If I Had Started My Own Bank at 20, Here’s How Different Life Would Look

How different would your life be if you had cultivated your own banking system from a young age?

It’s a question I reflect on often - not from a place of regret, but from hard-earned perspective.

Why Starting Young Matters

Think back to the financial hurdles of your early adulthood:
applying for loans, trying to qualify for a mortgage, juggling credit cards just to stay afloat. For some, bankruptcy even entered the picture.

I know these struggles intimately.

Had I known about the infinite banking concept 20 years ago, my financial journey would have looked far less stressful - and far more intentional.

A Personal Story of Struggle

My husband and I married young and were fortunate enough to buy our first home just before our wedding. It was a fixer-upper in every sense, including a toilet awkwardly placed in the middle of a makeshift sunroom.

We were optimistic and eager to build a life, but we underestimated the hidden costs. When the 2008 market crash hit, we found ourselves trapped in an upside-down mortgage.

At the same time, my husband was working at a new restaurant, and suddenly paycheques began bouncing. One bounced cheque led to overdraft fees, which snowballed into late charges and growing credit card debt.

A flat tire felt like a financial emergency. Every transaction came with anxiety. We were counting pennies and hoping the numbers would work.

Eventually, we moved to what we thought was our dream farmhouse and rebuilt. Our income increased - but so did our expenses. Despite earning more, money seemed to vanish just as quickly. We were stuck in a cycle of debt that felt impossible to escape.

Discovering Infinite Banking

Everything shifted when I discovered infinite banking.

For the first time, I understood how to create my own source of capital - one that didn’t depend on banks or credit cards setting the rules. We began intentionally routing our income through our policies, capturing as much cash flow as possible.

Emergencies stopped feeling catastrophic. Opportunities no longer required panic or debt. Instead of reacting to life, we finally had options.

What Could Have Been

If we had implemented infinite banking 20 years ago, we would have started small - even before marriage.

We could have financed our wedding without stress. Covered repairs without spiraling into debt. A bounced cheque would’ve been an inconvenience, not a crisis.

Over time, that system would have quietly grown alongside us, providing stability long before we ever felt “ready.”

The Path Forward

I don’t dwell on regret. Those hardships shaped my resilience and fuel my passion for helping others avoid the same pitfalls.

Infinite banking isn’t reserved for the young. We started in our forties. I now work with clients ranging from teenagers to people in their sixties.

It’s never too early - and never too late - to start building something better.