R. Nelson Nash (1931–2019)

The concept is intriguing and one I’ll definitely consider implementing. That part was excellent.

But the writing and production of the book were very poor. There were many instances of a missing word or very poorly worded sentence, which made that sentence impossible to understand precisely.

Nash also assumes his reader has a certain amount of knowledge about economics, life insurance, and banking, and he writes like it. If this book were to help the “common man,” some of Nash’s thoughts would need to be explained in more detail. He often jumped from a premise to a conclusion, assuming his reader knew enough to make that leap with him.

Overall, I’d recommend the book, but it’s definitely the kind of book that will need to be read multiple times before it’s understood. Unfortunately, that’s not due to the richness of the content, but the difficult style of writing.… (mehr)

While I enjoyed Nash's _Becoming Your Own Banker_, _The Case for IBC_ is the introduction to the Infinite Banking Concept that I was really looking for. Essentially, this book takes Nash's earlier book, strips out the fat, clarifies the explanations, and adds a couple of detailed illustrations. Instead of Nash's folksy wisdom, you get just the information you need to understand how IBC works. I'd also recommend this book over Lara and Murphy's _How Privatized Banking Really Works_, which has a very different agenda than explaining the basics of IBC.

As an economist, this book still left me unsatisfied, and I suspect that any economist or finance professor will feel the same way. Though this book does a better job of making this clear, the "magic" of IBC lies as much in committing oneself to accumulate a store of wealth up front as it does in the use of whole life insurance as a place to store that wealth. So, I would have liked more detailed comparisons of the IBC strategy to alternate investment strategies based on the same initial accumulation of savings. But the book does get you from zero to the point where you can think about those issues for yourself in a little over 100 pages, which is no mean feat. And, of course, Nash et al. would probably like you to follow up by delving into the training they offer, which might well be a good idea for someone working as a financial advisor or insurance salesperson.

I would recommend this book to any young person just starting out in their career, or to couples starting a family. I wish I'd had this information twenty—even ten—years ago! It will also be useful to older people thinking about how to pass a legacy on to the next generation. It's not a substitute for sitting down with a financial advisor and thinking carefully about a long-term plan for saving and investing. But it will make you aware of some options you probably aren't aware of, or which you've heard about and dismissed too quickly.

[2019-05-11]… (mehr)