Bankless by Design

If we finance everything we buy, then someone is always performing the financing function—and someone is making money doing it. In Part 2 of Basic Understandings , Tricia and Jonathan continue through page 26 of R. Nelson Nash's Becoming Your Own Banker and unpack his instruction to: "Create an entity, a plan which you control, and makes money on your own loans." They explore what Nelson means by...

"You finance everything you buy." It may be one of the most important—and most misunderstood—statements in Nelson Nash's Becoming Your Own Banker . In this episode, Tricia and Jonathan return to the Basic Understandings section of the book and unpack the hidden cost of paying cash: opportunity cost. Using a simple $20,000 car example, they compare borrowing from a bank with saving and paying cash,...

Libsyn Description In this final episode on Nelson Nash's chapter Creating the Entity , Tricia brings the discussion of misclassification full circle. Nelson begins the chapter by showing what happens when we misunderstand the characteristics of something valuable. But near the end, he presents the opposite problem: several very different products are all placed under the broad category of "perman...

What if designing life insurance for the banking function requires doing almost the opposite of what we've always been taught? Most people shop for life insurance by asking how much death benefit they can get for the least amount of premium. Nelson Nash turns that thinking upside down. In Part 2 of Creating the Entity , Tricia is joined again by her friend and fellow Infinite Banking practitioner...

What if the thing everyone told you was outdated, inefficient—or even a bad financial product—was actually the gold you were looking for? In Part 1 of Creating the Entity , Tricia is joined by fellow Infinite Banking practitioner and Beaver Bankers author Becca Wilhite to unpack one of the most fascinating arguments in Nelson Nash's Becoming Your Own Banker . Nelson tells the story of the Spanish...

Owning a whole life policy is not the same thing as becoming your own banker. In the final episode of Nelson Nash's section on the five human problems, Tricia and Jonathan explore what he meant by "Use It or Lose It." They address some of the most common questions surrounding the Infinite Banking Concept: Does borrowing against a policy make it grow? Why repay your own banking system with interest...

What if the greatest obstacle to growth is not ignorance—but the belief that we already know? In this episode, Tricia and Jonathan explore what Nelson Nash calls The Arrival Syndrome : the prideful tendency to stop listening, stop learning, and assume we have already figured everything out. Through the story of W. Edwards Deming, the transformation of Japanese manufacturing, and Nelson's teaching...

They had escaped slavery. Then they handed over their gold—and celebrated the thought of going back. Why would free people surrender their freedom? And why do we so often give up control of our financial lives, only to complain when someone else makes the rules? In Part 2 of our Golden Rule conversation, Tricia and Jonathan explore the surprising connections Nelson Nash makes between the Constitut...

Who really makes the rules in your financial life? In Part 1 of The Golden Rule, Tricia Miller and her son Jonathan continue walking through the Human Problems section of Nelson Nash's Becoming Your Own Banker. Nelson's financial version of the Golden Rule is blunt: "He who has the gold makes the rules." But this episode is not about greed, domination, or simply having more money. It is about capi...

In Willie Sutton's Law Part 2, Tricia and Jonathan continue the Becoming Your Own Banker series with a bold and eye-opening conversation about the financial deals most people are taught to accept without question. Nelson Nash warned that wherever wealth accumulates, someone will try to get to it. In this episode, we look at qualified plans, employer matches, tax deferral, Wall Street, liquidity, a...

Libsyn Caption / Description In this episode of Bankless by Design , Tricia continues through Nelson Nash's Becoming Your Own Banker with Willie Sutton's Law, Part 1: When the Law Becomes the Thief . This conversation explores the chapter's deeper themes of legal plunder, taxation, control, and the question of who really has a claim on your wealth once it begins to accumulate. Even for listeners w...

Why would anyone put whole life insurance on a baby? In this episode, Tricia walks through a real policy illustration for a brand-new baby boy and explains why this decision is not about death — it is about life, insurability, capital, family banking, and generational stewardship. Money will flow through your child's life either way. The real question is: who will control the banking function? Thi...

This episode feels a little like storytime — and honestly, it fits. Tricia and Jonathan continue their conversation on Parkinson's Law by turning to one of Tricia's favorite old financial classics: The Richest Man in Babylon . Nelson Nash shows us the problem: expenses tend to rise to meet income. But The Richest Man in Babylon gives us a practical place to begin. Tricia brings her love of old boo...

In this episode, Tricia and Jonathan begin Part Two of Nelson Nash's Becoming Your Own Banker , where Nash turns from the technical side of Infinite Banking to the human problems. The focus today is Parkinson's Law — the reality that expenses tend to rise to meet income. More money will not fix our finances if our habits, appetites, and spending keep recreating the same problem. Tricia also explai...

What does it really mean to "pay yourself back"? In Part 2 of this conversation, Tricia Miller and her son Jonathan continue through Nelson Nash's Becoming Your Own Banker and unpack one of the most important principles of Infinite Banking: if you are going to become the banker, you have to act like the banker. They discuss repaying policy loans with discipline, paying interest back into the syste...

What if your greatest financial need is not simply more life insurance — but a better way to finance your life? In this episode, Tricia Miller and her son Jonathan continue working through pages 23 and 24 of Nelson Nash's Becoming Your Own Banker . This is where Nelson begins shifting the conversation from thinking only about death benefit to understanding the lifelong need for financing, capitali...

In this episode, I continue through Becoming Your Own Banker by Nelson Nash and talk about a mistake people often make when looking at whole life insurance for the Infinite Banking Concept: focusing too much on the dividend rate. The truth is, the dividend rate alone does not tell you what you need to know. What matters more is your behavior as the owner, the strength and structure of the company,...

In Episode 36 of the BYOB Series, Tricia Miller continues the walk through Nelson Nash's chapter on creating your own banking system through dividend-paying life insurance . This first half of the conversation focuses on dividends: what they are, how they are determined, and why dividend rate alone is not a sound way to compare policies or companies. Along the way, Tricia explains why policy illus...

In this episode of Bankless By Design , Tricia continues the Becoming Your Own Banker series by looking more closely at the product behind the process: whole life insurance. But this conversation goes beyond the mechanics of the policy itself. At the heart of this episode is a deeper idea: ownership matters . Tricia walks through Nelson Nash's explanation of how whole life insurance is engineered,...

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend and fellow practitioner, Will Fullington, to talk about a topic most churches and nonprofits have probably never considered: how the Infinite Banking Concept can help them build, protect, and steward capital for the long term. We talk about stewardship, liquidity, long-range thinking, and why churches need more than a savings account if they want to be prep...

Most people believe paying cash is the safest and cheapest way to buy anything. But what if that belief is costing you more than you realize? In this episode, Tricia and Jonathan unpack a foundational principle from Becoming Your Own Banker : You finance everything you buy—either by paying interest to someone else or giving up interest you could have earned. Through simple examples and real-world...

Are you actually being a good steward of your money… or does it just feel like you are? In this episode, we explore a foundational principle from Becoming Your Own Banker —that you finance everything you buy—and connect it to the Parable of the Talents. What we uncover is a powerful truth: 👉 It's not just about what you spend… it's about what your money could have been doing. We talk about: Why b...

In this episode of the Bankless By Design Podcast , Tricia and   Jonathan continue their Becoming Your Own Banker series with the chapter " Creating a Bank Like the Ones You Already Know About." Together, they explore what it would really take to start a traditional bank— from capital requirements and bank charters to deposits, lending, and the cost of establishing trust in the marketplace. They a...

Most financial conversations revolve around rate of return . But Nelson Nash pointed out something very different: the average American may be losing over 34% of disposable income to interest flowing to banks, lenders, and financing companies. In this episode of Bankless By Design , Tricia and Jonathan explore Nash's famous airplane analogy — explaining why most people are unknowingly flying into...

Most people believe the problem with their finances is that they aren't earning a high enough rate of return. But what if that's not the real issue? In Part 1 of our discussion on The Problem from Becoming Your Own Banker , Jonathan and I examine the quiet but powerful force draining wealth from most families: the volume of interest leaving their lives year after year. We talk about: – Why focusin...