Willie Sutton's Law
Wherever wealth accumulates, someone will try to take it. Taxes are only the beginning.
From Becoming Your Own Banker, Chapter 8
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton reportedly answered, "Because that's where the money is." Nash uses this as a metaphor: wherever wealth accumulates, someone will try to take it from you.
Taxes are the most obvious example — income tax, capital gains, estate tax, property tax — the system captures a portion of your wealth at every stage. Nash used Bastiat's term "legal plunder" and was blunt: the IRS is the biggest Willie Sutton of all. But taxes are just the start. Financial institutions charge fees and spreads. Lawsuits target visible wealth. Inflation silently erodes purchasing power.
The IBC approach is to store and grow your wealth in a vehicle naturally sheltered from many of these threats. Whole life's cash value grows tax-deferred, policy loans are not taxable events, and death benefits pass income-tax-free. It's not a tax avoidance scheme — it's a private contract structure with built-in protections that other vehicles don't have.