“The Bank On Yourself strategy gives you an exceptional combination of guarantees, security, liquidity and control. Your money grows by a guaranteed and predictable amount each year, and that growth improves each year you have it.” Pamela Yellen-“Bank revolution in yourself“
Several years have passed since the publication of “Bank On Yourself,” Pamela Yellen’s first attempt to articulate to a wide audience the benefits of using specially designed whole life insurance in financial planning. Since then, the always fluid and always chimerical world of personal finance has become even more unfathomable and unpredictable.
As an authorized advisor to Bank On Yourself, I believe that a sequel to the original Bank On Yourself book was long overdue. That’s why I was so pleased to hear of the posting of this second, more comprehensive discussion of a truly unique cash management system.
In the sequel, Bank revolution in yourself, Yellen has put considerable effort into deconstructing the Bank On Yourself method in a way that makes it even more accessible and understandable to the average person. She makes a concise, strong, but still passionate case for using specially designed dividend-paying whole life insurance policies as vehicles for preserving and increasing wealth. When put together correctly, she says, these policies build cash value as quickly as possible and provide unmatched security and protection.
Yellen explains that a person can make tax-free withdrawals and loans of the accumulated cash value in the policy to finance large purchases, such as college tuition, cars, and cash-producing real estate. You use your policy and can pay yourself, with the loan secured by the death benefit. Some refer to this idea, which has been around in various guises for more than 150 years, as “becoming your own finance company.” Yellen does a good job of explaining the ideas behind Bank On Yourself without losing the reader in a fog of insurance jargon or hype.
Implicit in his explanations is the understanding that anyone wishing to use the system established at BOYR must do their own due diligence. It is definitely not for everyone.
In Bank revolution in yourself it is apparent that Yellen has put much more thought and effort into the book’s content and layout, making it easy to navigate from topic to topic and keeping her commentary focused and free of anything that might be perceived as excessive verbiage. She does an admirable job of making the ideas presented clear and easy to understand, even for those with little financial education.
Bank revolution in yourself introduces us to some old-school financial concepts that Yellen admits aren’t “sexy,” but they do work, like the “10-10-10” money management method and the common-sense idea of not having a lot of debt. She makes a strong case for designer whole life policies in both term and indexed universal life (IUL) policies that are always in style.
Nice additions to this volume are the “take away points” at the end of the chapters that give the reader bits of information designed to be easy to understand, retain, and implement. Yellen also includes stories from real users of the system, from stay-at-home moms to entrepreneurs to former professional athletes. Obviously, these anecdotes have value, especially for financial professionals who are introducing the concept to their clients for the first time.
People feel better knowing that “real people” like themselves are having success with Bank On Yourself.
Bank revolution in yourself makes for entertaining reading and is a valuable contribution to a growing body of evidence supporting the wisdom of using permanent life insurance in financial planning. If you are someone who is looking for alternatives to banks, Wall Street, and finance companies, this book will help you understand one of those alternatives: Bank On Yourself.