The gift that keeps giving

This past Valentines' Day, I took my wife, Michele, to pick up her new car - a 2012 Armada Nissan Platinum.

Crazy as it may seem, only 18 months earlier I had purchased a new Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer, but that had been a WRONG move! When the vehicle was delivered, we were very surprised to find that the seating provided poor leg room (a must for three of our boys who are over six feet tall) despite the fact that we'd purchased the extended length model.

As time progressed, we found that the driver's seat cut off the circulation in our legs after a modest amount of driving time, and the new seat design gave us forward head posture... a nasty taboo for any chiropractor!

Then, one day, the transmission light went on and the vehicle wouldn't start! The Ford dealer checked it all out and said nothing wrong could be found. At that moment, I knew this particular Eddie Bauer was history.

Now, we'd been making payments back to our own personal banking system for the $42,000 loan we'd taken from it to purchase our Eddie Bauer. Being an IBC coach, I understood that leasing was the most expensive way to have the use of a vehicle over time so, I'd been making payments to our personal banking system as though the Eddie Bauer was on lease from somebody else's leasing firm. Those payments had been $1,250 a month. So, here we were 18 months into owning a brand new vehicle and faced with the negative consequences of having to trade it in on a new one. I could only think of the depreciation we were going to be hit with.

Once we decided on the Nissan Armada, I noticed that the dealer's price was $55,000. We DROVE it this time, making sure it fit us and our needs. And we fell in love with it. The problem was the dealer wanted $23,000 in addition to our Eddie for the Armada. That was too much depreciation for me to be happy with. So, I began to shop around and ended up driving about 40 miles down the road to another dealership that extended us an offer for our Eddie plus $13,000 for the new Armada. I did the math in my head... $13,000 plus the $42,000 that we'd paid 18 month ago for our Eddie Bauer... that made $55,000. That was a depreciation factor I could live with! I immediately signed the paperwork, left a deposit so the dealer could do a dealer trade for the color that Michele preferred, and on Valentines' Day Michele got to go pick up her new red Armada!

But what about the unseen part of this personal gift? What about the $22,500 that I'd paid back to our banking system over the last 18 months?

Well, that money has been working, too! Working in a participating whole life insurance policy earning interest and dividends and purchasing another $507,000 worth of death benefit for me and my family. Besides this, it was the cash value loan from this policy where the $13,000 came from which the Nissan dealer needed (along with our Eddie Bauer) for the new Armada. Knowing the liquidity of that money helped me close the deal so effortlessly for my Valentine. Plus, even after the policy loan, there's still cash value in that policy earning interest and dividends for me!

Now that we've parked the Armada in the garage, I'll begin to repay this policy loan (or I might just decide to purchase another policy) with the new "lease” money, which I'll being paying myself for the use of the Armada. Of course this monthly "lease” payment will be higher than the one on the Eddie because the car is worth more to begin with. And, I'll make sure that the "lease” payments are made because it's all coming back to me to use again anyway. Why wouldn't I want to make those monthly payments? If I chose not to make them, I'd simply be throwing away the death benefit and cash value that a higher payment could produce for me over the next few years as Michele and the rest of the family enjoy our new Armada.

Are you or your friends going to purchase cars in the future? If yes, then you need to learn how to "Become Your Own Banker.” Why throw your money away when you can do the same thing I just did? This process works for cars, it works for digital x-ray units, adjustment tables, software to run your office, and daily expenses as well.

Besides, those who fail to understand this process will continually pay what they earn to others throughout their lifetime.

(In private practice for 25 years, Dr. Tomas McFie has coached hundreds of chiropractors and many other small business owners and individuals to lasting wealth and riches. His book, "Prescription For Wealth,” has helped thousands of people understand the purpose of "why you should become wealthy.” Call him at 1-866-502-2777, visit him online at www.life-benefits.com or follow him on Facebook at Life Benefits, Inc.)