The Norris Group Real Estate Podcast

Financial Freedom Through Infinite Banking with Hannah Kesler | Part 1 #917

• The Norris Group, Craig Evans

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In this episode, financial educator and real estate investor Hannah Kesler shares her journey as a second-generation advocate of the Infinite Banking Concept. From being mentored in financial literacy as a child to teaching the Money Multiplier method across the U.S., Hannah explains how this strategy helps individuals build and preserve wealth. She also discusses her early start in real estate, the power of strategic debt, and the critical role family and community play in achieving financial independence. Whether you're new to wealth-building or looking for smarter ways to grow your assets, this episode offers practical insights to help you take control of your financial future. 


 Hannah Kesler is a second-generation educator of the Infinite Banking Concept—a wealth-building strategy she passionately teaches alongside her father across the country. Mentored from a young age on how money truly works, Hannah began implementing the Infinite Banking Concept at just 18 and entered the real estate world by 20. With a vision to build a real estate empire and launch her own fashion line, she’s leveraging this powerful financial strategy to turn her dreams into reality. Based in Daytona Beach, Florida, Hannah embraces #vanlife with her cat, enjoying live music, dancing, and outdoor adventures when she's not helping others take control of their financial future through becoming their own banker. 

GET HER eBOOK HERE:  The Single Millionaire Chick by Hannah Kesler

In this episode:

  • Meet Hannah Kesler, second-generation advocate of the Infinite Banking Concept and passionate financial educator.
  • Learn how Hannah transitioned from being mentored as a child to teaching financial independence and speaking nationwide.
  • Discover Hannah’s early entry into real estate at 20 and how she leverages wealth-building strategies to fuel her personal and professional goals.
  • Explore the Money Multiplier method, rooted in the Infinite Banking Concept, and how it empowers individuals to recycle and recapture their own money.
  • Understand the practical applications of Infinite Banking for managing debt, increasing liquidity, and building long-term wealth.
  • Gain insights into how strategic debt and disciplined cash flow management can support generational wealth.
  • Hear Hannah’s perspective on the importance of family, mentorship, and community in achieving financial success.



The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669.  For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.


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Narrator:

Welcome to The Norris Group real estate podcast, a show committed to bringing you insights from thought leaders shaping the real estate industry. In each episode, we'll dive into conversations with industry experts and local insiders, all aimed at helping you thrive in an ever-changing real estate market. continuing the legacy that Bruce Norris created, sharing valuable knowledge, and empowering you on your real estate journey. Whether you're a seasoned pro or a newcomer, this is your go-to source for insider tips, market trends and success strategies. Here's your host, Craig Evans.

Craig Evans:

Hey everybody. We are so excited to have you on today. We've got a great show. It's something that a friend of mine made a recommendation on, and I can't wait to introduce you to Hannah Kesler. Hannah is a second generation of the Infinite Banking concept. It's a method that Hannah and her father travel around the country to teach how to recycle, recapture and keep total control of your hard earned dollars. Hannah has been mentored since a young child about how money really works. She's been implementing the Infinite Banking concept since she was 18 years old, and has been involved in real estate since 20 years of age. Her dreams are to build a real estate empire and become a fashion designer, to start her own clothing line and boutique. With this wealth management tool. She knows those dreams will become a reality sooner than later. Hannah, it is an honor and a privilege to have you on. First of all, how are you doing?

Hannah Kesler:

Oh, I'm so good. And that was a beautiful introduction. Thank you. But I'm doing good. As you know, too, being here in sunny Florida, it's always a good day.

Craig Evans:

That's right, exactly, you know, it was fun. So earlier this year, Joey which you know, Joey Romero, he went to the Financial Freedom Summit hosted by our good friends Buddy and Kimberly Rushing. They were wanting me to be there. I had prior commitments, so Joey went in my stead. Did a great job for us. And when I called him late that afternoon to see how it went, he said, we have to have Hannah on the podcast, and he was so impressed by your story and your presentation that he thought we needed to share you with our listeners. So I'm excited to get into it, but first, what we try to do is I want our people to not just know what you do in business, but we want our people to know who Hannah Kesler is right. So, so give us a little background. Where are you originally from?

Hannah Kesler:

Yeah. So, grew up in the Kansas City area, born in St Louis, and then mom and dad, they said, alright, you know, because my father's a chiropractor back in his old time and that he says, 'You know, I don't know where I want to settle down at and really start these Chiropractic Clinics.' And so it's kind of going back and forth between St Louis and Kansas City. So when I was about four years old, he migrated the family over to Kansas City, and that's where we have our roots, specifically Olathe, Kansas, about 30 minutes south of Kansas City.

Craig Evans:

Yep, I know that area. Well, I go out to Parsons, Kansas to do some hunting and different stuff that we do out there. So I love that area. So growing up in in Kansas City and that area, right, what you think you were going to be?

Hannah Kesler:

Oh, let me tell you, actually, so, because I am so very young girl as of the time of this recording, 25 years old, and I remember back in my high school time, I actually wanted to be a vet. And I remember at Olathe North, I enrolled myself into the animal health program out there. So at first I wanted to be a vet, and then, long story short, but I talk a little bit about this in my book called The Single Millionaire Chick, but I kind of started running with the bad crowds. And what I really think was happening is I wasn't being mentally stimulated in school, because not to say it in this manner, but I was very good in school. I didn't have to study, and I would still get all straight A's, pass my tests and everything, to the point that I actually graduated high school early, and I think just not being mentally stimulated, it had me go and outsource my stimulation elsewhere, and that's when I kind of fell into even a drug addiction. Luckily, I turned my life around. Got a whole 180 twist, and when I graduated high school, I actually moved out when I was 17 years old, and I got my first apartment by myself in Shawnee, Kansas. And back then, though, you know, mom and dad still had to support me until I was 18 years old, and I was actually going to a school out there called Johnson County Community College. And. And when I was going to college, I thought, hey, you know, I like numbers, I like math. I like to teach to people. Maybe I want to go and start pursuing being a CPA, yeah, I did that. And then I dropped out and said, Hell no, this is not what I want to do. So then I was like, you know, I have a huge passion for fashion design, and then I have the opportunity to go and tour a school in Savannah Georgia called Savannah College of Art and Design, SCAD. But then that's when it clicked with me that I was like, oh my goodness, I'm gonna go out here rack up all of the student loan debts because we did. My grandfather, he started 529 Plans for myself, my younger brother, my cousin, I have a very small family, and so he opened up all these 529 Plans for us, and he was putting money into them. That 529 Plan wasn't going to fund for that out of state college tuition, so I was going to have to go and get all the student loan debt. And then once I left college, what I would find myself like a 45, 50 year job. I mean, that's kind of working backwards. So then that's when I came to pops, and I was like, you know, maybe you know more than what I know, because that like 16, 17, 18, years old, and think, you know, like, everything about the whole entire world. And so I came to dad with my tail in between my legs, and I was like, you know, I don't know what I want to do with my life. And so he says,'Well, hey, I need help in my business, and if you're not going to help me, I'll go find someone else to help me.' And I was like, 'Well, okay, well, what do you want me to do?' And that's where I really started off on our applications team. I was helping take all of those applications, working directly with the insurance companies and the underwriters. And I think that's the best place of where I started really learning this business from the ground up. So I was on the application team, and then I led the application team. I was kind of the team leader over there, and then I moved up. I was dad's assistant traveling all around the country with him. I was like his tech girl and handing out all the handouts. And so I was following him around, seeing what he was doing, teaching live, to the point that I started doing my own webinars. And this was back in 2020 when COVID hit, where everything just went digital. And then it was in March of 2021, he says,'Hannah, I can't make this event to go speak at, so I bought you a plane ticket. You're going to get'.. your pardon my French. 'You're going to get your ass on this airplane, and you're going to fly to Scottsdale, Arizona, and you're going to speak to a group of 75 real estate investors', all by myself. And I said, Oh my goodness. I was 21 years old back then. And I was like, 'Oh my goodness. Okay, I'll go do it dad.' And I remember waking up in my Airbnb that morning. I practiced my presentation like three times before I even went in and gave it live. But man, that was the start of it. That's where I found my love and my passion from teaching, from stage and talking to people, and it now up to the point where I travel around and I speak out anywhere from 50 to 70 live events a year, doing TV interviews, then jumbotron and in downtown New York City, Times Square, it's just been a lot of fun ever since then.

Craig Evans:

So before you got in with your dad on that, did you have a job in any I mean, did you ever have a job?

Hannah Kesler:

Good question. So my first ever job, I was 14, I worked at the Chiropractic Clinic of one of Dad's offices in Olathe, Kansas, and then when I got into my struggles, I got fired from that job. So that night, I actually went online, and I was applying at all these different locations, and it was Cracker Barrel. So back then, Cracker Barrel was a serving alcohol, like how they are now. So I could waitress being under the age of 18, and I was doing that for about two and a half years. And I'll tell you, I love waitressing, and that was so much fun, but that was really what it was my chiropractic gig and then a cracker rail to now being a money mentor is what I call myself.

Craig Evans:

Tell me this, because I know you're also in real estate. So, so when did you actually get into real estate in that process?

Hannah Kesler:

Yeah, yeah. So with the real estate stuff, I'll tell you this. And actually, a lot of the parents who are listening, dad taught us kids at a young age. He says, 'Hey, your dollars are your little green men, and the objective is, go put your little green men to work for you, create an army of green men that are out there working, so then you can take back your time, freedom, your location, freedom, etc. So she says, Hey, instead of having your money sit inside of the conventional bank for the whole life, policy is designed for high, immediate cash value, which we'll maybe get into, give your money to me, kids, give your money to me. I'll pay you 10% Interest on it, and I'll pay you this out monthly' And then, you know what dad was doing? He was taking our money and going out and reinvesting it into his own real estate adventures. So I'm pretty much on, like, the paper side of real estate. I love notes, I love private lending. That that's really what I love to do, and that's what taught me how to go and put the money to work in these real estate investments backed up by the collateral of the hard assets, the land or the real estate. And that's what I've been doing up to this point.

Craig Evans:

That is awesome. So last question before we get into now what you're doing, right? I understand that you love traveling, but more importantly that you love traveling in your van. So, you know, listen, at 52 years old, with a wife, two kids, two dogs, you know, hundreds of employees, I don't get to go travel in a van anymore, right? So that, so how often are you out and about, like, free time, right? Traveling and then I know you do podcasts. Are you doing many of those from your van setting?

Hannah Kesler:

Oh, man, yes, I do. Yes I do. And I would say I travel probably four to six months out of the year, because, as we know, being in Florida, it gets hot down here in the summer months. So, I bounce out and I go north, maybe we have some property in Idaho. I'll spend some time at my grandparents live in Alabama and Texas. I'll go visit them, and I'll just travel around and go to different national parks and and even boondock in it, man, once you get really deep into the Argy van life, there's a bunch of these apps that are out there that people will put on there to say, 'Hey, this is a great location. You can boondock for a night or two,' and I'll kind of travel around and just see where the wind takes me.

Craig Evans:

There was one other thing I forgot I wanted to ask you, because, you know, we've got a lot of young investors that are just getting in. They're just buying first houses, whether it's their own house, and trying to figure out how to gain equity in that get out of a renting world things like that. Tell me about the first house you bought.

Hannah Kesler:

So the first house I ever bought was in Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida. So I moved from Kansas City to Florida in 2018 and it was a month that I turned 19. It was August of 2018, and when I moved down here, it was actually my father who bought the house. And dad bought the house leveraging his policy so he'd pay cash for the house, but knowing Dad, Dad just doesn't give you a free ride. Okay? There's business life and his personal life. Okay? Says, 'Hey, I will buy this house for you. You own the house, so your name is on the deed, but I'm your mortgage holder, so you're gonna pay me monthly payments, and I'm gonna charge you a 13% interest rate.' Now, that's a conversation we can have for another time, but there's reasons why his interest rates are so high. Okay? And that's what I did. I bought that first house. I was paying dad my mortgage payments, and once I developed out of that, I now have that house, and I solely own it myself, and now it's a rental, since I moved over here to beachside in Daytona Beach. But that's really just my first and only property right now that I hold, and everything else that I do in real estate is really more on the private lending side. That's really my love and my passion right now, because I call myself kind of a lazy investor. You know, I'm busy. I'm running my businesses. I'm building my brand over here. You know, I don't got time to tend to the tenants, the toilets and the termites, you know.

Craig Evans:

That's right, that's it. Listen, let's get into what you're doing now, right? So I want to start out quick. So you start out, I'm quoting you. So you started rocking this wealth building strategy since you were 18. It's like, what is The Money Multiplier?

Hannah Kesler:

So the money multiplier, really, it stems from a concept that's called the Infinite Banking Concept. And it all comes, I want you all to have this resource. It comes from this black book called Becoming Your Own Banker, by a gentleman named R Nelson Nash. And Nelson Nash, Unfortunately, he passed away at the age of 87 in March of 2019 but he was my father's mentor. And so with this concept, we all have to go make money to live on this god given earth we call America, right? And when we make that money, what are our options? Well, I could go leave it at the bank, because that's where they keep the money. I mean, I could put it under my mattress or dig a hole in the backyard, right? Or I could leave it to a financial advisor who thinks they can manage my money better than I can, and that's really like all the options that were given. So this concept is talking about, instead of leaving your money in somebody else's bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc, and what those bankers are doing is they're using our money making a good living off of our money. I'm just going to flip the script. I'm going to make my deposits into my privatized banking system, aka my whole life insurance policy that's designed for immediate high cash value with a mutually owned insurance company. And I get it, people are going to hear that and, like, slam down their their phones and their computer screens and say, okay, yeah, yeah, I I've heard all about this whole life stuff, you know, Dave Ramsey and Susie Orman, they told me, whole life is the worst place to put my money, right? I get it, and that's why it took my family two years to start this stuff, because dad learned about this in 2006 at a chiropractic conference, he bought Nelson's book, and he went home, he set this book on the shelf, and he didn't do anything with the information. And then two years later, in 2008 he went back to that same chiropractic convention. In like 10 or 12 of his colleagues were coming up to him and hollering about this banking concept. And that's when dad was like, 'All right, there's probably something to this. I mean, no way 10 or 12 my closest colleagues could be lying to me about this. I mean, maybe one or two of them, but no way 10 or 12.' So that's when my family took action with it, because dad was a big day for Ramsey's follower. He's following the masses and what all those big gurus at the time were talking and teaching about and he was just totally closed off. He hit what we call the arrival syndrome. And you don't want to hit the arrival syndrome, because once you hit that, you're better off as dead, because you think you know everything there is known in this whole world, right? So with it, it's having the policy, so that when I make my premium deposits into it immediately, and my definition of immediately is within 30 days, I have cash value in there that I can leverage against the policy, take it out and then start using it, whether it's paying off debt. That's where my father started with almost a million dollars of debt or your real estate investments, your taxes every year, your vacations, your cars that you're buying, anything and everything. I'm just now doing it through my own privatized banking system, where I make the interest, the profits, the dividends, instead of the bankers making a good living off of my money.

Craig Evans:

So with that, how did you go from seeing this with your dad, right, watching your dad do this, you playing around with it yourself, rocking it, you know, "rocking it yourself," as you said, right? And you hinted to it earlier, but now you're actually teaching this system so, walk me in a little deeper of how you got into that in a quick from, from the timetables you're giving me, it wasn't like this took years. I mean, this was a fairly quick process.

Hannah Kesler:

Yeah, yeah, because lack of better words, and don't take this in that manner, but I was almost kind of forced to do my first policy. Okay? Dad says, All right, now that you're 18 years old, you can own a policy. And I remember this day, I was working a shift at Cracker Barrel. I was working the seven to two shift that day, and it was on my birthday. He comes in and he says, 'Hey, we're going to go on a little adventure for your birthday today.' And what we did is we drove down to Commerce Bank, because that's where I kept my savings and checking account at the time, because, you know, I would get the birthday money, the Christmas money from mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, right? And I'll go keep it in checking her savings account. And back then I had about $5,000 saved up. And he says, now that you're 18, we're going to close this savings account and you're going to take this money and you're going to start your first policy with it. And back at that time, luckily, I had good parents that taught me the value of the dollar, how to pay myself first. And so when I was working my shifts, and I would collect my tip money at the end of the night, and I'll add, that's why I love Cracker Barrel, because there was no tip sharing. And every night you would close out, and you get paid in cash every single night. And I would be saving up about $100 a week. So 100 a week, 400 a month. He says, this is where you're going to start your first policy at. It's $400 a month. And back then, I didn't know everything that I know now, 'I was like, Okay, Dad, sure, I'll start the stupid life insurance policy, whatever.' And luckily, though I'm glad that I did, because you can't ever take back the time. Time is the only resource we can't get back. And that's just what we're doing, is I'm utilizing the compounding, the uninterrupted compounding, so my first policy that I started, that policy, is always going to be more efficient and better than the policies that I'm starting today, tomorrow and into the future because of that compounding clock of where I started at 18 years old. So from starting up first policy and then really being deep in this business with my father, that's where I started to learn more and more about how money works, taxes, government intervention, the markets, right? I mean, personally, I have no money in the markets. I have no money in qualified plans, 401(k)s, IRAs, anything like that, because I want to control the environment of where I leave that hard earned money at. And that's why we do love real estate so much, because we can really control the risk of what we're taking with that money. But I think I answer your question, but that's kind of where it started at.

Craig Evans:

You did, you did so, so one of the things that's interesting you talk about, you talk about the system you teach as a way to embrace strategic debt for generational wealth. Can you share a little bit about what you mean by that, and how you're doing that?

Hannah Kesler:

Yeah, yeah. And it'll even, because we got over 17,000 clients in every single state of the country. But I'm gonna use like, Dad's example, for instance, because when he was a chiropractor, he had all of this debt, you know, he had five clinics in the Kansas City area. He had, he's an aviation enthusiast, he's a pilot. He had to have his own airplane. He had a house on the Lake of the Ozarks. That's where we spend a lot of our summer months at. And if you have a house on the Lake of the Ozarks, you gotta have a boat and a wave runner.

Craig Evans:

You have to.

Hannah Kesler:

Yes. And it didn't take him a lot to rack up all of that, a million dollars of debt. And so what we did first. And this is what I encourage for everybody, is if you have any of those bad debts, because, as we know, as real estate investors, all debt is not bad debt, but if I have that bad debt, that's what I want to start shifting the control on first. So he utilized his policies to go and pay off the car people, the credit card people, the boat loan people, get them paid off. And then what he did is, and this is where most people stop, okay, I just paid off this car loan. Now I just freed up. Let's call it 500 bucks a month. Now I can treat that $500 like it's free spending money now, and it's like, no, no, no. Now what I want to do is I want to shift that 500 a month I was sending to the car people. Now I'm just going to pivot that, and I'm going to start paying myself back into my policy that $500 a month, because now I'm in control, because before that, the banker was in control of that transaction. If I didn't pay that car payment, or, I should say, Pops, if he didn't pay that car payment, no matter what's going on in your life, they're going to come and tow that car right off of your driveway, no if ands or buts. But now I shifted that control back to myself, because policy loans are not required to get paid back. I want you to pay them back. Treat your money just how you treat the bank's money. Play on his banker with yourself. But it's not a requirement, because if I come into some downtime, if I have a death in the family or real life, example, there's one time my microwave and my refrigerator went out in the same week, and I was like, well, crap. I got to go buy new appliances. I can't pay myself back this month. It's okay, because Hannah's not going to call Hannah up on the phone and say, Hey, Hannah, where's your loan payment this month, right? Because I'm in control of the transaction.

Craig Evans:

Can you use this system in any situation you know any purchases that you're looking at, can you use it in anything?

Hannah Kesler:

Yeah, anything. Go buy a pack of chewing gum down at the convenience store with your policy money if you really wanted to. Anything and everything. Doesn't matter what it is.

Craig Evans:

You've talked you've talked about family a lot in this and being one of the major reasons you love the system. I've heard the things that you're talking about with your dad teaching you and that type of stuff. What does family mean to you,though?

Hannah Kesler:

I'll say this too. I've gotten a deeper appreciation as I've gotten older as well, because there's been times when I was going through my struggles. There was two years where mom, dad, my brothers and I, we did not talk at all, and I think I just really had to go and hit my rock bottom to figure it out and say,'All right, I need to come back home.' And that's when I started even building my relationship back up with God again, because I grew up Catholic. And then. From then, you know, I was just kind of going off the rails and saying, Well, I was kind of questioning everything, do I really believe in this, or do I just believe in it? Because it was not thrown upon me, but lack of better words when I was a young child, right? So to me, I think family is just very, very important, and it's not so much. It has to be your blood family, because I know some people don't have that within their lives, but it's a support system. I think it's the support that you have from those individuals that you just need to have within your life. I think that's the coolest thing about this human experience that we have, is the support and the love that we can share, receive and give to one another.

Craig Evans:

Well, and that's I'm not trying to get away from what we're talking about the books and business and what you're teaching and what you do, but, I think that's as I kept hearing you talk about that with your dad, with your family, that's one of the things I want to hit on, because so many of our listeners, I mean, I'm a dad of two, you know, I've got a 16 year old and a 19 year old, and, and, and I want people to remember that their community, your family, the community, the people you surround yourself with now, right? I mean, and I think that's such a key that you keep going back, yeah, I get it. Your dad, you know, using a 17, 18, year old, your dad was quote, unquote, "forcing" some of that on you to say, all right, Hannah, you are going to learn how to be responsible as adult, right? I mean, that's his job as a dad, right? You may not have got it then, but that's his job, but, but I love the fact that now you as 25 are seeing that, hey, this culture, and like you say, maybe it's not just immediate family, but the culture of this community around you is an important fact, and that's especially for people that are listening when they're just starting and investing or, you know, having those people around you matters, you know, so well. So let's go. But I mean, like I said, I wasn't trying to dive off, but I just wanted, I wanted to press into what that was for you, you know.

Hannah Kesler:

Yes, and Craig, I'll even add this because I know, it's a line that we've heard before, but seriously, and I've learned this in my own life from my struggles. Dad has always taught me, you become the average of the top five people you hang around with. And I'm telling you, it is so, so true, no matter how maybe cheesy or mainstream that sounds. I mean, I'm telling y'all it is so damn true. Again, pardon of my French.

Craig Evans:

All right, guys, that's going to do it this week for our time with Hannah Kessler. Make sure and join us next week for part two. See you soon

Narrator:

For more information on hard money loans, trust deed investing, and upcoming events with The Norris group. Check out thenorrisgroup.com. For more information on passive investing through the DBL Capital Real Estate Investment Fund, please visit dblapital.com.

Joey Romero:

The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE license 01219911. Florida mortgage lender license 1577 and NMLS license 1623669. For more information on hard money lending go to thenorrisgroup.com and click the hard money tab.