Not Your Average Financial Podcast™

By Not Your Average Financial Podcast™Society & Culture Business

Not Your Average Financial Podcast™ episodes

October 17, 2025Episode 424: I’ll take a LOWER Rate of Return AND Get BETTER RESULTS?!
In this episode, we ask:
Would you like to read and review our new book, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business?
What does a CFP® and a Bank on Yourself® Professional think about?
What’s really going on here?
What’s the difference?
Why does it matter?
What about the aggressive portfolio?
What about the growth portfolio?
What about the conservative portfolio?
Who is vaporizing their future capacity to recover?
Have you ever been shocked at your financial statement?
What will outperform?
How much would you have to make this year if you lost 18% last year?
What is the math of compounding losses?
What is the hidden cost of chasing higher rates of return?
How about a thought exercise?
How much would you need after fees and taxes?
How might one lock in gains?
What is underwhelming?
What is absolutely guaranteed in the stock market?
What does the average stock market investor net?
Based on Morningstar’s reports, how on earth is it only 1.4%?
What can reduce the likelihood of outliving your money?
What’s the worst thing that can happen?
What’s the most crucial?
Why does timing matter so much?
Is 10% with a 30% drop still 10%?
How often is the market going to give you 43% gains?
What about a client’s case study?
Is a linear path better than a volatile path?
Have you learned this lesson, after it’s too late?
Does high risk lead to high reward?
What’s wrong with settling for 6%?
What about the opportunity cost?
Is volatility the same thing as risk?
What about human behavior and human instincts?
Are we more predictable than we realize?
Is it all about gambling?
How might one overcome the volatility?
What about no big losses?
What about steady growth?
What about a death benefit?
How could a boring whole life insurance policy beat chasing the market?
How much can you pull out annually in retirement?
What about the 4% rule?
What adds significant risk?
What is perfect for stability?
Who is thinking differently about their money?
What are the takeaways?
Are your returns just myths?
34 min
October 10, 2025Episode 423: Save on Taxes through Strategic MYGA Laddering with Evan Greathouse
In this episode, we ask:
Would you like to hear from Evan Greathouse on how to work with the ticking tax time bomb?
Would you like to read and review our new book, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business?
What about avoiding MEC status (modified endowment contract status)?
Who is Evan Greathouse?
What happened to Evan’s client who lives in a high tax state?
What is qualified money?
Who has a tax problem?
What are the options?
What about the required minimum distribution?
What is the age 59 1/2 rule?
What is the tax plus penalty zone?
What happens if you wait too long?
Who gets penalized 50%?
What happens if you pass away with a 401(k) or IRA?
What are the non-spousal beneficiaries forced to do?
How do inheriting adult children pay the tax on the inherited qualified account benefit?
Why does the lion share of the inheritance go to I.R.S.?
What would be more tax efficient?
What would offer more accessibility?
What is MYGA laddering?
What is a multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA)?
What is laddering?
What continues earning interest?
How does a MYGA compare to a CD?
Would you like to hear Episode 280?
Did the MYGA kill the CD?
What’s the structural idea?
What are the logistics?
Is this overly complicated?
Why ladder? Why not do one big solution?
How does this ease the tax burden?
What is a modified endowment contract (MEC)?
Would you like to hear Episode 121?
Who is a good fit for this strategy?
Who is NOT a good fit for this strategy?
Is the plan contractually guaranteed to work?
What about the importance of liquidity?
How did Evan come up with this genius move?
What is Evan’s process with clients?
Would you like to reach out to Evan? Email at [email protected]
Would you like to schedule a 15-minute introductory call with Evan?
What are the takeaways?
Evan Greathouse is a trusted Bank On Yourself® Professional who empowers individuals nationwide to achieve lasting financial independence. He specializes in the Bank On Yourself® strategy, helping clients build wealth with uninterrupted growth, liquidity, and tax-free, penalty-free access to cash whenever they need it. With a strong foundation in business management and real estate, Evan combines practical experience with a passion for financial wisdom. He is dedicated to guiding clients through their financial journeys with clarity, purpose, and integrity. Rooted in faith, Evan believes that a strong ‘why’ can conquer any ‘how’ and strives to help others align their financial decisions with their greater purpose. Above all, he values his relationship with God, his wife, and their three children.
34 min
October 03, 2025Episode 422: The Bank World’s Final Boss: How to Actually End the Fed
In this episode, we ask:
Would you like to read and review our new book, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business?
Would you like to give us feedback on the FREE! Not Your Average Financial Community?
How could the system be fixed?
When was the Federal Reserve started?
What happened in 1913?
What has happened since?
What happened in 2008?
What happened to the money supply during COVID from 2020-2022?
What about inflation?
What about compound interest?
Why have young couple delayed buying homes and having kids?
What about the booms and busts?
What are the mental and physical health issues tied to these issues?
Is this a rigged game?
Is this a matter of life and death?
How do we peg the dollar back to market rates and gold?
Can anyone swap dollars for gold?
Can we reduce electronic liabilities?
What about blockchain?
What about the FDIC?
What about bailouts?
What about better scrutiny?
What are the bank’s financials?
Who is holding true reserves?
What is fractional reserve banking?
What do most people NOT realize?
Is stable money ahead?
What are other economists saying?
What about Ludvig von Mises?
What do the bank’s panics look like now?
What did America use before 1913?
Why did they call it the Gilded Age?
What is self regulating?
What has gone up 50x?
How does this apply to personal action?
How do Bank on Yourself® type life insurance policies fit into this?
How about some case studies?
What about the distortion?
What about the dot com and the housing bubbles?
What did the later audits reveal?
Does a gold standard eliminate this?
Does arbitrage correct it?
What would keep prices stable?
What is a hidden tax on the poorest among us?
What about the Fed’s role in 1929?
What happened in 1971?
What happened to the currency in Turkey?
What could work?
What happens as the treasuries mature?
What’s the cultural impact?
What are the takeaways?
34 min
September 26, 2025Episode 421: Economic Overheating from the Fed
In this episode, we ask:
Are you a small or mid-sized business owner?
Would you like to read and review our new book, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business?
What is the big storm brewing?
What about the U.S.’s addiction to short term debt?
What about money printing?
What about rising bond yields?
What about a ballooning national debt?
What’s coming next?
How can you put yourself in the driver’s seat?
What happened in 2008?
What is quantitative easing (QE)?
How much did they print?!
What about QE infinity and beyond?
What about the generational impact?
Who won?
Who lost?
Is the system rigged?
How much is the U.S. National Debt?
When will social security run out?
What about Medicare costs?
What about interest on the national debt?
What about the six-month treasury bills?
Is the government running out of lenders?
Who is the last one standing?
What happens when they print money?
What about foreign buyers?
What about retail inflation?
What about real estate?
Do you have time to spot the signals and act in advance?
How do whole life insurance policy loans act as a hedge against inflation?
Could the dollar strengthen?
What would happen to whole life insurance policy holders?
Who is qualified to structure your plan appropriately and correctly?
What are the takeaways?
Who needs to hear this episode?
27 min
September 19, 2025Episode 420: The Hidden Power of Protection: How Avoiding Market Losses Can Supercharge Your Retirement
In this episode, we ask:
Have you ever been on a roller coaster that dropped so steeply that your stomach flipped, and just when you think it’s over…?
What if there was a way to enjoy the upward momentum of the market without all of the terrifying drops?
Are market events and crashes black swan events?
If someone was stealing 20% of your cash out of your bank every couple of years, what would you do?
Who would move the money to another bank?
When are you ever not going to need money?
Is your strategy vital, over the long term?
Do you have a sense of the major events in recent market history?
Who is losing money?
How often is the market really dropping? What are the implications of this?
What about the sequence of returns risk?
How might one tame volatility?
What about loss aversion?
Is your retirement vaporizing because of someone’s whims on Wall St.?
What about panic during market downturns?
How does one live on reduced retirement income?
If you lose 50%, do you need 50% or 100% to rebound just to get back to even?
What are the major market crashes of recent history?
Could anybody hold on throughout all of that madness?
What about beginners? What about the advanced?
What is the key insight to all of this?
What about preserving your principal?
What about compound growth?
What about having a financial fortress?
What are some one things to try?
What do these insights mean for you and for your long-term financial life?
Are you confident in having a guarantee in your portfolio?
What is the shield against the storm?
What is the ease of a fixed indexed annuity?
Am I doing what I need to do with my money?
Would you like to read and review our new book, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business?
What are some next steps and takeaways?
Screenshot
30 min
September 12, 2025Episode 419: The Secret Tool to Unlimited Compound Growth in Your Life
In this episode, we ask:
Would you like to read our new book, The Business Fortress?
Have you ever watched a rocket takeoff?
What are the tools that I use?
Have you read Atomic Habits by James Clear?
What did the study in the journal of Applied Psychology say?
How do small changes lead to a big impact?
Have you read Mindset by Carol Dweck?
What could you do instead?
What is an After Action Review (AAR)?
What could you do for 5 minutes every day?
What is the K.I.S.S. principle?
What will you keep?
What will you improve?
What will you start?
What will you stop?
What about DayOne or Notion?
Would you like to share your AAR on the Not Your Average Financial Community?
Would you like to get a full focus planner (Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Store | Amazon)?
What about using the Pomodoro method technique?
What about apps like the Headspace Meditation app?
What is the ICE Matrix?
What about impact? How much will the idea contribute to your goals?
What about confidence? How sure are you that this will succeed?
What about ease? How simple or complicated is this to implement?
Does this goal align with your values?
What are the action items and takeaways?
29 min
September 05, 2025Episode 418: Why Bank On Yourself® is Essential at Every Age
In this episode, we ask:
Are you a small or mid-sized business owner?
Would you like to read the Business Fortress book?
Is napping the unsung hero of the universe?
What about the seasons of life?
How do financial tools and strategies work over the seasons of life?
Is there a tool that meets every application with every stage of life?
Wouldn’t that change everything?
Is whole life insurance a one-size fits all tool?
What about children?
What about guaranteed insurability?
What about building cash value?
What about intergenerational wealth?
What about singles?
What about lower premiums (when you’re young and healthy)?
What about borrowing against cash value for life needs?
What about debt protection?
What about a small term policy?
What about newlyweds without kids?
What about building a life together?
What about the debt SnowBank method?
What about mortgage pay down acceleration?
What about paying off your entire house with your policy?
What about lifestyle preservation?
What will happen to the surviving spouse?
How about parents who are married with children?
What about income needs?
What about education funding and college costs?
What about lifestyle protection?
What about an emergency fund?
How about empty nesters?
Should I drop my life insurance?
What is a myth?
What about pension maximization?
What about a joint life pension?
What about single life pension?
How do we fix that problem?
What can be tax free?
Is it just about the kids?
What is a safety net and a wealth building tool?
What about legacy planning or equalizing an inheritance?
What about children in the family business?
What about leaving the estate to the children?
What about replacing your group insurance?
Does your life insurance go away when you leave your employer?
What about retirement income supplementation?
What about seniors?
What about final expenses?
What about social security replacement?
Will you leave gifts?
Will you leave a legacy?
What is the ADBR (accelerated death benefit rider)?
Can you age in your home?
What about federal and state taxes?
What about estate tax?
How fast will the estate tax be due?
What about business owners and life insurance?
What is the secret weapon?
What are the takeaways?
Would you like to see the chart PDF at our FREE Not Your Average Financial Community?
35 min
August 29, 2025Episode 417: NEW BOOK! The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business with Confidence
In this episode, we ask:
Do you know how to grow, protect and exit your business with confidence?
Who is David C. Barnett?
Did you know we wrote a new book, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business?
What happens when…?
How do businesses survive the long-haul?
What fortress is built around your business?
What about business lines of credit?
What about a more resilient mindset?
What core competencies does it take?
Why do entrepreneurs tend to be too optimistic?
Why would a business owner want to buy their own property?
What about managing risk for yourselves?
Is real estate an asset or a liability?
What about Walmart?
How do small businesses treat debt differently?
What is another common trap?
What is one of the clearest success signs in a small business?
What about a case study?
What is corporate-owned life insurance (COLI)?
Why did David and Mark write this book?
Are we through the volatility and opportunity?
Who is sitting on liquid piles of contingency capital?
Who is this book best suited for?
Who is not ready for this book?
Have you read the book?
What do you think about the book?
How did this book help you in your business?
Would you read the book and leave us an honest review on Amazon?
Would you like to receive bonuses by sending us a screenshot of your Amazon review to [email protected]?
Would you like to visit davidcbarnett.com?
What are the takeaways?

David C. Barnett is a small business transaction expert based in Canada who works with entrepreneurs across the globe. Through online consulting, training programs, and valuation services, David helps business owners buy, sell, finance, and improve their companies. With over two decades of experience, he’s facilitated dozens of business deals and advised hundreds of clients worldwide.
He’s the author of 10 Amazon-listed books on topics like business buying, local investing, and franchise pitfalls, and he hosts a YouTube channel with hundreds of videos unpacking real-world issues for small business owners and specializing on buy/sell transactions. He loves to have frank conversations about small businesses and the process of making deals for them. HowToSellMyOwnBusiness.com
35 min
August 22, 2025Episode 416: Buried in Work? Here’s How to Transform Your Estate Plan with Adam Zuckerman
In this episode, we ask:
Are you a small to mid-size business owner?
Would you like to read Mark’s new book, co-authored with David Barnett, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business with Confidence?
Who is Adam Zuckerman?
Do you have a will?
Do you have a trust?
Do you have an attorney?
Do you have a financial planner?
Do you have a CPA?
What is the story behind the words Buried in Work?
What is the reality when someone passes away?
Does everyone already have an estate plan?
Who is in control of that plan?
Do you have funeral plans in place?
What are the frameworks found on Buried in Work?
What is the estate planning pyramid?
What’s Adam’s story with life insurance?
What is the CLEAR kit?
What should your family do?
Is there a checklist?
What or who needs to be paid?
What are your succession plans for the business?
What happens next?
What are the information hubs?
How might I find the words to have this challenging conversation?
Do you have advanced directives in place?
What happened in the hospital?
What about the card deck?
Do you need an attorney?
What situations don’t require an attorney?
Do you have a trust?
Is the trust funded?
Where does one start?
Would you like to visit buriedinwork.com?
What are the takeaways?
Adam Zuckerman (JD/MBA) is the founder of Buried in Work, a leading resource that helps individuals, families, and businesses simplify estate planning and end-of-life tasks.
Buried in Work’s resources include more than 150+ information hubs, 2,000+ articles, 100+ checklists and guides, service provider directories, a podcast, and innovative tools like the Executor’s Summary Report, CLEAR Kits, and card games that facilitate meaningful conversations about legacy and preparation.
Adam’s mission is simple yet powerful: to make life’s hardest moments a little easier by helping families get organized, communicate openly, and prepare comprehensively for the unexpected.
Learn more at www.BuriedInWork.com.
34 min
August 15, 2025Episode 415: What’s Next for Annuities? New Solutions for Savvy Savers
In this episode, we ask:
Would you like to read Mark’s new book, co-authored with David Barnett, The Business Fortress: How to Grow, Protect and Exit Your Business with Confidence?
What are the three musicians?
How are annuities like Weird Al Yankovic?
What are annuities, anyways?
How much income do you want a year?
What are fixed indexed annuities?
What’s the catch?
What’s the upside?
What’s enhanced flexibility with withdrawals?
What’s a great feature for dealing with unexpected expenses?
How about an example?
What about new calculation methods?
What about the highest daily value method?
What about the performance trigger method?
What if you can have your cake and eat it too?
What about the income flexibility benefit?
Why are these features coming online now?
Who is not the right fit for an annuity?
What are the takeaways?
33 min