by M.Z. from Kansas.
We really had no business starting a business! The following story is the reality of how my family had no business starting a business, the road blocks we faced in starting it, and how behind each road block was blessing after blessing that resulted in greater determination to continue in what we started. In reality this is the Zimmer family IBC (Infinite Banking Concept) story.
Back in April 2004 my wife, Jeni, and I found ourselves on a road we didn't want to go down. In short, I had been laid off from my job and in August 2004 we transitioned back to Kansas City from Oklahoma City to make a fresh start. I had no jobs lined up and Jeni had nothing lined up either. As God ordained I was able to land a job in Kansas City in October 2004. You do the math - I had nothing for eleven weeks after arriving in KC while Jeni had the income of a school crossing guard supervisor. Those were challenging days! The next two years were spent in a rental duplex and then eventually a bigger duplex in the neighborhood that we really wanted to be in. We were able to buy that half duplex with no money down. Still, by July 2008 we found ourselves nearly $17K in credit card debt and getting no where with minimum payments. We needed a plan. But before we instituted any plan - we prayed.
After prayer and hitting reality we first decided - no more credit cards and we thought of the quickest route to repayment. We settled on consultation with Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS). They assessed our income and ability to pay back the debt to our creditors and we were quickly on the road to no credit card usage and doable monthly payments to CCCS (now Apprisen Financial Services). After this we knew it would be a long road to just be debt free of the credit card payments. CCCS told us it would be a little over four years. Not real encouraging, but we were on the right track. The very next month, September 2004, I would have THE MOST fortuitous, I believe most Divine, connection with another piece to our financial freedom puzzle.
I'm sitting at KCI Airport around 6:45 AM headed to somewhere. I decided it was time to read my "devotional for busy dads" daily reading. As I get half way through a guy sits down next to me and he begins reading, what I perceived to be, his Bible. We struck up a conversation about the Bibles were reading and so forth. The conversation led to what our vocation was and where we were headed and why. A short 30 minutes later the world of Infinite Baking Concept had unfolded in my heart and mind and was I jazzed! You see, I hadn't met just any ordinary business man shucking a sweet pie-in-the-sky financial pitch. I met a man that I knew in my heart was a follower of Christ and I knew, yes I knew, he was speaking some financial truth into my life. Jeni and I had been praying for more to the financial freedom puzzle than simply debt elimination and after 30-40 minutes with Mr. Mike Everett of Alpha and Omega Financial Services, Inc. I was on my way to a different universe in terms of my families financial dreams!
Yet, the questions and challenges seemed plentiful. As I watched the video that Mike gave me in the airport and as I did read the book (Becoming Your Own Banker by Nelson Nash) that he recommended I buy, I was wondering about IF my wife agreed to even listen to me about IBC and allow Mike to make his in-home presentation, could we do this IBC thing? Could we do it? Would we even have the funds to start such a venture? Would my wife, a daughter of a traditional bank board member, go for those "out of the box" idea? Could we sustain debt reduction and funding IBC simultaneously? why would my pastor say, "Don't do it?" And what about our growing kids and their needs and two cars that pretty much suck the financial life right out of a guy (and they did in the summer of 2009)?
Well, Mike came into our home and about 15 minutes into his presentation light bulbs were flashing, truth was unfolding, doubts were being erased and when Mike excused himself Jeni and I were utterly convinced that God had indeed sent Mike into our lives to reveal financial truth to us. Now for the hard part. We had committed to this road, but the money, what about the money to start? Amazingly we did gather the necessary funds we needed to start my $10,000 annual policy, and with very little borrowing I would add. We found funds in places we didn't know we had money and in the following tax season only paid about $340 of taxes on the funds we had secured to start our IBC.
Year one came and went with way too much money being spent on car repairs and things looked spooky going into our November annual premium payment. With the very little we paid into the premium and a conventional unsecured loan from our local bank, we paid year one! What a relief! We felt so excited to meet this goal and at this point be down to nearly $6K in credit card debt due to a second season of using our IBC funds to pay off debt. Then a day I'll never forget came into play that would affect our lives and our son's life for as long as we will live. On December 21, 2009 we found ourselves in Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City in a room with doctors around us explaining that our son indeed has Diabetes Type 1. What a shock to us. This was a huge road block in so many ways, but we are people of trust in our God. And so, after all bills have been processed and now we know what we need to pay, we again, continue with our focus of staying on the IBC path, knowing that not even diabetes is going to stop us from reaching our financial goals. In addition, God provided both my wife and I second jobs in the evenings (beginning May 2010) that pay very well so we can quickly pay off medical bills, and then with great hope, we desire to also use this money to fund IBC in year three beginning in November (which is also the dates we will have eliminated our entire $17,000 of credit card debt)!
So, life in it's ups and downs, with ill children, broken down cars, parents who seem skeptical that their kids have gone on some crazy wild financial goose chase, and two people who don't make a lot of money, but put it to good use, has afforded us a hopeful financial future. We hope to pay for college tuitions and fees, additional cars, vacations, and house repairs through IBC. I know we have no business thinking like that right now, but because we started our IBC, one day we'll say we had no business starting a business, but we're so glad we did!
Back in April 2004 my wife, Jeni, and I found ourselves on a road we didn't want to go down. In short, I had been laid off from my job and in August 2004 we transitioned back to Kansas City from Oklahoma City to make a fresh start. I had no jobs lined up and Jeni had nothing lined up either. As God ordained I was able to land a job in Kansas City in October 2004. You do the math - I had nothing for eleven weeks after arriving in KC while Jeni had the income of a school crossing guard supervisor. Those were challenging days! The next two years were spent in a rental duplex and then eventually a bigger duplex in the neighborhood that we really wanted to be in. We were able to buy that half duplex with no money down. Still, by July 2008 we found ourselves nearly $17K in credit card debt and getting no where with minimum payments. We needed a plan. But before we instituted any plan - we prayed.
After prayer and hitting reality we first decided - no more credit cards and we thought of the quickest route to repayment. We settled on consultation with Consumer Credit Counseling Service (CCCS). They assessed our income and ability to pay back the debt to our creditors and we were quickly on the road to no credit card usage and doable monthly payments to CCCS (now Apprisen Financial Services). After this we knew it would be a long road to just be debt free of the credit card payments. CCCS told us it would be a little over four years. Not real encouraging, but we were on the right track. The very next month, September 2004, I would have THE MOST fortuitous, I believe most Divine, connection with another piece to our financial freedom puzzle.
I'm sitting at KCI Airport around 6:45 AM headed to somewhere. I decided it was time to read my "devotional for busy dads" daily reading. As I get half way through a guy sits down next to me and he begins reading, what I perceived to be, his Bible. We struck up a conversation about the Bibles were reading and so forth. The conversation led to what our vocation was and where we were headed and why. A short 30 minutes later the world of Infinite Baking Concept had unfolded in my heart and mind and was I jazzed! You see, I hadn't met just any ordinary business man shucking a sweet pie-in-the-sky financial pitch. I met a man that I knew in my heart was a follower of Christ and I knew, yes I knew, he was speaking some financial truth into my life. Jeni and I had been praying for more to the financial freedom puzzle than simply debt elimination and after 30-40 minutes with Mr. Mike Everett of Alpha and Omega Financial Services, Inc. I was on my way to a different universe in terms of my families financial dreams!
Yet, the questions and challenges seemed plentiful. As I watched the video that Mike gave me in the airport and as I did read the book (Becoming Your Own Banker by Nelson Nash) that he recommended I buy, I was wondering about IF my wife agreed to even listen to me about IBC and allow Mike to make his in-home presentation, could we do this IBC thing? Could we do it? Would we even have the funds to start such a venture? Would my wife, a daughter of a traditional bank board member, go for those "out of the box" idea? Could we sustain debt reduction and funding IBC simultaneously? why would my pastor say, "Don't do it?" And what about our growing kids and their needs and two cars that pretty much suck the financial life right out of a guy (and they did in the summer of 2009)?
Well, Mike came into our home and about 15 minutes into his presentation light bulbs were flashing, truth was unfolding, doubts were being erased and when Mike excused himself Jeni and I were utterly convinced that God had indeed sent Mike into our lives to reveal financial truth to us. Now for the hard part. We had committed to this road, but the money, what about the money to start? Amazingly we did gather the necessary funds we needed to start my $10,000 annual policy, and with very little borrowing I would add. We found funds in places we didn't know we had money and in the following tax season only paid about $340 of taxes on the funds we had secured to start our IBC.
Year one came and went with way too much money being spent on car repairs and things looked spooky going into our November annual premium payment. With the very little we paid into the premium and a conventional unsecured loan from our local bank, we paid year one! What a relief! We felt so excited to meet this goal and at this point be down to nearly $6K in credit card debt due to a second season of using our IBC funds to pay off debt. Then a day I'll never forget came into play that would affect our lives and our son's life for as long as we will live. On December 21, 2009 we found ourselves in Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City in a room with doctors around us explaining that our son indeed has Diabetes Type 1. What a shock to us. This was a huge road block in so many ways, but we are people of trust in our God. And so, after all bills have been processed and now we know what we need to pay, we again, continue with our focus of staying on the IBC path, knowing that not even diabetes is going to stop us from reaching our financial goals. In addition, God provided both my wife and I second jobs in the evenings (beginning May 2010) that pay very well so we can quickly pay off medical bills, and then with great hope, we desire to also use this money to fund IBC in year three beginning in November (which is also the dates we will have eliminated our entire $17,000 of credit card debt)!
So, life in it's ups and downs, with ill children, broken down cars, parents who seem skeptical that their kids have gone on some crazy wild financial goose chase, and two people who don't make a lot of money, but put it to good use, has afforded us a hopeful financial future. We hope to pay for college tuitions and fees, additional cars, vacations, and house repairs through IBC. I know we have no business thinking like that right now, but because we started our IBC, one day we'll say we had no business starting a business, but we're so glad we did!
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