Episode Full Transcript

Length: 1:41:41
Host: Patrick Francey
Guest: Chris Naugle

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  00:00 – 02:10 | Opening

  Patrick:
  Hi there, and welcome to The Everyday Millionaire podcast. My name is Patrick Francey, and I’m your host. I want to begin by saying thank you for listening.

  On this show, I have conversations with seemingly ordinary individuals who have achieved amazing results in both life and business. My intention is to inspire and help you learn and grow by having my guests share their journey, how they faced and overcame challenges, and how they celebrate their wins.

  Now let’s get on with today’s show and have a conversation with our guest.

  Patrick:
  From snowboarder to money mogul, Chris Naugle has dedicated his life to being America’s number one money mentor. His core belief is that success is not about the resources you have, but how resourceful you can be.

  Chris has built and owned 19 companies, with his businesses featured in Forbes, ABC, House Hunters, and his own HGTV pilot in 2018. He’s the founder of The Money School and a mentor with The Money Multiplier. He has managed tens of millions of dollars in assets in financial services and real estate transactions.

  As an innovator and visionary in wealth building, Chris empowers entrepreneurs, business owners, and real estate investors to understand how money really works. He’s a nationally recognized speaker, author, and podcast host who has taught and spoken to over 10,000 Americans, delivering financial knowledge that fuels lasting freedom.

  I loved this conversation with Chris. It is insightful and packed with takeaways. Let’s get this show started.

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  02:10 – 05:00 | What does it mean to be your own bank?

  Patrick:
  Chris Naugle, welcome to The Everyday Millionaire podcast. Thanks so much for joining me.

  Chris:
  Hey, it’s an honor. Thanks for having me on, Patrick.

  Patrick:
  I always like to start with this. Your bio is impressive and tells us a lot about you, but if I meet you for the first time, we have two or three minutes, and I ask, “Hey Chris, what do you do?” how do you answer that?

  Chris:
  I show people how to take back control of their money by teaching them how to be the bank.

  Patrick:
  Be the bank? Tell me more. What does that look like?

  Chris:
  It is simple. It is a concept called privatized banking. It has been around for hundreds of years. I did not invent it. I discovered it, used it myself, and eventually went from being a student to a teacher.

  Here is the thing. If you use banks, any bank in any country, you are not in control of your money. Most people never read the fine print when they open a bank account. When you deposit money into a bank, that money is no longer under your control.

  Did your bank ever call to ask permission before lending out your deposit for someone’s car loan? Of course not. They lent it out. Let’s say they pay you 3 percent interest on savings, then lend that money at 6 percent or more. That spread is their profit.

  If you look at the data at BauerFinancial, you will see banks make many multiples more than we do just by controlling our money.

  What I teach is simple: take that control back.

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  05:00 – 07:30 | How private banking works

  Chris:
  The first step is changing where your money goes first. In the U.S. and Canada, we are the two countries that can use this system the way we do.

  The vehicle comes from a mutually owned life insurance company: a specially designed and engineered whole life insurance policy.

  Most people hear that and think, “That is the worst place to put money.” I get it. I was a financial advisor for 14 years when I first heard about this, and I thought the same thing.

  That is because most people do not understand why you would do it.

  Let’s compare. With a traditional bank you want liquidity, safety, and some return. You believe your deposits are guaranteed and insured.

  But mutually owned life insurance companies are among the most financially secure institutions in the world. Historically, wealthy families like the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, and Stanleys used them because banks were unstable. They figured out a better way to do banking, and they kept doing it.

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  07:30 – 10:00 | The modern version: infinite banking

  Chris:
  With a properly structured whole life policy, the company pays you a guaranteed interest rate plus dividends because it is mutually owned.

  Right now in the U.S., those returns are roughly between 5.5 and 6.4 percent. You cannot get that in a savings account.

  In the U.S., growth inside these policies is tax free. In Canada, it is tax advantaged. Either way, it is more efficient.

  You still have liquidity. If the policy is properly structured, you can access about 90 to 96 percent of your money almost immediately.

  When you borrow from your policy, you are not withdrawing your money. You are taking a loan from the insurance company using your cash value as collateral. They lend you their money while your money keeps earning uninterrupted compound interest.

  That means you are making money in two places at once on the same dollar.

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  10:00 – 14:00 | Making money twice: the mechanics

  Patrick:
  When people hear that, it can sound too good to be true. How do you explain it so people trust it?

  Chris:
  People are skeptical because they have been conditioned to think only in traditional banking terms. This is not a get rich quick scheme. It is a better system that the wealthy have used for over a century.

  Example: you have 100,000 dollars. Instead of leaving it in the bank or investing it directly, you put it into your private banking system. It starts earning guaranteed compound interest. If you need the money for a car or real estate, you borrow against it. The insurance company lends you their money using your 100,000 dollars as collateral. Your 100,000 keeps compounding as if it never left. You take the loan, buy the asset, and then pay yourself back like a bank would. You capture the interest you would have paid someone else.

  Patrick:
  So it is not magic. It is math.

  Chris:
  Exactly. The math works. We have just been conditioned to let banks make the spread instead of learning how to make it ourselves.

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  14:00 – 18:00 | Getting started

  Patrick:
  If someone is new to this, where do they begin?

  Chris:
  Education is step one. You cannot just call any insurance agent and say, “I want an infinite banking policy.” Most do not know how to design it properly.

  That is why I created The Money School. I teach how it works step by step and I give away a 90 minute training video. From there we use our proprietary Vault software to map out a plan for each person: how much to fund, how much to borrow, and how to use it efficiently.

  Once people see the numbers, they usually ask why they were never shown this before.

  Patrick:
  It is logical once you break it down.

  Chris:
  It is. Logic does not sell, emotion does. Banks spend billions keeping people emotionally attached to a system that makes them poor.

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  18:00 – 25:00 | Real estate, exit strategies, and taxes

  Patrick:
  Many listeners are real estate investors. How does this apply to them?

  Chris:
  Real estate investors already understand leverage. Imagine funding deals with your own banking system instead of private lenders or bank credit lines. Use policy loans for down payments, renovations, or bridge financing. When the property refinances or sells, pay the loan back to your policy.

  Your policy cash value never stopped compounding, so you are earning in two places at once.

  Patrick:
  What about taxes?

  Chris:
  Growth in the policy is tax free in the U.S. and tax advantaged in Canada. Loans are not taxable. For those retiring or exiting large portfolios, these systems pair well with foundations or charitable structures to create income, protect assets, and direct giving.

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  25:00 – 33:00 | Safe havens for wealth and decentralization

  Patrick:
  With digital currencies, frozen accounts, and new controls, will this become more important?

  Chris:
  Yes. In Canada during the trucker convoy, accounts were frozen. When money sits in a bank, it is under someone else’s control. With a private mutual insurance company, you have a contract between you and the company. It is protected by contract law, not bank law.

  Financial sovereignty is becoming essential. Decentralization is not just crypto. Private banking is the original decentralized system. It predates Bitcoin by centuries.

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  33:00 – 39:00 | Practical example: paying off debt

  Patrick:
  Walk us through a practical example like paying off debt.

  Chris:
  Say you owe 10,000 dollars on a credit card at 20 percent. Instead of making minimum payments forever, borrow 10,000 from your policy at around 5 percent and pay off the card. Now pay your policy back at the same pace you were paying the card, but you are paying yourself. Meanwhile, your full policy value is still compounding. You have eliminated high interest debt and recaptured the interest you would have given to the credit card company.

  Patrick:
  So it is changing cash flow direction.

  Chris:
  Exactly. It is not about working harder. It is about making your money work harder for you by changing who it works for.

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  39:00 – 44:00 | Overcoming debt and financial drift

  Patrick:
  It sounds simple, and it is once you understand it, but what gets in the way?

  Chris:
  Habits. People drift. They get excited, set it up, and then revert to old patterns. That is why structure and accountability matter.

  We use a “GPS” approach: software plus strategy that tracks flows and gives a roadmap. Like fitness, you cannot go once. You build a rhythm. Wealth is built by small, consistent actions.

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  44:00 – 48:00 | The fasting analogy

  Chris:
  I compare it to fasting. The first attempts are hard, but with repetition it becomes normal. The banking system is the same. At first it is uncomfortable because it is unfamiliar. Stick with it, and it becomes second nature.

  Patrick:
  Across life, consistency beats intensity.

  Chris:
  Yes. Discipline equals freedom. The more disciplined you are with money, health, and time, the freer you become.

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  48:00 – 55:00 | From snowboarder to entrepreneur

  Patrick:
  Your path from pro snowboarder to entrepreneur and educator is fascinating. How did it unfold?

  Chris:
  I grew up in upstate New York in a lower middle class family. I fell in love with snowboarding and competed. Pro snowboarding does not pay much unless you are at the top, so at 17 I opened Fatman Board Shops. My mom believed in me so much she put our house on the line so I could start.

  It worked for a while. Later I was deep into real estate flips and developments. The 2008 crash wiped me out. I lost everything, including the stores. It was brutal, but it made me realize I did not understand how money really worked. That pushed me to study banking, finance, and wealth preservation. That is how I discovered privatized banking.

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  55:00 – 1:00:00 | Early lessons in business and risk

  Patrick:
  Looking back, what did that teach you about money and responsibility?

  Chris:
  Belief and commitment go together. My mom’s belief made me serious. Pressure built discipline. I learned to make every dollar count and learned humility. When things were good, I thought I had it all figured out. Losing it all showed me how little I knew.

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  1:00:00 – 1:05:00 | The HGTV era

  Patrick:
  And you ended up on HGTV?

  Chris:
  Yes. After rebuilding, my wife and I were flipping high end homes in Buffalo. HGTV shot a pilot called Risky Builders in 2018. It taught me the power of story in business. People connect with stories more than spreadsheets. That shaped how I teach today.

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  1:05:00 – 1:10:00 | Mentors and doing hard things

  Patrick:
  Who influenced you most?

  Chris:
  Nelson Nash for Infinite Banking. Earl Nightingale for mindset. Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. My mom for persistence and faith. Jocko Willink’s idea that discipline equals freedom. All shared one theme: do hard things. There are no shortcuts. Wealth is built like muscle: slow, steady, intentional.

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  1:10:00 – 1:17:00 | The future of money and decentralized banking

  Patrick:
  How do you see money evolving with blockchain and crypto?

  Chris:
  Blockchain is here to stay. Separate technology from currency. Crypto is volatile; blockchain is brilliant. The future merges private banking with decentralized tech: instant peer to peer movement with control, backed by something stable and protected by contract. Control plus security.

  Patrick:
  So we integrate tech intelligently, not chase shiny objects.

  Chris:
  Exactly. Fundamentals never change: protection, control, liquidity.

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  1:17:00 – 1:24:00 | Doing hard things, legacy, and family

  Patrick:
  How does doing hard things shape your life now?

  Chris:
  I train every morning. It is about discipline, not fitness. Doing difficult things daily builds resilience. That resilience carries into business, relationships, and money.

  When I talk wealth, I bring it back to family and legacy. I wrote a TEDx talk called “Rethink Money: A Letter to My Daughter.” It is not about how much she inherits; it is about what she learns to do with money.

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  1:24:00 – 1:30:00 | Investing in yourself and redefining wealth

  Patrick:
  What does investing in yourself look like day to day?

  Chris:
  Constant learning. Reading daily, audiobooks while driving, mentors, masterminds. I invest in coaching because I never want to stop growing. The returns are exponential, sometimes financial, sometimes emotional or spiritual.

  Wealth is peace of mind, purpose, and the freedom to live aligned with your values.

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  1:30:00 – 1:35:00 | Faith, gratitude, and purpose

  Patrick:
  You speak openly about faith and gratitude. How does that shape success for you?

  Chris:
  Faith is trust that there is a plan, even when you cannot see it. Losing everything in 2008 felt like the worst thing, but it became the best. It shaped my purpose.

  Every morning I write three things I am grateful for. It keeps me grounded. You cannot be fearful and grateful at the same time. Gratitude dissolves fear.

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  1:35:00 – 1:40:00 | Family, legacy, and teaching financial wisdom

  Patrick:
  How are you teaching your daughter about money and mindset?

  Chris:
  By example and stories. We weave lessons about gratitude, generosity, and money into everyday life. When she receives money, we split it: spend, save, give. Every night we share what we are thankful for. It is our family ritual.

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  1:40:00 – 1:41:41 | Rapid fire and closing

  Patrick:
  Rapid fire. Favorite movie?

  Chris:
  Rad.

  Patrick:
  Favorite band?

  Chris:
  The Beatles.

  Patrick:
  Favorite swear word?

  Chris:
  Fuck.

  Patrick:
  What are you most grateful for right now?

  Chris:
  Everything. Waking up every day, health, being a dad, being able to teach people something that changes their lives.

  Patrick:
  Chris, it has been a pleasure having you on The Everyday Millionaire. Thank you.

  Chris:
  Thank you, Patrick.

  Patrick:
  To our listeners, thanks for tuning in. To learn more about Chris’s work, visit chrisnaugle.com and explore his Money School training and Be Your Own Bank resources. Until next time, stay focused, stay grateful, and keep moving forward.