Reading time: 9 minutes Episode reference: Wealth on Main Street, EP 330, Ashley Doyle, IBC Advisor and Pod Leader, Ascendant Financial
Can You Build a Meaningful Career as an Infinite Banking Advisor in Canada?
Yes, and Ashley Doyle is living proof.
This episode of Wealth on Main Street is, as Jayson Lowe put it at the open definitely not about some guy who watched three YouTube videos, bought a blazer too tight in the shoulders and started calling himself a wealth strategist.
This is about a man who trained soldiers in Afghanistan. Who led people through the former Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe, Who spent years in environments where real pressure had real consequences not “my Zoom froze” kind of pressure.
Ashley Doyle is the 5th generation of his family to serve Canada. Today, he is an IBC advisor and pod leader on the Ascendant Financial team. And his story is one of the most compelling answers to the question advisors across Canada are quietly asking themselves right now:
Is there still a place in this industry where culture matters, mentorship matters, and people genuinely want to see you win?
From Moss Park Armoury to the Canadian Armed Forces
Ashley grew up in downtown Toronto. Walking past Moss Park Armoury, two large artillery cannons out front on the corner of Queen and Jarvis, something about it always caught his eye.
At 13, he walked in. Army cadets. And the natural progression, as he puts it, just stayed.
He is the 5th generation of the Doyle family to serve this country, and the UK as well, from a policing perspective. Years in the Canadian Armed Forces followed. Afghanistan. The former Yugoslavia. Eastern Europe. Leading, mentoring and developing people in some of the most intense environments imaginable.
“Some people learn and get an idea of what they want to do early on. It’s pretty interesting how that happens.” – Richard Canfield
What happened after the armed forces is a story about two words Ashley had never heard placed together before.
Infinite banking.
Two Words That Changed Everything
Ashley describes himself as someone who has a problem, once he latches onto something, he does not do it halfway. He jumps in with both feet.
So when infinite banking showed up on social media, and he had never heard those two words placed together before, he went down the Google rabbit hole. Which, he acknowledges, can be good or bad.
In his case, it turned out to be very good.
“Someone that doesn’t come from money is usually interested in something finance or banking, because you probably think to yourself, there’s got to be something that I’m not aware of or I haven’t been educated on, or there’s got to be some kind of secret out there that I need to become aware of to become successful financially in my own life.” – Ashley Doyle, Pod Leader, Ascendant Financial
Richard Canfield added the natural punchline that anyone who has sat in that discovery moment will recognize:
“It’s probably in a black box somewhere.”
The rabbit hole led to Ascendant Financial. Which led to learning. Which led to becoming a client. Which led to becoming an advisor. Which led to becoming a pod leader.
That progression, client first, advisor second is not accidental. It is a deliberate philosophy at Ascendant Financial, and it is one of the things that most clearly separates this team from the people posting Lamborghini photos.
Why Confidence Was Never the Problem
Most new advisors in any field struggle with confidence in the early months. The gap between knowing something intellectually and being able to communicate it effectively to a client is real, and it takes time to close.
Ashley’s experience was different, and his military background is the reason why.
“Confidence for me really hasn’t been an issue in the past, just based on my previous career. You go through a lot of adversity, and you have to persevere through challenging times. And that right there will help build your confidence.”– Ashley Doyle
The challenge for Ashley was not confidence. It was knowledge. Specifically, the precision and depth of IBC knowledge required to communicate the concept clearly and accurately to a client sitting across the table.
Once he was coached through it, given the right resources, guided through the right frameworks he could tap into the life experience and the confidence he had already built across a military career. And the combination of those two things deep knowledge plus genuine confidence is what makes a genuinely effective IBC advisor.
“Once I got a grip on that and I was coached through and given all the proper resources to bring myself up to that level, I was able to tap into my life experience and confidence that I already have and then communicate that in an effective way to help people achieve what they want to financially.” – Ashley Doyle
What Leadership Actually Means, Then and Now
Richard Canfield asks Ashley what leadership means to him today versus five years ago. The answer is one of the most important moments in the episode.
“Having the passion to see people succeed is a leadership trait that I believe will be across the board. It doesn’t matter what your former career was. The contrast could be completely different from what I was doing to what I’m doing now. But the difference there is the passion to see people become better than they are right now, to see people succeed. And it’s kind of like mentorship. Whenever you see the person that you mentored become as successful or surpass you, that’s the ultimate accomplishment.” – Ashley Doyle
This is the thread that runs from training soldiers in Afghanistan to mentoring IBC advisors in Canada. The environment changed completely. The leadership principle did not move an inch.
The ultimate accomplishment is not the leader’s success. It is the success of the people they led.
Why Infinite Banking Is Ridiculously Simple and Why That Confuses People
One of the most important conversations in this episode happens when Ashley, Jayson and Richard discuss why the Infinite Banking Concept confuses people, and the answer is not what most people expect.
It is not complicated enough.
People who discover IBC through social media arrive expecting a secret. A sophisticated strategy with layers. Fancy words and multiple moving parts. When they sit down with an Ascendant Financial advisor and the concept turns out to be straightforward, they often wonder if they have missed something.
“This process is meant to be ridiculously simple. It does not need to be sensationalized.” – Jayson Lowe
And then one of the most important lines in the episode:
“It’s not a secret of the rich. It’s not something the banks don’t want you to know. It’s not any of that nonsense. It’s just simple.” – Jayson Lowe, EP 330
Nelson Nash said the same thing repeatedly. The concept is meant to be ridiculously simple. Anyone who is adding complexity through sensationalized marketing or fancy terminology is approaching it from a sales perspective rather than a service perspective.
Ashley’s three pillars for explaining IBC to someone new: Control. Confidence. Ready access to capital.
That is it. Everything else flows from those three things.
IBC Is a Process, Not a Product
One of the most critical distinctions for anyone exploring the Infinite Banking Concept for the first time is understanding what IBC actually is.
It is not a product. It is a process.
“Infinite banking has no more to do with investing in the stock market than the stock market has to do with infinite banking. One is a process where you’re controlling how you finance the things that you need throughout the course of your lifetime. The other is investing, deploying capital with the intention of triggering a capital gain or earning income off an investment.” – Jayson Lowe
They are not competing strategies. They are not comparable alternatives. They serve entirely different functions. Confusing them or being encouraged to compare them, is one of the most common ways people get led off course in their IBC journey.
The product is a specially designed dividend-paying participating whole life insurance policy. That is the tool. IBC is the strategy, how you use that tool as a personal banking system to finance everything you need throughout your lifetime while keeping your capital compounding uninterrupted.
Nelson Nash’s Arrival Syndrome, Why It Matters More Than Most People Realise
Richard raises one of the most quietly powerful concepts from Becoming Your Own Banker in this episode: arrival syndrome.
The phenomenon where someone tells you they completely understand something and then immediately asks a question that proves they do not, is not a character flaw. It is a documented element of human behavior that Nelson Nash specifically addressed in his book.
Ashley connects it directly to why understanding psychology matters in client conversations:
“If you can’t identify how we act and respond to things, then when you actually go through that and experience it in life, you’re not even going to know how to react, or you’re going to overreact or underreact. Credit to Nelson for putting that in his book and putting so much emphasis on it. Even if you took nothing else away from Becoming Your Own Banker even if you just took that and ran with it, I think he would be happy.” — Ashley Doyle
This is why Nelson Nash’s book is so much more than a financial manual. Approximately thirty percent of it is about human behaviour about the patterns of thinking and decision-making that determine whether someone actually implements IBC or simply understands it intellectually and never acts.
What Ashley Would Say to an Advisor Who Feels Stuck
For advisors listening who feel like there has to be more to this business than chasing transactions, working in isolation or operating in an environment where your growth feels capped Ashley has a direct message.
“If you pay attention to the success leaves clues concept and you’re around people who demonstrate that on a daily basis, you are naturally going to absorb that and pick things up through osmosis. And that’s that proximity influence that Jayson talks about all the time.” — Ashley Doyle, EP 330
The right environment, he says, can completely change the trajectory of a career and a life. He has experienced that twice, first in the Canadian Armed Forces, and again at Ascendant Financial. The common thread: people who genuinely wanted to see him succeed.
Health accountability between teammates. Team meetings that start with reading client Google reviews aloud. A coaching structure where no advisor is left to figure things out alone. A community of like-minded people all moving in the same direction.
“My number one focus when I walk away , although information is great, it’s relationships. I love being surrounded by like-minded people that are all moving in the same direction with the same goal to help serve and improve the lives of those they come in contact with every single day.” — Ashley Doyle
Who Ashley Most Wants to Be a Hero To
Richard closes the episode with a question that brings everything full circle.
“I’m more focused on making the people that we work with a hero to their families than I am on being a hero to them. I just really despise people being taken advantage of. With the knowledge and capability that I have, I am more than willing to step in and do my part in trying to eliminate someone being taken advantage of and make them aware that they can be in a better position.” – Ashley Doyle
That is service. Not the word, the actual thing. It looks the same in Afghanistan as it does in a Zoom call with a Canadian family trying to figure out how to build something that lasts.
And as Jayson Lowe said in closing: “Success leaves clues. Leadership does too.”
Watch the Full Episode
In the full episode you will also hear:
- Ashley’s first encounter with the Nelson Nash Institute think tank and what Richard noticed about how he showed up
- What surprised Ashley most about the Ascendant Financial culture from day one
- The full IBC vs stock market distinction, why they are two completely different things
- The disability and trust client story from Richard, one of the most nuanced real-world IBC examples on the show
- What Ashley is most excited about in terms of mentoring newer advisors on the team
- Why team meetings at Ascendant Financial always start by reading client Google reviews aloud
- Jayson’s closing reflection on leadership and what it means to leave clues for the people who come after you
Thinking About a Career in IBC?
If today’s episode resonated with you and you are wondering whether there is a better environment for your career, reach out to the Ascendant Financial team. It is just a conversation.
As Ashley said: you don’t know what you don’t know. But if you want to know, all you have to do is ask.
Have Questions About Infinite Banking?
Visit ibcfaq.com for straight answers to over 100 of the most common questions Canadians ask about the Infinite Banking Concept, including how to get started, how policies are structured and what a clarity session involves.
Free Resources From Wealth on Main Street
7 Simple Steps | fastest way to find out if IBC is right for your situation → 7steps.ca
Don’t Spread the Wealth | free digital copy with 15-page family banking guide → dontspreadwealth.com
Cash Follows the Leader | free copy with 91-year IBC family case study → cashfollows.com
Keep Taxes Away From Your Wealth | five strategies to reduce your tax burden → keeptaxesaway.com
Wealth on Main Street is a North American podcast focused on the Infinite Banking Concept and generational family wealth, produced by Ascendant Financial. New episodes released weekly. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.