All posts tagged BOLI

The Infinite Banking System – Financial Rewards Through Personal Banking

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Here’s a shocking fact about money – the average American spends about 60% of his or her lifetime earnings on taxes and interest payments. That means that for every $100 you earn, $60 of it is never really yours. It’s paying the government, the bank you borrowed money from, and any other institution to which you’re paying interest.

You may be thinking, “Well, that’s just the way it is.” But it doesn’t have to be. With the Infinite Banking System you can break the cycle of paying money to someone else, and start paying it to yourself.

What Is Infinite Banking?
The Infinite Banking System is a financial philosophy of being your own bank. It means taking more control of your financial dealings, not just handing them over to some financial advisor or institution. Infinite Banking takes structure and discipline, but the rewards are numerous.

Let’s start by discussing the financial “norm”. Most people, when seeking a mortgage or financing the purchase of a new car, will turn to a bank or other financial institution. In the traditional banking system, there are three major players: the Saver, the Borrower, and the Banker.

The Saver deposits money with the bank and earns interest on his or her money; the Borrower borrows money from the bank and pays interest on the money borrowed. The Bank is just the intermediary. For its effort, the bank charges higher interest to the borrower than it pays to the saver. This is called the spread, and is how banks make their money.

What the Infinite Banking System does is make you the bank. You will save with your bank, you will borrow from your bank, and when you pay interest on your personal loans, you’ll be paying yourself – because you’re the bank.

Sound complicated?

It’s not! The infinite banking concept predicates on the idea of cutting out the middleman – the bank. With Infinite Banking you can save with and borrow from yourself. And when you pay yourself back, you are paying back your personal loan plus the interest to yourself.

Getting Started with Infinite Banking
So how do you become your own bank and begin financing yourself?

With whole life insurance. Specifically, it’s a dividend paying whole-life insurance policy. The Infinite Banking system is built on this financial tool and it allows many possibilities for financial stability and success.

To start, whole life insurance has been a proven winning financial tool since the inception of life insurance. Whole life insurance policies are carried by:

-the wealthy to protect their estates
-ordinary families to protect their assets
-corporations, and
-almost every major bank.

In fact, in 2008, bank owned life insurance (BOLI) grew by $126.1 billion. So the product is a proven winner.

When using whole life insurance as a personal banking system, the policy is structured differently. The Infinite Banking system’s whole life policy is structured to maximize liquid cash values instead of concentrating on the death benefit. Which means you can enjoy your money now and still leave a financial legacy for your heirs.

The Benefits of a Dividend-Paying Whole Life Policy
A dividend-paying whole life insurance policy allows you to take policy loans from the cash values within your policy. You control these funds and dictate the re-payment terms. That means you set the interest rate, the amortization period and other loan terms. It might be tempting to think that the best thing about this is no paperwork! (Have you applied for a loan lately?). But in fact, the best thing about this is that when you borrow from yourself, you also pay yourself back. You pay back the loan, you pay yourself interest, and you do it all on your schedule. There are no penalties for a late or missed payment. And there are no loan fees or other transaction fees. Remember, you are now the bank!

There are numerous other benefits to the infinite banking concept. A properly structured dividend paying whole life insurance policy offers tax-deferred growth of money, and tax-free distributions via policy loans. Non-loan withdrawals from the account are tax-free up to your basis, or the amount you have contributed into the account.

With the Infinite Banking System, cash value growth within the account accumulates tax-free. Additionally, the death benefit proceeds pass to your heirs income tax-free. In fact, with proper planning, you heirs can receive the life insurance proceeds from your policy free of estate taxes.

The Infinite Banking Concept teaches independence from the conventional way of financing, meaning you will no longer be reliant upon banks and finance companies for cash or financing. If you’re ready to be your own bank, look into the Infinite Banking Concept today. With a little planning and discipline, you’ll be on your way to financial self-reliance.

Infinite Banking For Business – How To Make It Work

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Infinite Banking Systems are becoming a trusted vehicle for growing individual wealth. But there are also many practical and beneficial ways to apply the Infinite Banking concept to businesses.

Understanding the Infinite Banking System
The concept is the same. With the Infinite Banking System, you put yourself in the position of being your own bank. This is done through a dividend-paying whole life insurance policy. As your cash values begin to grow you can begin to lend yourself money. If you need to repair something in your home, for example, you can borrow the money from yourself using the cash values within your policy.

You set the loan amount, the interest rate and the payment schedule. When you pay the loan back, you pay yourself with interest. So you are financing and making money on yourself, instead of paying that money and interest to a bank or other financial institution. Even better, your cash values will continue to earn interest and you may earn dividends on your entire pre-loan amount, as if you had never borrowed money.

Applying the Infinite Banking System to a Small Business
For a small business owner, the Infinite Banking System has a variety of potential benefits. Loans from your whole life insurance can be used to pay for legitimate business expenses, including:

-space rental
-new equipment
-office supplies
-bonuses
-corporate vehicles
-business travel

These are only a few ideas. The limits are infinite. And as with policies that serve individuals, the more you use the Infinite Banking System for business purposes, the more benefits you’ll receive. You can create a cash side account or gain, simply as a bi-product of your regular business transactions.

So why would you do this? Because the IRS allows businesses to write off legitimate business interest expense. By funding business expenses through your dividend-paying whole life insurance plan, you create an investment return for yourself and a tax write off for the business. It’s a win-win relationship. You, the individual, loan money to the business. The business pays back the loan amount plus interest to you, increasing your account cash values. The business gets to write-off the interest paid on the loan as a legitimate business expense.

While business owners can use their personal whole life policies to fund business expenses, policies can also be purchased by the company on key individuals, offering the same benefits of cash value liquidity, loan opportunities and tax advantages.

Making Infinite Banking Work for Larger Businesses
The concept of Infinite Banking has been an accepted practice in larger businesses and corporations for some time. These types of businesses obviously have a much greater need for capital – far bigger in scope and volume than an individual or small business does. But the Infinite Banking concept is carried out through Corporate Owned Life Insurance, and its counterpart, Bank Owned Life Insurance.

Corporate Owned Life Insurance
Corporate-owned life insurance, or COLI, is traditionally purchased to cover a business’s key executives. These policies are also known as “key person” insurance. A corporation will purchase a life insurance policy on a key employee to cover the potential financial cost of losing him or her to unexpected death. The insurance coverage is intended to cover the cost of recruiting and training new talent and to offset the possible loss of business due to the key employee’s absence. It also helps a company recoup the possible cost of benefit payouts to the deceased employee’s family.

COLI accounts can be used in the same way as individual whole life policies. Corporations use their participating whole life insurance policies to build cash values. Just like with individual policies, contributions and gains accumulate tax-free, and loans can be made as needed for any business need.

Bank Owned Life Insurance
The financial industry has its own version of this type of insurance. Bank-owned life insurance, or BOLI, has been traditionally purchased by financial institutions for their key executives. And although its been an accepted practice for many years, its popularity is increasing. In 2008, for example, banks purchased $126.1 billion of whole life insurance.

Using COLI and BOLI as Infinite Banking Concepts
Because these corporate life insurance policies are usually for much larger amounts than individual policies, the potential for reinvestment and explosive cash value growth are much greater. Although the policies cover individuals, they are purchased to protect corporations and banks for their potential losses, boost Tier 1 capital and provide benefits that might not otherwise be affordable. So it is the corporation or bank that is the policyholder, and these purchasing institutions can use these policies much like an individual uses a participating whole life policy to fund the Infinite Banking System. Corporations can use the cash values within their policies to fund legitimate business expenses such as:

-Large equipment or machinery
-Employee retirement plan
-Employee Health & Wellness Plan
-Corporate Vehicles
-Your lease/building space
-Corporate Housing
-Travel Expenses
-Business Loans
-Adding Fringe Benefits to Attract Key Personnel
-Business Acquisitions & Merger

Corporations and banks have long known the financial benefits of infinite banking through their COLI and BOLI policies. By using a dividend-paying life insurance policy as a platform for the Infinite Banking System, now smaller companies can enjoy these same benefits.