I've been researching the concepts of "Infinite Banking", "Be Your Own Bank", etc., as they seem to be hot topics right now. At first, I was extremely skeptical about the concept, however, I believe I understand the mechanics of it now, and I understand the benefit. I'm at a loss about how to start such a thing, however, and how to maximize its potential.
As I understand it, infinite banking requires whole life insurance to be truly successful, due to the nature of how a whole life insurance policy works. Whole life provides both a term policy as well as a dividends-paying investment. If my understanding is correct, when properly capitalized, you can eventually reach a point where the dividends cover the policy premium, and the account becomes fully self sustaining (not entirely sure about this one...seems the dividends payout is not guaranteed, so if someone understands this part better, I'd be grateful for more insight)? Once you have fully capitalized your policy and it does become self sustaining, you are then able to take loans out up to the cash value of the account, and all principal and interest payments go back into the policy, rather than into some random third party bank. I really love that concept, however I'm not really sure where to start.
My question is, how would I go about actually setting up such an account? For all the individuals and institutions that "rave" about this, they do come off as a bit scammish, and I don't want to work with someone who isn't giving me all of the details. Or, if I have to work with such a person, I would rather fully understand what they are trying to sell me, so I can make the decision to bug out if they sound like they are trying to pull a fast one.
Is it possible to do this with any whole life policy, or is it more specialized than that (based on what I've read and heard, it sounds more specialized.) If I am able to start such a policy, how would I go about maximizing its potential? I'm a 30 year old male, currently single, so finding some cash to capitalize with wouldn't be a huge problem. I don't make a ton of money, but more than enough to live comfortably on.