4,000 Reviews, $1M in Refunds: The Ugly Truth About IULs w/ Jonathan Aguilera
Release Date: 09/18/2025
How to Stop Carrying Real Estate Risk and Still Make Money w/ Scott Jelinek
Money School Podcast
Most investors never question the hierarchy they’re operating in. They borrow money, take on operational risk, manage tenants, absorb volatility, and send a large portion of every payment upstream to the lender. If something breaks, if a tenant stops paying, if the market turns—the obligation to the bank doesn’t change. This is the Mr. Burns model: the banks sit at the top of the building collecting checks, while everyone else does the work below. The slow flip model flips that hierarchy entirely. Instead of rehabbing properties or betting on appreciation, the investor...
info_outline
Either/Or Investing Is Destroying Your Wealth w/ Caleb Guilliams
Money School Podcast
One of the biggest mistakes in personal finance is how quickly conversations turn into either/or debates. Invest or insure, trust the market, or play defense. Something is a scam, or it’s the answer. The problem is, real financial progress rarely comes from choosing sides. It comes from using the right tools together instead of pretending one tool should do everything. This shows up clearly in the way people talk about retirement plans. People have strong opinions about 401(k)s, especially the idea that the match is a scam. But that argument falls apart once you actually slow down and look...
info_outline
Money Has Feelings: Why Wealthy People Still Feel Miserable w/ Shannon Ryan
Money School Podcast
Many people who work hard to build and protect their wealth assume that once they “make it,” everything will finally feel good, secure, calm, and settled. But most people don’t discover the truth until they’re already successful: money doesn’t quiet the fear. It often makes it louder. The pressure gets higher, and the decisions get heavier. The same stress, anxiety, and old beliefs they carried before wealth simply move with them into a larger life. That’s the part no one prepares high earners for: the emotional weight that grows alongside the net worth. And it shows up everywhere:...
info_outline
Mistakes That Take Wealthy People Out in a Downturn w/ Arthur Hood
Money School Podcast
When people think about economic downturns, they usually assume the damage happens at the bottom. What rarely gets talked about is how many wealthy people lose everything — not because they didn’t have assets, but because they trusted strategies that only worked when conditions stayed favorable. In this episode, I’m joined by Arthur Hood, an investor and entrepreneur who has built significant wealth across multiple market cycles and watched firsthand how high-net-worth individuals get taken out when liquidity tightens, exits disappear, and assumptions stop holding. We talk about why net...
info_outline
The Trucker Financial Trap and How to Escape It w/ Dexter Holiday
Money School Podcast
For a lot of truckers, you can make great money hauling loads across the country, but it comes with a catch: the wheels have to keep turning for the money to keep coming in. There’s no automatic runway to financial freedom, no built-in exit strategy, just the quiet expectation that you’ll drive until your body says you can’t. And the obvious alternatives like owning trucks, hiring drivers, scaling through fleet operations aren’t as simple or as stable as they sound. Most truckers end up in a loop that looks a lot like the rest of America’s financial reality: you earn, you...
info_outline
What Most Entrepreneurs Get Wrong About Selling Their Business w/ Gregory Kovsky
Money School Podcast
When entrepreneurs think about selling a business, they picture a clean formula: EBITDA × multiple, a “strategic buyer,” and a smooth six-month process that ends with a big wire hitting their account. What almost no one pictures is the real complexity behind an exit. The psychology, the timing, the identity shift, the risk calculus, and the reality that most founders aren’t just selling a business… they’re handing over a lifetime’s work to someone else. That’s the part nobody warns you about. Most owners obsess over valuation, but the real danger is preparing too late,...
info_outline
The Smartest Money Move You’ve Never Considered w/ Dr. Jeff Seibert
Money School Podcast
When people think about wealth-building, they picture stock charts, IRR calculators, and “smart” portfolios engineered by advisors. What they never picture is a dentist quietly building long-term wealth through trees or using a whole life policy as the cheapest, most flexible source of capital in his business. That narrow view hides one of the most powerful truths about high-net-worth families today: the real wealth is built through boring, patient, predictable decisions that compound for decades… not the high-IQ investing most people obsess over. Most high earners are told to focus on...
info_outline
How to Escape the Debt Cycle the Banks Want You Trapped In w/ Harrison George and Christy Vann
Money School Podcast
For most people, debt isn’t a mistake; it’s just life. The mortgage, the car loan, and the credit cards are what everyone does. Making the minimum payments feels normal, but that actually keeps people stuck. Millions of families are drowning in debt, and they’re barely managing. They’re working hard, keeping up with their bills, but almost every dollar they earn goes right back out in interest. They’re not moving forward; they’re treading water. The hard part is, they’re not doing anything “wrong.” They’re doing what the system taught them to do: stay cash-poor while the...
info_outline
Non-Food Franchises: A Shortcut to Entrepreneurship, Wealth & Tax Benefits w/ Jon Ostenson
Money School Podcast
When people hear “franchise”, they immediately picture a drive-through window and a fryer in the back. That narrow view hides one of the most accessible and profitable paths to business ownership today: non-food franchising. We’ve been taught that entrepreneurship means starting from scratch: writing business plans, building systems, and hoping your idea sticks. Franchising flips that equation. You’re not reinventing the wheel; you’re stepping into a proven system with training, marketing, and infrastructure already built. The best part? You can own a business that runs...
info_outline
Why Most Pro Athletes Go Broke (and How Rashad Jones-Jennings Beat the Odds)
Money School Podcast
From the outside, pro athletes look like they’ve made it; like they’ll never have to worry about money again. Multi-million-dollar contracts, highlight reels, and luxury lifestyles suggest money will never be an issue. But behind the scenes, most players are one injury, one bad decision, or one contract away from financial ruin. The truth is, the average NBA career lasts just 4 years. Taxes, agents, lavish spending, and poor planning chip away at earnings until the fortune is gone, and with no plan for life after the game, many athletes end up broke and starting over from scratch....
info_outlineMost people who buy life insurance never read the fine print.
They’re promised “stock market–like returns without the risk,” a retirement account that doubles as a tax-free loan machine, and peace of mind for their families.
On paper? It looks like the perfect product.
But what happens when the math doesn’t add up, the illustrations don’t match reality, and families find out, years later, that the policy they’ve been funding is set to collapse?
That’s the dark underbelly of the Indexed Universal Life (IUL) industry.
And it’s exactly what my guest, Jonathan, aka the IUL Exposer, has dedicated his career to uncovering. He’s reviewed over 4,000 policies in just 18 months, uncovered systemic mis-selling, and even built a process that has helped families claw back over a million dollars in refunds.
Jonathan isn’t anti-insurance. He’s anti–false promises. His work shines a light on how commissions drive product design, why regulators are warning against IULs, and how clients are left holding the bag when agents disappear.
This episode isn’t about theory, it’s about hard numbers, legal battles, and the uncomfortable truths most of the industry hopes you never learn.
Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
-Illustrations are a trap
IUL projects steady growth that rarely happens. Why do clients still trust the numbers?
-Commissions drive the product
IULs are sold 10-to-1 over whole life because they pay the fattest commissions. What does that reveal about whose interests are really being served?
-Refunds are possible
Families often think their money is gone forever. How are some clawing back tens of thousands in refunds?
-Indexes aren’t what they seem
Synthetic “uncapped” indexes promise market-like returns but rarely deliver. How are clients set up for disappointment from day one?
Guest Bio
Jonathan Aguilera is the voice behind @lifeinsurancerefunds on TikTok and Instagram, a platform dedicated to exposing misleading life insurance practices, breaking down complex policies, and helping families recover money they thought was lost. Licensed since 2012, Jonathan once built a national agency of 250+ licensed agents with Primerica. But when faced with the choice to “stay quiet to stay compliant” or speak up for what’s right, he chose the latter. He resigned, surrendered his securities licenses, and walked away from everything he’d built to launch DTRT Financial, not just a company, but a movement. Jonathan isn’t the suit-and-tie advisor chasing commissions. He’s the guy who got fed up watching families get misled, overcharged, and under-informed. Through thousands of policy reviews, he’s exposed the harsh realities of cash value life insurance while educating the masses on how to make intentional financial choices. Visit IULExposer.com to learn more.
About Your Host
From pro-snowboarder to money mogul, Chris Naugle has dedicated his life to being America’s #1 Money Mentor. With a core belief that success is built not by the resources you have, but by how resourceful you can be. Chris has built and owned 19 companies, with his businesses being featured in Forbes, ABC, House Hunters, and his very own HGTV pilot in 2018. He is currently the founder of The Money School™, and Money Mentor for The Money Multiplier.
His success also includes managing tens of millions of dollars in assets in the financial services and advisory industry and in real estate transactions. As an innovator and visionary in wealth-building and real estate, he empowers entrepreneurs, business owners, and real estate investors with the knowledge of how money works.
Chris is also a nationally recognized speaker, author, and podcast host. He has spoken to and taught over ten thousand Americans, delivering the financial knowledge that fuels lasting freedom.
Check out this episode on our website, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and don't forget to leave a review if you like what you heard. Your review feeds the algorithm so our show reaches more people. Thank you!