Joe Goldsmith’s Bank On Yourself Review

Joe’s biggest doubts or concerns when he first heard about Bank On Yourself:

My biggest concern was the apparent loss of money while capitalizing the policy. The first 7 years look strange from a savings point of view when looking at the projections of how this savings vehicle works. In fact the break even point comes at the anniversary of the seventh year. However, that being said, I’m OK with the overall plan my agent Greg Kay set up for us. From year seven on things really begin to accelerate in terms of cash value and my premiums are totally paid. I also have full death benefit protection from day one of the policy.

Joe’s experience as a result of using Bank On Yourself:

This year, on my first anniversary of the policy, my dividend payments exceeded any interest I paid on policy loans by approximately $665. At first it seemed ridiculous to pay interest on borrowing my own money. But it really works out to borrowing money and getting back all the interest you paid plus whatever dividend the company pays that year. Note: In its history my insurer has never failed to pay a dividend. The company has been in business since 1905.

Now I’m going to describe how I used policy loans to become my own banker. Some people are going to be skeptical about how much we did in one year but it’s all true. You just have to know how to use your policy and be disciplined about paying back your loans. These policies are not good for spenders but very good for disciplined savers. Nothing we spent money on was frivolous. These are all things we planned to spend money on anyway. The difference is that we are paying ourselves back instead of a financial institution. The only debt we have now is our mortgage. All other debt is financed through our policy. I still get plenty of promotional ads in the mail for credit cards and equity loans. It gives me great pleasure to tear them up. I no longer need anyone else’s money since I’m using my own. That is a powerful and emancipating feeling.

Here’s how we used our policy loans over the first year:

• three trips for two to Florida including car rentals
• a large screen TV as a housewarming gift for my daughter
• paid off 2 car loans
• paid off credit card debt
• bought a king sized bed for our Florida home
• updated my wife’s original wedding ring

I’m willing to bet I’ve forgotten something, too. We both feel like we’re building something and have improved our cash flow immensely. Aside from some utility bills and groceries, we write two checks per month. One for our mortgage and one for our policy loan. That’s it. This year we’re planning a trip to Italy all to be funded by our policy. Bon apetito.

Specific feature Joe likes the most about Bank On Yourself:

I like borrowing our own money and paying ourselves back. I don’t need to qualify or ask permission or explain anything to anyone. I am the depositor, the lender, the borrower and payee all in one. No man is an island except when it comes to banking on yourself.

Other benefits Joe likes about Bank On Yourself:

I like the fact that my insurer is very good about communicating my payments on loans, premiums, etc.