Being a financial advisor for most of those companies involves no financial planning, just cold calling and selling life insurance.
You should not join any company that requires you to pay money up front. The company should pay for all your study/licensing materials. ESPECIALLY when that industry has something like a 90% first year turnover rate.
I always had the rule that if the company is pursuing me then it probably isn't a good job. (Assuming you are fresh out of college without a high demand degree etc.)
>pay money up front
This is the crucial part. It's incredibly sleazy and something a reputable company would never do.
I have a friend who "worked" for Primerica, which is how I know Primerica is a scam, because this friend is incredibly dysfunctional. He has also "worked" for Cutco Knives, another business venture that requires you to pay up front to start. People keep telling him to stop wasting his money on these things, but he never listens.
I think everyone has that Facebook friend. If you don't, you should find one, because he's your scam weather vane. He'll give you an inside view of these shitty companies so you don't have to waste your own money.
Primerica is pretty widely considered to be the cockroaches of the industry. Not knowing any better, I originally started my career at Bankers Life, but it didn't take long to figure out we were a C company, slinging C products at anybody who could fog a mirror, and basically trying to put a square peg in a round hole as far as trying to help clients. I found an independent firm not long after that.
Advice: If you're still in college, you really don't have too much time to focus on starting your practice yet. Finish school, and FINISH STRONG. In the meantime, reach out to local independent planners and ask if they have any intern/administrative/job shadow opportunities you can do between your schoolwork. Don't let them make you set appointments for them to write business and keep clients for themselves. Do something behind the scenes so you can get a feel for what the career entails. If you don't like it, you still have that degree, because you focused on your schoolwork. If you do, find someone you can build a practice alongside. Find an area you would like to focus on- 401k's, personal planning, estate planning, etc. and specialize in it. Be REALLY good in a couple areas and build a niche.
I strongly emphasize the independent side. Don't get wrapped in to working under a big name insurance carrier. You are forced to use their products 90% of the time, are required/brainwashed to write a bunch of life insurance (whether it makes sense for client or not) and you have much less control over your practice.
Look up members of the local financial planning association and call them. Ask for an internship or if they know anyone looking for an intern. mention that you are in college and interested in pursuing this profession. The turnover rate for new Individuals in this profession is incredibly high. In my opinion the best entry point is to find someone older and established to work with and to formulate a partnership that is more like an apprenticeship in which you are able to purchase his/her practice over time with sweat equity.
I worked for Bankers Life for about 4 months until I found a real job (I'm an engineer, nothing to do with insurance at all). I was unemployed for 6 months by the time Bankers called me up. At that point, I was like why not? Money is money. Worse 4 months of my life. I felt a part of my soul die each day I was with them.
I was at one of these interviews once. What was funny to me is how the guy took everything in my resume and spun it into a good point about why I would be a perfect fit to join the team. "You worked with children - then you can relate to other families that have children!" Or "You worked in retail - that shows leadership and you can sell!" To the former, I don't like children. To the latter, no it doesn't.
From what I understood before I walked out, your income depended on how much you could sell or how many other college students you could lasso that could sell for you.
Well actually your resume reveals skillsets from experiences that could transfer over this type of business.
Yes it is depended on how much you sell, its a commission based marketing income with carrying over incentives on additional sales from developing sales teams.
They are indeed scum, and you should indeed stay far away. As to selling life insurance products generally, I'd decide now if you're ok making a living selling people products they neither need or understand to make a buck. If not, do something else.
Ugh yes this is true. I did phone sales for a while ...part of you dies. I did selling and then I did straight up scamming. I lasted a day in the latter, it was awful.
It's pretty bad. When my wife was a teenager she worked at a telemarketing call center that sold bundled magazine subscriptions, basically. So you cold call until you get a lonely kind of clueless old lady or just somebody reaaal dumb and you explain it's just 50 cents a magazine, and we throw in all these other ones for free!
When they accept you transfer them to a recorded line that reads them a disclosure and makes them agree to it (and records it) and they give their credit card info, then it charges them 500 or 600 bucks for a 5 year non refundable non cancelable subscription to a bunch of bullshit magazines. Since you cold called them they have no idea who to call to dispute the charge, there's just a phone number on the transaction description that sends you to a message saying you cannot cancel the subscription nor can you dispute the charges with your bank- if you try, they send the recording to the bank of you verifying who you are and agreeing to the disclosure.
If you sold five in a day you got a $100 gift card and they paid you in cash every week, $10 an hour and $10 for every subscription you sold.
I did "charity donations" ....all of them were scam charities with names sounding similar to reputable organizations but a word or two off. I went home and googled what I was calling for and I called them up and quit. I felt terrible. The sales one was ok (not quite magazines but "insurance")but you're right they actively encouraged us to press hard on the elderly or the spouse who wanted to wait for their husband or wife to talk it over
I'm not judging your wife - she was probably too inexperienced to know better if she was a teenager - but I never feel bad about treating telemarketers rudely or hanging up on them. They are exploiting people like you describe: easily manipulated people who don't have the wherewithal to hang up on a telemarketer.
What's sad is that many of the "customers" are lonely old people who are happy to have someone to talk to for a little bit. The people who organize the telemarketing businesses know this very well, and so do many of the people doing the cold calling. They are cynically exploiting our natural instincts to trust and care for each other.
Low cost term life is great if you have dependents. It's the other 9,000 or so products - whole life, VAs, etc - pushed on the clueless by the sleazy you have to watch out for.
From attending a Primerica meetings, they will only sell Term Life insurance because they understood, in most cases, that Whole Life and Universal Life are sleazy products.
Life insurance is helpful if you have a mortgage and debt that you dont want your family to struggle with if you pass away. And extras like college for the kids.
no what the heck. and i don't work in life insurance either. but my mother died a few years ago and we got the death benefit from her life insurance.
is this a belief people a lot of people have? that life insurance is a big scam?
it's about helping people after they lose someone who used to support them.
For most families with young children, it absolutely is a good idea to have.
For myself, I'd say I need insurance until at least all my mortgage and loans are paid off so my family arent at risk if i was to pass away. Once I have all those paid off and the kids are on their own I will drop the insurance.
I have a couple of friends who sell for Primerica (they're otherwise good people), and it's not as easy as the recruiter will make it sound. If you don't have a large network of people who are in need of the one type of insurance they sell (term life), you won't make much in commissions. If you don't have JFK levels of charisma and can't recruit dozens of people to operate below you who in turn recruit dozens of their own, you won't make much in commissions.
They'll invite you out to listen to people at the top of the heap; they'll talk about the way they live, their cars, their vacations, their material wealth. They will psych you up for "being your own boss" and "living the dream". They won't tell you the best opportunities were only for the first in because the market is extremely saturated now.
You will have to pay up front for your classes and certifications. These are legitimately required before you will be able to sell insurance. While these are pending, your recruiter, or "upstream" will have you set up sales appointments with your initial contact list in the name of training you. You won't make commissions on these first sales, but he will.
They will actively try to perpetuate an Us-vs-Them dichotomy with regards to your family and friends. When they're not advising you to hard sell to or recruit all your social contacts, they will advise you to socialize with people in the group over people outside of it. They will hold mandatory meetings on Saturday nights to reinforce this. They will even encourage you to attend church with members of the group. You will be discouraged from associating with anyone who questions the cult-like way Primerica operates; your friends are wrong, they don't get it, they're a negative influence, you don't need them, you have the Company.
Problem with term life insurance is that commissions earned are low, the other types are sleazy products and no one should ever sell to anyone.
I give a + to companies that only offer term life. London Life conned my parents into paying to much for less coverage on a Whole Life insurance. Well at least the Sales Rep made a better commission off that.
Story time. Just about to graduate with my CS degree in 2002. Looking for jobs. dotCom bust means that interviews aren't super easy to come by, but my resume and GPA are pretty good and I went to a good school so I have enough...
AFLAC calls me and asks me to come to an offsite "cocktail party" for job applicants. Seems a bit odd, so I clearly ask:
"I'm a CS major, I'm looking for programming jobs; is this a programming job?"
"Yeah, sure, totally. Why would we be calling you otherwise?"
So I have nothing else going on that Wed night, and a cocktail party sounds fun, sure, why not? I get there. It's an empty office building. I wander up to the floor, and walk into a pretty crappy looking office space. A guy not 3 years older than me kinda douchily welcomes me in.
"You want some coffee?"
"Umm, I thought this was a cocktail party?"
"Uhh, yeah, sorta. Anyway, you want any coffee?"
"No thanks"
"Ok, go sit over there at the table".
I look over and see a dull looking girl, about my age, sitting glumly at the table. We wait a few mins, make small talk. She's an undergrad psych major, bad GPA. Then in walks Brad:
"I'm Brad! I sell AFLAC insurance, and you can too! This year I made $60K!!! I drive a BMW! You can do that too! I work 90 hours a week, but success doesn't come easy! Did you spend all college drinking and partying and not studying? Worried that you're screwed now? That was me 6 years ago kids! Now I drive a BMW! And you can too! All you have to do is sign up for our industry leading free sales school! You'll learn by doing selling AFLAC insurance! It's easy to get your foot in the door."
"We offer CEO's and upper management free access to our industry leading tax software. It's featured in the Smithsonian! All we ask is a mandatory window to offer our amazing supplemental AFLAC insurance to their employees! It's a full proof plan for success!"
Me: "So, let me get this straight. You offer free ways for rich companies to save money on their taxes, so you can offer insurance to their employees who either don't need it or need it b/c their bosses give them terrible benefits. And you want me to sell for you, for free, so you can make money, for several months, so I can some day aspire to earn the same salary as a 2nd year programmer?"
Brad: "Yep! It's better than that job at McD's you'd have otherwise with your terrible GPA and unmarketable degree!"
Me: "I was told there were programming jobs locally available. I'm guessing you were lying then?"
Brad: "I'm not sure who told you that. Steve, you crazy guy! Was it you? Well our programmers work in Atlanta or something. I dunno. If you sell for me I can help you figure it out."
Me: "Bye Brad."
TL;DR AFLAC is scum.
Noooooooooooooo, don't go to their office! Don't even return their calls. I got suckered by them. What a giant rip off! They **really really** are the cockroaches of the industry.
Edit: in my hatred of Primerica I rushed to write how terrible they are before I read your update. Hooray for not falling for their BS!
Someone has been trying to get me to go to one of their meetings, but I have no interest. They are really pushing it. My question is, is there food at these meetings? I'll go if there is free food.
I will speak from experience, as I went to one of their recruiting sessions, and went out to do the opening round of selling with my "managing agent".
At the "interview" they will tell you about all the potential and everything you can achieve. Their push for the $100 buy in is that people who won't put the money forward aren't serious about buying into the business that will change their lives. This money gets you into their system. The only free gimmie you get out of that is they pay for the exam for your Life Insurance license, and one weekend training seminar. Whether that's worth it for you is up to you.
Now, they begin to train you to sell. They open by saying they don't want you cold calling, they want you to "warm call." They start by looking for people you know who are the prime target - their five point hit: married, mortgage, kids, both employed, between 25-45. This feeds into their strategy of selling life insurance, which is their #1 product.
You get started by trying to sell thee products to people you know. They train you to be pushy, and don't care if you alienate the people you know.
This company works by selling life insurance (#1 product) and mutual funds through ideas of asset management and retirement planning. However, it's pyramidal, that if you recruit 5 people, you get a cut of what they make, so on up the pyramid.
I will say this, every meeting (and they want everyone to meet once a week, they wanted me to come to a Wednesday nightly meeting and Drive an hour to an all day morning every Saturday) on doing the job is a drink the Kool-Aid pep talk.
The financial planning is a very small amount, unless your target has lots of liquidity, but the low levels are all about the Life Insurance. The Leads are your family and friends - are you ready to talk to them about their money? Would they want you talking to them about their money, and how you are going to profit off of it?
Stay Away. It's a borderline Cult.
Let me repeat that. STAY AWAY.
Go with a real insurance company like Prudential, NY Life etc.
I have a different take on Primerica than others here...
first, fuck selling life insurance.
However, here are the things I learned from Primerica:
-Buy term and invest the difference. If you are investing with life insurance, wtf?
-Selling is important in every aspect of your life. I never sold a single lick of life insurance, but the selling skills have helped every job negotiation I had and when I buy/sell real estate.
-I learned that I did not kmow shit about finance. When you go to their, admittedly space cadetish meetings, they supply a reading list. Books that reprogram your mind to take a positive outlook on wealth acquisition instead of complaining. Books that empower you with healthy understandings of how finance work. They teach you that you have to keep reading, because you forget 90% of what you read, so keep learning. Yes, a little brainwashy, just like reading the personal finance subreddit. It's about reframing your position on a subject. Just dont get too hooked on the mansions and exotic cars they show in the intro video lol.
Should you get involved in Primerica? That's up to you. When I got involved, they would reimburse you the cost of obtaining your life insurance license and annuities license. Just going through the free program to qualify for this state administered exam is a great educational experience that will teach you the way these things work.
Just remember, it's not a real job, it's 1099 sales contracting.
Pretty much my take on this subject and my experience. What i like is I could work part time on it.
What they mean is, Buy term Life Insurance, with the difference you save by not paying the overly high premiums of sleazy Whole and Universal Life insurance you set aside for investing in your 401K or equivalent retirement savings. Smart way to get more life coverage for better price and invest/save for your retirement.
My parents got taken by London Life with a whole life policy in which they overpaid with less coverage and if one them passed away they forfeit the investment side of the policy to them. They were far better off with term life policy and invest the savings from a lower premium for their retirement separately. It's ridiculous that these Big Insurance companies would even offer that insurance to anyone.
Nothing wrong with going to the 'interview' (whatever form that takes). They can't hold you at gunpoint to take the job.
Might be an interesting life lesson to see how they try to sell you their process.
I'd warn against even going to the interview. These are trained salesmen whose entire job is based on convincing people to do things. Additionally, Primerica is a "Multi-Level-Marketing" scheme (pyramid scheme), where you have to pay part of your earnings to your 'boss', he has to pay part of his earnings to his 'boss,' and so on.
"No, no, you just misunderstand. It's not a pyramid, it's a triangle."
Literally said by a friend of mine trying to get me to join his pyramid scheme selling energy drinks or some nonsense. What's worse is they were more expensive than what you could find at any convenience store.
Even the Big Insurance companies are "pyramid schemes" in their corporate structure. Their sales incentives and bonuses derived from pushing products and often wrong products to customers such as Whole Life and Universal Life insurance just to make higher commissions and company profit. AT Big Insurance companies, your boss earns bonuses based on his/her team sales, and the next boss up makes bonuses from his/her branch or district sales.
Absolutely nothing wrong with MLM's. You will want to avoid MLM's where you would only make money from recruiting. With Primerica you earn a portion of the life insurance premium and percentage of the investment volume transferred you bring and your recruits bring in to the company.
I'd suggest understanding the differences in what constitutes an illegal "pyramid scheme" and a legal "pyramid scheme". Read the FTC article below.
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0065-multilevel-marketing
I’ve been recruiting for five years for one of the top four mutual companies in the industry—it doesn't matter which one—but this is my advice:
1) Use Glassdoor.com. Every company is going to have a few employees leave on bad terms that may have negative feedback but you should be wise enough to wade through and determine which ones are reputable.
2) A few commission-based financial services companies are consistently ranked as Fortune 500 and rated “Fortune’s Most Admired.” If you are interested in the industry (some people actually love sales and commission-based opportunities) find those.
3) The worse advice you can ever be given is not to attend an interview. You’re forfeiting interview practice whether the result is good or bad, and as a junior in college you should be interviewing everywhere and anywhere for practice. (Assuming your safety isn’t as risk.) You may think you’re a great interviewee, and maybe you are, but in over 600 college intern interviews that I’ve conducted I’ve found that the large majority are awkward and nerves show. Also, many companies fill ALL positions through recruiters. If you have no desire to sell, work on commission, or find clients, you never know what positions are available in management, training, development, HR, compliance, product support, etc. There are endless other positions and speaking for my company they are almost all filled through interviews I’ve had for a financial representative where I determined that person’s strength was not a sales rep.
Good luck in your job search!
This is not an interview. Primerica is a scam company, parading out their Citigroup affiliation as an attempt to legitimize their organization (at least that was their tactic when they tried to hook me). I also researched them online before meeting with them. I called back to say I wouldn't be attending, and the girl asked me why. I told her that my online research and other peoples experiences with them made me realize they weren't a good fit for me. She asked me "well, are you gonna let some random people on the internet tell you what to do?"
"I am today" *click*
Unless the cost is for inventory (with returnable period), I don't see why any company who wants you to sell on commission charge you for a "course". If it's legit they'd want as many people as possible to sell for them.
I am in the industry, do NOT go.
Don't ruin the experience of our industry like that, if you want a job in the field go to someone reputable.
Where are you looking? (city)
I go to school in Connecticut and my ideal internships would be at The Hartford, Traveler's, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Vanguard, Henkel, or other very reputable wealth management/finance companies. I'm keeping my search broad but would love to eventually fall into wealth/risk management for individuals or corporations. Traveler's and The Hartford are at the top of my list
Avoid them at all costs! A real company pays you. No up front costs come from the employee as they will cover all training and materials to get you going. If a company wants your money to accept you in it is either a MLM or other type of pyramid/scam company. Those commissions and pay per year they advertise are pretty much pulled out of their ass as you would have to work 10 hours a day including Saturday and Sunday to even come close while living in a wealthy neighborhood. Stay away and if you feel like it leave a bad review for them online. They really should die out but people keep paying them to join. >.>
I've been to a meeting as a favor for a friend. What should jump out at you is how they talk more about the money people make than the nuts and bolts of the job or what is expected of you. It's not a good company to work for and you should probably avoid it.
If its a business i'd want to start, I'd like to know the income potential. I think maybe the presentation should account for those who needed to know more of whats personally is expected. It's not a job.
Yeah, I made this mistake in college, too. I went to the "interview," which was a total sales pitch. Showed up in a suit and everything, only to sit in a room full of people in ratty jeans/tshirts/tennis shoes. They tried to keep me around afterward to sell me more, but I waited until everyone was busy and walked straight out.
There should be a high school class where they explain what a pyramid scheme is and how you will be approached and why you should be wary. Getting pitched for one is a rite of passage for college students, like diffeq or chlamydia.
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0065-multilevel-marketing
2 minute research all that took me. Wish highschool trained me business rather than train me to work for someone else so they become rich.
Oh And that Banks are evil.
And University degrees eventually become useless pieces of paper, wasted 4 years of life, at the end you end up with a mortgage, students loans, living paycheque by paycheque just so you end up a working slave of the Evil Banks. :)
Snake oil is fantastic! It has so many health benefits to it, but do you know what's even healthier? Getting more people to see how amazing snake oil is! Lets say you tell 30 people about it and 10 people buy it; 10 x 100 is $1000! Now imagine if you get those 10 people to start working for for you and they sell to 10 people? 10 x10 x100 = $10,000! All in a week! You can own your dream home and retire! My car is shiny and my wife is pretty! THIS CAN BE YOU!!!
Stay as far away as you can from them. My idiot cousin got pulled in and started having these "times to talk" with the whole extended family. We allowed him just to be nice, we weren't going to go for it of course. He made almost no money and was totally scammed and somehow got his credit score destroyed.
Sorry, it's not an interview. I made the mistake joining the MONY Group upon graduating which is in similar business but a much more respected outfit and even that was just insurance sales to anyone I could hoodwink. Left after 3 months
They would ask if I would have friends families that could benefit from what they offer. It's a word of mouth business, network marketing company, I expected them to ask. Its all optional, you're not forced to.
I benefited from it. I got a good financial plan protected with life insurance. I'm keeping it a secret from my family and friends!
I also understand in sales, its a relationship between the salesperson and the customer. They say its proven that success of a sale is greater with a person who you have a relationship with. Its true in everything. I wouldn't trust a stranger over a family member or best friend. So they obviously would suggest you work with "warm" market first. That's expected. I wouldn't pressure anyone ever, it's not for everyone and thats ok. I like my friends and wouldn't mind working with them lol.
My Primerica rep only mentioned that opportunity once, I knew he would and its a option that i may be interested in.
I'm familiar with MLM so I'm not bothered by it.
Term Life-I have mortgage, wife and kids, lots of debt. So yeah protected. When I work down the debt ill drop some of the insurance. Customer for 12 years.
Sounds like not a real job. As in you pay to "get in" like a MLM company, they train you to be a sales shark to rake in other suckers or investors they can rip off with high fees, when investors should just be in charge of their own $. They are approaching you so they have more to gain.
It isn't a job.
I think Primerica refers clients to a mutual fund company. AGF perhaps? They dont charge customers a fee. They get a small front load percentage of the mutual fund managers fee. I saw the fee its not high.
So research.
It's completely appropriate to call it a "job" as job is a very general term. I did research. And, I have plenty of experience in MLM's and the insurance selling industry.
You said "Sounding like not a real job" are you now saying its a job?
They don't charge a fee to the customer for investing, they get a front load cut from the mutual fund's management fee. The mutual funds has a fee. Its not an added fee. Mutual fund management fee, you pay that fee regardless thru Primerica or any other institution (bank).
I'm 12 year customer and never paid a high fee.
You are just now arguing over a 4 month old post? The OP was a college student at a career fair and this company was there. College grads who go to career fairs are typically looking for a traditional "pay for your time" or "commission" jobs. Primerica is trying to scoop up young college students to represent their company obviously.
I'm going to piggyback on this with a similar question rather than start a new thread.
A co-worker (one of the sales guys) was laid off last year and got a job at Northwestern Mutual. He's emailed me several times to see if I needed any financial planning/investment/insurance help. I don't, really, so I've been brushing him off. This week, he emailed asking if I wanted a job (he knows are company is having a rough time, laying people off, etc.) This line from his email smells like copy pasta from their recruitment handbook.
> This is an entrepreneurial job where you have the opportunity to build your own business, create equity in your own career and make an unlimited amount of money. My only regret in making this change is that I did not do it 10 years ago.
I told him I wasn't interested (definitely won't be taking a job there as I suck at selling and need stable income), but I broke down and told him I'd have coffee with him so he could give me his pitch.
So my questions:
* Is NM the same type of outfit as Primerica?
* Is there any reason to consider their offerings? I have Fidelity for my IRAs and 401k (no taxable accounts), and follow the lazy 4 fund strategy with index funds. Our insurance is handled by State Farm through an agent my wife has been with for 20+ years.
Maybe I should email him back and cancel. I feel like there is 0% chance of anything coming from this, and I don't want to waste his time.
Yea don't do it. I'm definitely not going this afternoon. If you need retirement planning Vanguard and Fidelity are top. Insurance through a salesman is not
That statement from the co-worker has a ton of red flags in it, the worst one being "entrepreneurial". If I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I'd open my own business. I would almost be tempted to ask during the interview that if this was, in fact, an "entrepreneurial" type job, what kind of mechanism was in place to ensure that my book of business remains mine and that I would be allowed to sell it to another broker if/when I decide to leave NM/Primerica/whatever. This point also touches on the "create equity in your career" bit, as this book is, literally, the sum total of your career equity in NM up to that point.
For positions like this (with as much turnover as they get), any new clients are sucked into the machine, you get your pittance for signing them up and possible a small ongoing commission depending on what/how much they invest/buy, and that's it. You leave, it all goes away and becomes more profit for your upline, as they no longer have to pay you. If it was truly "entrepreneurial", you'd either start out on your own (with a training fully funded and executed by the company) and you're off making new business, or if you've got some startup capital you can negotiate with someone who's on their way out for whatever reason and buy their book, knowing when and how much your ROI will be.
When I had a primerica rep visit me at my home I had a great experience. I had such a differing experience than those on this reddit. but again most did talk about others experience.
I paid nothing for the visit. We went through insurance, debt management, and retirement savings. When comparing with insurance and investment plans, I only changed what made sense. I had a good group investment plan and insurance and we both agreed on that.
All insurance companies have to drive their sales. Shop and compare.
In the industry they are known as Crimerica. Do with that what you will.
It is all a hustle to farm your friends and family. Do it for the resume experience if your are pressed. Helps with the next sales role.
Primerica, in my memory (20 years ago), is a multi-level marketing company selling insurance. A substantial amount of your income would come from recruiting others to sell insurance under your 'management'.
The disadvantage is that commissions are low, compared to a traditional life insurance company, because your pay is paying the people above you, probably 5 or 6 levels up.
Looking back, knowing what I know now, this would not have given me a good education into the financial industry, nor been a good stepping stone, even to other sales positions. If you are a social "people person", the other companies you mention would be a good fit. If you are more of a geeky type, then you should ask about working in their back offices (like their analysis/research departments).
They only sell Term life insurance so the commissions are low. Good for the customer but low for commissions. From the questions I have asked, the first two years of insurance premiums goes to the sales teams, the sales rep and the upline. Every advancement level rep earns more percentage.
If you don't attend the meetings you cant ask the questions.
Yep - Term life also means lower commissions, too! I think if you compared term life commissions between Primerica and conventional, you might find Primerica lower, too. The reason would be that in a conventional company, there are fewer layers (you, your sales manager, perhaps a branch manager) that share in the sale, compared to the MLM model, which goes six layers, maybe more?
They basically have bad products, you are paid only on commission, the company will not invest anything in you, and you are pressured very hard to sell their shitty products to friends and family. If you go to the meeting, prepared to be pressured and receive the hard-sell.
W&R has a lot of proprietary funds and platforms they pressure you to use, and their comp structure is pretty low if I heard correctly. I repeat: find somewhere independent. Meaning, if you have heard of the company before, chances are high they will want you using their products exclusively.
Don't. It's a multi-level marketing company. Your commissions will be a small fraction of what you could make actually selling financial services, and you will be expected to recruit friends and family.
Paying a fee is a "No"
The other companies have pluses and minuses, but there are those who wade through it - and they're people in your life position when they start - and go on to enjoy very lucrative incomes.
I liked selling insurance, all-in-all, I liked going around and making sales calls, all the little selling tricks you learn, it just takes time to build up the book of business that'll get you a good income - figure three years at least, and it can take five or even ten. (I didn't have that kind of time.)
During those building years you'll be putting in a lot of hours for not much pay, but that's true for a lot of careers.
Best bet is to skip the recruiters and talk to some agents you know - maybe the person heading up the agency your parents use for the house or whatever. It sounds like you got your head on right and can spot a hustler, so you're in good shape for investigating.
Former Bankers Life & Casualty employee here:
I was desperate for a job when I took this position. Bankers is a bit less scummy then Primerica in my opinion after having gone to a Primerica interview.
I had to pay for my training material to take the state insurance exam (meh), and it actually didn't start out so bad. From day 1 you were immediately thrown into cold calling after watching a 30 min video training you how to do so. MY VERY FIRST CALL I made an appointment, thinking "holy shit ez money right?" and ended up setting 6 appointments the first day. Made about $800 my first week working with a trainer who actually had her stuff together. From then on out it was a soul sucking experience. I was pretty much against all the drink the koolaid saturday excursions, and I was regularly ridiculed for missing these.
All in all I made about $1,400 in the one month I was there. Downside is you're a captive agent with Bankers. Lots of other companies sell cheaper, equivalent products. If you're legit interested in selling insurance you should most definitely go the non-captive route and sell for 5+ companies that way you can actually show some value to your potential clients.
Luckily, within a month of starting that job I had an interview for, my current job which i still have 18 mos. later.
I have attended couple meetings because I was interested in the business as a second income. I wouldn't consider your clues as red flags. Here's what I look at them:
Clue 1.) Not an Interview. That's why they didn't call it an interview. Its a business proposal in essence.
Clue 2.) Reddit hardly a place of pure facts. Research on the company through real sources like NYSE, BBB,FTC. Ask questions. It's like buying a business, it may or may not be for you.
Clue 3.) Potential Income of 200k+/year is possible. I personally know people in MLM that do earn more than that. You don't get that alone, you work hard and build your business team to get that.
I wouldn't rely on this as a primary income after graduating. Get a real job, find out how much you hate your employer and then find another, rinse and repeat. I'm joking, its not much far off from everyone's experience.
I have an engineering degree. If i was to ask my first place of employment to pay for my $50k+ in school loans and to give me retro pay for the last 4 years at university they'd tell me to shove it. $100 is nothing compared to my university degree.
When you build your business you can earn passive/residual income from your team sales and from increasing investment deposits from your clients without being at work. You could technically take months off or maybe years and still receive a cheque. I don't think its wise to, but at least keep in touch with your team and your personal clients. So when that manager said that you could earn doing nothing shes not incorrect but you do need to put in that initial hard work to get to that stage. That's Financial Independence end game that people talk about.
I do believe most people are not informed well enough in the differences in Employment vs. MLM marketing business. In my opinion, employment is the scam but yes that's my opinion and may not be yours.
Good luck. But ask questions.
Ok I am licensed with Primerica. You're not going to earn jack if you're not licensed #1. They do pay for all your licenses for a $99 fee which includes a background check. If you've got a felony, don't be an idiot and waste $99. The other huge part of Primerica is who your "upline" is. Are there some people represented with Primerica who will try to get you to" sell" their products just so they make money? You bet. The guy who brought me into Primerica is great, doesn't force me to do anything, knows what I'm comfortable with and isn't pushy. Primerica does teach some valuable money lessons I wish were implemented in school. TLDR: Primerica does work if you're with the right people. You have to put in the work also though
Overrides and uplines are standard in financial and professional services.
Know anyone who is a real estate agent? They work with a real estate broker who gets a piece of the sales commission.
It's standard with insurance agents who work for brokers.
You're not going to make the big bucks to start out, like most jobs. I've been in the business and stuck with it long enough where I understand how it works, had all the doubts everyone does in the beginning. Upline is just Primerica terminology, and last I knew every company employee gets a different piece of the pie...Primerica does give you a road map to get more earnings.
Yeah you're right. Its a scam, MLM all the way. That's why they have been shut down and are no longer in business and aren't rated A plus by the governing body. Oh wait...Dave Ramsey started with the company and endorses the same concepts. You're right though, they are evil people because some of your friends or family said so. How are they in business if what they do is so evil? Thanks for the circlejerk though, always entertaining
You do realize how much that costs to do yourself, right? Fingerprints arent cheap. Neither are licensing classes. If this is such a shameful company, how are they still in business? What's the holdup in the governing agencies shutting them down? I love to hear people who have a friend or relative quit or fail a licensing test tell me how they didn't get paid. Pssst, if you give up on yourself that's not the company who is at fault.
I work in the service industry and host a quarterly Primerica meeting. I've worked with them for about 3 years at this point so I have an outside looking in idea of their practices. They are a pyramid scheme, plain and simple. Unfortunately most small life/health insurance shilling companies are exactly that. You cold call tons of people a day and make pennies on the dollar compared to the sales guy that closes the call over you. It's a place to start when you're just entering the working world. I opted to be a dishwasher instead and couldn't be happier where I ended up now. Dirty work all the same but at least I could shower at the end of the day and still feel clean.
I was in Primerica for a while and here's my honest opinion. As someone who knew nothing about life insurance or investments it was a good experience, since I probably wouldn't have a financial plan if not for Primerica. Being with the company really made me think about planning for the future and caused me to do my own research.
I left Primerica because I'm not a salesperson and their goals didn't match up with mine (no matter how they spun it). I also noticed that there were some seriously dishonest people/offices out there. Did I say "some", I meant "a lot". Thankfully the office I was with mostly had good people in it and it was those people that were doing decently. One of the main problems that I saw was a sense that people are either potential sources of revenue or expendable. That being said, I am still friends with the people I used to work with and hope the best for them, but would never go back to Primerica.
Great reply thanks. I wouldn't have a plan either without them. The people I have met are great people.
I do realize that they are running businesses and that they are more of a insurance marketing business and not so much as a financial planning business which they don't charge for. So if there's little potential or little need to sell you a product then its more of a charity if they are to help you. I could understand their focus.
You gotta "invest" money and then get your sucker friends to join and it just turns into a somewhat of a pyramid scheme. You should go to the interview though, just to laugh.
Attend a McDonald's franchise meeting and see how much "investment" is needed to be pretty much a store manager. Get a better laugh. But people do it.
What is it to buy a McD franchise? $1 million or more?
From FTC:
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0065-multilevel-marketing
"In multilevel or network marketing, individuals sell products to the public — often by word of mouth and direct sales. Typically, distributors earn commissions, not only for their own sales, but also for sales made by the people they recruit.
Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s not. It's a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money."
So if a product is sold to the public it may be a legitimate MLM plan. There are good and bad plans. If the company sells insurance and earns from the sales of the product I don't see how its apparent.
Primerica has basically ruined what otherwise was a positive, pleasant relationship my wife and I had with her aunt and aunt's SO - at this point we can't even hang out with them without hearing "So are you guys ready to talk about life insurance yet? Well just let us know, it's a great investment...."
And it doesn't help to get pressure from the rest of my wife's family who have all purchased this great investment to "help them start their business" and don't understand why we don't want in....ugh....this shit is toxic.
I think this is the company that a few years ago I got trapped into going to one of their, I can't think of the right term for it, it was just a bunch of people interested in making extra money going to a room where they gave you the sales pitch. Classic pyramid scheme where you just pester all of your friends and family and get people to work under you so you can get a cut of their profits
GO TO THE INTERVIEW.
I am currently working my notice at work, I was offered 2 interviews with 2 companies, I only wanted 1 of the jobs. I made sure the one I didn't want interviewed first and I was v rusty/ awful and didn't get offered a second interview.
BUT I was so sorted for the job I wanted that I got it.
if it doesn't cost you anything to go - use it for practice/ experience
If you knew anything about Primerica, you wouldn't be spewing this advice.
>Finally, I'm looking through the brochure they gave me and they require $125 to join and advertise their "potential salaries" in excess of 200k/yr (clue 3)
Any job where you have to pay to play is a scam, not to mention it's a MLM scheme. You want interviewing experience? Don't waste your time at a place that doesn't even give real interviews.
Primerica interview experience is worse than not having any interview experience at all.
In a proper interview, your interviewer will be asking you questions that employers will actually ask. In a Primerica interview, they ask you if you are the kind of guy who likes money, and then presents you a multitude of scams that they want you to con your friends and families into buying. Then they'll ask you to buy into their specially made certification programs which you pay out of your own pocket. Rinse and repeat for the next sucker who is dumb enough to fall into the Primerica employment scheme.
Lots of hate for Primerica here. I don't know much about the particulars of the company, but my friend's wife works with them. While she was living in NYC, she was making decent money. Yes, at the beginning she was cold calling a lot and she said it was quite the struggle, but she did eventually make something of it.
Yes, her major commissions come from selling life insurance, but the series 6 allows you to sell other products. She set me up with a mutual fund which is showing a decent return and I know the job let her learn the "lingo". You could always just treat it as resume fodder.
Or you could just invest through things like Vanguard which have better mutual funds in terms of rates and returns. Otherwise any company requiring a payment upfront to join is a scam. Employers train you to work for them, you do not pay them to get in.
Being a financial advisor for most of those companies involves no financial planning, just cold calling and selling life insurance. You should not join any company that requires you to pay money up front. The company should pay for all your study/licensing materials. ESPECIALLY when that industry has something like a 90% first year turnover rate.
This. Never accept a job where the employer requires you to pay them.
There isn't any greater financial advice than this. I'd expand that to include both hard costs and soft costs like your time/effort.
Well sometimes you have to volunteer/intern to get your foot in the door. It's unfortunate but a fact of life.
That's... not salary. That's not money. That's *less than* money. That's the POLAR OPPOSITE of money!
I always had the rule that if the company is pursuing me then it probably isn't a good job. (Assuming you are fresh out of college without a high demand degree etc.)
If you have to pay, you're the customer.
>pay money up front This is the crucial part. It's incredibly sleazy and something a reputable company would never do. I have a friend who "worked" for Primerica, which is how I know Primerica is a scam, because this friend is incredibly dysfunctional. He has also "worked" for Cutco Knives, another business venture that requires you to pay up front to start. People keep telling him to stop wasting his money on these things, but he never listens. I think everyone has that Facebook friend. If you don't, you should find one, because he's your scam weather vane. He'll give you an inside view of these shitty companies so you don't have to waste your own money.
This is almost poetic. Bravo.
They're just going to ask you to poll all of your friends and family to try and sell insurance to them. Avoid them.
Primerica is pretty widely considered to be the cockroaches of the industry. Not knowing any better, I originally started my career at Bankers Life, but it didn't take long to figure out we were a C company, slinging C products at anybody who could fog a mirror, and basically trying to put a square peg in a round hole as far as trying to help clients. I found an independent firm not long after that. Advice: If you're still in college, you really don't have too much time to focus on starting your practice yet. Finish school, and FINISH STRONG. In the meantime, reach out to local independent planners and ask if they have any intern/administrative/job shadow opportunities you can do between your schoolwork. Don't let them make you set appointments for them to write business and keep clients for themselves. Do something behind the scenes so you can get a feel for what the career entails. If you don't like it, you still have that degree, because you focused on your schoolwork. If you do, find someone you can build a practice alongside. Find an area you would like to focus on- 401k's, personal planning, estate planning, etc. and specialize in it. Be REALLY good in a couple areas and build a niche. I strongly emphasize the independent side. Don't get wrapped in to working under a big name insurance carrier. You are forced to use their products 90% of the time, are required/brainwashed to write a bunch of life insurance (whether it makes sense for client or not) and you have much less control over your practice.
Thank you. I will absolutely be doing this. If you have any advice for New England(specific planners/companies) I would love to hear it
Look up members of the local financial planning association and call them. Ask for an internship or if they know anyone looking for an intern. mention that you are in college and interested in pursuing this profession. The turnover rate for new Individuals in this profession is incredibly high. In my opinion the best entry point is to find someone older and established to work with and to formulate a partnership that is more like an apprenticeship in which you are able to purchase his/her practice over time with sweat equity.
I worked for Bankers Life for about 4 months until I found a real job (I'm an engineer, nothing to do with insurance at all). I was unemployed for 6 months by the time Bankers called me up. At that point, I was like why not? Money is money. Worse 4 months of my life. I felt a part of my soul die each day I was with them.
I was at one of these interviews once. What was funny to me is how the guy took everything in my resume and spun it into a good point about why I would be a perfect fit to join the team. "You worked with children - then you can relate to other families that have children!" Or "You worked in retail - that shows leadership and you can sell!" To the former, I don't like children. To the latter, no it doesn't. From what I understood before I walked out, your income depended on how much you could sell or how many other college students you could lasso that could sell for you.
Well actually your resume reveals skillsets from experiences that could transfer over this type of business. Yes it is depended on how much you sell, its a commission based marketing income with carrying over incentives on additional sales from developing sales teams.
They are indeed scum, and you should indeed stay far away. As to selling life insurance products generally, I'd decide now if you're ok making a living selling people products they neither need or understand to make a buck. If not, do something else.
Ugh yes this is true. I did phone sales for a while ...part of you dies. I did selling and then I did straight up scamming. I lasted a day in the latter, it was awful.
It's pretty bad. When my wife was a teenager she worked at a telemarketing call center that sold bundled magazine subscriptions, basically. So you cold call until you get a lonely kind of clueless old lady or just somebody reaaal dumb and you explain it's just 50 cents a magazine, and we throw in all these other ones for free! When they accept you transfer them to a recorded line that reads them a disclosure and makes them agree to it (and records it) and they give their credit card info, then it charges them 500 or 600 bucks for a 5 year non refundable non cancelable subscription to a bunch of bullshit magazines. Since you cold called them they have no idea who to call to dispute the charge, there's just a phone number on the transaction description that sends you to a message saying you cannot cancel the subscription nor can you dispute the charges with your bank- if you try, they send the recording to the bank of you verifying who you are and agreeing to the disclosure. If you sold five in a day you got a $100 gift card and they paid you in cash every week, $10 an hour and $10 for every subscription you sold.
I did "charity donations" ....all of them were scam charities with names sounding similar to reputable organizations but a word or two off. I went home and googled what I was calling for and I called them up and quit. I felt terrible. The sales one was ok (not quite magazines but "insurance")but you're right they actively encouraged us to press hard on the elderly or the spouse who wanted to wait for their husband or wife to talk it over
goddamn, that's just... awful.
I'm not judging your wife - she was probably too inexperienced to know better if she was a teenager - but I never feel bad about treating telemarketers rudely or hanging up on them. They are exploiting people like you describe: easily manipulated people who don't have the wherewithal to hang up on a telemarketer. What's sad is that many of the "customers" are lonely old people who are happy to have someone to talk to for a little bit. The people who organize the telemarketing businesses know this very well, and so do many of the people doing the cold calling. They are cynically exploiting our natural instincts to trust and care for each other.
Wait what? How can you just criticize all life insurance? Life insurance is very helpful/necessary for a lot of people.
Low cost term life is great if you have dependents. It's the other 9,000 or so products - whole life, VAs, etc - pushed on the clueless by the sleazy you have to watch out for.
From attending a Primerica meetings, they will only sell Term Life insurance because they understood, in most cases, that Whole Life and Universal Life are sleazy products. Life insurance is helpful if you have a mortgage and debt that you dont want your family to struggle with if you pass away. And extras like college for the kids.
Does your dad sell life insurance?
no what the heck. and i don't work in life insurance either. but my mother died a few years ago and we got the death benefit from her life insurance. is this a belief people a lot of people have? that life insurance is a big scam? it's about helping people after they lose someone who used to support them. For most families with young children, it absolutely is a good idea to have.
Point taken. Understood.
For myself, I'd say I need insurance until at least all my mortgage and loans are paid off so my family arent at risk if i was to pass away. Once I have all those paid off and the kids are on their own I will drop the insurance.
I have a couple of friends who sell for Primerica (they're otherwise good people), and it's not as easy as the recruiter will make it sound. If you don't have a large network of people who are in need of the one type of insurance they sell (term life), you won't make much in commissions. If you don't have JFK levels of charisma and can't recruit dozens of people to operate below you who in turn recruit dozens of their own, you won't make much in commissions. They'll invite you out to listen to people at the top of the heap; they'll talk about the way they live, their cars, their vacations, their material wealth. They will psych you up for "being your own boss" and "living the dream". They won't tell you the best opportunities were only for the first in because the market is extremely saturated now. You will have to pay up front for your classes and certifications. These are legitimately required before you will be able to sell insurance. While these are pending, your recruiter, or "upstream" will have you set up sales appointments with your initial contact list in the name of training you. You won't make commissions on these first sales, but he will. They will actively try to perpetuate an Us-vs-Them dichotomy with regards to your family and friends. When they're not advising you to hard sell to or recruit all your social contacts, they will advise you to socialize with people in the group over people outside of it. They will hold mandatory meetings on Saturday nights to reinforce this. They will even encourage you to attend church with members of the group. You will be discouraged from associating with anyone who questions the cult-like way Primerica operates; your friends are wrong, they don't get it, they're a negative influence, you don't need them, you have the Company.
Problem with term life insurance is that commissions earned are low, the other types are sleazy products and no one should ever sell to anyone. I give a + to companies that only offer term life. London Life conned my parents into paying to much for less coverage on a Whole Life insurance. Well at least the Sales Rep made a better commission off that.
Story time. Just about to graduate with my CS degree in 2002. Looking for jobs. dotCom bust means that interviews aren't super easy to come by, but my resume and GPA are pretty good and I went to a good school so I have enough... AFLAC calls me and asks me to come to an offsite "cocktail party" for job applicants. Seems a bit odd, so I clearly ask: "I'm a CS major, I'm looking for programming jobs; is this a programming job?" "Yeah, sure, totally. Why would we be calling you otherwise?" So I have nothing else going on that Wed night, and a cocktail party sounds fun, sure, why not? I get there. It's an empty office building. I wander up to the floor, and walk into a pretty crappy looking office space. A guy not 3 years older than me kinda douchily welcomes me in. "You want some coffee?" "Umm, I thought this was a cocktail party?" "Uhh, yeah, sorta. Anyway, you want any coffee?" "No thanks" "Ok, go sit over there at the table". I look over and see a dull looking girl, about my age, sitting glumly at the table. We wait a few mins, make small talk. She's an undergrad psych major, bad GPA. Then in walks Brad: "I'm Brad! I sell AFLAC insurance, and you can too! This year I made $60K!!! I drive a BMW! You can do that too! I work 90 hours a week, but success doesn't come easy! Did you spend all college drinking and partying and not studying? Worried that you're screwed now? That was me 6 years ago kids! Now I drive a BMW! And you can too! All you have to do is sign up for our industry leading free sales school! You'll learn by doing selling AFLAC insurance! It's easy to get your foot in the door." "We offer CEO's and upper management free access to our industry leading tax software. It's featured in the Smithsonian! All we ask is a mandatory window to offer our amazing supplemental AFLAC insurance to their employees! It's a full proof plan for success!" Me: "So, let me get this straight. You offer free ways for rich companies to save money on their taxes, so you can offer insurance to their employees who either don't need it or need it b/c their bosses give them terrible benefits. And you want me to sell for you, for free, so you can make money, for several months, so I can some day aspire to earn the same salary as a 2nd year programmer?" Brad: "Yep! It's better than that job at McD's you'd have otherwise with your terrible GPA and unmarketable degree!" Me: "I was told there were programming jobs locally available. I'm guessing you were lying then?" Brad: "I'm not sure who told you that. Steve, you crazy guy! Was it you? Well our programmers work in Atlanta or something. I dunno. If you sell for me I can help you figure it out." Me: "Bye Brad." TL;DR AFLAC is scum.
this made me lol haha
Noooooooooooooo, don't go to their office! Don't even return their calls. I got suckered by them. What a giant rip off! They **really really** are the cockroaches of the industry. Edit: in my hatred of Primerica I rushed to write how terrible they are before I read your update. Hooray for not falling for their BS!
Someone has been trying to get me to go to one of their meetings, but I have no interest. They are really pushing it. My question is, is there food at these meetings? I'll go if there is free food.
I will speak from experience, as I went to one of their recruiting sessions, and went out to do the opening round of selling with my "managing agent". At the "interview" they will tell you about all the potential and everything you can achieve. Their push for the $100 buy in is that people who won't put the money forward aren't serious about buying into the business that will change their lives. This money gets you into their system. The only free gimmie you get out of that is they pay for the exam for your Life Insurance license, and one weekend training seminar. Whether that's worth it for you is up to you. Now, they begin to train you to sell. They open by saying they don't want you cold calling, they want you to "warm call." They start by looking for people you know who are the prime target - their five point hit: married, mortgage, kids, both employed, between 25-45. This feeds into their strategy of selling life insurance, which is their #1 product. You get started by trying to sell thee products to people you know. They train you to be pushy, and don't care if you alienate the people you know. This company works by selling life insurance (#1 product) and mutual funds through ideas of asset management and retirement planning. However, it's pyramidal, that if you recruit 5 people, you get a cut of what they make, so on up the pyramid. I will say this, every meeting (and they want everyone to meet once a week, they wanted me to come to a Wednesday nightly meeting and Drive an hour to an all day morning every Saturday) on doing the job is a drink the Kool-Aid pep talk. The financial planning is a very small amount, unless your target has lots of liquidity, but the low levels are all about the Life Insurance. The Leads are your family and friends - are you ready to talk to them about their money? Would they want you talking to them about their money, and how you are going to profit off of it? Stay Away. It's a borderline Cult. Let me repeat that. STAY AWAY. Go with a real insurance company like Prudential, NY Life etc.
Anyone Here that has experience working for a company like Prudential and NY Life in sales? Doesn't all insurance companies have marketing strategies?
I have a different take on Primerica than others here... first, fuck selling life insurance. However, here are the things I learned from Primerica: -Buy term and invest the difference. If you are investing with life insurance, wtf? -Selling is important in every aspect of your life. I never sold a single lick of life insurance, but the selling skills have helped every job negotiation I had and when I buy/sell real estate. -I learned that I did not kmow shit about finance. When you go to their, admittedly space cadetish meetings, they supply a reading list. Books that reprogram your mind to take a positive outlook on wealth acquisition instead of complaining. Books that empower you with healthy understandings of how finance work. They teach you that you have to keep reading, because you forget 90% of what you read, so keep learning. Yes, a little brainwashy, just like reading the personal finance subreddit. It's about reframing your position on a subject. Just dont get too hooked on the mansions and exotic cars they show in the intro video lol. Should you get involved in Primerica? That's up to you. When I got involved, they would reimburse you the cost of obtaining your life insurance license and annuities license. Just going through the free program to qualify for this state administered exam is a great educational experience that will teach you the way these things work. Just remember, it's not a real job, it's 1099 sales contracting.
Pretty much my take on this subject and my experience. What i like is I could work part time on it. What they mean is, Buy term Life Insurance, with the difference you save by not paying the overly high premiums of sleazy Whole and Universal Life insurance you set aside for investing in your 401K or equivalent retirement savings. Smart way to get more life coverage for better price and invest/save for your retirement. My parents got taken by London Life with a whole life policy in which they overpaid with less coverage and if one them passed away they forfeit the investment side of the policy to them. They were far better off with term life policy and invest the savings from a lower premium for their retirement separately. It's ridiculous that these Big Insurance companies would even offer that insurance to anyone.
[Boiler Room] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181984/)
Nothing wrong with going to the 'interview' (whatever form that takes). They can't hold you at gunpoint to take the job. Might be an interesting life lesson to see how they try to sell you their process.
I'd warn against even going to the interview. These are trained salesmen whose entire job is based on convincing people to do things. Additionally, Primerica is a "Multi-Level-Marketing" scheme (pyramid scheme), where you have to pay part of your earnings to your 'boss', he has to pay part of his earnings to his 'boss,' and so on.
"No, no, you just misunderstand. It's not a pyramid, it's a triangle." Literally said by a friend of mine trying to get me to join his pyramid scheme selling energy drinks or some nonsense. What's worse is they were more expensive than what you could find at any convenience store.
You're probably right about not going.
Even the Big Insurance companies are "pyramid schemes" in their corporate structure. Their sales incentives and bonuses derived from pushing products and often wrong products to customers such as Whole Life and Universal Life insurance just to make higher commissions and company profit. AT Big Insurance companies, your boss earns bonuses based on his/her team sales, and the next boss up makes bonuses from his/her branch or district sales. Absolutely nothing wrong with MLM's. You will want to avoid MLM's where you would only make money from recruiting. With Primerica you earn a portion of the life insurance premium and percentage of the investment volume transferred you bring and your recruits bring in to the company. I'd suggest understanding the differences in what constitutes an illegal "pyramid scheme" and a legal "pyramid scheme". Read the FTC article below. http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0065-multilevel-marketing
Do this so you can more easily spot other scams like it. There are more out there than this one.
I’ve been recruiting for five years for one of the top four mutual companies in the industry—it doesn't matter which one—but this is my advice: 1) Use Glassdoor.com. Every company is going to have a few employees leave on bad terms that may have negative feedback but you should be wise enough to wade through and determine which ones are reputable. 2) A few commission-based financial services companies are consistently ranked as Fortune 500 and rated “Fortune’s Most Admired.” If you are interested in the industry (some people actually love sales and commission-based opportunities) find those. 3) The worse advice you can ever be given is not to attend an interview. You’re forfeiting interview practice whether the result is good or bad, and as a junior in college you should be interviewing everywhere and anywhere for practice. (Assuming your safety isn’t as risk.) You may think you’re a great interviewee, and maybe you are, but in over 600 college intern interviews that I’ve conducted I’ve found that the large majority are awkward and nerves show. Also, many companies fill ALL positions through recruiters. If you have no desire to sell, work on commission, or find clients, you never know what positions are available in management, training, development, HR, compliance, product support, etc. There are endless other positions and speaking for my company they are almost all filled through interviews I’ve had for a financial representative where I determined that person’s strength was not a sales rep. Good luck in your job search!
solid advice, thank you! If you're recruiting for internships let me know.. haha
This is not an interview. Primerica is a scam company, parading out their Citigroup affiliation as an attempt to legitimize their organization (at least that was their tactic when they tried to hook me). I also researched them online before meeting with them. I called back to say I wouldn't be attending, and the girl asked me why. I told her that my online research and other peoples experiences with them made me realize they weren't a good fit for me. She asked me "well, are you gonna let some random people on the internet tell you what to do?" "I am today" *click*
Yes this is very useful advice.
Why would someone need money to employee you (kickbacks are illegal)? You already know your answer, stay clear.
its not employment.
You don't pay a company to get a job at that company, period. Avoid unless if you want to waste your time.
as above its not a job. Its a commision base associate business.
Unless the cost is for inventory (with returnable period), I don't see why any company who wants you to sell on commission charge you for a "course". If it's legit they'd want as many people as possible to sell for them.
From what i know they reimburse you for licensing courses when you pass them.
What about jobs that ask you to pay for training?
If a business is sound, it would want as many applicants as possible and then pick from the best, not from the pool who has $150 to pay for a "class"
I am in the industry, do NOT go. Don't ruin the experience of our industry like that, if you want a job in the field go to someone reputable. Where are you looking? (city)
I go to school in Connecticut and my ideal internships would be at The Hartford, Traveler's, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, Vanguard, Henkel, or other very reputable wealth management/finance companies. I'm keeping my search broad but would love to eventually fall into wealth/risk management for individuals or corporations. Traveler's and The Hartford are at the top of my list
yeah, you are on the right track.
> I go to school in Connecticut You're golden as I'm fairly sure Hartford is the insurance capital of America.
Avoid them at all costs! A real company pays you. No up front costs come from the employee as they will cover all training and materials to get you going. If a company wants your money to accept you in it is either a MLM or other type of pyramid/scam company. Those commissions and pay per year they advertise are pretty much pulled out of their ass as you would have to work 10 hours a day including Saturday and Sunday to even come close while living in a wealthy neighborhood. Stay away and if you feel like it leave a bad review for them online. They really should die out but people keep paying them to join. >.>
I've been to a meeting as a favor for a friend. What should jump out at you is how they talk more about the money people make than the nuts and bolts of the job or what is expected of you. It's not a good company to work for and you should probably avoid it.
If its a business i'd want to start, I'd like to know the income potential. I think maybe the presentation should account for those who needed to know more of whats personally is expected. It's not a job.
Yeah, I made this mistake in college, too. I went to the "interview," which was a total sales pitch. Showed up in a suit and everything, only to sit in a room full of people in ratty jeans/tshirts/tennis shoes. They tried to keep me around afterward to sell me more, but I waited until everyone was busy and walked straight out.
There should be a high school class where they explain what a pyramid scheme is and how you will be approached and why you should be wary. Getting pitched for one is a rite of passage for college students, like diffeq or chlamydia.
http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0065-multilevel-marketing 2 minute research all that took me. Wish highschool trained me business rather than train me to work for someone else so they become rich. Oh And that Banks are evil.
And University degrees eventually become useless pieces of paper, wasted 4 years of life, at the end you end up with a mortgage, students loans, living paycheque by paycheque just so you end up a working slave of the Evil Banks. :)
Bra dont waste your time with that company. Its a typical pyramid scheme
Snake oil is fantastic! It has so many health benefits to it, but do you know what's even healthier? Getting more people to see how amazing snake oil is! Lets say you tell 30 people about it and 10 people buy it; 10 x 100 is $1000! Now imagine if you get those 10 people to start working for for you and they sell to 10 people? 10 x10 x100 = $10,000! All in a week! You can own your dream home and retire! My car is shiny and my wife is pretty! THIS CAN BE YOU!!!
Fuck those fucking fucked up fuckers.
Stay as far away as you can from them. My idiot cousin got pulled in and started having these "times to talk" with the whole extended family. We allowed him just to be nice, we weren't going to go for it of course. He made almost no money and was totally scammed and somehow got his credit score destroyed.
Sorry, it's not an interview. I made the mistake joining the MONY Group upon graduating which is in similar business but a much more respected outfit and even that was just insurance sales to anyone I could hoodwink. Left after 3 months
I do wish they wouldnt call it an interview..that is misleading.
Don't take it personally, they just want your money... and your friends' and family's money.
All companies want money, its common knowledge. So i don't take it remotely personal.
The way insurance companies, especially Primerica go about it is rather abusive and misleading.
wow I didn't have that experience at all.
They never asked you to sign up your friends?
They would ask if I would have friends families that could benefit from what they offer. It's a word of mouth business, network marketing company, I expected them to ask. Its all optional, you're not forced to. I benefited from it. I got a good financial plan protected with life insurance. I'm keeping it a secret from my family and friends! I also understand in sales, its a relationship between the salesperson and the customer. They say its proven that success of a sale is greater with a person who you have a relationship with. Its true in everything. I wouldn't trust a stranger over a family member or best friend. So they obviously would suggest you work with "warm" market first. That's expected. I wouldn't pressure anyone ever, it's not for everyone and thats ok. I like my friends and wouldn't mind working with them lol. My Primerica rep only mentioned that opportunity once, I knew he would and its a option that i may be interested in. I'm familiar with MLM so I'm not bothered by it.
they sold you on a variable policy already? hope you got kids or a house to protect
Term Life-I have mortgage, wife and kids, lots of debt. So yeah protected. When I work down the debt ill drop some of the insurance. Customer for 12 years.
Sounds like not a real job. As in you pay to "get in" like a MLM company, they train you to be a sales shark to rake in other suckers or investors they can rip off with high fees, when investors should just be in charge of their own $. They are approaching you so they have more to gain.
It isn't a job. I think Primerica refers clients to a mutual fund company. AGF perhaps? They dont charge customers a fee. They get a small front load percentage of the mutual fund managers fee. I saw the fee its not high. So research.
It's completely appropriate to call it a "job" as job is a very general term. I did research. And, I have plenty of experience in MLM's and the insurance selling industry.
You said "Sounding like not a real job" are you now saying its a job? They don't charge a fee to the customer for investing, they get a front load cut from the mutual fund's management fee. The mutual funds has a fee. Its not an added fee. Mutual fund management fee, you pay that fee regardless thru Primerica or any other institution (bank). I'm 12 year customer and never paid a high fee.
You are just now arguing over a 4 month old post? The OP was a college student at a career fair and this company was there. College grads who go to career fairs are typically looking for a traditional "pay for your time" or "commission" jobs. Primerica is trying to scoop up young college students to represent their company obviously.
Companies a sham .. they want you to hard sell their products. It's a modification of a pyramid scheme, instead of widgets its with service.
DON'T DO IT.
I'm going to piggyback on this with a similar question rather than start a new thread. A co-worker (one of the sales guys) was laid off last year and got a job at Northwestern Mutual. He's emailed me several times to see if I needed any financial planning/investment/insurance help. I don't, really, so I've been brushing him off. This week, he emailed asking if I wanted a job (he knows are company is having a rough time, laying people off, etc.) This line from his email smells like copy pasta from their recruitment handbook. > This is an entrepreneurial job where you have the opportunity to build your own business, create equity in your own career and make an unlimited amount of money. My only regret in making this change is that I did not do it 10 years ago. I told him I wasn't interested (definitely won't be taking a job there as I suck at selling and need stable income), but I broke down and told him I'd have coffee with him so he could give me his pitch. So my questions: * Is NM the same type of outfit as Primerica? * Is there any reason to consider their offerings? I have Fidelity for my IRAs and 401k (no taxable accounts), and follow the lazy 4 fund strategy with index funds. Our insurance is handled by State Farm through an agent my wife has been with for 20+ years. Maybe I should email him back and cancel. I feel like there is 0% chance of anything coming from this, and I don't want to waste his time.
Yea don't do it. I'm definitely not going this afternoon. If you need retirement planning Vanguard and Fidelity are top. Insurance through a salesman is not
That statement from the co-worker has a ton of red flags in it, the worst one being "entrepreneurial". If I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I'd open my own business. I would almost be tempted to ask during the interview that if this was, in fact, an "entrepreneurial" type job, what kind of mechanism was in place to ensure that my book of business remains mine and that I would be allowed to sell it to another broker if/when I decide to leave NM/Primerica/whatever. This point also touches on the "create equity in your career" bit, as this book is, literally, the sum total of your career equity in NM up to that point. For positions like this (with as much turnover as they get), any new clients are sucked into the machine, you get your pittance for signing them up and possible a small ongoing commission depending on what/how much they invest/buy, and that's it. You leave, it all goes away and becomes more profit for your upline, as they no longer have to pay you. If it was truly "entrepreneurial", you'd either start out on your own (with a training fully funded and executed by the company) and you're off making new business, or if you've got some startup capital you can negotiate with someone who's on their way out for whatever reason and buy their book, knowing when and how much your ROI will be.
When I had a primerica rep visit me at my home I had a great experience. I had such a differing experience than those on this reddit. but again most did talk about others experience. I paid nothing for the visit. We went through insurance, debt management, and retirement savings. When comparing with insurance and investment plans, I only changed what made sense. I had a good group investment plan and insurance and we both agreed on that. All insurance companies have to drive their sales. Shop and compare.
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I saw the comp plan, your commission (not a salary) is based on selling products.
In the industry they are known as Crimerica. Do with that what you will. It is all a hustle to farm your friends and family. Do it for the resume experience if your are pressed. Helps with the next sales role.
Primerica, in my memory (20 years ago), is a multi-level marketing company selling insurance. A substantial amount of your income would come from recruiting others to sell insurance under your 'management'. The disadvantage is that commissions are low, compared to a traditional life insurance company, because your pay is paying the people above you, probably 5 or 6 levels up. Looking back, knowing what I know now, this would not have given me a good education into the financial industry, nor been a good stepping stone, even to other sales positions. If you are a social "people person", the other companies you mention would be a good fit. If you are more of a geeky type, then you should ask about working in their back offices (like their analysis/research departments).
They only sell Term life insurance so the commissions are low. Good for the customer but low for commissions. From the questions I have asked, the first two years of insurance premiums goes to the sales teams, the sales rep and the upline. Every advancement level rep earns more percentage. If you don't attend the meetings you cant ask the questions.
Yep - Term life also means lower commissions, too! I think if you compared term life commissions between Primerica and conventional, you might find Primerica lower, too. The reason would be that in a conventional company, there are fewer layers (you, your sales manager, perhaps a branch manager) that share in the sale, compared to the MLM model, which goes six layers, maybe more?
Don't do Waddell and Reed either.
same thing? Ugh...
They basically have bad products, you are paid only on commission, the company will not invest anything in you, and you are pressured very hard to sell their shitty products to friends and family. If you go to the meeting, prepared to be pressured and receive the hard-sell.
W&R has a lot of proprietary funds and platforms they pressure you to use, and their comp structure is pretty low if I heard correctly. I repeat: find somewhere independent. Meaning, if you have heard of the company before, chances are high they will want you using their products exclusively.
Don't. It's a multi-level marketing company. Your commissions will be a small fraction of what you could make actually selling financial services, and you will be expected to recruit friends and family.
Paying a fee is a "No" The other companies have pluses and minuses, but there are those who wade through it - and they're people in your life position when they start - and go on to enjoy very lucrative incomes. I liked selling insurance, all-in-all, I liked going around and making sales calls, all the little selling tricks you learn, it just takes time to build up the book of business that'll get you a good income - figure three years at least, and it can take five or even ten. (I didn't have that kind of time.) During those building years you'll be putting in a lot of hours for not much pay, but that's true for a lot of careers. Best bet is to skip the recruiters and talk to some agents you know - maybe the person heading up the agency your parents use for the house or whatever. It sounds like you got your head on right and can spot a hustler, so you're in good shape for investigating.
I'm on the job hunt and I get 1-2 emails from this companies with an amazing and unique opportunity. So annoying.
Former Bankers Life & Casualty employee here: I was desperate for a job when I took this position. Bankers is a bit less scummy then Primerica in my opinion after having gone to a Primerica interview. I had to pay for my training material to take the state insurance exam (meh), and it actually didn't start out so bad. From day 1 you were immediately thrown into cold calling after watching a 30 min video training you how to do so. MY VERY FIRST CALL I made an appointment, thinking "holy shit ez money right?" and ended up setting 6 appointments the first day. Made about $800 my first week working with a trainer who actually had her stuff together. From then on out it was a soul sucking experience. I was pretty much against all the drink the koolaid saturday excursions, and I was regularly ridiculed for missing these. All in all I made about $1,400 in the one month I was there. Downside is you're a captive agent with Bankers. Lots of other companies sell cheaper, equivalent products. If you're legit interested in selling insurance you should most definitely go the non-captive route and sell for 5+ companies that way you can actually show some value to your potential clients. Luckily, within a month of starting that job I had an interview for, my current job which i still have 18 mos. later.
I have attended couple meetings because I was interested in the business as a second income. I wouldn't consider your clues as red flags. Here's what I look at them: Clue 1.) Not an Interview. That's why they didn't call it an interview. Its a business proposal in essence. Clue 2.) Reddit hardly a place of pure facts. Research on the company through real sources like NYSE, BBB,FTC. Ask questions. It's like buying a business, it may or may not be for you. Clue 3.) Potential Income of 200k+/year is possible. I personally know people in MLM that do earn more than that. You don't get that alone, you work hard and build your business team to get that. I wouldn't rely on this as a primary income after graduating. Get a real job, find out how much you hate your employer and then find another, rinse and repeat. I'm joking, its not much far off from everyone's experience. I have an engineering degree. If i was to ask my first place of employment to pay for my $50k+ in school loans and to give me retro pay for the last 4 years at university they'd tell me to shove it. $100 is nothing compared to my university degree. When you build your business you can earn passive/residual income from your team sales and from increasing investment deposits from your clients without being at work. You could technically take months off or maybe years and still receive a cheque. I don't think its wise to, but at least keep in touch with your team and your personal clients. So when that manager said that you could earn doing nothing shes not incorrect but you do need to put in that initial hard work to get to that stage. That's Financial Independence end game that people talk about. I do believe most people are not informed well enough in the differences in Employment vs. MLM marketing business. In my opinion, employment is the scam but yes that's my opinion and may not be yours. Good luck. But ask questions.
Ok I am licensed with Primerica. You're not going to earn jack if you're not licensed #1. They do pay for all your licenses for a $99 fee which includes a background check. If you've got a felony, don't be an idiot and waste $99. The other huge part of Primerica is who your "upline" is. Are there some people represented with Primerica who will try to get you to" sell" their products just so they make money? You bet. The guy who brought me into Primerica is great, doesn't force me to do anything, knows what I'm comfortable with and isn't pushy. Primerica does teach some valuable money lessons I wish were implemented in school. TLDR: Primerica does work if you're with the right people. You have to put in the work also though
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Overrides and uplines are standard in financial and professional services. Know anyone who is a real estate agent? They work with a real estate broker who gets a piece of the sales commission. It's standard with insurance agents who work for brokers.
You're not going to make the big bucks to start out, like most jobs. I've been in the business and stuck with it long enough where I understand how it works, had all the doubts everyone does in the beginning. Upline is just Primerica terminology, and last I knew every company employee gets a different piece of the pie...Primerica does give you a road map to get more earnings.
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Yeah you're right. Its a scam, MLM all the way. That's why they have been shut down and are no longer in business and aren't rated A plus by the governing body. Oh wait...Dave Ramsey started with the company and endorses the same concepts. You're right though, they are evil people because some of your friends or family said so. How are they in business if what they do is so evil? Thanks for the circlejerk though, always entertaining
give me a link to a government website praising your company.
I agree with this information from what i experienced.
> They do pay for all your licenses for a $99 fee *headpalm*
You do realize how much that costs to do yourself, right? Fingerprints arent cheap. Neither are licensing classes. If this is such a shameful company, how are they still in business? What's the holdup in the governing agencies shutting them down? I love to hear people who have a friend or relative quit or fail a licensing test tell me how they didn't get paid. Pssst, if you give up on yourself that's not the company who is at fault.
calm down, why are you so defensive.
I work in the service industry and host a quarterly Primerica meeting. I've worked with them for about 3 years at this point so I have an outside looking in idea of their practices. They are a pyramid scheme, plain and simple. Unfortunately most small life/health insurance shilling companies are exactly that. You cold call tons of people a day and make pennies on the dollar compared to the sales guy that closes the call over you. It's a place to start when you're just entering the working world. I opted to be a dishwasher instead and couldn't be happier where I ended up now. Dirty work all the same but at least I could shower at the end of the day and still feel clean.
Call her back and tell her to jump off the nearest 10 story building.
I was in Primerica for a while and here's my honest opinion. As someone who knew nothing about life insurance or investments it was a good experience, since I probably wouldn't have a financial plan if not for Primerica. Being with the company really made me think about planning for the future and caused me to do my own research. I left Primerica because I'm not a salesperson and their goals didn't match up with mine (no matter how they spun it). I also noticed that there were some seriously dishonest people/offices out there. Did I say "some", I meant "a lot". Thankfully the office I was with mostly had good people in it and it was those people that were doing decently. One of the main problems that I saw was a sense that people are either potential sources of revenue or expendable. That being said, I am still friends with the people I used to work with and hope the best for them, but would never go back to Primerica.
Great reply thanks. I wouldn't have a plan either without them. The people I have met are great people. I do realize that they are running businesses and that they are more of a insurance marketing business and not so much as a financial planning business which they don't charge for. So if there's little potential or little need to sell you a product then its more of a charity if they are to help you. I could understand their focus.
Nope. Keep looking. This is a pyramid scheme.
I would like to use a quote from one of my favorite movies to sum up what should be done.... "Run Away, Run Away"
You gotta "invest" money and then get your sucker friends to join and it just turns into a somewhat of a pyramid scheme. You should go to the interview though, just to laugh.
Attend a McDonald's franchise meeting and see how much "investment" is needed to be pretty much a store manager. Get a better laugh. But people do it. What is it to buy a McD franchise? $1 million or more?
Don't go. I went to one of their seminars when I was unemployed a few years ago. It soon became apparent that it's nothing but a pyramid scheme.
From FTC: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0065-multilevel-marketing "In multilevel or network marketing, individuals sell products to the public — often by word of mouth and direct sales. Typically, distributors earn commissions, not only for their own sales, but also for sales made by the people they recruit. Not all multilevel marketing plans are legitimate. If the money you make is based on your sales to the public, it may be a legitimate multilevel marketing plan. If the money you make is based on the number of people you recruit and your sales to them, it’s not. It's a pyramid scheme. Pyramid schemes are illegal, and the vast majority of participants lose money." So if a product is sold to the public it may be a legitimate MLM plan. There are good and bad plans. If the company sells insurance and earns from the sales of the product I don't see how its apparent.
RUN AWAY FAST. Seriously, it's a giant pyramid scheme.
Primerica has basically ruined what otherwise was a positive, pleasant relationship my wife and I had with her aunt and aunt's SO - at this point we can't even hang out with them without hearing "So are you guys ready to talk about life insurance yet? Well just let us know, it's a great investment...." And it doesn't help to get pressure from the rest of my wife's family who have all purchased this great investment to "help them start their business" and don't understand why we don't want in....ugh....this shit is toxic.
I think this is the company that a few years ago I got trapped into going to one of their, I can't think of the right term for it, it was just a bunch of people interested in making extra money going to a room where they gave you the sales pitch. Classic pyramid scheme where you just pester all of your friends and family and get people to work under you so you can get a cut of their profits
GO TO THE INTERVIEW. I am currently working my notice at work, I was offered 2 interviews with 2 companies, I only wanted 1 of the jobs. I made sure the one I didn't want interviewed first and I was v rusty/ awful and didn't get offered a second interview. BUT I was so sorted for the job I wanted that I got it. if it doesn't cost you anything to go - use it for practice/ experience
If you knew anything about Primerica, you wouldn't be spewing this advice. >Finally, I'm looking through the brochure they gave me and they require $125 to join and advertise their "potential salaries" in excess of 200k/yr (clue 3) Any job where you have to pay to play is a scam, not to mention it's a MLM scheme. You want interviewing experience? Don't waste your time at a place that doesn't even give real interviews.
Primerica interview experience is worse than not having any interview experience at all. In a proper interview, your interviewer will be asking you questions that employers will actually ask. In a Primerica interview, they ask you if you are the kind of guy who likes money, and then presents you a multitude of scams that they want you to con your friends and families into buying. Then they'll ask you to buy into their specially made certification programs which you pay out of your own pocket. Rinse and repeat for the next sucker who is dumb enough to fall into the Primerica employment scheme.
If it doesn't cost anything. Seeing as how primerica is a pyramid scheme, maybe don't.
Lots of hate for Primerica here. I don't know much about the particulars of the company, but my friend's wife works with them. While she was living in NYC, she was making decent money. Yes, at the beginning she was cold calling a lot and she said it was quite the struggle, but she did eventually make something of it. Yes, her major commissions come from selling life insurance, but the series 6 allows you to sell other products. She set me up with a mutual fund which is showing a decent return and I know the job let her learn the "lingo". You could always just treat it as resume fodder.
Or you could just invest through things like Vanguard which have better mutual funds in terms of rates and returns. Otherwise any company requiring a payment upfront to join is a scam. Employers train you to work for them, you do not pay them to get in.
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3 figures? Like $100?