“The Bank On Yourself strategy gives you a rare combination of guarantees, safety, liquidity, and control. Your money grows by a guaranteed and predictable amount every year, and that growth gets better every year you have it,” Pamela Yellen- “The Bank on Yourself Revolution“
Several years have passed since the publication of “Bank On Yourself,” Pamela Yellen’s first attempt at articulating for a wide audience the benefits of using specially-designed whole life insurance in financial planning. Since that time, the ever-fluid, ever- chimerical world of personal finance has grown even more unfathomable and unpredictable.
As a Bank On Yourself authorized advisor, I believe that a sequel to the original Bank On Yourself book was long overdue. This is why I was so pleased to learn of the publication of this second, more comprehensive discussion of a truly unique cash management system.
In the sequel, The Bank On Yourself Revolution, Yellen has gone to considerable effort to deconstruct the Bank On Yourself method in a way that makes it even more accessible and understandable to the average person. She lays out a concise, solid, yet still passionate case for using specially-designed, dividend-paying whole life insurance policies as vehicles for preserving and growing wealth. When put together correctly, she says, these policies build up cash value as quickly as possible and provide unparalleled safety and security.
Yellen explains that a person can make tax-free withdrawals and loans from the accumulated cash value in the policy to finance large purchases, such as college tuition, automobiles, and cash-producing real estate. You use your policy and are able to pay yourself back, with the loan secured by the death benefit. This idea, which has been around in various forms for well over 150 years, is referred to by some 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-speak or marketing hype.
Implicit in her explanations is the understanding that anyone wanting to use the system laid out in BOYR should do their own due diligence. It is definitely not for everyone.
In The Bank On Yourself Revolution it is evident that Yellen has put a lot more thought and effort into the content and layout of the book, making navigation from topic to topic easier and keeping her commentary focused and free of anything that could be perceived as excessive verbiage. She does an admirable job of making the ideas presented clear and easy to understand, even for those who have little financial education.
The Bank On Yourself Revolution introduces us to some old school financial concepts that Yellen admits aren’t “sexy,” but which work, such as the “10-10-10” money management method and the common sense idea of not having much debt. She makes a strong case for designer whole life polices over both term insurance and the always trendy indexed universal life (IUL) policies
Nice additions to this volume are the “takeaways” at the end of chapters which give the reader nuggets of information designed to be easy to grasp, retain and implement. Yellen also includes stories of real-life users of the system ranging from housewives to entrepreneurs to former professional athletes. Such anecdotes obviously have value, especially to financial professionals who are introducing the concept to their clients for the first time.
People feel better knowing that “real people” just like themselves are finding success with Bank On Yourself.
The Bank On Yourself Revolution makes for an entertaining read and is a worthy 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 such alternative- Bank On Yourself.