Build Your Legacy

The purpose of IBC is to control the financial environment in which you operate. A banker is always in control of income, expenses, risk, assets, liabilities, and cash flow. IBC is the process of becoming your own banker, by reclaiming ownership of that control. It’s a financial strategy that uses a system of dividend-paying whole life policies to create your own private source of capital. Instead of depending on traditional banks for financing, you build up cash value inside your policies over time and can borrow against it on your own terms to create privately controlled leverage, effectively functioning as your own banker. Someone must control the financial environment in which you operate, and that someone is always called a banker. It can be no other way.

The biggest difference comes down to efficiency and access. Unlike a savings account or retirement fund, an IBC policy allows you to tap into your money without the usual barriers—no penalties, no waiting periods, and no need for permission from a financial institution.

Even better, your cash value continues to grow and earn interest while you have an outstanding loan against it. In other words, your capital keeps working for you instead of sitting on the sidelines.

A 401(k) taxes you later—on a larger amount after it has grown—whereas a policy taxes you now, on a smaller amount before it grows. Additionally, given the scale of the national debt, it’s reasonable to expect that taxes may increase over time. A whole life policy locks in today’s tax rates, rather than leaving you exposed to whatever rates may be in the future.

Lastly, a 401(k) restricts access to your money until later in life, after inflation has potentially reduced its value. In contrast, a policy allows you to use your money today, when its purchasing power is highest.

Absolutely not. IBC is a legitimate, time tested financial strategy built on dividend paying whole life insurance policies, which is a product that has been around for well over 150 years. Any confusion usually stems from policies that were poorly structured or clients who weren’t fully educated on how the process works. At Duryea Financial, we make sure you truly understand IBC and how to make it work for your family.

It’s actually pretty straightforward. When you take a loan against your policy, the insurance company uses your cash value as collateral. This is key! You aren’t withdrawing your money, you’re borrowing against it. Because of this, your full cash value continues to earn interest and dividends uninterrupted. Plus, you get to skip the red tape: there are no set repayment schedules, no credit checks, and no approval process.

The tax benefits are huge. The cash value inside a properly structured whole life policy grows on a tax deferred basis, and you can always access policy loans income tax free. As an added bonus, the death benefit paid to your beneficiaries is typically received free of income tax. This makes IBC a highly tax-efficient component of a long-term financial strategy.

IBC works best for individuals, families, and businesses who are financially stable, willing to commit to a long-term strategy, and looking for more control over how their money is managed and used. Business owners, farmers, ranchers, real estate investors, and high-income earners often find IBC especially valuable, but the concept can benefit anyone with the discipline and financial capacity to fund a policy consistently.

It’s absolutely crucial! It’s the whole ballgame, really. Not every whole life policy is built for IBC. A policy designed for infinite banking needs to be structured specifically to maximize cash value growth, not just the death benefit. Partnering with a knowledgeable advisor who understands IBC policy design is one of the most important steps you can take to ensure the strategy performs the way it should. Many IBC agents structure policies so that they have TOO MUCH cash at the beginning, which creates devastating structural problems later in the policy that cannot be fixed.

You need to view IBC as a long-term wealth building strategy, not a quick fix. While you can start accessing your cash value relatively early, the real power of the concept compounds significantly over time. Most clients start seeing meaningful momentum in the first 5–7 years, with the strategy becoming increasingly powerful as the years go on. Infinite banking is only for those who are willing to think long range.

We use dividend-paying whole life insurance for becoming our own banker because that's what the banks use. Don't take our word for it. Go to:

https://www.bauerfinancial.com/product-category/reports-for-consumers/

Download current financials for any bank. You will see substantial life insurance cash values on the balance sheet of any bank you want to investigate. There is a lot of hype about what a "bad product" whole life insurance is. If it's so terrible, why do banks buy so much of it? The only reason banks do not buy more whole life insurance than they already have is because the government creates laws that puts limits on what portion of a bank's balance sheet can reside in life insurance companies.

As of September 30, 2024, 3,053 banks nationwide reported cash surrender values on their regulatory filings. 80% of banks nationwide with assets between $500 million and $10 billion currently own BOLI (Bank Owned Life Insurance), with $205.7 billion of BOLI cash value on bank financials as of that date.

• https://www.fdic.gov/news/financial-institution-letters/2004/fil12704a.html

• https://www.occ.treas.gov/news-issuances/bulletins/2004/bulletin-2004-56.html

• https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/srletters/2004/sr0419.htm

• https://www.fdic.gov/risk-management-manual-examination-policies/bank-owned-life-insurance-boli.pdf

• https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL33414.html