Bank On Yourself: Charlotte Financial Advisor

Bank On Yourself: Charlotte Financial Advisor Helps Clients Secure Their Financial Future

Jim Conrad was 47 when he was downsized from the company where he had worked 24 years, supervised over 150 people, and managed close to $100 million in assets.

When a foreign firm bought the company and laid off middle management, including Conrad, he reinvested his retirement savings at the same time that he started pursuing a new career in financial services.

“I rolled my 401(k) into an IRA and promptly lost half of it in the 2000-2002 crash,” he said. “That was one of the things that prompted me to look for a financial plan that would be risk free but still produce the kind of growth you need. That ended up being Bank On Yourself.”

Today at age 58, Conrad is a Bank On Yourself Authorized Advisor. This time-tested strategy (it has been around for over 100 years) uses specially designed whole life insurance policies to build wealth without the stomach-churning ups and downs of the stock or real estate markets.

Like Pamela Yellen, author of the bestselling book BANK ON YOURSELF: The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future, Conrad tested the method with his own savings. The result has been a steady increase in his wealth with no volatility.

“I have been putting everything I can into it,” Conrad says. “In fact, I completely missed the 2008 crash because I didn’t have any money in the stock market.”

Conrad has worked professionally in financial services for 10 years. He switched to exclusively working with Bank On Yourself clients about four years ago.

He first heard about the strategy about five years ago. He learned that Bank On Yourself uses dividend-paying whole life policies to create a personal source of financing.

“I thought it was an interesting concept, put it in the back of my mind, and went back to work doing what I was doing — the usual stuff, mutual funds, annuities, working with some life insurance products,” Conrad says.

At the time he did not know much about the specially designed whole life insurance policies that form the basis for the Bank On Yourself strategy. That was before Yellen contacted him and invited him to join her mastermind group of advisors.

“I believed all the usual industry platitudes — you don’t put money into whole life, it’s an archaic product no one wants, you need to buy term insurance and invest the difference,” he says. “But Pamela opened my eyes to the fact that you could use a special type of whole life insurance and make it a very nice wealth building plan.”

When Conrad and his wife relocated to North Carolina a couple of years ago, they faced several major expenditures in connection with their newly constructed home. “Just like I coach my Bank On Yourself clients to do, I used the loan feature of my policies to finance those purchases. I smile when I think about the fact that we will be getting back every penny we spent, and then some! There’s real peace of mind in knowing that you can actually be your own source of financing and build real wealth at the same time.” The Bank On Yourself concept has been drawing a lot of interest since the stock market crash of October 2008. Yellen’s book was a #1 USA Today bestseller when it was released last year and recently hit No. 3 on the New York Times bestseller list for financial books.

Although recent stock market gains have been impressive, there have been days of heart- stopping losses like the market’s May 6 plunge of almost 1,000 points followed by a recovery of 700 points. Many people remain worried about the overall economy, high unemployment and government spending and fearful that inflation will come back “with a vengeance,” Conrad says.

“This is helping people realize that conventional wisdom doesn’t work. They are looking for something that works, that is time-tested. And when they hear that Bank On Yourself has been around 100 years, eliminates risk, allows you to be your own source of financing, that sounds like what they are looking for.”

Today Conrad, like his clients, can sit back and watch the ups and downs of the stock market with the disinterest that comes from knowing their money is growing no matter what.

“I decided this is what I wanted to do fulltime because I believe in the concept,” he says. “I am passionate about it because it works for me.”

About Bank On Yourself and Pamela Yellen: As a consultant to financial advisors, Pamela Yellen investigated more than 450 savings and retirement planning strategies seeking an alternative to the risk and volatility of stocks and other investments. Her research led her to a time-tested, predictable method of growing and protecting savings now used by more than 500,000 Americans. Pamela's book, BANK ON YOURSELF: The Life-Changing Secret to Growing and Protecting Your Financial Future, is a New York Times Bestseller. She has appeared on every major TV and radio network, including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, and NPR. Her articles have appeared in hundreds of publications and websites, including USA Today, The Huffington Post, and Fortune Small Business. Learn more at www.BankOnYourself.com.