The library the institutions hoped you'd never read.

How Much Commission Do Life Insurance Agents Make? (2026)

Whole Life Insurance for Retirement: How to Create Tax-Free Income for Life

Most people have been told the same retirement story their entire working life: contribute to your 401(k), get the match, invest in mutual funds, hope the market cooperates, and withdraw at a tax rate you can’t predict. That story works — until you sit down with a calculator and realize how much of your retirement […]

Cash Value Life Insurance: How It Works, How It Grows, and How to Access It

If you’ve been told that life insurance is “just for the death benefit,” you’re only hearing half the story. Cash value life insurance builds equity inside your policy — money that grows tax-deferred and that you can access while you’re still alive, without asking a bank for permission. That’s the feature that separates permanent life […]

Whole Life Insurance: Guide to How It Really Works

Most whole life insurance guides are written by journalists who have never designed a policy. This one is written by practitioners who do it every day. Whole life insurance is a permanent life insurance contract that guarantees a death benefit, builds cash value, and locks in a level premium for life. Those are the basics […]

How Much Does Whole Life Insurance Cost?

If you’ve searched “how much does whole life insurance cost,” you’ve probably found one of two things: vague estimates designed to push you toward a quote form, or a single number that doesn’t reflect what you’d actually pay. The truth is more nuanced — and more useful — than a simple dollar figure. This guide […]

What Happens When a Whole Life Insurance Policy Matures?

What happens when a whole life insurance policy matures? The short answer: the policy endows, you stop paying premiums, and either you or your beneficiaries receive the payout. But the real answer depends entirely on what kind of policy you own and how it was designed. If you’re Googling this question, you’re probably worried about […]

Top 25 Highest Rated Life Insurance Companies (2026 Comdex Rankings)

Most “top rated insurance company” lists rank by advertising budget or brand recognition. We take a different approach — ranking by which companies we’d actually trust with our own family’s policies after 18+ years of writing coverage. You’re about to trust a company with promises that might not come due for 30, 40, or 50 […]

List of the Top Life Insurance Companies in the U.S. [Complete Guide By Policy Type]

When it comes to buying insurance, it is good to have options. And knowing who the best life insurance companies are provides you with the insight you need to try and get the best rates. What To Consider When Comparing Life Insurance Companies Before diving into specific companies, it’s essential to understand what factors make […]

Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company Review

If you’re researching Penn Mutual, you’re probably past the “do I need life insurance?” stage and into the “which company actually performs?” stage. Good — that’s where the real decisions happen. Penn Mutual is one of only a handful of mutual companies with 178 years of uninterrupted dividend payments, and they’ve been quietly outperforming bigger […]

MassMutual Whole Life Insurance Review

If you’re researching MassMutual, you’re looking at one of the most financially dominant life insurance companies in American history — and for good reason. With a 6.60% dividend interest rate, $2.9 billion in payouts for 2026, and A++ financial strength ratings, the headline numbers are hard to argue with. But here’s what most MassMutual reviews […]

Top 10 Best Life Insurance Companies (2026 Independent Rankings)

Choosing a life insurance company feels overwhelming. Hundreds of carriers, conflicting reviews, aggressive sales tactics, and the nagging fear that you’ll pick the wrong one and not discover it until it’s too late. We get it. After 20+ years helping families protect and build their financial futures, we’ve seen what happens when people choose based […]

Lafayette Life Insurance Company Review

Lafayette Life doesn’t have the brand recognition of Northwestern Mutual or MassMutual — and that’s actually part of why it’s worth your attention. This 121-year-old mutual company has quietly built one of the strongest whole life platforms in the industry, particularly for clients who plan to actively use policy loans. The reason? Lafayette Life practices […]

Preparing Heirs: Why Formation Matters More Than Financial Literacy

I spent twenty years as an estate planning attorney drafting the legal architecture of wealth transfer. The trusts. The entities. The tax structures. The work that families pay attorneys to do when they’re trying to pass what they’ve built down to their kids. Over those years I came to believe the documents are not where […]

How to Keep Family Land in the Family: The 8 Threats and the Plan That Actually Works

Most families who lose their land don’t lose it because someone wanted to sell. They lose it because no one built the structure to keep it. A tax bill arrives the heirs can’t pay. Three siblings inherit equal shares and one wants out. A divorce or lawsuit reaches a fractional owner. The carrying costs outrun […]

The 401k Is Not an Investment. It Is Price Support.

A hedge fund can be long. It can be short. It can be neutral. It can be hedged across asset classes, across geographies, across time horizons. On any given trading day, the manager of a serious pool of capital can choose from a menu of positions that gives him a way to make money whether […]

The Family Bank: What Most Generational Wealth Strategies Are Missing

The question most families ask their estate planning attorney is the wrong question. They ask how to minimize estate tax. How to protect assets from creditors. How to draft a trust that will hold up across generations. These are all good questions. They have answers, and after 20+ years of practice I can tell you […]

The Rich Man’s Roth: How to Build Tax-Free Wealth Beyond Roth IRA Limits

What if you didn’t have to choose between a Roth IRA and whole life insurance — and could have both at maximum capacity using the same dollars? The Rich Man’s Roth isn’t about replacing your Roth IRA with whole life insurance. It’s about using whole life as the banking infrastructure that funds your Roth, your […]

Best Alternatives to 401(k) Retirement Plans

By Jason Kenyon, Esq. Co-Founder and CFO of I&E 📖 Estimated Reading Time: 18 minutes TL;DR: 9 Alternatives to 401(k) Retirement Plans Looking beyond traditional 401(k) plans? Here’s your complete guide: ✓ Traditional Alternatives: IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs Solo 401(k)s, HSAs Taxable accounts, Real estate ✓ The Institutional Alternative: What banks actually use ($200B+) […]

The Asset Class Nobody Told You About (And Why Banks Hold $205 Billion of It)

Written by Barry Brooksby | Authorized Infinite Banking Practitioner 📖 Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes Most people think investing means picking the right asset class. Stocks or bonds? Real estate or gold? Index funds or individual equities? The entire financial industry is organized around this question — and it’s the wrong question. This guide does […]

Infinite Banking Concept: How It Works and Why It Changes Everything

The Infinite Banking Concept has become one of the most discussed, and most misunderstood, financial strategies of the last two decades. Depending on who you ask, it’s either a game-changing wealth-building system or a scheme designed to sell whole life insurance. Neither is accurate. IBC is a financial strategy that uses dividend-paying whole life insurance […]

Volume Based Banking Using The Ultimate Asset®

Written By: Jason Kenyon, Esq., CEO & Co-Owner of Insurance and Estate Strategies LLC, and Steven Gibbs, JD, AEP®, CPSO & Co-Founder. Both are licensed attorneys with 15+ years of experience in estate planning and strategic life insurance design. 📖 Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes Table of Contents The Financial Reality Most Don’t See Nash’s […]

Why 73% of Americans Die With Debt (Even Following Financial Advice)

By Jason Kenyon, Esq. Co-Founder and CEO of I&E 📖 Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes TL;DR: Why 73% of Americans Die With Debt The system isn’t broken—it’s working exactly as designed. Here’s what’s really happening: ✓ The Reality: 73% die with debt regardless of financial behavior System extracts wealth from savers through inflation and interest […]

Volume-Based Banking: Why Controlling Capital Beats Chasing Returns

By Jason Kenyon, J.D. | CEO & Co-Founder, Insurance & Estates | Estate Planning Attorney | 20+ Years in Financial Services 📖 Estimated Reading Time: 21 minutes Table of Contents What Is Volume-Based Banking? The Three Pillars of Volume-Based Banking Traditional Banks vs. Your Banking System The Economic Foundation: Why VBB Works How VBB Works: […]

Alternative Wealth Building Strategies: How to Combine Dave Ramsey, Robert Kiyosaki & Nelson Nash

Co-authored by: Steven Gibbs, CEO & Co-Founder of Insurance and Estate Strategies LLC, and Jason Kenyon, CFO & Co-Owner. Both are licensed attorneys with 15+ years of experience in estate planning and 8+ years in strategic life insurance design. TL;DR: The Complete Wealth Building Synthesis Bottom Line: Combining Dave Ramsey’s debt elimination discipline, Robert Kiyosaki’s […]

Is IUL Worth It? The Honest Answer Depends on Who You Are

By: Jason Herring, IUL & Whole Life Specialist 16 years designing IUL and whole life policies for cash accumulation and retirement income | Independent advisor — access to all major carriers | Series 6, 63, 65 Licensed The honest answer to “Is IUL worth it?” depends entirely on who you are and what you’re building. […]

IUL vs. 401(k): Which Is Better for Retirement? (2026 Comparison)

TL;DR — IUL vs. 401(k): A 401(k) gives you tax-deferred growth, employer matching, and disciplined savings — but locks your money up until 59½, taxes every dollar you withdraw, and forces distributions starting at 73 An IUL gives you tax-free retirement income through policy loans, no contribution limits, and a death benefit — but requires […]

IUL Done Right: What Kyle Busch’s Case Teaches Us About Policy Design

Kyle Busch’s Pacific Life lawsuit alleges something worse than broken IUL, intentional design choices that maximized commissions at his expense. Whether that’s true or not, the technical problems are identical to what we see in hundreds of failed policies: unrealistic projections, poor architecture, and zero monitoring. We’ve helped clients implement IUL policies that perform as […]

Why Dave Ramsey Is Wrong About IUL Insurance (And Where He’s Right)

By Jason Herring, IUL Specialist | Pro Client Guide – IUL and Retirement Income Distribution Expert | 14+ years experience in life insurance and retirement income strategies 📖 Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes TL;DR: The Bottom Line Dave Ramsey has helped millions get out of debt, and his criticism of poorly designed IUL policies has […]

IUL Implementation Strategy: The 3-4 Year Cash Value Reality

By Jason Herring, Whole Life & IUL Specialist You’ve decided IUL belongs in your financial plan. Now the real question: how do you actually implement it without getting burned by unrealistic expectations? This isn’t another “what is IUL” explainer. If you need the fundamentals — how index linking works, caps, floors, participation rates, annual resets […]

IUL FAQs: Answers to Common Questions About Indexed Universal Life

Table of Contents Introduction to Indexed Universal Life Insurance How IUL Differs from Other Permanent Life Insurance Understanding IUL Interest Crediting Methods Floor Rates and Downside Protection The Annual Reset Feature Explained Can You Lose Money with IUL? IUL Cost Factors and Considerations Premium Payment Flexibility Who Should Consider IUL? How to Obtain an IUL […]

Best Annuity Rates 2026: Up to 6% from Top-Rated Companies

About the Author: Barry Brooksby is a licensed insurance professional with over 25 years of experience helping clients secure retirement income. As an Authorized Nelson Nash Infinite Banking Practitioner and Real Estate Strategist, Barry has guided thousands of retirees through the complexities of annuity selection and retirement planning. 🎯 Best Annuity Rates – Quick Answer […]

Top 10 Best Annuity Companies in 2026: The Ultimate Guide

🔍 Best Annuity Companies 2025 – Quick Answer Top Overall: Lincoln Financial | Fixed Index Leader: Allianz Life | Strongest Financially: MassMutual (A++) | Best MYGA Rates: Fidelity & Guaranty Market Reality: Industry data shows $432.4B in 2024 sales, 80% prefer fixed/indexed products Table of Contents What Are Annuities? 2025 Annuity Market Overview Current Annuity […]

American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company Review

At I&E we do our best to stay on top of the best life insurance companies and annuity providers in the country. One insurance company that recently appeared on our radar was American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company based on the insurance provider’s great product line of annuities. In the following American Equity review, we […]

Fixed Index Annuity: 8 Features That Make FIAs Worth Considering

Co-Written By: Jason Herring, IUL and Annuity Specialist Jason Herring: 16 years life insurance & retirement income planning | Series 6, 63, 65 Licensed | Prudential Pinnacle Award Winner A fixed indexed annuity is a tax-deferred contract with an insurance company that credits interest based on the performance of a market index — like the […]

Filial Responsibility [Why You Could Be Held Responsible for Your Parent’s Medical Bills]

TL;DR: Roughly 26–28 states still have filial responsibility laws that can make adult children legally liable for a parent’s unpaid nursing home and medical bills. Enforcement is rare but real — a Pennsylvania court ordered a son to pay nearly $93,000 for his mother’s care. With nursing home costs now exceeding $10,000/month nationally, the financial […]

Long Term Care Rider vs. Chronic Illness Rider: Which Actually Protects You?

Fidelity Investments reports that the average couple retiring at age 65 can expect to pay approximately $315,000 in medical expenses during retirement. Now consider this: only 20% of workers over 55 have managed to set aside $250,000 or more for retirement. That means 80% of the population over 55 has less money saved for retirement […]

Best Long-Term Care Insurance Companies: 3 Approaches Compared (2026)

Most “best long-term care insurance” articles give you a ranked list of companies and call it a day. The problem is, that skips the most important decision you’ll make: which type of long-term care coverage actually fits your situation. There are three fundamentally different approaches to covering long-term care — standalone policies, hybrid linked-benefit products, […]

Asset-Based Long-Term Care Insurance: Hybrid LTC Pros, Cons & 2026 Guide

Asset-based long-term care insurance combines life insurance or annuity guarantees with long-term care benefits, solving the biggest problem with traditional LTC policies: the risk of paying premiums for decades and never collecting a dime. With nursing home costs now exceeding $135,000 per year for a private room and only 3% of Americans over 50 carrying […]