This Week’s Blog Is Written By Scott D. Heins, CFP®, IAG Chief Investment Officer
December 3, 2025

Millions of consumers have fallen in love with BNPL – Buy Now Pay Later. It allows them to indulge in their wants while postponing the pain of paying for their purchases without incurring the outrageous interest rates of credit cards.

Obtaining a BNPL loan is simple. Just scan a QR code at checkout, provide your basic information and a bank account number, pay for a portion of your purchase, and the remainder is magically spread out over several months at no cost to you (or maybe even more than a few months if you would prefer to pay interest).

Adobe projects that American consumers will rack up over $20 billion in BNPL loans between November 1 and December 31 this year.

Are BNPL loans so popular because they theoretically cost nothing (unless you get hit with a late fee like 41% of borrowers)? Or are they just another instant gratification trick to get consumers to spend beyond their means? Probably yes to both.

Today I am making a modest proposal to convert poisonous BNPL loans into a sound financial strategy that could build families’ long-term wealth over long periods of time.

Instead of Buy Now Pay Later, I very humbly propose using our brand new Buy Now Profit Later strategy.

This phenomenal new BNPL program allows people to make a small investment initially and then make subsequent investments over very long periods of time. The value of these investments will fluctuate (sometimes significantly), but the Profit Later portion of the program provides a high likelihood of positively compounding returns over the decades to come.

This deferred gratification provides a two-fold benefit: 1. Families have the potential to build significant financial assets over their lifetimes to spend in retirement, gift to charities, or leave for their heirs. 2. Families will no longer need storage units to contain the precious yet unused possessions they would have accumulated using the alluring Buy Now Pay Later programs.

Our new BNPL program is not without its challenges. It will occasionally require the patience of a saint when pessimism creates a temporary bout of widespread panic. It does require deferred gratification in a world where algorithms are constantly stoking your instincts for instant gratification. It requires overriding the ever-corrosive yet pervasive mantra that monthly payments are an acceptable gauge of affordability (especially on depreciating assets).

If you or someone you care about would like to enroll in our brand new Buy Now Profit Later program, please reach out to one of our caring advisors to get your compounding (but completely unpredictable) growth started today.

The Buy Now Profit Later (BNPL) is not an actual program offered by IAG Wealth Partners or LPL Financial. It is mentioned only to prove the point in the blog.

ART: 832450

Photo Credit: iStock 1347254205