First is the accumulation stage, where you are earning money 

and putting it away into some investment vehicle. 

During the distribution stage, you are reaping what you’ve sown 

and able to pull money out of the investment vehicle. 

With cash-value life insurance, the insured was not only buying a death benefit, but was also accumulating a cash reserve—something the insured could use while they were still alive, like an emergency fund or retirement account.

But because life insurance contracts have huge tax benefits over other more traditional investment vehicles, savvy investors started. ...

For example, say you live in a state with a maximum income tax rate of 13.3% (we're looking at you, California). In that state, $100,000 of business income means $13,300 in state taxes. If you shift that income to a state with no income tax (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming—and New Hampshire and Tennessee, sort of). Here's where the math gets easy. Your savings is $13,300 – $0 = $13,300. That’s a big chunk of change.

Of course it is not as simple as ......

Term life insurance is life insurance for a certain definite term, expressed in the number of years in the life of the policy. For example, twenty-year term insurance provides insurance against the death of the insured for twenty years, as long as the premiums are continually paid. Term insurance is relatively inexpensive until the term ends (for most people), and then if the insured wants to renew, the premiums go up substantially (because the insured is now several years older than when the policy was created). There is no cash value of term insurance.

Whole life insurance, on the other hand, is permanent. They provide not just a death-benefit, but also a cash value. And because you're not just purchasing a temporary death benefit without cash value, the premiums for whole life are going to be significantly higher than with term life insurance. But the premium amount is also flexible. However, a good portion of those premiums is being invested, and the cash value of your policy grows, and much of it can be withdrawn if the need arises, without penalty. There is also no limit to the amount you can contribute annually.

IULs are a specific type of whole life insurance policy where the cash value of the policy grows based upon index performance...

Banking is a multi-billion dollar industry. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup made a combined $53.2 Billion in profits in 2017.

If you set up your estate plan right, you can be your own bank, which means you can take that portion of the bank's profits they would have earned from lending you money and keep it for yourself.

Infinite banking, also referred to as "being your own bank," is not a product, but rather a method through which you can use your whole-life insurance account to turn yourself into your own banker.

Here's how it works. First, you have to set up a whole-life insurance policy. As you put more money into the account, the cash value grows tax-free.