody has built a system that is built out for those scenarios, right. That like you, like Nelson always says it, you know, money shows up when it's needed most.

Right.

And we don't have to, we don't have to worry about that. And there are some clients with that, their understanding. I can tell that they're trying to make ends meet and they're, they're one bad day or they're one bad week about from having a GoFundMe campaign. And you know, my other job as counsel is we would try to help victims. But I can tell you not everybody wants your help. Right? I think most, the overwhelming amount of people that come to us, they're curious and they're either struggling with their problem or trying to attain a goal. They actually, every single one of them, I think in some way, deep down wants our help. They might not be able to articulate it. They may have some shields up, some emotional shields or misunderstandings up that prevent us from helping them. That happens. But I would say that, that it's, it's those people who are just trying to, they're working, they're saving, but they're not getting ahead. And they're one bad day from, from having a GoFundMe campaign. And I think that's why, why our work really matters.

Well, interestingly enough, the insurance industry, and specifically the life and health category of insurance, was created essentially as the original GoFundMe. It is, its entire baseline is people who care about their loved ones and their communities banding together with a pooled resource, well managed to solve exactly those problems. And, and I think it's interesting how many people have a negative connotation with insurance and yet you. That would be the same person you would see put the GoFundMe together. We can literally solve all those problems with the stroke of a pen and an approved application. It's just a matter of people having the desire and a little bit of the knowledge base to make that happen. And so if you're a person listening on this and you've seen those GoFundMes, maybe you've even helped initiate them for someone, you know, make sure it's clear that they understand they can choose another path by planting some seeds today that can bear truly tremendous fruit at various stages of their life based on putting those things in place.

It's interesting, Richard, and I can't say I've done the research to know if there's a link or not. But you guys know I live here in Kitchener, Ontario, Right. And Kitchener, Waterloo. Waterloo region, it's, it's kind of like ground zero for insurance in Canada. Right. And I don't know if there's a link. I wouldn't be surprised. But we also have, and we have had for years, centuries, probably a large Mennonite and Amish community. And that comes together when tragedy strikes and, you know, builds out. When the barn burns down. The community comes together. And I don't think it's a coincidence in this community that we have all the big insurance companies, because I feel like this community here has been coming together for centuries to help one another out. And so I don't know if that's a coincidence, but there's definitely that, a streak of compassion. And I, I want to believe it's tied to why the insurance industry has cropped up so heavily here in Waterloo region.

Oh, I bet it is. And when you, you Know when you referenced earlier and your brother in law had said, when are you gonna, when are you gonna do this? Like when? And you're like, what, what are you, what are you talking about? You know, obviously firsthand, I mean we have, we have standards here at Ascendant around how we educate, how we develop a deep understanding of what the people we work with and the people we want to work with truly value as clients. But how would you, and I'm genuinely curious, like how would you describe the culture to someone to the next Neil whose brother in law says why don't you consider doing this? And you find Ascendant. How would you describe the culture to somebody considering being a part of our team?

How would you like to see a.

91 year case study that we put together to explain how this infinite banking thing can work for a family over two generations?

Well, you know what?

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There's so many words that pop into my head and it's not and like the first word and this isn't like the collegiality of it, right. I wanted to say brotherhood, but that's not the right word. We, you know, we got everybody here and it, it, it's, you know, I, I chose this career because I wanted to bet on myself. You can't really kind of bet on yourself when you're working in the public sector because you can work 10 times as hard as the guy beside you. And if you started the same year, you get in the same pay. Right. This was, I got to bet on myself, but then I got to work with teammates who all of them are striving for higher things and better things, but not at my expense. We're doing it together, we're locking arms together and we're building out goals, mutual goals together. And it's, it's very much like a team first mentality here with supported, with incredible education. Right. So I mean, you know, we have all there were you could, when you get into this career, there's other paths you can take.

Absolutely.

I've seen other people do it right around the same time I chose to come here. And like, I think, I mean not that I've taken all these other paths, but my perspective is, is the, the learning and the support is unparalleled. I don't know where else you do that? I mean I was not going to switch careers and go out on my own and hang out my own shingle to become, to sell insurance. Like that was, that is like a not. That's a non starter, right? I didn' know the first, I shouldn't say, I don't know the first thing about it, but you know what I mean, like no, that wasn't happening. I came here because of the culture, because of the community, because of the support that I could grow into the type of advisor that I, I hope I'm becoming. Right.

So serious to unpack that a little bit further. Neil, thinking about like you mentioned support, there's a sport obviously for you in the business structure and, and how that assists you to be able to, to thrive and grow. What is it, what is the reference point or what does it look like to you when you think about the support that is created for the clients that you now serve? You were in that position once and now you're in, in the position of making sure that people have access to those things. So what comes up for you when.

You think of that selfishly in a way like as an advisor, there's so many things that aren't on my plate that then can, you know, for the client. So for example, if I was a one man or four man or eight man show or whatever it is, you know, we've got the client portal, We've got the YouTube channel, we have people who are, their wheelhouse is doing applications, they're really good at that. So I'm not a jack of all trades here. And so at every stage of the client experience you're dealing with an expert in that area. It's not Neil Dietrich, you know, support staff Neil Dietrich enforce servicing, doing applications, doing marketing, doing like that's not what I do. Right. And so that allows me to be a much better advisor, much more focused advisor. Right. And, and I think the clients at every stage they're getting, they're getting the expert at every stage and, and those people are burnt out from wearing 17 hats, you know, so. And just the track record too. Like, like when I say like that the client portal, I mean that is such a gem. And, and the other thing is the team too, right? So there's what, 30 of us or so now, Hey, I run into this situation, I reach out to another advisor, hey, yeah, I ran into that situation to be on the lookout for this.

Right.

So you're leaning on whether you don't have two or three people on the team. We have a team of 30 here, right across. How many. What do we got? Are we licensed in all 10 provinces, give or take.

We're coast to coast in Canada and the United States. We're cumulatively, we're 61 now.

Incredible. Right? And. And there you go. Right. So. So, yeah, I think that, that that really serves the client and for them to be. What's going to be better? Me trying to explain something about how dividends work or me sending them a video of you two guys who have a combined, what, 30 years in the industry plus riffing on it for an hour? How much more. How much more value are they going to get?

Right?

So I just. I tap you guys on the shoulder all the time. You just don't realize I'm doing it.

We feel it. And that's great.

Thank you.

If we were. Because we talk a lot about building, you know, building a bigger future, helping our clients build a future that's bigger than their past. And that speaks to the ongoing education, the quarterly group client coaching, the client portal, these resources that are now online in perpetuity. And so if we were sitting down, the three of us, and we were recording an episode, and it was January 16, 2032, what are we talking about?

That's a ascendant financial Europe. I don't like. You know, like, it's just. It's so, like, the. The possibilities are endless. I. I think. I think we're. I can't even. I can't even put that in a box, Jason, because I've just seen where this company has gone. Like, I ascended, started in 2019, and I came on as a client late 2020, early 2021. And I think when you guys, when I came on, I think you had about six advisors, you know, but for the client experience, I mean, I don't want to spill any beans, Jason, because I know there's a lot coming, but suffice to say, I think you can hold the experience in the palm of your hand, perhaps.

Ah, yes.

Right.

You know where AI.

The foreshadowing award goes to Neil Dietrich today.

Love it. Oh, that's so good.

I. I can't put my finger on any one thing other than we're gonna keep building on this trajectory and. And we're gonna keep building out that 10%.

When you think about everything you unpack for us, Neil, if you were to. I'm curious, what surprised you? You know, you. You do your research. You're. You're a. You're a know all the details kind of guy.

Yeah.

And You.

You.

You basically looked at everything like you were giving Ascendant Financial the equivalent of a proctology exam before you became an advisor.

So there's an image.

So what did you. What surprised you after making the decision to go get licensed and to start the process of getting trained? I'm just curious, is there anything that.

Comes to mind, Full disclosure here. When I was a client, I was perhaps not as engaged with some of the strategies. And I may have been one of those guys in the. In the beginning that was owning a policy. Maybe I took a policy loan here and there. I wasn't really implementing the process. So when I came here and I really had my eyes opened to all the different strategies, I think that is what surprised me.

And.

And I had. It was interesting. I had a good exchange late last year with a. We'll just call him a prominent realtor. Okay. And you guys know him. But we were having a conversation, and he was. He's. He's had. He's had some time difficulty kind of really wrapping his head around it. But I think what came out of that conversation was he said, you know, if there's one thing I'm taking away from this discussion, it's. It's. It's not about insurance or the product. It's about, you gotta have a really good coach on this. And, you know, maybe. Maybe I didn't have the right kind of coaching, you know, and so when I came and I really saw the different types of coaching, the different strategies, I mean, any. Anybody can go and get their license to sell life insurance. That's. That's not what we're doing here. Right. We're building strategies to deliver value and what people truly value in their lives and. And see how we can fit in this concept around that to enhance it. And so that, I think that was what surprised me of the rope wrote the most, was the array of different strategies and the problem solving. And, you know, Harken, back to my old career, you had to be a good. You had to be a crafty problem solver to make a compelling argument. So I, you know, I think that's what dovetails a lot here is. Was, yeah, the array of different strategies we have here to. To meet people's needs.

That's great. And you, as I mentioned earlier in the show opener, like you. You didn't come into ascendant as a. As a leader, a team leader. You earned that. And so what, you know, how did responsibility change you as a professional? Once you had team members that started to look up to you for leadership.

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You know, they say iron sharpens iron, right? So it's interesting because I'm, I'm, I'm still newer in my journey as an advisor, right. And, and so the people that are surrounding me in my pod are of a similar vintage to me.

Right.

And so one of the things that was never going to happen in my pod structure with other advisors was me sitting up on a pulpit saying, this is how it's done. You know, do I lead the discussion?

Sure.

Am I a little long winded too many times?

Sure.

But it was, it was learning to lean on each other and learning to spotlight when somebody had a good or bad experience and what do we learn from it? Right. So you know, my coach always said to me, he said, you want to be a better advisor teach. And so there was an opportunity there in the middle of last year to, to. And I wasn't sure about it, but it, it's, it's working. I feel like it's working out well and, and it keeps me accountable every day leading those, those pod, pod meetings and, and just helping build out ascendant. And it's just that chance to interact and, and see people grow. And it's really pretty fun to see somebody have that next breakthrough or get to that next step and have that aha.

Moment.

Moment. And to learn collectively, like that's the other thing. If you're out on your own or there's one or two people, you only have that many experiences. But if you're in a group of six or seven people plus the rest of our team, you know, it's iron sharpens iron. So I think that's what's really helped.

Spoken like a leader. And you know, we, I believe, I mean just in, in what we see and how people grow here as, as teammates and, and we share this because people who are listening and who are watching, if you, if you, if you understood the value of coaching and you said, look, if, if I'm going to do something, I want to do it extremely well. I want to have a good coach. If you understand the environment that that coach comes from and the fact that we really place a high degree of responsibility on each other as teammates. And that has a direct impact on confidence, it has a direct impact on results, on capability. And so, Neil, if you think along the lane of accountability, so what does accountability look like here compared to maybe other environments that you've experienced?

I'm chuckling because you say accountability in other environments and I only work for the government, so that's why I'm chuckling. Although I, you know, there's accountability on the criminal court side when somebody gets, you know, found guilty and sentenced and so on and so forth. But in the working, the HR sense of it, you know, the accountability is not, oh, you know, you didn't meet this quota and therefore, you know, you're going to be dis. That's not what happens here.

Right.

What we do is we set out our vision for the year ahead. People craft that, then we collectively craft it as a pod. And there are metrics that we follow. And it's, and it's really just the people who are here want to be coached up. They want, they want to get better, they want that next level. If you just want to put the golden handcuffs on and skate into retirement, keeps, keep skating. Right? That's not the environment we're building here. Right. We're building one where it's mutual accountability. And then it's, if people aren't hitting what they're trying to hit, it's understanding, hey, what's going on? You know, where can, where do we support you? Like, do we need to build out this different capability? Because we can see you're getting to A and B, you're having trouble getting from B to C, right? So what do we have? Where do we do the coaching? You know, do you want to do some shadowing? Should I shadow you? Figure that piece out and let's break through that next barrier together, right? So it's kind of that mutual accountability. And nobody is saying Here, you know, Mr. Advisor, A, you have to be serving 200 people a year or whatever it is. We're going to set our goals. People need to feed their families. I understand that, of course. And we're going to collectively be accountable. And we have these meetings, really they're accountability meetings at least once a week, right? So it's not like, oh, it's July 1st and I'm only, I'm not halfway to my goal. I'm only 30% of my goal. What went wrong? I used to run track and field and, and I. One of the events I did was the 400 meter. And my coach, who he was one of the Canadian Olympic coaches that went to Seoul in 1988. He's got a picture of Ben Johnson in his basement. And we would run the 400, and I would say, coach, are you going to get my 200 split? And he. He'd look at me. He was an English man, Peter Manning, rest in peace. And he would look at me and he'd say, no, Neil, the race is half over by then. I'm gonna get your 100 split because we're only a quarter of the way in and we can do something about it then. Are you accelerating fast? Are you going quick enough?

Right?

And so, you know, it's that. It's accountability like that that we have here, but it's. It's. It's at like the 5% mark and the 10. Like, it's, it's very. But it's. But it's driven by an advisor's desire to achieve. It's not. It's a. It's very much. They set out the carrot. There's no sticks around here.

Amen to that. And I'm, you know, I'm curious, and I know the listeners and viewers are too. What do you want the listeners and viewers to know about you?

It's funny, because I'd like you guys to see my office, right? So it's a room in my home, and. And so I wear my heart on my sleeve, and there'll be times where I'll come down for dinner and my wife will be like, who are you yelling at? I didn't think it was I yelling. So I will get. I get. So I get very passionate as a passionate counsel, and I will get passionate in meetings because I want people to have full clarity. And sometimes that, you know, I hope it doesn't, but sometimes it can be like, I'm a little intense, right? And it's because I'm all in on this. Like, I'm. I did not walk away from a career in law to sell life insurance. I'm drawn to the value system that this can create for people and the values that ascend. Ascribes to. And so I get worked up about helping people learn. And I'm not trying to. I'm not trying to bully anybody or anything like that. It's just. That's sort of who I am. And. And I love working with people who are passionate about. About this. And so that. That's one thing. I'm. I'm a big sports fan. I don't work Saturdays or Sundays. Those are my family days.

And.

And so when people are like, oh, can you meet Saturday? That's one thing I don't do. But, yeah, my background is in sports and law and family. And I will always go all in for my clients. Like, I. I'm a passionate guy and so I always say, you know, I can't want it more than you to my clients or to my prospects. So, you know, if you're not interested in reading the book, you're not interested in learning, probably not going to be a good fit. So I would say that please don't, don't take any offense if I come on a little strong. I'm just a passionate guy. And I think, I think maybe to find people in the financial space who are truly passionate about their work, I think that's pretty rare. I would agree.

Well, as someone who's also been known to increase the level of octaves in a conversation, I fully resonate and understand what you're talking about, Neil. I'm a bit of a hand talker and so sometimes you can see the hands rising up in the camera. It's like, what was that movie again, Jason with the Wolfra? Like, what am I supposed to be doing with my hands? So I really do appreciate that and I think that people respect and appreciate that, although there's a degree of maybe being unaccustomed to it because they probably haven't had that experience before. And so I think that that's a good thing and people should have the opportunity to have a new experience when they're engaging with someone in an advisory role. And what's beautiful about what you're saying and what I see about that passion, Neil, is that on the other side of that passion is a family who's about to be protected. And you're advocating for what you know can help their family in a way that you can see and sometimes they can't see. So I think it's important for people to recognize that sometimes that coach, that person, the coach that's watching the plays on the field, they're seeing little things that you could do about how to move this way, move that way, change your stride, update this, that's going to make you more efficient, make you score more goals, make. Make you be a better athlete, and that's why you have coaches in your corner. The same thing applies to your financial life. And that's really the position that you're in, Neil, and I think you're doing an exceptional job at it.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

I would concur. It's every time, every time that One of our new business teammates shout out to all of our new business teammates. You work tirelessly with no expectation of any spotlight or credit and you do an exceptional job for all of us. And when we get notification that a policy is in force, that it is settled, we just helped someone be a hero to their family. And when people listen and watch us talk about the infinite banking concept, all the advantages that it represents while people are alive, and all the wonderful elements of control in terms of how you finance the things that you need throughout your lifetime, the interest that you recapture that you would have otherwise paid to someone else's bank, someone else's finance company. The death benefits associated with these insurance contracts have merit. And we've had to on over these years, both Rich and I, many of our teammates have had to deliver what would otherwise be a disproportionate number of death benefits given that we now have 6700 plus, maybe closer to 6800 now plus heroes across North America, every now and then someone's going to die. And when that happens, we have to honor and fulfill that duty of care. And we haven't had a single family ever say to us that they had hoped that the check was for less money and that it was income taxable. And so we, we, we get excited. And as Neil mentioned, you know, sometimes he can be intense in his way in helping someone get to clarity. Not as a method of twisting someone's arm, backing them into a corner and trying to convince them, but to help them to really think about their thinking. Not Neil's, not mine, not Richard's, but their own thinking. And so Neil, as you, you know, continue your journey of, of serving others and creating heroes, where do you find the most fulfillment in that, in, in that element of the process? Where do you find the most fulfillment?

Hey, I like free stuff. I hope you like free stuff.

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You know, it'd be 10 years since I lost my dad and that was what set me on this new path. And you know, my, my family was, they were okay, but they had life insurance, right, and went through that process. And I've heard other teammates stories and other clients stories. So I kind of, I kind of tie back to a piece of that GoFundMe again. Right. And, and also, you know, I think it's, I think it's also just being able to see people that after three or four years, they see how this system is working. It's, it's, it's enhancing for them.

And.

Knowing that they're taken care of. You know, in the old, in the, my previous career, it was like, okay, the bad guy went away for a period of time. But that didn't, that didn't, that didn't bring back somebody who had been killed. That didn't, that didn't heal the victim. Right. It gave them, it gave them maybe closure of a court process, but it didn't, it didn't make them whole, didn't make them right. And that's not to say when we lose somebody, a big windfall of cash is going to make them right. But as like I like to say to clients, when you're grieving and you're a wreck emotionally, the last thing we want is for you to be a wreck financially. Right. And so for me, that, that has a lot of meaning. It has a lot of value. It has something that I can, like a tangible benefit. I can see to my clients separate apart from the whole banking piece, you know, and so, and, and just the other, if I can just speak about this, it's gonna happen. It's not this buy term and invest, the different investments. Right. That's not what we're doing here. We're protecting families for generations. And those are, that's again, a noise canceling headphone moment.

Right?

That's, that's, I think, getting people away from the noise so they can actually live their lives, you know, on their terms. And, and, and, and see some familiar and have that protection and just sleeping better. You know, I think that's, that's a long winded answer, but that's really where I see it's a, it's, there's a lot of things at play here.

It's interesting to see how much time and effort people will put on planning and preparing for unknowns and how little time and effort they do to planning for the knowns. And so I, I appreciate what you shared there, Neil. And obviously you've talked a great deal about your past, your history, your, your legal background, where you are today. You know, you used to be, you know, again, I don't imagine that any judge would have appreciated you showing up in a cape to a courtroom to deliver, you know, your closing argument. But you know, the. When you would win a case and the bad guy would go to jail because of your efforts, I suspect a victim looked at you like a hero. And your clients are probably looking at you the same way with the value of the coaching that you provide. But really what we want to know is who do you most want to be at your own, too?

I mean, I think it's sort of a two answer, right? So I know you would ask clients this that came on the show, and then you'd ask advisors. So I'm going to answer on both fronts, if that's okay.

Absolutely.

So obviously my clients, right. I mean, I'm passionate about this. I want to help them build out their system so they can protect their family and really take back financial control. And so having listened to this podcast quite a bit, I've thought about it on the. On the personal side a bit. And my answer is to my great grandchildren. So I had a family banking meeting two days ago, and if I've done this right, I've passed the knowledge, not the policies or the money or anything like that. I've passed the knowledge down over the generations.

And.

And so if I've done it right, my great grandchildren will know this system. They will learn it, they will use it properly, and it will be so much more expansive than it is today. So if I can do it right, I'll be a hero to them if I can, you know, build out the next 30, 40, 50 years with the knowledge base to my kids and my grandkids. Because I. Who knows, I might not even meet my great grandkids. You never know, right? But that's who I'm targeting.

That's outstanding. Outstanding. And so to all our viewers and listeners, Neil's story. Neil, it was great having you. We're definitely and understandably and obviously going to have you back. Neil's story is. It's a reminder. It's a reminder that growth doesn't happen by accident and that there's no destination or landing spot for. For your capabilities. And when I say growth doesn't happen by accident, I mean that it happens in environments that. That require it. And ascendant isn't a place where teammates come to coast. It's a place where they come to be sharpened and to be challenged and to grow their capabilities greater than what they were than when they arrived. And so if. If today's conversation gave you some insight into what's possible when the right person meets the right environment, then don't let that curiosity stop here. Make sure that you're subscribing to wealth on Main Street. If you're watching on YouTube, follow the trail. Watch the next video that YouTube's recommending because the algorithm might know something about where your thinking needs to go next. And so we'll see you in the next episode. And until then, guys, and to all our listeners and viewers, keep learning, keep questioning, and never underestimate the power of the right environment.

End of that.