You might be wondering what the next steps after starting an IBC policy or aka high cash value life insurance policy.

If so, pay attention to this email! ⚠️

I share other necessary tools you need to have to ensure your legacy, values, ethics, lifestyle, and all of the above gets passed on properly to the next generation.

Did you know that the average lottery winner goes broke within the first 3-5 years declaring bankruptcy? That is insane! I would rather just stay middle class and build my money rather than having a lot in one shot not knowing what to do with it and lose it all. Not only lose it all, but declare bankruptcy! I don't mean the way Mr. Trump leverages bankruptcy -- I'm talking actually bankruptcy (the bad version) where you don't bounce back.

According to Google, 78% of NFL 🏈 players go broke, bankrupt, or are under financial stress within 2 years of retirement? Likewise, 60% of NBA 🏀 players are broke within the first 5 years of leaving the sport?

Why am I sharing...

I see many of you struggling to wrap your head around cash value life insurance and figuring out how to fund these accounts long term. In this email I wanted to focus on the fundamentals that I personally have in place before I even have a conversation with any insurance agent. These fundamentals help me come to the table prepared when talking to an insurance agent so I can tell him or her exactly what I want. Often times when talking to an agent the conversation is typically around the design of the policy, pros and cons, etc which is very important. At the same time it would be wise for you the client to come prepared and competent when speaking to an agent. Remember most insurance agents are not financial coaches/consultants or advisors so the agents job is to make sure you are insured and fully understand the product you are purchasing. They are not typically going to provide financial coaching to you to make the best decision. I recommend if you have a financial coach/consultant o...

It has now been 3 full years of me funding my policies. I thought it would be great to show you the numbers thus far. 

Let's get right into because I know you are busy building those big beautiful Kingdoms.

Policy #1:

Insurance Company: Mass Mutual

• Funding Amount: $15k per year designed to fund for 31 years total amount $465k with ability to add more funds if I so choose.
• Base Premium: $1,500
• MEC Limit: 16,046.01
• Starting Death Benefit: $809,205.74
• Current Death Benefit: 879,555.06
• Policy Design: 90/10 split 90% allocated to cash value 10% to base premium 
• Starting Cash Value: $19,126 before taking out a loan
• Current Cash Value 2021: $19,538.29 with loans outstanding 
• Loans Outstanding: $13,500
• Loan Interest Rate: 5% Variable

Policy #2:

Insurance Company: Guardian

• Funding Amount: $70k per year designed to fund for 7 years total $490k with ability to add more funds if I so choose. 
• Base Premium: $7k
• MEC Limit: 81k
• Death Benefit: $4M
• Policy Design: 90/10 split 9
...

You may know me from my YouTube Channel Denzel Napoleon Rodriguez, and I'm The Finance Geek. I'm here to introduce you to the method called Velocity Banking!

In the past you may have heard about Velocity Banking in the same sentence as "it's complicated" and even "is it a scam?" This is NOT true, and for many people, Velocity Banking is the first step in a long line of lifestyle changes, but what exactly is Velocity Banking and how does it work?

Velocity Banking is defined as the use of financial and banking products that manage and increase cash flow, to quickly create financial security by eliminating, reducing, or minimizing interest. Velocity banking is a more efficient way to use your current income.

The first thing I tell anyone who is thinking about starting Velocity Banking is to know your 4 Major Numbers: These numbers are Income, Expenses, Debt, and Cash Flow.

Knowing your Income and Expenses is pretty straightforward, what do you get paid and how much are your bills....

One thing I'm asked pretty regularly is if Velocity Banking will work for a specific circumstances, I always ask if they know their Four Major Numbers and from there we can get into the pros and cons.

Pros to Velocity Banking

Pay less interest: Because the velocity banking strategy requires free cash flow, the length of the mortgage is significantly shortened. Because you are paying more up font you have less compound interest on the principal amount owed.

Pay off your debt early: Velocity Banking is one type of debt repayment strategy that will work to help you pay off your debt more quickly. (Example in the video below)

Free up equity: Mortgages don’t allow you to tap into your equity, a home equity line of credit (HELOC) combined with velocity banking lets you use money that you wouldn’t ordinarily have access to.

Cons to Velocity Banking

HELOC adjustable rates: You may not be able to find a bank that offers fixed rate HELOCs. This may put uncertainty on the amount of interest...

One topic I'm questioned about nearly every day is lines of credit People ask about lines of credit in several different ways too, like the direct "Denzel, what is a line of credit?" or "How do I use a line of credit?" I even have people ask how they obtain a line of credit and what all the different types are.

This made me think that I should dedicate specific videos and blogs to the line of credit. So I decided to make a post explaining what a line of credit is, and your options when it comes to choosing a line of credit.

What is a line of credit? According to Investopedia, a line of credit is an arrangement between a financial institution—usually a bank—and a customer that establishes the maximum loan amount the customer can borrow. The borrower can access funds from the line of credit at any time as long as they do not exceed the maximum amount (or credit limit) set in the agreement and meet any other requirements such as making timely minimum payments.

This is a pretty technica...

Since so much of Velocity Banking centers around the Line of Credit and Cash Flow, I thought we could talk about the 3 different types of lines of credit there are. As a refresher, a line of credit is an arrangement between a financial institution—usually a bank—and a customer that establishes the maximum loan amount the customer can borrow. Read more about lines of credit here or click on the video below to be linked to my YouTube Playlist all about lines of credit.

Types of Credit Lines

There are 3 types of credit lines – home equity, personal, and business. Business lines of credit work similarly to credit cards. The LOC comes with a credit limit, and borrowers make payments every month with interest based off of the amount they borrowed during that period. Your financial institution will most likely have more strict requirements for lines of credit than for business loans. If you think taking out a business line of credit is right for you to be sure to bring along your business r...

One thing you will notice about the blog is that I like to talk about the questions I get asked regularly. This is because of a couple of things: Velocity banking can be confusing, and I want to be sure you understand the intricacies when you start

1. If there were excellent resources out there that explained this stuff, I probably wouldn't need to answer these questions all the time

2. I want to have written accounts of the topics I discuss on YouTube, so I'm able to

A question I get near the top of my frequently asked questions list is:

"Denzel, is there a difference between simple interest and amortized interest?"

Well, the short answer is yes, but I've had conversations with people where they tried to tell me there was no difference. So what I'm going to do for you is layout definitions and examples of simple and amortized interest so you can see what I'm saying when I say there is a difference. Let's get into it.

Amortized interest is interest that is calculated on the...

To get a grasp on a new to you financial concept, I recommend asking 3 questions:

1. What does it mean?

2. How does it work?

3. How can it change my life?

So let's start with the definition answering the question "What does it mean?"

Borrowing is a temporary possession of money with the intent to repay the amount borrowed. In a financial sense, if you borrow money, you assume a debt to the lender, this debt contains the principal amount plus interest.

Time to break that definition down. We have two parties when we talk about borrowing - we have the person who needs money (borrower) and the person who has money (lender). When a borrower asks for money and is approved for an amount they sign a contract that states how much time they have to pay the lender back, but they have to pay the original amount they borrowed plus interest back to the lender.

there are two major ways lenders calculate interest simple interest and amortize interest - you can read more about the differe...