Only 1% of Farmers Will Take This Action Financially (Ep. 356)

"First of all, bankers, you don't need to be concerned about us, because we're not over here crashing the industry. Now, I would love to crash the banking industry. I think it would be fantastic to move all of our farmers into infinite banking. But even the farmers that do infinite banking, because they did take the action to move forward — where is that going to leave them? When somebody passes away, all this land is going to be for sale, because we're just, how long can we keep buying from the next generation? So when our clients start creating generational wealth through death benefit, now they're going to have opportunities to buy land and do things. And that's going to be fun to watch."

Hello, welcome back to the podcast. Thank you very much for being here. Great. Today, we are going to talk about why people buy the book and then they just leave it on their nightstand.

If it makes it to the nightstand.

Well, yeah, it makes a great coaster. Why people may not be scheduling a strategy session with us, or why they may not take the next step, regardless if it's with us or with somebody else. Why are they not taking the next step? What do you think?

What do you think? Well, you just kind of said before we started here, we're kind of just speculating. But I don't know. I would imagine a lot of it is like, oh, I don't feel like I'm in a position to get started right now. They maybe think that the — you know, like I'll have people say occasionally, like, oh, well, the book shows $100,000. It's like, that's just an example. I mean, you can have the premium be whatever you want.

Yeah. Imagination, reason, logic.

Yeah. You got to use your imagination there. I mean, that's…

And here's the thing. Let's just address that concern, because it's a legitimate concern that people think, oh, I need to have $100,000 to make this work. Well, just take a zero off, because it's all relative.

Oh, yeah. Right.

So take a zero off and make it $10,000. Cut the numbers in half. Make it $50,000. Cut them in quarters. Make it $25,000.

Yeah. If $10,000 is too big, cut it in half. It's five grand. I mean, it's all the same.

Yeah. The numbers from the book will look very similar, half of that, than what it is as it is. Because I think some of the other is, is I don't have any money to put through a policy. Which that I always think, like, you might not think you do, but that's part of what we're doing when we have our strategy meeting is, where are you spending money that we can just spend differently? That's why we're here. You don't need us to go buy life insurance. If there was no strategy to it, you would not need us. But because there is strategy to it, and the utilization of money is usually not correct.

So I think that I just want to expand on that. When I talk about that, people are like, Mary Jo, I don't even know what that means. Well, how we use money. So if we're going to pay something off, if we're using a lot of cash to operate — like right now, cattle prices are great. People are using a lot of cash to buy cattle with cash. They're operating with cash. They're buying squeeze chutes with cash, equipment with cash. That should go through a policy first. So how they're using that money makes a difference.

I had somebody comment on social media that said something about, I have multiple businesses and they're all paid for. And I have multiple businesses and I operate on cash with all of them. He was mad because I was talking about Jim Ramsey. So I operate on cash with all of them. And that's great. And kudos to him. Super smart. But we also have lost opportunity cost.

Quite a bit of it, when you're talking.

Right. And so how he's utilizing money could be more efficient. So what we're looking for in really a strategy session is to say, how are you using your money? Because if you can use it more efficiently, and we can just point some of those things out, we're going to find money to start a policy with in nine out of 10 cases. And five out of 10 of those people thought that they didn't have money.

Yeah.

Because really, when people come to us — and then people will say, well, I'm really sorry I came to you because I don't have any money. Well, that's okay, too.

Yeah.

Because we can give you ideas of how to utilize money correctly. So now, in two or three years, you are in a position.

Yeah, you're not always going to be in that same financial spot. So, I mean, yeah, if you're growing — you know, if you're just starting out and you're growing, whether it's farming or a business, like you're going to have opportunities where you have money at some point.

Yes. And you know then, like, what is out there to do with it. And I think the other thing that people think is, I can't have money fast enough to operate with cash. Because I see — and again, I don't think your clients are any different. We don't talk on a daily basis. But I see a lot of smaller operations.

Yeah.

We do not have a lot of people over 3,000 or 5,000 acres. It's pretty rare for us to have someone with 10,000 or 20,000 acres. We have them, but it's pretty rare. And the reason why is because they think that they need $3 million tomorrow. And this isn't going to work fast enough, or this isn't going to work in my lifetime. When in fact, somebody has to start that process. So for estate planning purposes, next generation — do you want them to never be in a better situation?

Well, I mean, to be honest…

If you're trying to save a farm, we need to get started. Those bigger farms are the ones that need the most amount of death benefit in the end. I mean…

They actually… It's pretty ironic, because your bigger operations, I would agree with you 100%. They need infinite banking more than the small operations. But the small operations are willing to try something different.

Yes. They're more open-minded.

Those bigger operations… I actually met with somebody not so long ago. Big operation, farms about — it was like 7,000 or 8,000 acres. And didn't really know his numbers. Had to track his numbers. He was just growing so quickly and everything was going good until the last couple of years. And now we're really having to pay attention. But he is really struggling. Like, how do I get that money through the policy? And figuring out how to get it all there.

But I do think that that is a lot of reason why people think, okay, I'm going to read the book, but I'm not going to do anything. Because I need money too quickly. I can't capitalize. Yet, you capitalize the tractor. You capitalize the combine. You capitalize the cattle.

Well, I don't know about you, but like actually getting money out of a policy — like, a lot of times you tell people how quickly you can borrow cash out of it.

Yeah. They're surprised. It's that quick.

Yeah. 10 days.

Yeah, it's not very long at all. It takes you longer to go through a rating. When I say we're putting money through the policy, we're putting money through the policy.

Yeah, and it's pretty common for people to put it in and borrow back that quickly.

I do think that sometimes it is also somebody's gotten the book, and then we have a party that says that's a bad idea. So it's a wife. It's a mom or dad. It's a banker. It's a financial advisor. Somebody else outside of them that says, oh, hey, this is dumb. This lady's crazy. She's from the internet. And you don't know her.

You know, just so everybody knows — I have had clients that are in law enforcement and done background checks on me. And not done any jail time. I haven't done anything illegal. But I laugh when they do that, because I 100% understand why they're doing it. Like, I don't just trust anybody. I do my due diligence. I even had a guy the other day was like, can you tell me why everybody I mentioned this to is like, you're crazy? And I was like, I just laughed. And I was like, yeah, you're not the only one that's ever said that.

How do you answer it?

To him, I was like, well, did any of the people that told you that actually, like, read a book about this? Or, like, know what we're talking about? Because yeah, there are a million different types of life insurance out there. And yeah, maybe there's a place for all of them. But that's not what we're doing. We're doing something different than what they probably know about.

So that's exactly what I say. Did they read the book? No, they didn't. No. So again, you're the expert in this situation. But that does stop a lot of people.

I had somebody not that long ago that said he got the book, like, 12 years ago. And he hadn't done anything because he's like, I just wasn't financially in a position to do that. And I thought, I can't say yes or no to that, because he didn't set up a strategy session. But if you're going to set up a strategy session, we will let you know if you're in that position. If you're not in a spot to do it, I'll tell you.

But the bigger operations — like, I just think that some of them can't see it.

Well, yeah, like you said, when you're farming a lower amount of acres, like we're working with a lower amount of acres for cattle or livestock, like you're just more open-minded to trying rotational grazing or regenerative things. Like, you're in general just more open-minded. So it's…

Regenerative? I would say 80% of our clients are regen.

To some degree, yeah.

And it does seem to correlate hand in hand. Like, their thought process is already a little bit different. And what we're teaching is a little bit different. And so it is more of a mesh. Or for the homesteaders, or just those people that are thinking a little differently, a little more open-minded. And not just, I have to plant corn. I can only plant corn. And I have to do 5,000 acres or 10,000 acres.

But I don't think that your big farmer is close-minded. I think that there's just so much money needed to operate that, that they can't fathom, what if I capitalized? And if I capitalize a policy, if I put $100,000 in, that is nothing. That is pocket change when I have $3 million or $5 million of operating. Mary Jo, I'm never going to get to where I need to go. In 10 years from now, it's a million dollars. Big deal, right? We'll then put a half a million. Well, then all of a sudden, it becomes a lot of money. And then we got to figure out, well, now what? Well, now we just borrow the cash value to go buy whatever it is you were pre-buying with cash.

Yeah, but they don't know that unless they…

Unless they set up the strategy session. You have to set up an appointment with us to understand some of those objections. But a lot of them do come from spouses or people outside. I don't think that I'm ready. I don't have enough money.

Now, there are times when you're not ready.

Oh, yeah.

And some of those times might be, hey, you literally don't have money. Or you have so much debt, so much credit card debt. Like, you might have $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 of credit card debt that you've not gotten that paid off for many, many years. You may have just filed bankruptcy. You know, there are times where we are going to say, we can't do something. Just go work on this. We got to get this under control first and then come back to us. And a lot of times they do.

Or sometimes they do. Yeah. But they got to get whatever — you know, if it's a credit card loan or something like that. Like, yeah, you got to get that fixed sometimes.

And I just — we just ran our numbers, actually. Out of all the meetings we had last year, we had about, between you and I both, we had about 21 to 22% of the people we meet with were not financially ready to move forward at that time. But then we're going to give you some strategies of what to do to get yourself out of that. And sometimes they're not going to come back because they're not going to do what they need to do. Or the problem is going to be a spouse that is overspending.

Now, I should correct myself. They weren't ready to move forward, but that doesn't mean they all had massive debt. Some of them were in transition to, hey, I just bought a place, or were maybe going to be buying a place and something is too unstable for us to even know where their premium should be. And so I want stuff to stabilize for a year or two so that then we can see where that's going to be.

Yeah, because again, yeah, you could probably have talked them into starting a policy if you really wanted to, but that doesn't do anybody any good.

Oh, we could have sold them a policy in a heartbeat, because they wanted a policy really bad.

Yeah, it doesn't do any good though to…

But yeah, I'm not going to have you cancel a policy, or me put you in a position where you're not… It's not going to be okay. It's a stressor in your life rather than a benefit.

Yeah.

So I think, like, the big thing to understand is, like, we are not here to just sell something. We're here to run those strategies. But if you don't schedule that appointment, there's no way for you to know, because you're making assumptions by reading the book and saying, hey, these numbers are too big. I don't know what to do.

Remember last year, I had a guy that got, like, actually kind of mad at me that I wouldn't sell him a bigger policy.

And he emailed you complaining and you're like, I wouldn't have either.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that guy.

He wanted to go, like, hog wild. Now it's like… He was… That's funny.

Yeah. He was upset with John because John wouldn't sell him a bigger policy. And then he messaged me and said, I don't think that John understood. And then I looked at — because John and I, we share our notes and we record all of our meetings. So I said…

Yeah, you did watch. You watched.

So I said, John, send me that meeting. I want to see what you did. Right? Because when I trained you, you sat in every single meeting. So it's been a few years since John has sat in a meeting. So I was like, well, maybe I need to brush John up on some things, you know? And I read — I watched the meeting. I read the notes. And I'm like, I would have not sold you a bigger policy either.

But I've had clients upset with me. I have a client that I made him wait two years. He came back, and when we issued the policy, he said, I've been mad at you for two years. And I said, why? What did I do? He's like, you wouldn't sell me a policy two years ago. And I said, no, because you weren't ready two years ago.

Well, would he tell you in hindsight if he would have been able to pay it? I mean…

I don't… I guess I didn't ask.

Well, if he was being honest with himself, he probably wouldn't have been able to.

Yeah. And some people will, because they'll go borrow from their line of credit to pay their premium. But I don't want you borrowing from your line of credit to pay your premium.

Yeah. If it's just a timing issue, that's one thing. But if it's truly like you borrowing from the bank to pay premium, that's not a good idea.

Yeah. Robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Yeah. There's some people that things are going to stop them. And then the next person is, like, not ready, but bound and determined.

They'll stop you from yourself.

Yeah. And we do that 20% of the time, because those people will come in and they see the light. But there are people that are quite opposite.

And, you know, when I look at the fact that I ran these statistics the other day, because I've just been tearing the business apart, of how many people actually set up appointments with us after they buy the book — and it's 2%.

Wow.

2%, right? 2%. So that statistic is actually quite interesting. It's depressing, but interesting all at the same time. So it's interesting in the fact that I talk about, there's only 1 to 3% of the population that even cares about a subject, right?

Yeah.

So 1 to 3% of the population is wealthy. And it depends who you talk to. Some people will say it's the 1%ers, it's the 2%ers, it's the 3%ers, whatever. But if you look at statistics, 3% of the population makes a ton of money. Well, if it's only 3% that make a lot of money, that means that the top 3% are the only ones paying attention and educating themselves. That's my opinion.

So out of farmers — this is my statistic, I don't have anything to back it, but I believe 1% of the farmers are looking for an avenue to get out of the banking system. They're looking to make themselves better, they're looking to educate themselves, they're looking at their numbers, they're running it like a business. 1%. 1% of that 1% is probably going to actually do something. Take action. Right? So I say this all the time. We are talking to 1% of the 1%.

Yeah, well, when you break it down like you just did, it's hard to argue that.

And then, to prove my point, that what, 2% are actually only scheduling strategy sessions. 2%.

Yeah, I think you might have mentioned that to me.

Of the 1%, of the 1%, 2%. And then you look at it — you even get deeper into it, people will say, well, or the banks are scared of us, right? The banks are like, oh my gosh, Mary Jo is going to be at that conference talking? No, we aren't, you can't have her. Because I have been stopped from speaking engagements because the bank sponsors it. They're that scared of me.

1% of the 1% of the 1% are actually going to take action to schedule an appointment. And not every person that schedules an appointment with us moves forward.

Oh yeah, I mean, there's another — it's not 1%, but there's another percentage there, you know?

Yes, so really think about it. Like, first of all, bankers, you don't need to be concerned about us, because we're not over here crashing the industry. Now, I would love to crash the banking industry. I think it would be fantastic to move all of our farmers into infinite banking. But even the farmers that do infinite banking, because they did take the action to move forward — where is that going to leave them? When somebody passes away, all this land is going to be for sale, because we're just, how long can we keep buying from the next generation, right? So when our clients start creating generational wealth through death benefit, now they're going to have opportunities to buy land and do things. And that's going to be fun to watch.

I mean, we're quite a ways away from that yet, because we're only 16 years in and haven't had that many death claims. Because people always want to say, well, what happened? What does the last 16 years look like? What do your clients look like? What are they doing with their policies? Well, they didn't die yet. You know, they're doing stuff with their policies, but I'm going to be dead and long gone before I see the success of everything I've done in my lifetime. Like, I'm not selling policies to 80-year-olds.

Yeah, it's a long game.

Yeah.

You know, it's like the trees that you've got around your acreage here. Like, when those are fully mature, you won't be here anymore to take that in, you know, but you're the one that did all the work.

Right. Somebody had to start that or they wouldn't be here.

Exactly. Exactly. It's the same thing.

Yeah. Yeah. I was — speaking of trees, a good example I always use is my dad just turned 80. And I guarantee you there will be a lot of trees planted around their place this year. And it does not cross his mind — my mom and dad, not one second does it cross their mind that I am in my late 70s and early 80s and I'm planting trees that I'm never going to see. Most people wouldn't do that.

Right.

So the clients of ours that are in their 70s and 80s wanting to buy life insurance, that's exciting.

Yeah. It's fun to meet with them.

It is.

Well, they have a passion forward, I guess. They want to leave their family and their farm in a better position than what they found it.

And I do think, like, even getting back to our original subject here — why don't people take the step forward? I think that they see there's a capitalization of the policy. They're scared of, we're going to sell them something. They're concerned about if they have money. They don't understand how it works. They're scared of capitalization, and they're missing the piece of generational wealth. Like, when we explain to somebody the cost per dollar of death benefit, when we explain how it can work, they very much end up being the guy you were just talking about. Why do people have a problem with this?

That's the catch. Yeah. This really does sound too good to be true.

And it does. And I get it. And I thought the same thing. I thought everybody's going to prison, man. I was like, there is no way that this works the way it does. And then all I did was my due diligence and went on to the state's website. And the state insurance department's website says you can borrow from cash value. And I thought, well, what the heck? It's on their website? There's no way. And then you study for your life insurance exam and it's in the book. And then you're like, what? People know this.

And so I think that those are probably the big five major things that hold people back. But none of those five questions can get answered without visiting with us.

Yeah, absolutely.

Because now you're just assuming the worst, or you're assuming we're going to try to sell you something or bamboozle you in a meeting. Because how many times does a client come into a meeting and their spouse is in the meeting just sitting there making sure that we don't sell something to the other spouse that is the big thinker.

You can tell they're skeptical or something.

I call them out on it. I'll call them out. Like, if it's a wife, I'll be like, she didn't read the book, she doesn't understand anything — especially when they don't want to be on camera.

Oh, yeah.

That's always really fun, because I'll be like, oh, are you just listening so I don't sell them anything? And they'll be — the husband will laugh and the wife will not really say anything, but by the end of the conversation, the wife is in the picture frame and we're all talking. Yeah, it happens. They're there as the protector. Hey, I get it. And I'm never offended by it, because I understand. I've had people take advantage of me, and that's why I do my due diligence now.

But I think those are probably the big five reasons why people do not take the next step forward. And if it is one of those and it's fear — where are you going to be in three years from now? If you don't do anything different today, what does it look like three years from now? It doesn't. And people will usually say, where are you going to be in five or ten years from now? But people can't imagine five to ten years out. It's too far. Where will you be in three years? If you do nothing different, where will you be in three years? In the exact same position. And we've seen those people. They meet with us, they come back three years later, and they're still in the same position because they didn't understand how to utilize money differently. They didn't get themselves around the right people. All those kind of things matter.

Yep, it does.

All right, you guys, if you have comments, questions, concerns, email maryjo@withoutthebank.com or john@withoutthebank.com. Go to farmingwithoutthebank.com, grab your book, schedule your strategy session with either one of us. John is easier to get into, so if you don't want to wait, schedule with John, and then we will go from there. You guys have a fantastic rest of your day.

Thanks for listening to the Farming Without the Bank podcast. We hope today's episode has inspired you to take control of your finances in new ways. Don't forget to check out our website, farmingwithoutthebank.com, and engage with us on our Facebook page, Farming Without the Bank. Join us next week as we smash more financial myths and empower you to accomplish your financial goals.