Why You Never Feel in Control of Your Money (And What to Do)

The financial system has been separating you from your money since its inception. They convince you repeatedly that they can do a better job with it than you can. Within the traditional banking system, all your money is always in the trunk of someone else's car. However, we believe your money should be in your trunk with you as the driver. You should be in the position of total and absolute control. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme or mechanism. Investment strategy of any kind. Rather, this is all about how you will finance the things you need in life.

Hey everybody, it's Richard Canfield here. I want to introduce you to an awesome new series that we're excited to share with you on Wealth on Main Street. One of our incredible advisors, Mike Smella, has been doing something I really respect. He's been going through our book Cash Follows the Leader, and he's going through it chapter by chapter, and he's sharing his own notes, his insights, his highlights. Man, does he have a lot of highlights. The key observations fundamentally that stood out for him as he read through this book. And he's done it with a number of books. We're excited about launching some of these series because Mike, not only is he a great reader, he's a great observer. And sharing those observations so that you can get a fresh take on this incredible content is really valuable. Now, this isn't just a summary. It's really more of a breakdown and the perspective of someone who's actually applying this in their own life and who's also sharing this with other people. And so he's having those interactions on a regular basis. He's also got a breadth of life experience, and it's really helpful to get his journey and through his eyes as someone who's had a lot of time in both blue-collar work, running multiple businesses, and helping people where they like to be helped, right there at the kitchen table. So, Mike's a great guy, and I think you're going to get a lot of value with this. Now, if you're reading the book yourself, and we really think this will help deepen your understanding, or if you want to go through the book again and follow along, that's a great way to do it. Make sure as you go through the series, you leave a comment below on something that really connected with you from what Mike had to share in his observation or something that you took away from the book yourself. So with that, let's go ahead and jump right in to Cash Follows the Leader chapter by chapter with Mike Smella.

Hi, welcome to day 2 of Cash Follows the Leader book study. For those that don't know, Jason Lowe and Richard Canfield Um, they are both from— well, actually, Jason is the founder of Ascendant Financial, um, the most respected infinite banking education firm in Canada, and now fortunately moving into the US. And I am very, very honored to be one of the coaches for Ascendant in the US. Um, the book is available through Amazon or through ascendantfinancial.com. Richard and Jason are also— they have a podcast, Wealth on Main Street podcast, and the Banker's Vault as well. So go ahead and put those on your list or check into that too. So today we're going to talk— we're going to go into Chapter 1, which is the overview. So imagine walking into your local bank and the manager is waiting to greet you. She smiles and says, oh, I'm so glad you're here. We've been waiting to assist you with having access to more money on demand, on your terms, and without sacrificing any compound interest. After all, you should be the person in a position of total control here, not us. There's only one scenario and place that that could ever play out, and that is in one's imagination. The reality, however, is much different. The financial system has been separating you from your money since its inception. A primary focus is to convince you to deposit your money into their funds and accounts and leave it there for decades while they get to put your money to work, multiply it, and maintain control. The longer someone else has all your money, the more money someone else makes— loses. And how do they get you to give up control of your money? Well, they've convinced you to repeatedly— they convince you repeatedly that they can do a better job with it than you can. Combine that with empty promises, fees, fees, and more fees, access restrictions, costly penalties, It all supports their objective to keep your money within their control. So it's not your fault. This all flies in the face of how in our first book, or their first book, the Amazon bestseller, Canadian's Guide to Wealth Building Without Risk, we discussed maintaining control of your money as essential to financial freedom and security. I'm going to read that again. Maintaining control of your money is essential to financial freedom and security. So if you haven't read that book, we encourage you to read the— take the opportunity and do that. Okay. This is all about control, folks. It's critical that you develop a deep understanding of the power of control. Think about control in terms of driving a car. When you're behind the wheel, you decide where to go. But if you're a passenger, you'll wind up wherever the driver takes you. Just like in this right there. This might not be a bad thing in a car, but it's not so good financially. Within the traditional banking system, all your money is always in the trunk of someone else's car. However, we believe your money should be in your trunk. With you as the driver. You should be in the position of total and absolute control. Enter our late mentor, the R. Nelson Nash, and the author of the book entitled Becoming Your Own Banker and the creator of the Infinite Banking Concept. If you've heard our podcast, watched us on YouTube, or read our books, then you're aware of how Nelson Nash recommends you become the banker in your life the lives of your family members, your business, if you're a business owner. It all begins with a clear understanding of the problem that we all face and then recognizing the solution that Nelson developed. The solution is based on a process and the way that we think about money flowing through our hands over our lifetime. To implement this process effectively, We tap into the power of one of the oldest and most stable financial tools on the planet. This tool is a dividend-paying participating whole life insurance policy or a system of policies, ideally from a mutual insurer, placing you in the driver's seat as the co-owner of the life insurance company. Now just think about that for a minute.

Hey, it's Richard here. We're talking about Cash Follows the Leader, led through by Mike Smella. Great observations that we're hearing. If you want to grab a copy because you don't have one, head over to CashFollows.com. That's CashFollows.com.

You create and develop a policy or a system of policies of which you control, you own, you have access to, and you are a co-owner of the insurance company, meaning whenever they create additional profits, they don't pay it to somebody on Wall Street or their investors. Who do they pay it to? You as a co-owner. That's huge. Yes, this powerful tool can put you in the driver's seat where you control how you go about financing the things you need throughout your life. Such as investments, homes, commercial property, vehicles, appliances, business equipment, and personal business overhead. And we're not describing the use of a single policy. On the contrary, when you implement this process in your own life, you will build up a system of policies incrementally and gradually over a period of time, and each policy in your system will be used to further control the banking function as it relates to both you and your family's needs. Here's the cash— the crash course on the basic components of the tool. A dividend-paying participating whole life policy accumulates both cash value and total death benefit. Both components rise throughout the lifetime of a policy. The total cash value increases daily, and the total death benefit increases with each premium deposit used to purchase paid-up insurance, which includes annual dividends. So you've got your cash value and your death benefit. The death benefit is always rising, and the cash value is always rising. When you initiate your first policy with one of our advisors, yours truly, Your policy will be engineered for a minimum premium. That's a plus, a flexible optional premium amount. The minimum is the amount that you are contractually obligated to and is required to keep your base policy in force. Think of it again as building a business, which is what we're exactly— we're doing. When you're building a business, you have a certain amount that you need to keep the doors open. Okay, that with this type of a policy never changes, never goes up, and actually can decrease, but it can never increase. Okay, then we also create these with a flexible portion. So the flexible optional premium is what you have the contractual authority to deposit., but you're not contractually obligated to deposit. So you've got an amount that you have to do to keep your doors open, keep your policy going, and then you have another amount that you can put in when and wherever you want to. So it gives you the flexibility, it gives you control. Think of the optional premium as a rocket booster that rapidly accelerates both the total death benefit and the total cash value while also creating a compounding effect. We will show you in this book how this powerful combination creates an ever-increasing pool of financial value that is leverageable by you on demand and on your times, on your terms, all without enter— all, excuse me, all without interrupting any of the daily cash value growth. Sounds great, right? It is. What this does mean for you, and how it is the product, and how is this product in line with the process of becoming your own banker? Here's a scenario. You need to buy a car. The one you want to purchase has a price of $30,000. You just don't have $30,000 sitting in your checking account to purchase it. So like most people, you contemplate financing the car through the car dealer or through someone else's bank, focusing on trying to negotiate the best interest rate and repayment terms relative to your credit history. Who is in position of total control? It's not you. So let's pump the brakes right here, so to speak, and change the scenario. You now have a dividend-paying participating whole life policy with a total cash value of $35,000, which is rising daily. Your policy has a guaranteed loan provision, and you are a co-owner of the life insurance company. That means you can borrow against, not from, your total cash value at any time, on demand, and on your terms. There are no credit checks, no income verification, no negotiations, and no hassles. You simply request a policy loan, request $30,000, request and receive $30,000, of the life insurance company's money, and a lien is placed on your total death benefit for the loan balance of $35,000— for the loan balance, I'm sorry. $35,000 is still your cash value amount inside your policy, and it will be higher tomorrow and every day thereafter. You can then take the cash, the policy loan proceeds, $30,000 to the car dealer, negotiate a cash offer discount, then drive away with a brand new car. At that point, you will own the car free and clear. The policy loan is private, meaning it's not reported to any of the credit bureaus. Who's in the position of total control now? That's right, you are. Now, how good does that feel? Now, you You might find yourself thinking, wait a minute, would the bank I deal with ever offer me that in the same deal and give me the full autonomy over the repayment schedule? Not a chance. Do you have to pay the loan back? The simple answer is that eventually it will be paid back, either while you're alive on your terms or when you pass away. However, having— this is very important— having the control to make that decision also means having the responsibility to make the right choice. We always recommend that you repay your policy loans because that is the responsible choice and the best way to save money. In order to implement the Infinite Banking Concept the way it is intended, you will want to repay so you can use the money again and again to finance all the things you will need in life.

Okay, Mike's walking us through Cash Follows the Leader. It's a great book, but it's only good if you've got one. So go ahead and get a copy, it's free. Head over to cashfollows.com, that's cashfollows.com, and get one dropped right into your inbox.

Your need for finance throughout your lifetime is far greater than your need for the death benefit. So if you solve for this need through the use of dividend-paying whole life insurance, you will end up with more death benefit than you could ever get past the underwriters. So the choice is yours. If you experience financial difficulty and cannot repay a policy loan balance, or if you simply choose to not repay it while you're alive, simple interest will continue to accrue and compound at each policy anniversary date. And when you die, the total loan balance will be deducted from the total death benefit. It's that simple. Everything begins with the way we think. Presently, all of your money flows through the books of someone else's bank. And when you're approved for a loan, for a bank loan, you intend to repay it because you recognize the consequences of default. They seize your asset, bad credit, judgments, all of that. And so you won't think twice to think twice about replenishing your own system because you recognize the advantages of being in a position of control. Every policy loan repayment is immediately applied to the principal balance of the loan and becomes instantly re-accessible to you. When you pay part of it back, it automatically becomes available to you again. You're rebuilding the cash and the availability of your funds, of your, your, your, of your equity in your system. And when you are using this process to create a family banking system, paying your loans back is a logical step to rebuilding your aquarium of money. The life insurance company also benefits. Think about it. Since you are a co-owner of a business that is required to share its profits with you and every year, where do you think, or where do you want your money, the financial energy flowing to? Do you want that financial energy directed to a third-party lender who has no incentive to grow profits on your behalf, or to keep it with a closed-loop aquarium where all participating owners mutually benefit? Does this sound better than the corner bank you currently deal with? Yeah, we thought so. What you need to know about dividend particip— dividend-paying participating whole life and— let me back up. What you need to know about a dividend-paying participating whole life policy. Now think about all of these on it on their own, individually and as a group. You maintain complete control over your hard-earned money. You can borrow against 90% of your total cash value on demand, on your terms, with no questions asked. Your pool of financial value grows every day, and it cannot go down. Policy loans do not interrupt the daily accumulation of your total cash value. Each year that a dividend is declared by the life insurance company, it is contractually guaranteed to be paid to you. It cannot be repossessed, and it cannot ever lose value. If your policy is with a mutual company, which is most recommended, you participate in the divisible surplus generated from all lines of business, and the life company— life company is responsive only to you and all other participating policy owners. There are no stockholders to share profits with or to influence the company's primary mandate. That's huge, folks. You create an instant tax-free estate when optimized by one of our advisors. Your death benefit steadily increases year over year with no increase in premium ever. Your total cash value, which rises daily, is contractually guaranteed to match your total death benefit. So the cash value is guaranteed to match the, the death benefit by age 121 of the life insured. Okay, your policy is a private unilateral contract. It is between you and the life insurance company and does not show up on a public registry nor is it searchable. No one can pull the title to it. It is bound by the law of contracts and is your private property. This is not a get-rich-quick scheme or mechanism or investment strategy of any kind. Rather, this is all about how you will finance the things you need in life, which is— which certainly includes investments. It will be the only asset in your personal or business balance sheet that you can never pay into more than what it will pay out. Think about that. We're going to stop there for now, and we'll pick it up again tomorrow. Have a great day. We'll talk to you soon.

I love hearing the observations that we get from Mike Smella as he goes through these books one by one, chapter by chapter. Stay tuned for the next episode.