Why You Should Become Your Own Banker | Dan Pascone with Hannah Kesler | Episode #29

Posted on August 4, 2025 by Dan Pascone

Episode TL;DR

In this episode: Dan and money mentor Hannah unpack the “become your own banker” strategy – using specially designed whole life insurance as a personal banking system. They cover how cash value policies really work, what makes them different from traditional life insurance, how policy loans let you “double dip” your dollars, and why many real estate investors and business owners use this approach to tackle debt, fund investments, and create tax-advantaged retirement income.

Who this is for: High-earning professionals, business owners, and real estate investors who want more control over their cash flow, are frustrated with traditional banks and Wall Street-only strategies, and are curious about infinite banking / privatized banking as part of their overall plan.

Key Takeaways

“Becoming your own banker” is a process, not a product. The tool is a specially designed high cash value whole life insurance policy, but the real power is in how you run money through it – using it as your personal banking system for cars, taxes, investments, equipment, and more.
Policy design matters more than the brand name. For infinite banking, policies must be whole life with a mutually owned carrier and heavily funded with paid-up additions so cash value is available quickly. A generic whole life policy from “your brother-in-law” is usually not structured for this.
You borrow against cash value; you don’t withdraw it. When you take a policy loan, the cash value stays in the policy and continues compounding. You use the insurance company’s money (with your death benefit as collateral) while your dollars keep growing in the background.
You control repayment terms. As your own banker, you decide how aggressively to “pay yourself back” – interest rate, schedule, and amount – which can turn major purchases and investments into future cash flow back into your own system instead of to a bank.
Debt payoff is often the first use case; wealth-building is the second. Many clients start by using policies to systematically eliminate consumer/business debt, then pivot to funding real estate deals, private lending, taxes, college, and ultimately tax-advantaged retirement income.
It’s a long-term cash-flow tool, not a get-rich-quick scheme. Early years are like starting a business: there are “overhead” costs. Over time, uninterrupted compounding and consistent premiums can create a flexible pool of tax-advantaged capital that supports multiple goals.

Key Moments

00:02 – Dan opens the show and frames the mission: cutting through financial noise for business leaders.
00:27 – Introducing guest Hannah, the “single millionaire chick” and second-generation teacher of the Money Multiplier method.
01:36 – Hannah explains how she started at 18 and why her late mentor taught her everyone should be in two businesses: their main business and the banking business.
03:09 – Why most people know how to make money but struggle to keep it – and the limitations of banks, mattresses, and traditional advisors.
04:22 – Why Hannah warehouses wealth in specially designed whole life policies and why design (high immediate cash value) is crucial.
07:13 – How she started her first policy as a Cracker Barrel waitress with $400/month and used it to buy her first MacBook.
09:37 – Deep dive on policy loans: collateralizing cash value, using the carrier’s money, and thinking like a banker instead of a borrower.
14:00 – “Rocket ship” analogy: base premium vs. paid-up additions and why most of the premium should go to boosters (cash value).
18:13 – What Hannah actually does day-to-day: designing policies, then coaching clients on how to use them to solve real money problems.
19:29 – Who this tends to resonate with most: why ~60% of their 17,000+ clients are real estate investors but W-2 earners can do it too.
21:02 – Using policies to pay off nearly $1M of debt, then bridging into wealth building for taxes, college, vacations, and retirement income.
22:51 – Tax angle: paying tax once on the seed, not the harvest, and using policies as a tax-free growth and distribution vehicle.
24:19 – How she uses policies to fund private lending and “mailbox money” while still compounding inside the policy.
25:55 – Big idea: don’t change what you invest in – just add the step of running the money through your policy first.
26:07 – Lightning round: coffee, butter chicken with garlic naan, StairMaster, favorite quotes, books, hacks, and goals.
29:18 – Where to find Hannah online and how to learn more about infinite banking and the Money Multiplier method.

Episode Summary

In Episode 29 of the Making Sense of Your Money podcast, Dan sits down with money mentor Hannah to break down why she believes everyone should be in two businesses: the one that earns your income and the banking business that finances everything in your life. As a second-generation practitioner of the “Money Multiplier” method and the Infinite Banking Concept (IBC), Hannah shares how she started her first policy at 18 on a waitress income and has since used policies to fund cars, houses, taxes, real estate deals, and more.

They unpack the mechanics behind becoming your own banker: using specially designed high-cash-value whole life policies with mutually owned insurance companies, overfunding paid-up additions, and taking policy loans instead of withdrawals. Hannah explains how those loans are actually the carrier’s money with your death benefit as collateral, so your own cash value keeps compounding uninterrupted while you deploy capital into cars, equipment, taxes, or investments. The key shift is learning to “think like a banker,” charging yourself interest and directing repayments back to your own system.

From there, the conversation moves into practical use cases and strategy. Hannah walks through how many clients start by using policies to crush consumer and business debt, then pivot to real estate investing and private lending, using policies as the funding source for “mailbox money.” She also highlights the tax advantages of paying tax once on the seed (after-tax dollars going in), then enjoying tax-free growth and distributions later in life. The episode closes with a lightning round that reveals Hannah’s personality, favorite money quotes, and her advice to her younger self: give yourself grace and stop comparing your journey to everyone else’s Instagram feed.

Full Episode Transcript

Transcript edited lightly for clarity.

Narrator: Brought to you by Tailored Wealth, helping business leaders live their version of a rich life.

Dan: Welcome to another edition of the Making Sense of Your Money podcast, where we cut through the financial noise and help business leaders to make smart, confident money decisions. Welcome to episode number 29 of the Making Sense of Your Money podcast.

Dan: I’m your host, Dan. I’m the founder and CEO of Tailored Wealth. And each episode features a trusted voice in the financial world, someone who works directly with high-level professionals to simplify the complex and turn strategy into action. And I’m really excited about today’s guest.

Dan: We’ve got with us Hannah, aka the single millionaire chick. She runs a really interesting organization called The Money Multiplier, and she’s really a money mentor. So she is perfect for our show, perfect for our audience. Hannah, thanks for joining us. I’m excited to chat with you today.

Hannah: Hey, man. I’m excited to be here and even more excited to talk about my favorite topic: money.

Dan: I love it. You and me both. You and me both. We can agree to that.

Dan: Alright, so we’ve got a lot to get into. I know our audience is going to want to hear a lot of different stuff from you. Start off by just telling us what it is that you do, how you got into this field, and ultimately what you help people to accomplish.

Hannah: Yeah. So, you know, I actually started this whole journey at the age of 18, and luckily it was because of my family. I’m really second generation into this Money Multiplier method that we teach.

Hannah: What it is, is how to build, keep, and create wealth through our own debts and expenses that we already have. And what it truly is, is taking back the control of the banking function in our lives.

Hannah: My mentor, my late mentor – he unfortunately passed away in 2019 – R. Nelson Nash, would always tell me, “Hannah, you want to be in two businesses in your life. The first business is the one that you’re passionate about, that gets you up out of bed every day, supports the livelihood, supports the family. But the second business is the banking business – the business that finances everything throughout our life. And that’s what I really teach on.”

Dan: Yeah, I’m pumped to get into this because I’ve seen so many high-level professionals, smart executives, smart business owners – even myself and people in my industry who know finances very well – struggle with the banking component. So I want to unpack that a little bit more.

Dan: Tell us a little bit more about what high earners, high achievers, or really any Americans out there can do to sort of control that banking function and run that banking institution within their life.

Hannah: Yeah. Because even when I’m traveling around the country, speaking on stages, doing my TV interviews – a lot of people, we all know how to go make money. We all know how to go make the money. But we suck at keeping it.

Hannah: I just want to keep the money that I’m already making. And really, when we’re going out there and we’re making our money, we’re only kind of given a few options. Okay, when I go make these dollars, well, I could leave it down at the commercial bank because, well, that’s just where they keep the money.

Hannah: And then what those bankers do is they use our money and they make a good living off of our money. Or, I could leave it underneath my mattress or dig a hole in the backyard. But I don’t really want to do that because then I’m subject to flooding, fire, theft, or the hidden tax called inflation.

Hannah: Or the final option is I could go leave it with a financial advisor who thinks they can manage my money better than I can. And that’s really just all of the options that we’re given.

Hannah: So instead, what I personally do and where I keep the majority of my wealth is inside my whole life insurance policies. Now, these policies have to be designed specifically for high, immediate cash value.

Hannah: It’s not like you can go and just call up our brother-in-law that sells life insurance and say, “Hey, I want one of these whole life policies,” because we all got a brother-in-law that sells life insurance, do we not?

Hannah: So no, it’s got to be designed specifically for high immediate cash value. What I mean by that is when I put my premium deposit into this policy, I immediately – and my definition of immediately is within 30 days – have access to cash value that I can now pull out to use for whatever I want.

Dan: Alright, so let’s unpack that. I’m familiar with this. We’ve done a fair amount of these for clients over the years.

Dan: Tell us a little bit about what’s… because life insurance gets a bad rap oftentimes because of what you said – the brother-in-law that sells life insurance, right, that just wants to sort of jam life insurance down your throat.

Dan: Tell us a little bit about the keys to structuring these whole life policies effectively so that your money is growing for you but that you also have access to the cash immediately, which is not always the case in these policies.

Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. My biggest advice is honestly working with somebody who is an authorized IBC practitioner. IBC stands for the Infinite Banking Concept.

Hannah: How you know that you’re working with somebody: if you go to infinitebanking.org, there’s actually a practitioners finder on there. You can look up the people in your area or all across the country. Those are the people that have really gone through the training to properly educate the public about high early cash value policies and to use them properly.

Hannah: I’ll be honest – a lot of people get a hold of Nelson’s book – and it’s this black book here. I think everybody needs to add this book, Becoming Your Own Banker, to their financial wealth-building library.

Hannah: But a lot of people get a hold of Nelson’s book and then they just think it’s a tool to go and sell more policies, make more commissions for themselves. And it’s like, no. The policy is just the product that we’re using.

Hannah: What we’re really talking about is the process of how we’re utilizing the policies to go and finance our investments, our purchases – whatever it is that we’re doing within our monetary life.

Dan: That’s great. Let’s unpack that a little bit more because I love that concept.

Dan: Now, we won’t go into the weeds around structuring the policy – we’ll save that for another time – but let’s just assume that. Walk me through an individual that you or your team or these accredited individuals might be working with. You’ve got an individual, we set them up with one of these whole life policies, they’re contributing to it regularly. What are you doing with the cash value now? How are we managing it day-to-day, month-to-month, quarter-to-quarter, year-to-year?

Hannah: Yes. Yeah. Well, first of all, I’ll say you get to decide how much you want to start your policy with. If somebody’s coming to you and saying you need to do X amount of money into your policy, I’d personally run the other direction.

Hannah: You need to own that aspect of your banking life. You need to tell that individual how much you want to deposit into your policy. And that could be on a monthly, quarterly, twice-a-year, or even annual basis.

Hannah: For instance, when I was 18 and I started my first policy, I was still a waitress at Cracker Barrel, okay? And I started my first policy at 400 bucks a month because that’s all I could afford at the time. I was saving up about $100 a week – 400 a month. So that’s just where I started.

Hannah: What I did from there – and I’m just going to use my story for a personal reference – when I turned 19, I needed a new laptop for business. MacBooks – I mean those suckers are pretty expensive. It was like $2,500.

Hannah: So what I did is I took a loan from my policy, went down to the Apple store, bought that MacBook, and then I just played honest banker with myself. “Okay, if I borrowed from my own bank, I need to pay myself back and charge myself interest. Treat your money just how you treat the banker’s money.”

Hannah: That’s what I did. That was my first ever purchase. But to fast-forward – I mean, I’ve bought cars, I’ve bought houses. This is how I pay my property taxes, my IRS bill every year.

Hannah: My more favorable thing is I’m into real estate investing more on the paper side – private lending – but this is how I go and fund all of my real estate investments: through my policies. Because now I’m double dipping on that money. I’m always and forever earning that uninterrupted compounding interest in my policy, and I take it out and I can go make it work over here in the investment deal that I’m doing.

Dan: Yeah, I mean, the concept of leverage on your investments is one that not enough people understand. The wealthy understand it, but not enough of common Americans understand how to use your own money to ultimately make more money.

Dan: Alright, so I want to unpack the concept of taking loans off the policy because that’s a really important piece of this whole concept. Explain to someone that doesn’t exactly know how that works what you’re actually doing. They understand contributing to a life insurance contract, but now you want to go buy the car, the MacBook, invest in the real estate property. What are you actually doing to get the loan out, and then how are you paying yourself back?

Hannah: Yes. I think this is perfect because honestly, if y’all want to nerd out on this, this is what’s called the opportunity cost of your money.

Hannah: Essentially, let’s say I’m in the market and I want to go purchase myself a $50,000 car, right? I could have that $50,000 saved up in my checking or savings account at the bank, and I could withdraw the $50,000 and go give it to the car salesman.

Hannah: Okay, I’ve accomplished the goal of buying my car, but guess what I don’t have anymore? I no longer have that $50,000 because it was inside of my pocket at the local bank, earning some form of interest. And when I just go and withdraw it, I no longer have that.

Hannah: So the whole idea is just add the additional step of running the money through the policy first and then I’ll take it out. Because we’re not withdrawing the money from the policy – we’re taking out a policy loan.

Hannah: I know this is where people get tripped up, because they’re thinking, “Well, Hannah, a loan is a debt. It’s a payment. It’s an expense.” And it’s like: no, no, no. Think like a banker. In the traditional sense, are loans assets to banks? Yes.

Hannah: So you’ve got to get your mindset around you being your own banker now. To get even more specific and technical logistically, what’s going on is when I call into the insurance company and say, “Hey, I want to take out this $50,000 loan,” first of all, they never ask me what I’m using the money for, when I’m going to pay it back, or how I’m going to pay it back. Because they don’t care.

Hannah: What’s happening is I’m putting my policy death benefit up for collateral, and I’m taking a loan from the general funds of the insurance company. So I’m using their $50,000 in the real world to go buy the car. That’s how and why my $50,000 still remains in the policy to grow and compound as if it wasn’t even touched.

Dan: Okay, great. Now take it a step further.

Dan: First and foremost, because a lot of people – I agree with you – they hear “loan” and they feel like, “Oh, I’m in debt. I never want any debt, etc.” But it’s really leverage, not debt.

Dan: How much can you educate our people on how much you can take from your policy? A typical policy – if you’ve got $10,000 in cash value, how much can you loan against it? And then what’s the method for… what do you recommend as a means to pay it back?

Hannah: Yes. I’m going to hit on that one first. Let’s use this example of taking out this $50,000 loan from my policy to go buy the car.

Hannah: What you could do – and this is the freedom of you being your own banker – is ask: how much do you want to pay yourself back? How frequently? Is it every month? Every quarter? How much interest do you want to charge yourself? That’s all within your control.

Hannah: I can tell you, me personally, anytime I take out a policy loan, I’m paying myself back at 10%. Because the more aggressive I am with the interest that I’m charging myself, the more money that’s going to be back inside my pocket anyway.

Hannah: So I personally just do 10% on any loans I take out. But sometimes, maybe you just want to go with market rates – hey, 6–7%. Here’s a cool little resource that I use: if you go to bankrate.com, they actually have a loan calculator. That’s how much I know to pay myself back every month – I just put in all my specs in there.

Dan: Got it. Got it. Okay, that makes sense. Now to the second question: how much can you take as a loan? Everyone has different cash values and different amounts that they can contribute to build up the cash value. How much can you withdraw?

Hannah: Yes. So year one, we don’t have access to dollar-for-dollar quite yet. The analogy I like to use is: starting a policy is almost like starting a business from scratch.

Hannah: Here’s what I mean by that. Year one, when I put a dollar of premium into my policy, I have access to 70 cents. So if I put in $10,000, I’ll have access to $7,000.

Hannah: I get it, though, because I just started this business. There are going to be overhead costs, expenses, all that. But year two, I put a dollar into this policy – or this business – and now my “profits” are 95 cents, or 95%. Year two, I put in 10,000; now I have 9,500 of cash growth that year.

Hannah: Year three, when I put in my dollar, now I have access to that same dollar. It’s growing by how much I put into it. That’s my break-even year.

Hannah: Now this is where the fun starts happening. Year four, I put in a dollar, and now it’s growing by $1.05. Year five, put in a dollar, now it’s growing by $1.10. It’s just because of that uninterrupted compounding. Every day and year is better than the day and year prior.

Dan: Got it. Got it.

Dan: Alright, so the concept you’ve done a great job of articulating. How about the specifics? What should folks look out for in insurance contracts to make sure they’re structured properly so they can, as you mentioned, be their own bank?

Hannah: Yes. So first of all, when you start to go down this rabbit hole of the Infinite Banking Concept, you’re going to stumble upon different philosophies of “buy term and invest the difference” or IULs versus whole life. It’s a huge conversation – we could spend a whole two-hour session talking about it.

Hannah: But when you’re going out here and really wanting to utilize the policy to become your own banker, you only want to use a whole life policy.

Hannah: So number one: it has to be whole life. The reason being, it’s a guaranteed asset that’s not based on market performance, government intervention, etc. It’s guaranteed – contractual guarantees.

Hannah: Number two: you want it to be with a mutually owned insurance company. There are some mutual companies; there are stock companies. You want it to be with mutually owned companies.

Hannah: Number three: you want to make sure that you’re overfunding what’s called the paid-up additions rider.

Hannah: I know we’re kind of getting more into the specifics and insurance lingo, but there are really two moving parts of that policy premium: you have your base premium and your paid-up additions.

Hannah: How I like to describe it: if you’ve ever seen a space shuttle take off into space, you have the base of that rocket ship – that base is your base premium. Then you’ve got these two booster rockets attached onto the side – those are your paid-up additions.

Hannah: You want the majority of your premium going toward those booster rockets – those paid-up additions – because that’s what gets my rocket ship out of the sky and out of the atmosphere.

Hannah: In the policy world, that’s how and why I have access to this cash value immediately.

Dan: Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Great analogy. I love the rocket ship analogy.

Dan: Let’s talk a little bit about you, The Money Multiplier. You’ve described this concept really, really well. What do you help clients do, Hannah? What is your day-to-day like?

Hannah: Yes. Honestly, I am on the phone all the time, traveling, speaking on stages, doing my own podcast show – which I love doing.

Hannah: But honestly, I’m teaching and helping folks implement this Infinite Banking Concept. Hopefully when people hear about this, they want to do this with me. They don’t have to, but hopefully they want to, because this is 100% of what I do.

Hannah: I help my folks obtain their policies – designing it for their needs and goals – but more specifically, once that policy goes active, that’s when our work really begins. Because, okay, now it’s active – what do I start doing with this? I’ve got XYZ problems going on. How can I use this policy to solve these money problems?

Hannah: That’s where we spend a lot of our time, just myself and my team – helping folks strategize how to use their policies to pay off debts, finance equipment, pay taxes, whatever it is.

Dan: Are you typically dealing with… let’s talk about your typical clients. The people that come to you – are they business owners? W-2 employees? What’s the age range? Is it all over the place? Tell us a little bit about your typical client.

Hannah: Yeah. You know what’s funny? It’s all over the place. This is what my father would always say: “When you stand in front of a mirror and when you breathe, you fog it up – you need to know this information and you need to be implementing it.”

Hannah: But I would say mostly – we’ve got 17,000-plus clients in every state in the country – I would say 60% of them are real estate investors. It’s just because real estate investors really pick up on cash flow and leverage a lot quicker than my traditional W-2 or 9-to-5 workers.

Hannah: But I was just talking to a gentleman yesterday – he’s 22 years old, working as a mechanic. So it doesn’t matter where you’re at, and no, you don’t have to be ultimately wealthy to do this stuff. Again, I started my journey when I was still a waitress at Cracker Barrel. I think anybody can do it if you’re living on a waitress salary.

Dan: Sure. Sure. Sure.

Dan: When clients come to you, what are the biggest challenges they’re facing, and what do you ultimately help them achieve? It sounds like, obviously, I know the life insurance space well – there are a lot of moving parts there, so understanding and having an expert is super valuable. But what are the biggest challenges your clients typically come to you with?

Hannah: Yeah. I would say number one is probably debt. Honestly, over 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. My father was one of them. Dad was a very successful chiropractor, making over a million a year – but who cares if you’re making a million if your overhead is 975, right?

Hannah: So I think they really hear my father’s story of paying off that almost a million of debt in 39 months. That’s really what we help them with first.

Hannah: Then from there, we bridge the gap between the debt payoff and now wealth building. How can I use this to pay my taxes, minimize my tax liability? How can I use this to fund my vacation, my kids’ colleges?

Hannah: In the long-term aspect of it – because I don’t know about you, Dan, and your perspective – but I have no money in the market. I have no money in 401(k)s, IRAs, or qualified plans, because that’s just me locking up my dollars and subjecting it to risk that I cannot control.

Hannah: In the policies, this is my retirement income. This is my tax-free income that’s going to supplement my expenses when I get to those latter years of my life.

Dan: Yeah, we certainly advocate and use many of those other vehicles as well, but I want you to hit on the tax piece quick because that’s a really important component to this and one of the reasons why this can be a really, really sound investment.

Dan: Talk us through why this can really be a tax-optimized investment across the board.

Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. I would even argue that the policy is not my investment. It’s just the place where I warehouse and store my cash.

Hannah: Here’s my definition of an investment: an investment involves risk. It can go up in value and it can go down and lose value. My whole life policy can never lose value, because I have a contractual, guaranteed interest that they always have to pay me.

Hannah: From the tax standpoint, when I’m putting money into the policy, this is always after-tax dollars – which is totally opposite of what a lot of financial advisors tell us to do. They say, “Hey, go put your money in this 401(k). Take the tax break now, because later in life you won’t be making as much money.”

Hannah: And I’m sitting over here scratching my head thinking, “What in the hell are you saying that I’m not going to be making as much money later on down the road?” But anyways, I digress.

Dan: It is backwards advice. It is traditional advice, and it is backwards. But continue – I agree with you on that.

Hannah: See, I want to pay tax on my money one time, one time only, at the lowest rate possible. Then get that money into a tax-free environment where now it’s growing tax-free for me. That’s the tax-free growth of what’s happening inside the policy.

Hannah: When I get to the point that I’m taking out more from this policy than what I even put into it, that’s all tax-free dollars to me, and I don’t have to report that to the government or the IRS.

Dan: Okay. Got it.

Dan: Let’s talk a little bit about whether it be… because we have a lot of our audience listening that I think would like to use this tactfully for other opportunities – real estate investments, their own businesses, maybe consulting work they’re doing, or to fund a side hustle or whatever the case may be.

Dan: So they want to use it for some other income-generating asset – whether it’s a business or a true investment like real estate. Talk a little bit about what the impacts can be and the compounding effect this can have if you use it effectively that way.

Hannah: Yeah. Yeah. Because I kind of mentioned a little bit about the private lending that I like to do. I just like private lending because I’m a lazy investor. I’m busy over here building my business, right? So I just like that mailbox money that comes in every month.

Hannah: I’ll even say this. For my parents listening, this is what my dad taught us kids that really got me into the mindset of going and putting my little green men to work. Because that’s what your dollars are. Your dollars are your little green men. The objective is you want to go put that man to work. Create an army of green men that are out there working so you can take your time freedom back, your location freedom back.

Hannah: If I want to go sit my butt on the boat on a Wednesday afternoon, I’m going to go do it.

Dan: I love it.

Hannah: But no matter what investment or business that you’re in, I think you should be investing in the things that you like, know, and understand. Whether it’s real estate, crypto, stocks, options trading – all we’re doing is adding the one step of running the money through the policy first and then taking it out to go buy that investment.

Hannah: Because now I’m just double dipping on my money. I’m always going to earn the uninterrupted compounding in my policy, and I’m out here making interest on the money in that investment I’m doing.

Dan: Alright, that’s really well said and a great time for us to shift gears a little bit.

Dan: Alright, Hannah – so now you told us all about your business, great concepts, important things for people to know and understand when it comes to personal banking. I love that concept. We’re going to learn a little bit more about you.

Dan: You’re going to enter into the lightning round. We’re going to ask you a question and you just give me the first thought that comes to your head. Could be a one-word answer, could be a long, drawn-out thought, and anywhere in between. Ready?

Hannah: Okay, I’m ready.

Dan: Cool. Coffee or tea?

Hannah: Coffee.

Dan: One meal for the rest of your life. What is it?

Hannah: Butter chicken with garlic naan.

Dan: Wow, you didn’t hesitate there. That just rolled off your tongue. I love it.

Hannah: I’m a foodie.

Dan: Okay.

Hannah: I like it.

Dan: I like it. Alright. What’s one tool or piece of technology – other than your computer or your phone – that you can’t live without? Hardware or software.

Hannah: I would say one tool or technology… can I say my StairMaster?

Dan: Sure. Yeah, you sure can. You sure can. Alright, I love it. Very good.

Dan: Do you have a favorite quote or phrase? You’ve given probably a few already today about money or success.

Hannah: Yeah. Actually, I’m going to give you two if that’s alright.

Hannah: The first one – I remember Pop saying this all the time when we were kids. It’s a Zig Ziglar quote: “If you help enough people get what they want, you in return are going to get what you want.” That’s why I just live my life giving my best stuff away for free, because I know it’s all going to come back to me anyway.

Hannah: The second one I think about almost every single day of my life is by Warren Buffett. He says, “If poor people would just start doing what rich people do, they wouldn’t be poor anymore.”

Hannah: It’s like, how much freaking sense does that make? Just study up on these elite families – what they’re doing, how they’re keeping the money within the family – and then just mimic, copy them. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

Dan: Sure. Sure. Well said. Well said.

Dan: You already mentioned one, but I’ll give you an opportunity if you want to repeat it again. Favorite book on finance or business?

Hannah: Yeah. It is Becoming Your Own Banker. But honestly, if y’all have ever read a book by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy – Who Not How. One of my favorites.

Dan: Yep. One of my favorites. I love it. Yep. Dan Sullivan’s a favorite of mine. I’ve read all of his books.

Dan: Alright, very good. Do you have a personal hack – it could be a finance hack or just a personal hack – that you subscribe to?

Hannah: Yeah. I would say, hey business owners, get yourself a bookkeeper sooner rather than later.

Dan: Okay.

Hannah: I had to learn that the hard way.

Dan: Amen to that. Agreed. Agreed.

Dan: One bucket list item that you’ve already accomplished.

Hannah: Yep. Backpacking in Thailand.

Dan: Okay, sweet. Sweet. How long ago was that?

Hannah: That was actually just earlier this year in March. That was a lot of fun.

Dan: Awesome. Good for you. Good for you.

Dan: What’s one financial milestone that you’re working towards?

Hannah: Yeah, I would say to get myself to the – would that be eight figures, just personally. We hit the seven-figure mark. Now we’re just working towards the eight figures. That’s just my personal goal of what I’m setting for myself.

Dan: Good for you. Good for you.

Dan: If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?

Hannah: I would say: give yourself grace.

Hannah: Especially as me being on the cusp of Gen Z – we grow up online, all of my generation – and so when you’re going out there looking at Instagram, Facebook, different things, you want to compare yourself to the lifestyle that other people are living. So just give yourself grace. You’re on your own journey and your own path.

Dan: Love it. Love it. Well said.

Dan: And then lastly, if our listeners want to connect with you, collaborate, work with you – what’s the best way to follow you, connect with you, reach out to you, etc.?

Hannah: Yeah. You can learn more about me at hannahkesler.com – Hannah spelled the same ways forwards and backwards, Kesler with one “s.” And also The Money Multiplier – you can always find us there.

Dan: Very cool. Very cool. Hannah, really enjoyed the conversation. You’ve got a lot of interesting wisdom and I think a great way of delivering it. Thanks for sharing your time and your insights with us today.

Hannah: Thank you, Dan. Let’s do it again sometime.

Dan: I would love to.

Dan: That is it for our episode. You can always find our podcast along with our newsletter and YouTube channel, all free, at makingsenseofyourmoney.com. And as always, prioritize your version of a rich life. Cheers, everybody.

Resources & Citations

FAQs

Is “becoming your own banker” just about buying life insurance?

No. The policy is simply the tool. The core strategy is a process: routing your cash flow through a high-cash-value whole life policy, then borrowing against it to finance cars, debts, investments, business expenses, and big purchases. That lets your dollars keep compounding inside the policy while you put them to work elsewhere.

Why whole life? Why not term insurance or an IUL?

For Infinite Banking, you need guarantees and stable cash value. Properly structured whole life from a mutually owned company gives contractual guarantees on premiums, death benefit, and minimum growth, plus eligibility for dividends. Term insurance and IULs don’t provide the same combination of guarantees and accessible, predictable cash value for banking-style strategies.

Isn’t a policy loan just more debt?

On a bank’s balance sheet, loans are assets. When you borrow against your policy, you’re using the insurance company’s money with your death benefit as collateral, while your cash value keeps growing. You choose how aggressively to repay and what interest to charge yourself, so the repayment becomes cash flow back into your own system instead of a bank’s.

How much money do I need to start?

There’s no single right number. Hannah started her first policy at 18 with $400/month from a waitress job. Some clients start smaller, others commit larger annual premiums. The key is that you set the amount based on your cash flow, then commit to treating it like your private banking system over time.

Who is this strategy usually a good fit for?

It tends to resonate most with real estate investors, business owners, and high earners who value control, cash flow, and leverage. That said, W-2 professionals who are serious about saving, paying off debt, and building long-term wealth can also benefit – especially if they like the idea of a tax-advantaged, non-market-correlated asset they can actually use along the way.

How does this fit with my existing 401(k)s, IRAs, and investments?

For some people, policies complement traditional retirement accounts by adding liquidity, tax advantages, and a “working capital” pool they can use across their life. For others (like Hannah), policies become the primary long-term savings and retirement income tool. The right mix depends on your goals, risk tolerance, and how much control and flexibility you want.

Disclaimer

The information in this episode and on this page is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as tax, legal, or individualized investment advice. Any strategies discussed may not be appropriate for your specific situation and are subject to eligibility, current laws, and regulatory requirements, which can change over time. Before making financial, tax, insurance, or investment decisions, consult with a qualified professional who understands your personal circumstances.

Next Steps

If this episode got you thinking differently about banking, here are two practical next steps:

1. See if a Wealth Clarity Chat is right for you. If most of your net worth is tied up in your business, career, or real estate – and you want a plan that integrates cash flow, banking strategy, and personal wealth – consider a Wealth Clarity Chat. You’ll talk through your goals, income, equity, and current strategies with an advisor who works specifically with business leaders.
2. Explore Tailored Wealth’s approach. Visit YourTailoredWealth.com to learn how Life-Driven Planning, evidence-based investing, and smart tax planning can work alongside tools like Infinite Banking to support the business – and life – you’re building.