EXAMPLE ONLY
The Zero Problem

Spending stops growth.We can change that.

If our kids are going to have a great life, we have to help them succeed financially. The truth is, a great life needs great cash flow, and save-and-spend strategies aren't going to work in a world that keeps getting more expensive.

Every big purchase teaches kids the same lesson: spend your money, and it stops growing. Here's what it looks like when a family teaches the opposite. Meet Emma, age 2.

E
Emma, age 2A yearly deposit, ages 2 to 21
A yearly deposit for about 20 years =
~1.5×
roughly what went in, sitting in Emma's vault at 22. Hypothetical.
University, four yearsborrowed
A year abroadborrowed
Still hers after school and travel, and still growing~1× deposits

Emma is an example to show how the strategy works, not a real client. This page is general education, not personal financial, tax or legal advice. Figures are rounded and hypothetical, based on an insurer's illustration at its current dividend scale, with interest on borrowing paid each year. Dividends are not guaranteed, and your numbers will differ.

What Is The Zero Problem?

Every kid learns two ways to pay for life.
Both end at zero.

Picture Emma at 18, ready to buy her first car. Here's how the choice usually goes, and the one almost nobody gets taught.

Save, then spend

Put money away for years. Spend it all.
zerobuy a car
Ends at zero.

Borrow, then repay

Take the loan. Spend years paying it back.
zerobuy a car
Also ends at zero.

Build with yours, spend someone else's

The vault keeps growing. Life gets funded against it, not out of it.
zerobuy a car (borrowed)vault still growing
Ends ahead, and still growing.
The Game

Money is a game with ghosts.
Nobody teaches kids how to play.

All their lives, these ghosts will chase them. They're built into the system, and most people spend their lives running. Watch the game most people play, then watch Emma's.

Tax

Takes a share of growth, every year, forever.

The Money Mansion move: growth inside the contract isn't taxed year to year.

Inflation

Quietly shrinks every dollar sitting still.

The Money Mansion move: own an asset that keeps rising while inflation eats away at cash.

Bad debt

Borrowing against nothing, to buy things that shrink.

The Money Mansion move: only ever borrow against a growing asset.

The new iPhone

FOMO spending that resets you to zero, one upgrade at a time.

The Money Mansion move: the vault is never spent. Life gets funded against it, on purpose.
Balance

The skill that changes everything:
responsible leverage.

Debt isn't the enemy. Debt backed by nothing is. Emma learns the difference by watching you use it well.

“Build with your money. Spend someone else's, so yours never stops growing.
Rule 1

Borrow against an asset

Never against nothing. Emma's vault is the collateral, and it keeps growing underneath the loan.

Rule 2

Pay the interest

You or Emma borrow. You pay the interest, and she learns the money lessons along the way.

Rule 3

Let the gap widen

With the interest paid, the loan holds still while the vault keeps climbing. What's borrowed peaks at roughly half the vault, and the gap grows every year after.

In plain terms: Emma's vault is a participating whole life contract on her life, issued by a Canadian life insurer. You own it until you choose to pass it to her.
The Endgame

Her vault keeps growing.
Her debt gets eaten.

Pac-Man is your insurance.

Emma's vault climbs every year, well ahead of what you borrow for her. One day, your own insurance pays Emma directly as your named beneficiary, generally tax-free, and clears what you borrowed for her. Her vault stays whole.

That's why a parent's contract comes first. It's how the plan is designed, and insurers generally look at the parents' own coverage before insuring a child.
Emma's Numbers

Relentless. Every single year.

About twenty yearly deposits, from age 2 to 21. After that, the contract is designed so dividends can carry the ongoing premium, and the main cost is the interest on what you borrow for her.

Age 22~1.5×roughly what went in, before borrowing for school and travel
After school and travel~1×still roughly what went in, and still growing
Age 65~9–15×roughly what went in, depending on how dividends run

Rounded, hypothetical ballpark figures from an insurer's illustration. The low end assumes dividends run below today's scale. Interest on borrowing paid each year, principal held until your insurance clears it. Dividends are not guaranteed. Real numbers for your family come on a call.

Let's put your family's plan on real numbers.

We'll design both contracts together, yours first and then your child's, with your coverage sized to clear what you plan to borrow for them.

Book your planning call

Or email Donny at donny@wealthedup.com

This page is educational in nature and uses values from an insurer's illustration for a sample client. Illustrations are not guarantees, and dividends are not guaranteed. Dividend scales respond to the insurer's investment results and interest rates, not directly to inflation, and can rise or fall. Borrowing against a contract carries interest and risk. Loans can be arranged through a lender using the contract as collateral or as a policy loan, and the tax treatment differs; a policy loan above the adjusted cost base can create taxable income. If a loan grows larger than the cash value, the contract can lapse.

Not personal advice. This page explains a general strategy using an example family. It does not consider your situation, and it is not a recommendation to buy any product. Talk with Donny about your own circumstances before acting.

Tax treatment, including ownership transfers to a child and the generally tax-free payment of death benefits, is based on current Canadian rules and can change. Donny Mangos is a licensed life insurance agent and may earn a commission if a contract is purchased. You're free to pursue other options, other advisors, or none at all.