E106: Ray Shares Behind the Scenes Infinite Banking Success Stories

Nate: In this episode, we welcome back special guests, Ray Poteat to go beyond the numbers of infinite banking and share some personal testimonies of what infinite banking has allowed us to do that we would not have been able to do or experience without our infinite banking policies.

She’s Holly, and she helps people find financial freedom.

Holly: He’s Nate. He makes sense out of money. This is dollars and nonsense. If you follow the herd, you will be slaughtered.

Nate: All right. Well, it’s great to be back again. And Ray, we have you back with us for another episode. This is another pointed topic you had sent me aside and said, “Hey Nate, I really want to share this with the audience because it’s something that I feel has been really important to you.” And that is, I think we spend a lot of time on the numbers behind infinite banking. We’re diving in on a client saying here’s what we can accomplish. Here’s what we can do. Here’s why you should even consider this path.

But for all three of us, for me, for Ray, for Holly, infinite banking has allowed us to do things that you can’t really just show or get all the way across with just numbers. A way of life that’s a bit different. It’s a bit more open, a bit more fruitful. And we wanted to share some personal testimonies of what infinite banking has allowed us to do that we know we would never would have had the opportunity to do without this concept.

Ray: Sure. I just got looking around the office and my home, and I was seeing things that we possess that because I wanted them. Wasn’t a need for it or anything, but the urge came and I’ll get that. And the first one that came to mind was, I have two items from a trip to North Korea that I brought back with me. I was able to buy a watercolor painting that’s approximately two feet by four feet, very, very inexpensively. And didn’t even think about doing it because I wanted it.

And in that same market center that we were in, there was, believe it or not, a shoe horn that an individual had whittled and had taken two years of his life because it has a wooden chain on the end that’s really part of the overall piece of wood. And I bought it. So those are two things I brought back with me for my first trip to North Korea, just being constant reminders of what IBC has allowed me to do and how privileged we are to be in a country we’re in and do things we’re doing.

Those were two of the things that you just buy it. You don’t need it, probably should start putting on my list. These are things I’ll pass it upon my death if anybody wants them, better make claim to them, but they’re just items.

Nate: Well, yeah, you’re saying that essentially, and I found this to be true, compare and contrast how you felt about making these types of purchases, pre infinite banking and post infinite banking. Bring us in. What was it like before infinite banking and what’s it like now? And then why does infinite banking allow you to have a change, not only on the numbers on a page, but on how you live your life?

Holly: Well, I think Holly can document this. I use the terminology that I was tighter than a skin on a grape before. If we would be on holiday or vacation, the kids or my wife would pick something up, I would tell them, put it down. We don’t need it. Yes, I was trying to take the family away, but it was actually a stressful time because I didn’t really know that it was okay to spend the money.

Where we stayed, I tried to maximize the number of people in the rooms we had. It was not five, six, seven people sharing a bathroom maybe, or I would say it was almost a spirit of poverty. We weren’t poverty stricken, but I didn’t feel the freedom to let go of the money, even though we had money to let go of.

Nate: Well, and that kind of goes back to, I would assume you didn’t want to let go with the money because you knew that the only way to get the money back was to go out and earn it.

Holly: Yeah.

Nate: So all every dollar you spend is money that now I got to go back and earn it. It’s a little different now I would guess.

Announcer: Two, the reality is if you don’t have the system either, it’s not just about going back and earning it, it’s while you’re on this vacation, you have this sense of you’re not earning anything. You’re not earning any money. So you are going to even have to do more work because while you’re trying to enjoy this time, you’re actually not yielding any income in your mind.

Nate: Well, Ray has never been on a vacation that he didn’t work a little bit, but I know what you’re saying Holly.

Holly: I would agree. 100%.

Nate: Yeah.

Ray: Things have changed. We stay at different lodgings now. We spend a money a little more freer. We go out to eat, whereas before a loaf of bread and some lunch meat and cheese and mayonnaise or mustard would do, because I said it would do.

What just sit in my mind is how free I am with the grandchildren now and everything. When we go skiing, yeah, we can go in, get hot chocolate, Starbucks, whatever. Whereas before I wouldn’t want to spend $2. Many times the bill just on Starbucks will come do 10, 20 times that much just because everybody got what they wanted and it was nice and warm. And that’s part of the freedom.

Nate: Can you pinpoint, what about infinite banking has made this change in your mentality?

Ray: Well, what’s made the changes is I know that I’m going to get the money back, and as Holly said, I don’t have to go out and set a time period and really, really work to get it back in there because the whole system is working for itself. And that freedom that that has brought to our lives is getting more and more contagious, I think within our family, as I am experiencing it daily and trying to pass that freedom on.

I have to be careful with the grandchildren and the great grandchildren, because I sort of say, you want it, let’s go get it. And the parents are trying to say tone it down a little Papa.

Nate: That’s probably true.

Ray: I can tone it down. I’m starting to realize what they’re saying, but yet at the same time, I want us to have the freedom to do those things while we’re there. And I think that’s a whole nother mindset of enjoying what God’s created. He says, go and multiply that I came, that you might have life and might have it more abundantly.

I’m not saying these things made it more abundant, but not worrying about the cost of the things has taken away the not enjoying it as much as you could while you’re there.

Holly: I would agree that the freedom you have in knowing you can go and take this trip, for me to be able to unplug, to be able to actually literally enjoy the time you have with your family. It really is a time of memories and enjoying one another and building on those relationships. And there’s very rarely a time where it’s no, you can’t have that. Not because it’s extravagant in what they want, because they’re enjoying being able to just have time and know that every dollar that’s going to be spent, we’re going to get back.

Even the vacation is building on the family’s legacy of passing generational money to the future. And I think the key is most of the time we think of vacation as the money’s gone and we never get it back, but we have those great memories, instead of realizing, not only do you have the memories, but you’re going to have the money to use again and do it again.

Nate: Yeah. And I think it can be hard to put into words what has a positive change that has occurred in us where it’s not just us proving that you can make money on a vacation, right?

Ray: Right, right.

Nate: So like we’ve shown and we can run examples of, Hey, if you keep going on vacations the way you normally do it, or if you use policies to do it, you’ll make more money. And we can show numbers, but it’s hard for us to put it into words what that’s actually changed in our lives that we’ve all felt, that the longer we’ve been in infinite banking, the more free we’ve become. I know how to go on a vacation without feeling stressed out about it because I have this system.

Ray: And that’s so true. Until I had the system, even though my income was good, I don’t think I got the fullness out of the time with the family, because of thinking about earning money. I was, and where I was spending a lot, how was it going to get it back? I can really say that those thoughts are gone.

I travel now with friends on their bucket lists. I don’t have a bucket list, so I just borrow other individuals bucket lists. They want to go to some place.

Nate: Tag along.

Ray: Yeah. And to know that I can do that and be with individuals that I respect and want to be around and have those moments. One I’m thinking of is going to Cuba with a good friend of mine. And he says, “You want to go to Cuba? It’s on my bucket list.” And I said, well, sure. And I invited an individual that’s very much like myself. And he said, “Yeah, I go.”

So the three of us went to Cuba and experienced it when it was open. And I will say this, Cuba is expensive. It’s more expensive than Europe. And it’s not nearly as exciting, but it was an experience. I didn’t think, Oh man, I’m not getting my money’s worth. We were there to experience that environment, what was going on, and one another. So it was really nice.

I got to meet a world renowned artists. I bought some of his stuff and why did I buy it? Because I wanted to. I mean, sits in my office today and I share a lot of people with it, the story behind it, you know? So it was kind of-

Nate: Yeah, exactly. Well, I’ve noticed in my own life, in the same vein that my charitable giving has really dramatically increased the deeper I’ve got into infinite banking, which I didn’t expect necessarily.

It’s not something I expected. It’s not like on a wall of numbers you can see this freedom that I’ve had, but just giving to our church, I’ve been able to do more than I ever thought I’d be able to. And I realized at one point that knowing the system has really helped me become more of a cheerful giver and extravagant giver. And I know my own self. I knew for a fact that if I had done the conventional wealth building pattern of stuff and money, as much as we can into qualified retirement programs and filling money in brokerage accounts and so forth. I know for a fact, I would not feel like I can spend that money or give that money or do something with that money.

And I’ve noticed that for me, having so much money in policies and knowing how to use the money has really freed me up to say, you know what, Nate, you can go ahead and give more this year and bless somebody, or bless the church, or bless the organization that I would not have normally even thought of doing without the system.

But then also the backside, as we’ve been talking about knowing how to get the money back, knowing that the money is going to continue to earn, that I’m not going to have to start over anywhere, is really powerful. It’s more than just numbers on a page, is really what I hope what we’re trying to get across, but it actually can change your life and I feel improve it, make it more fruitful. Make it more enjoyable.

Announcer: Are you still stuck in insecurity and uncertainty? Do you want to feel like a financial genius and confident about your future? Holly and Nate have prepared something exclusively for Dollars and Nonsense listeners. It’s called the secret banking masterclass. You can gain free access to this course by visiting livingwealth.com/secretbanking. That’s secret banking, all one word.

The course will share with you how the conventional system stacks the deck against you, and exactly how to break free from their system. We believe in challenging the status quo. We believe in defying conventional wealth tools while maintaining traditional values. After all, most of those conventional tools only ever seem to make someone else on the inner circle rich. Visit livingwealth.com/secretbanking. That’s secret banking, all one word. Ease your worry, and start your journey towards security today. Visit livingwealth.com/secretbanking. Now back to the great episode with Nate and Holly.

Ray: I’ve had the privilege of actually funding three schools in Uganda. The money was just recirculating, but it’s done an amazing thing in those three schools right now have over 400 students, where if we hadn’t done the schools, those kids would not be getting an education because they’re out in the country. And to go to school in Uganda, you need to either have a school or be in a city.

And it’s just amazing. I’ve gotten to meet two of the students from those schools that have been adopted by an American family. And they’re just brilliant young ladies. So I feel privileged to do that. And you’re absolutely correct, if I didn’t know how the policy worked and what was available, I would have never been nudged by the Holy spirit to say, you can do that. I mean, they didn’t come in looking for support or money, but the Lord, they just told me the story of what was going on, and I decided I wanted to be a part of that.

And that flowing is just the nudging of real freedom. Other words, sort of like a river. It stays within the banks, but it just keeps flowing. And that’s sort of way I’d like to be right now in my life is just flow and stay within the banks.

Nate: I think a lot of people think about financial freedom as something that’s far away that we’re building towards. And that’s the one thing that I’ve loved about practicing infinite banking is that it feels like you’re getting a taste of it the whole time as you’re building it. So you don’t have to wait until you’re retired or something like that to feel financially free. You get more and more freedom the further along you get.

And I think that’s what Nelson Nash has really encouraged is that making decisions to do certain things and knowing how to do them can free you up for whether it’s vacation, whether it’s giving. You can do those things with the policy, know exactly how to get the money back, know how much money you’re going to make after it’s all said and done and know that it doesn’t impact the future trajectory that you were hoping to be on in the first place.

It’s very powerful. We can show numbers about that. We thought it was helpful if we shared some testimonies of that actually occurring in our lives, so you can see that it’s not just a financial strategy, it’s a lifestyle. It’s something that can change some things about who you are.

Holly: I don’t have guilt like I used to. I used to second guess, Oh, I shouldn’t have spent that money. Oh, it’s wasted or various things. I don’t go out and say, well, let’s waste some money. But if I turned around and look, I don’t have the brakes on nearly like I used to.

But that freedom, that peace to know that everything’s going to be okay. Even if I did do it and it was something that maybe I shouldn’t have, I didn’t intentionally say, we’ll let you just go screw up that money.

Nate: The screw ups don’t matter as much. That’s really what we’re trying to say. Whether that’s even in a bad investment, which I know you’ve made your fair share of.

Ray: Yes, I have.

Nate: That when you make a bad investment and he didn’t have infinite banking, you’re out the money and it just feels crappy. It still feels crappy with infinite banking, but at least, you know, hey, the policy that the money came from is still intact. The cash value is still there. The depth of it’s still there and it’s still growing.

Holly: It takes a lot of the edge off and takes the tension away. And there’s not stress in the family like I believe there used to be.

Nate: Yeah. Holly, what about you? Any last points you want to make before we close it down?

Holly: I think it’s the reality that it gives you the freedom to do things you never thought you could do without really having the stress of worrying where is this money coming from? How are we going to make this work? And I think it gives you the opportunity to actually sit back and enjoy the time God’s given you, whether it be on vacation or whether it be going in and enjoying just that cup of coffee or going for dessert somewhere with somebody, of knowing that there’s not a price tag you can put on memories and time.

You don’t get time back that you get to spend with the people that you love and you cherish and that invest in your life. And so I just want I guess our listeners to understand, there’s just a freedom in not having to worry about the money and what you have to do to earn it or get it back. There’s the freedom in that moment in time where it literally is uninterrupted and it’s with those people that you’re spending that valuable time with. We often don’t have a lot of time that we get to spend with those people. So it’s the opportunity just to have uninterrupted time, because you know that you’re going to be getting that money back and it’s going to work for you.

Nate: Yeah. Ray, anything you wanted to mention before we close it down?

Ray: I just want to say I am so thankful to Nelson Nash and what he wrote and how we’ve used it. And as I pass each year and experience more of infinite banking, I see more and more freedom, not yearly, daily. Any way that we can serve those individuals that are allowing us to share the truth of infinite banking, please, please allow us to do it.

Not just the numbers. The numbers are just the verification of the joy that we’re having. They’re not the reason we do it. It’s the joy and the peace that the Holy ghost brings.

Nate: Amen to that. I hope we did a decent job. It was something that we were trying to get across. What is it about this infinite banking that seems so special? It’s not just the numbers, but it’s the peace that it brings and this change of mentality that we’ve seen in our own lives, that we’ve become more free and we’ve sensed some financial freedom maybe before most people would.

And we really believe it’s due to the system. And I know that a lot of you listening who are clients of ours have probably sense that as well. Just a joy that’s not just based on the growth of the policy. That’s great, but what it’s allowed you to do, how you’ve thought your thinking process has changed as mine has I’m sure.

So if you’re listening and you’re new to the idea just to begin with, just understand, maybe it’s a little bit deeper than just an investment opportunity for you.

But with that said, this has been Dollars and Nonsense. If you follow the herd, you will get slaughtered.

Holly: For free transcripts and resources, please visit livingwealth.com/E106.

Announcer: Dollars and nonsense podcast listeners, one more thing before you go. Ease your worry and start your journey towards security today. Visit livingwealth.com/secretbanking. You’ll gain instant free access to the special one-hour course Holly and Nate made for you. Again, that’s livingwealth.com/secretbanking.