Before John Saintloth ever taught the Infinite Banking Concept, he lived it. Before he became an advisor at Ascendant Financial, he was a client. Before either of those things, he was a 14-year-old boy reuniting with his mother in Canada five years after she had to flee Haiti and seek asylum at the American embassy.
On a recent episode of Wealth on Main Street, hosts Jayson Lowe, CEO, Ascendant Financial, and Richard Canfield, Bestselling Author and Podcast Host, sat down with John to talk about the moment a Facebook ad stopped him mid-scroll, the book that kept him up at night, and the first policy loan he ever took, which he used to buy a car with cash, on his own terms.
What is the Infinite Banking Concept?
The Infinite Banking Concept (IBC) is a strategy, popularized by the late Nelson Nash in his book Becoming Your Own Banker, that uses the cash value of a specially designed whole life insurance policy as a personal pool of capital. Instead of financing purchases through a bank or dealership and paying interest to that third party, a policyholder borrows against their own policy’s cash value and repays themselves, recapturing the interest that would otherwise leave the family. As John puts it: “I want to keep the control on my side. I don’t want to give you the control.”
How did John Saintloth discover the Infinite Banking Concept?
John first encountered the Infinite Banking Concept through a Facebook ad. “What really resonated with me was the clarity that you brought,” he said. “Describing the problem that I had in my mind, knowing that money is leaving us every single day. I knew it, but I didn’t have a way to foresee a different way of addressing that problem.”
That ad led to a conversation, and eventually to a copy of Becoming Your Own Banker. John’s reaction to the book was immediate: “The first time I read it, I couldn’t sleep. I need to reread this just to be sure that my mind is not playing a trick on me.”
How did John use his first policy loan to buy a car?
For years, John had rented cars on 3-year terms rather than dealing with the hassle of financing a purchase outright, but even renting came with its own friction. “Each time it was really painful because I had to go through so many hoops,” he said. “I had to show my credit score, I had to show where I’m working… Why do I have to go through so many ordeals just to get approved for a car?”
After capitalizing his policy, building up enough cash value to create his own pool of money, John took his first policy loan and walked into a dealership ready to pay in cash. When the salesperson offered a discount if John financed through the dealership instead, John declined: “No, my friend, I want to keep the control on my side. I don’t want to give you the control.”
He paid for the car, and now repays the loan back to his own policy on his own schedule, rebuilding the pool of capital he’ll use for his next car purchase. “Every car payment funds the next car purchase,” as the episode’s cold open puts it.
From client to advisor: what changed?
John became a client of Ascendant Financial before he ever became an advisor there, a distinction he says matters. “There’s a degree of clarity that’s there,” he explained. “Hey, I saw it on paper, I had it on my head, I had a conversation with my advisor, but now it’s real.”
Once on the Ascendant team, John describes onboarding as “drinking water from a firehose,” an intensive process of training and coaching before ever working directly with a client. “Ascendant makes sure we have the proper training, the proper coaching, because life is out there,” he said. He also pointed to the diversity of his teammates’ backgrounds, including former lawyers, police officers, and people from the telecom and gas industries, as a core strength: “It’s like having 5, 6, 12 heads at once, because no one is an island. You cannot know it all.”
How did a health diagnosis change how John talks about insurance?
Not long after joining Ascendant, John received an unexpected health diagnosis. “I was lucky enough that they caught it early, and with one pill I managed that condition,” he said. The experience gave him a new way of relating to clients: “Now I can relate to them by telling them, you have an opportunity, seize it, because you don’t know what tomorrow is made of. Before, it was just saying, you know, just words. Now there is a force behind it because it happened to me.”
Is the Infinite Banking Concept complicated or a “secret of the rich”?
No. Throughout the episode, Jayson, Richard, and John return repeatedly to the idea, drawn directly from Nelson Nash’s original teaching, that the concept is meant to be simple, not sensationalized. “This process is meant to be ridiculously simple,” John says, quoting Nash. “It does not need to be sensationalized… It’s not a secret of the rich. It’s not something the banks don’t want you to know.”
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Infinite Banking Concept? A strategy using the cash value of a whole life insurance policy as a personal financing pool, allowing policyholders to borrow against their own policy instead of a bank, and repay themselves rather than a third party.
Who created the Infinite Banking Concept? Nelson Nash, author of Becoming Your Own Banker, is credited with developing and popularizing the concept.
Can you use a life insurance policy loan to buy a car? Yes, this is one of the most common practical applications of the Infinite Banking Concept, as illustrated by John Saint-Loth’s own experience in this episode.
Is Infinite Banking only for wealthy people? No. As discussed in this episode, it is explicitly not “a secret of the rich”; it is a system built to be simple and accessible, not exclusive.
Where can I learn more about the Infinite Banking Concept? Free resources are available at ibcfaq.com and 7steps.ca, including a step-by-step guide to evaluate whether IBC fits your situation.
Watch the full episode of Wealth on Main Street with John Saintloth on YouTube, or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | APPLE PODCAST | WEBSITE