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Why the Bank Always Wins—and How You Can Too
Todd's Top 10 Current Thoughts About Life
Todd Ballenger
September 05, 2025
"Banks don’t get rich by being smarter than you—they get rich by being more consistent than you. Learn their game, play it for yourself, and you’ll close the wealth gap."
The Tale of Two Tellers
Most people think of banks as a safe place to store money. It is. But, how do you define Safety? Every time you deposit a dollar, you’re also giving the bank the right to turn that dollar into ten dollars.
In my eBook, The Tale of Two Tellers, I walk through a simple story:
👉 You walk up to the Red Teller and deposit $80,000 into a CD. The bank pays you 2% interest.
👉 You walk across the lobby to the Green Teller and borrow $80,000 for a car loan at 8%.
To you, these are two separate transactions. To the bank, they cancel out: one $80,000 liability, one $80,000 asset. Neutral.
Except for one thing: the spread, which we call EPR (Effective Percentage Rate) The bank earns 6% profit (the difference between what they pay you (Red Teller) and what you pay them, (Green Teller).
Do this repeatedly over a 30 to 40 years, and the bank earns over $1 million from a single customer relationship using Leverage.
Here’s the kicker: you can do the same thing.
By understanding your Effective Percentage Rate (EPR)—the true cost or return of every debt and savings decision—you can flip the script:
Use debt strategically to control appreciating assets like real estate. You do this when you buy a house and use a mortgage.
Repay high-interest liabilities first to generate guaranteed “returns” of 15% or more.
Reinvest the monthly savings into wealth-building instead of letting the bank capture it by investing in the highest return possible.
(hint) that is usually NOT repaying your mortgage early)
The heart of the book comes down to one monthly decision:
Do I Spend, Save, or Repay my available cash flow?
Get that choice right consistently, and you close the wealth gap the bank has been utilizing to make massive gains.
If you’ve ever wanted to understand how money really moves—and how to stop playing the bank’s game and start winning at your own—this book is for you.
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a TODD PERSONAL CONCEPT
🧭 Wisdom Framework for Living Success
I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on concepts that are important to me as I turn 59 in a week. I'm starting to write a ‘book’ for my kids, sharing things I’ve learned over time. I thought I'd share some ideas here for you to consider.
1. Success
Mantra: “Success is lived today.”
Cue: Each morning, re-enter the body with ritual (toes, shoulders, breath). Today is a LIFE, not a DAY. How do I want to live it?
Action: Each night, I ask: “What was the theme of today?” (no judgment, just awareness), and what if my entire life was this day, how would I feel?
2. Retirement
Mantra: “Retire from the notion of retirement.”
Cue: Work = is a four-letter word, but so is LOVE.
Action: Design life around curiosity + play → things I never want to retire from and LOVE doing.
3. Patterns & Simplification
Mantra: “Complexity is a tap on the shoulder.”
Cue: Notice when life gets tangled—who is seeking to prove what, and what is the source of complexity? NOTE: It is usually me.
Action: Simplify. Release what no longer serves awareness or compassion. At a minimum, something new requires letting go of something old.
4. Freedom
Mantra: “Define it before you chase it.”
Cue: Freedom ≠ financial security. Wrong!
Action: Write down your definition of freedom. If undefined, it remains unattainable. For me, it is freedom from the idea of freedom.
5. Grind Mentality
Mantra: “I am more than my output.”
Cue: Grind = coping mechanism fueled by fear of not knowing how to handle silence.
Action: Pause before saying, “I can do it, so I should do it.” Ask: “What other aperture could I open?” This is where meditation is medication for a busy mind!
6. Integrity vs. Grift
Mantra: “No shortcuts to being my true self.”
Cue: Cutting corners = conning myself.
Action: Before saving “time” or “money,” ask: “What will this cost me personally if I work my body into an early grave?”
7. Trauma & Ancestry
Mantra: “I carry patterns not solely my own.”
Cue: Notice repeating struggles—may echo ancestral trauma, known as epigenetics.
Action: Live through challenges with awareness, not by chasing permanent security. Some problems I was born with at a genetic level (life challenges), and they are the cards I play this game with!
8. Reflections are Everywhere
Mantra: “Life is a Hall of mirrors.”
Cue: The world I experience evolves as I do. When I start to be transactional, consider how I could be transformational?
Action: Ask the big questions: “Why am I here? What problem always follows me?” What keeps showing up in my life?
9. Work is Play
Mantra: “Work is danced, not done.”
Cue: Space between notes = make music possible. Pay attention to the parts I can’t stop doing, and do more of that.
Action: Lean into the projects that feel like play—these sustain me, and bring joy to my days.
10. Consciousness & AI
Mantra: “Patterns mirror patterns.”
Cue: LLMs and human minds are both archiving, retrieving, and estimating machines.
Action: Pay close attention to how I prompt AI as that is likely how I am prompting myself. Garbage in, garbage out. AI is the ultimate reflection machine for awareness.
LIABILITIES
What’s Happening?
volatility picking up, rate moves picking up…
expectations for big moves in the future - pointing toward lower rates
applications picking up for refinancing
10-Year Moving Down
most spending is happening at incomes above 100,000 and that impacts new buyers
Very COOL Resource from Home Economics
REAL ESTATE
What’s Happening?
real estate crisis, this is kind of normal, just feels bad
house values still high
making affordability low
people are losing confidence till sentiment shifts
this is the key to real estate, always is, rates and JOBS
ASSETS
What’s Happening?
market shifting around toward defensive and financials
we are expensive, and I am defensive
love this, average all the years and you get one charts annually ‘ sell in May and go Away ‘ buy back in October as flows come back into the market after summer profit taking
job cuts rising
returns are higher than mortgage rates over time
no one values value any more… till they do
another look at valuation
a look at how to confuse investors
my birthday month always sucks for my portfolio
ON BEING HUMAN
What’s Worth Sharing?
A fan catches a ball and hands it to a young kid, and what happens next is unforgettable.
— NO CONTEXT MEMES (@BabuCultt18)
3:56 PM • Aug 31, 2025
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