Personal Finance Blog for Retirement and Investment Advice

Video Overview: Bank On Yourself in a Nutshell

October 2nd, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | 159 Comments

We just completed a short, fast-paced video explaining what Bank On Yourself is and how it works, that I think you’ll find very helpful.

Click on the play button to discover…

How Bank On Yourself grows your savings both predictably and guaranteed… even when stocks, real estate and other investments tumble
How it can beat the pants off your best saving or investing method
How the kind of policy used for Bank On Yourself is different from the ones Suze Orman, Dave Ramsey and 99.9% of all financial advisors talk about
Why it’s an excellent alternative to traditional retirement plans
How you can use it to get back what you pay for major purchases
Where to find the money to get started

After you watch the video, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback – so please speak your mind below.

Dow 36,000? What were they smoking?

September 25th, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Ten years ago this week, the book, “Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting from the Coming Rise in the Stock Market” was published.

It became a best-seller. And, according to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Lessons of a Bull Market That Never Happened” (9/20/09):

Back then, the only people subject to sustained derision on Wall Street were those who dissented. Anyone who warned that shares might disappoint was ignored. The few predicting a crash — let alone two — were considered cranks.

Yet, in spite of the current stock market rally – one of the steepest in history – the Dow is STILL below where it stood in September 1999!

How many times during those years were your hopes raised, only to be dashed again and again?

Wall Street has some “dirty little secrets” they don’t want you to know about, but I reveal them all here.

Interestingly, one of the authors of that book recently said he still believes the Dow will hit 36,000. Meanwhile, there’s some guy now predicting the Dow will go down to 1,000!

What do YOU think will happen… and why? You can voice your thoughts below…

No new taxes?!?

September 19th, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | 3 Comments

Did you know that the U.S. income tax was first instituted in 1913?

I recently came across a copy of the very first IRS Income Tax Form 1040 our forefathers were required to file and wanted to share it with you.

But BEFORE I show you the rest of it, take a guess at the answers to these four questions:

What percentage of taxable income do you think the average family paid back then?
What was the top percentage paid by the very wealthiest Americans?
How many pages long do you think that first tax return was?
How many pages were the instructions needed to complete the form?

The answers to these questions may shock you!

[Read more…] “No new taxes?!?”

Martin Weiss says Bank On Yourself "is a great book"

July 30th, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Finance and investment expert and New York Times best-selling author, Martin Weiss, Ph.D., recently interviewed me. You can listen to this fast-paced and timely interview by just turning up your speakers and click here .

Dr. Weiss wrote the subscribers to his “Money and Markets” newsletter about how he had just read my book and felt it has excellent advice on “coping with low investment income in tough times.”

So, I hope you enjoy our 35-minute interview.

You can get your personal copy of my book at a 35% discount here.

An alternative to an active retirement?

July 14th, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Humorist Dave Barry proposed one possible solution to the retirement crisis:

The key to eliminating retirement uncertainty is to plan carefully, save as much as possible, invest wisely, and then, at age 65, get hit by a bus.”

A rather grim solution, to be sure, although one subscriber to my Bank On Yourself Ezine did write me to explain that his retirement “plan” was to make sure he died on the day he retired.

Just when I thought I’d heard every possible bizarre way to ensure retirement security at a time when most people’s nest-eggs have been scrambled, I got an email that flabbergasted me…

Government Motors?

June 5th, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Remember the old jokes about what it would be like if Microsoft built cars?

For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day… the airbag would say “are you sure?” before going off… executing a maneuver would occasionally cause your car to stop and fail to restart and you’d have to re-install the engine…

Now imagine what it’s going to be like when the government makes your car… coming soon to a dealership near you!

Bank On Yourself book hits major bestseller lists: Wall Street Journal, #1 USA Today, #1 Amazon

May 26th, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | 7 Comments

The secret is out: Pamela Yellen’s first book on the Bank On Yourself concept is a major best seller, hitting #1 on the USA Today and Amazon best-seller lists, and is also a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly best seller.

The book is flying off the shelves, and the publisher rushed to print more copies, which will soon flood all the major book sellers, as well as Target, Costco, Wal-Mart and other outlets to fill demand for the book. [Read more…] “Bank On Yourself book hits major bestseller lists: Wall Street Journal, #1 USA Today, #1 Amazon”

What would it be like to not even care what the stock market is doing?

May 21st, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

Here’s a few of the comments I’ve recently received from folks who use Bank On Yourself to reach a wide range of financial goals and dreams.

The first comes from Devin Smith, a subscriber from Colorado who sells advertising (reprinted with his permission):

The Bank On Yourself program is fantastic! I received my first (annual) statement this month and couldn’t believe the growth in the policy is UP, not DOWN! And my policy has been in place during one of the worst stock market/financial meltdowns in history! I am absolutely sick when I receive my quarterly statements for my 401(k) – I’m down almost 50% in the past year.

I plan to start another Bank On Yourself plan as soon as I can. Thanks for introducing me to this wonderful financial tool.”

Stock market investing myth exploded!

May 19th, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | 2 Comments

Do you believe it’s true that you have to risk your money in order to grow a sizable nest-egg?

If so, you’re not alone – that’s the conventional thinking we’ve long been brainwashed to believe. But a shocking new study reveals just how fundamentally flawed this belief is…

For the last 40 years, ordinary long-term treasury bonds have outpaced investing in the stock market! This is according to a just-released study in the Journal of Indexes (May/June 2009 issue) by Robert Arnott.

So, what does that mean?

It means that for the past four decades, the only “rewards” investors have received for taking the extra risk of stocks and equity mutual funds are sleepless nights and broken dreams of retirement”

Other revelations in the study include…

Bank On Yourself featured on nationally syndicated TV

May 7th, 2009 by Pamela Yellen | Leave a Comment

I was recently interviewed about Bank On Yourself on the nationally syndicated TV Show, Daytime.

Check it out – it’s only 4 minutes long. My friends have been known to call me “motor mouth”, and I can tell you that paring the message down to fit into a two-to-four minute time frame for the many TV and radio interviews I’ve been doing isn’t easy, but I’m getting better at it. Check it out here and let me know what you think: