Module 1: Introduction to the Bank On Yourself Advisor Authorization Program

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Stanley Ellis
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1 Module 1: Introduction to the Bank On Yourself Advisor Authorization Program Overview of the Program Welcome to Bank on Yourself! Your prior experience as a life insurance agent, plus successfully completing the requirements of this specialized training program, will entitle you to present yourself as a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor, one of only about 200 such advisors in the U.S. and Canada. (This Advisor Authorization Program was referred to as the Bank On Yourself Certified Advisor Program in the first edition of Pamela Yellen s book, Bank On Yourself.) Perhaps you are a seasoned life agent, with years of experience, a large book of business, and a string of designations following your name. Or you may be a relative newcomer in the financial services industry, with limited experience, a small book of business, and not a single letter following your name. Regardless of your level of experience, the NACFA-Bank On Yourself team saw in you the potential to learn the policy-design skills and techniques that can help your clients achieve lifelong financial security and peace of mind, that can advance the Bank On Yourself concept across America, and that can grow your business in the process. Why the Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor Program Came into Being Bank on Yourself was founded by Pamela Yellen in 2002, because of her experience and frustration using conventional financial planning and investment methods. Disappointed with the results she was getting when managing their investment program themselves, Pamela and her husband Larry hired three of the country s top investment and planning firms in succession over a period of a decade to manage their retirement account. These companies were always on the lists of the country s top-ten financial advisors and asset managers. They all charged hefty fees, and all three of them lost Pamela and Larry money during a period that included the longest-running bull market in history! Pamela ultimately investigated over 450 different financial products and strategies before learning of the concept she calls Bank On Yourself, when one of her clients (who is a financial advisor) mentioned it to her. She was intrigued, but skeptical. It sounded too good to be true. She spent months investigating it before implementing it herself to see if it would really work. Even though the advisor who set up Pamela s and Larry s first policies insisted he knew everything about how to structure them, they later discovered the policies had been incorrectly Hayward-Yellen 100 Ltd Partnership and NACFA, LLC

2 structured. Policies that aren t structured correctly can grow much more slowly, lose their tax advantages, or both. Pamela also received many complaints from family members and friends whose policies were also structured incorrectly. She realized that these advisors didn t know what they didn t know about the concept. Fortunately, it was around that time that Pamela was introduced to Tim Austin, the president of NACFA, the National Association of College Funding Advisors, who was very familiar with the concept, and who also had years of experience in providing advisors with training and back office support. Tim proposed starting a division of NACFA that would focus specifically on the Bank On Yourself concept, and NACFA-BOY and the Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor program were born. Since its foundation, Bank On Yourself has helped hundreds of thousands of families nationwide. And a network of 200 specially-trained Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisors now exists to help people implement this concept properly and maximize the lifetime results they receive from it. Welcome to this organization! How This Authorization Program Is Organized The program has several components: 1. The Study Guide, which consists of individual PDF files for each module. All the PDF files together comprise the study guide 2. Videos, which accompany many modules. In most cases, the videos cover the same material as the written study guides. Where the videos cover different material, this is pointed out to you in the study guide. 3. Outside Reading, which is required. The outside reading for the current modules of this program is discussed in the next section. When new or revised modules contain different outside reading requirements, those requirements will be outlined in the study guides for those modules. 4. Examinations, which accompany each module. The examinations are discussed later in this module. If you haven t already done so, look at the outline of this program. You will see that we give attention to two broad categories of information, categories you must master to have the greatest effectiveness as an Authorized Advisor: One category covers the technical aspects of Bank On Yourself-type policies: the importance of paid-up addition riders, term insurance, loan repayments, modified endowment contracts, and the like. Policy designs that maximize the power of the Bank On Yourself concept, as well as strategies that help your clients use their policies to maximize their growth, are covered in detail

3 The other category covers the marketing of the Bank On Yourself concept. Bank On Yourself offers its Authorized Advisors an array of marketing materials and systems, ranging from a dynamic and engaging Web site, to approved books and CDs, to professionally written and administered done-for-you drip systems to motivate both your prospects and your existing clients, to continuing national media exposure that drives the public to the Web site and, ultimately, to you. The purpose of this Authorization program is to help you learn: The exact steps necessary to properly design life insurance policies to maximize the Bank On Yourself features. These policies are referred to as Bank On Yourself policies. How Pamela s marketing organization, Bank On Yourself, combined with the Bank On Yourself division of Tim s insurance organization, NACFA-BOY, can streamline and support your sales and marketing efforts How to structure long term repeat business relationships with clients and secure an ongoing stream of referrals The value of the Bank On Yourself MasterMind Group We use the term mastermind in the sense Napoleon Hill used it in his book, Think and Grow Rich: A friendly alliance with one or more persons who will encourage one to follow through with both plan and purpose. Hill taught that a harmonious group of two or more people who come together for a specific purpose, or around a specific topic, bring forth powers of creativity and support that you can t find when you go it alone. Some students say, I get the most out of something by reading about it, underlining important passages, and reviewing what I have read. Other students say, Talk to me. I learn best by listening. Still other students say, Show me. I ll get it when you demonstrate what you want me to know. This training program incorporates all three avenues: reading, listening, and demonstration. The reading portion of the training is comprised of this Authorized Advisor Study Guide, divided into various modules and available to you as a series of downloadable PDF chapters, plus the two outside reading books. Not only does the Authorized Advisor Study Guide serve as the primary text for the program, it can also serve you as a reference guide as you put your new knowledge and skills into practice. Each module has its own set of page numbers, to allow us to update a given module in the future without the necessity of renumbering the entire study guide. The number before the hyphen in the page number (lower right corner of each page) refers to the module number, while the number after the hyphen refers to the page number within the module. We recommend you three-hole-punch each module s pages and place them in a binder for your future reference

4 In addition to the printed study guide, video presentations will talk you through much of the material and demonstrate key concepts visually. In most cases, the narrative of the video closely follows the printed study guide, reinforcing key concepts through both audio and visual presentations. We recommend that before you take the examination for each module, you first read the study guide and the outside reading for that module. Then watch the video (or videos) for the module. Outside Reading This program includes as outside reading Pamela Yellen s New York Times bestseller, Bank On Yourself. This outside reading is not optional! You will learn, in narrative and story form, how Bank On Yourself can positively affect the financial well-being of individuals, families, and business owners. You will also find clear and simple explanations for concepts such as how the interest paid on policy loans ultimately benefits the policy owner. You may order Bank On Yourself for 38% off the retail price at The Importance of This Training Bank On Yourself creatively uses little-known features of whole life insurance to design policies that do far more than they would otherwise do. A few examples from the realm of science will illustrate what can happen when creativity is brought to bear on a phenomenon. Steam expands when heated. Most people said, So what? but Robert Fulton harnessed the power of expanding steam to create engines that allowed people to travel faster than they had ever travelled before. People ridiculed him at first, and called his steam engine Fulton s Folly. Lightning behaves like static electricity. Again, most people said, So what? but Benjamin Franklin used that behavior to create the lightning rod and thus protect churches and other tall buildings from natural disaster. People scorned him at first, saying he was interfering with divine retribution. Isaac Newton told us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. And while most people said, So what? Robert Goddard went about developing rocket propulsion, allowing mankind to travel through space. People laughed at first, comparing his first rockets to toy firecrackers. Only a few years later, President John F. Kennedy promised to land a man on the moon within a decade. Many doubted it was possible, and they laughed, until Neil Armstrong took that one small step for a man, and one giant leap for mankind. Every great idea, it seems, is first scorned, then considered, and finally embraced

5 It s no different with Bank On Yourself. The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest, we ve all been told. But while most people were saying So what? Pamela Yellen and Tim Austin teamed their efforts to provide you a strategy that can free your clients from the grasp of Wall Street, banks, and credit card companies. The Bank On Yourself concept recognizes that: Contractually guaranteed growth that benefits from continual compounding gives clients the predictability missing from most other financial strategies. Whole life insurance policies enjoy unique tax benefits under current U.S. tax laws. Some life insurance companies offer riders that will allow a policyholder to build cash value even faster. And a few of those companies allow policyholders to borrow against their cash value and still earn the same interest and dividends on the borrowed money. Each of these concepts is powerful. And when you as a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor harness those concepts together in a properly designed life insurance policy, marvelous things can happen for your clients, and for you as their Authorized Advisor. Examinations and Proficiency Requirements Each module in this program is accompanied by an open-book examination. Each examination has the objective of reinforcing many key elements of the module, to insure the most meaningful learning experience possible. A grade of 100% is required before you are permitted to access the next module. Just as you would prefer a heart surgeon who earned 100% on his medical school finals, in the same way, Bank On Yourself clients deserve Authorized Advisors who are masters of their craft. Each time you submit your answers to an exam, we will tell you the specific questions you answered incorrectly. We won t provide the correct answers, but we will tell you specifically where you made errors. You may retake each exam as often as necessary to achieve a passing score of 100%. However, if you fail an exam three times, we may refer you to your Success Coach (sometimes referred to as your broker/consultant) for tutoring and evaluation as to your suitability for the Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor program. Training Timetable: Minimum and Maximum Expectations To assure that you have the best opportunity to absorb and retain the information in the course, you may not access modules faster than two per week. Also, to help assure maximum absorption of the material, you must complete the program entire within six months. If, at the end of six months, you have not successfully completed the program and wish to do so, you will need to retake those examinations that were taken more than six months previously. From time to time, new modules are added to the training. Successful completion of these new modules is required for members who wish to retain their Authorized Advisor status

6 Overview of the NACFA-Bank On Yourself Organization Pamela Yellen literally wrote the book on the Bank On Yourself concept. Bank On Yourself: The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future has been wildly successful, appearing on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Business Week bestseller lists. Pamela is also president of The Prospecting and Marketing Institute, Inc., which serves as the lead generation and marketing organization that tirelessly promotes the Bank On Yourself concept around the country. Tim is the president of The National Association of College Funding Advisors, Inc., an independent marketing organization that works with over 40 top-rated life and annuity carriers, and provides back office support for NACFA-BOY members. NACFA is the only organization approved to train and authorize Bank On Yourself Advisors. The NACFA-BOY organization will work for you in several ways: As a member of the Bank On Yourself MasterMind Group, which is sponsored by NACFA, you will have the money-making marketing tools, sales presentations and other materials created by Pamela, Tim, and their professional staff. You will also have the back office resources of NACFA. Your contracting will be handled through NACFA, and you will be assigned a case manager to help move your applications along. Here is a partial list of the comprehensive, turn-key support you ll receive from NACFA- BOY, assuming you are a Platinum Level group member: Twice-monthly MasterMind teleconferences covering a wide range of training, top producer presentations, sales ideas, and more Proprietary, proven Bank On Yourself presentation and closing materials and systems Cutting-edge marketing, referral and highly qualified and motivated leads-generated-for you programs, in addition to done-for-you programs to generate your own leads (for Authorized Advisors who meet the qualifications) Bank On Yourself case design and illustration support. You ll receive personal mentoring from specialists who have each designed thousands of Bank On Yourself plans Advanced training on the Bank On Yourself concept, product, plan design and implementation Authorization and continuing education programs

7 Access to top-rated companies that have the most appropriate products for Bank On Yourself and specially negotiated commission schedules This course assumes you have joined the Bank On Yourself MasterMind Group at the Platinum level (as most members do). Reimbursement of MasterMind Membership Dues When Pamela and Tim were creating the NACFA-BOY organization, Tim was determined that membership in NACFA-BOY, and access to all the tools and training, should not be an expense to the member, so he made the membership dues refundable when members submit a specified minimum amount of production through any of NACFA s 40-plus top-rated carriers. Welcome Video from Pamela Yellen and Tim Austin Pamela and Tim have joined forces and combined their skills to help you build your business. Take a few minutes to watch the Module 1 Video, Welcome from Pamela and Tim. Outside Reading Yellen, Pamela: Bank On Yourself, pages ix-49 Conclusion That completes the text for this module. Please be sure to watch the video, Welcome from Pamela and Tim, and read the outside reading assignment. Then, your next steps are to review what you ve learned, pass the examination to demonstrate your comprehension, then move on to the next module

Module 1: Introduction to the Bank On Yourself Advisor Authorization Program

Module 1: Introduction to the Bank On Yourself Advisor Authorization Program Overview of the Program Welcome to Bank On Yourself! Your prior experience as a life insurance agent, plus successfully completing