Complaint Review: Primerica

Quoting:

"Primerica is not a Pyramid Scheme." If it walks like a duck and quacks like one...well I'm sure you know the rest. In fact Primerica itself suggests that it is a pyramid. What! You don't believe me, then read on shill because I had quoted directly from a Primerica website (this is from my post dated 3/24/2005 quoting from page one from the following link: http://ww3.primerica.com/public/
who/articles/metamorphosis.html)

"The company still relies on a pyramid-like sales force of part-time independent contractors."
You heard it straight from the horse's mouth ladies and gentlemen.

Here's another quote on John:

"If you think that the largest company in the wold would have somethign to do with any illegal schemes, you are crazy." In a way you may be right since Citigroup wants to sell Primerica (see my post dated 4/17/2005). I'm quoting from that post:

"MetLife to Acquire Travelers Life & Annuity from Citigroup For $11.5 Billion

January 31, 2005

Citigroup and MetLife, Inc. announced an agreement for the sale of Citigroup's Travelers Life & Annuity, and substantially all of Citigroup's international insurance businesses, to MetLife for $11.5 billion, subject to closing adjustments. In connection with the transaction, Citigroup and MetLife have entered into ten-year agreements under which MetLife will greatly expand its distribution by making products available through certain Citigroup distribution channels, subject to appropriate suitability and other standards. These channels include Smith Barney, Citibank branches, and Primerica in the U.S., as well as a number of international businesses. Under the terms of the transaction, Citigroup will receive $1.0 to $3.0 billion in MetLife equity securities and the balance in cash, which will result in an after-tax gain of approximately $2 billion, subject to closing adjustments. MetLife may finance the cash portion of the transaction through a combination of cash on hand, debt, mandatory convertible securities and selected asset sales. MetLife's financing plan will depend on market conditions, timing and valuation considerations and the relative attractiveness of funding alternatives. The transaction is expected to close this summer."

Another quote from John the shill:

"There are some people that do recruiing in the Primerica sales force,..." That is highly deceptive John since over 90% of the agents are
frontline who have to recruit to make it big at Primerica because product sale won't cut it.

Why am I calling you a shill John? Well first of
all you're not contributing to Ripoff Report. I'll
quote from the opening paragraph:

"Victim of a consumer Rip-off? Want justice? Rip-off Report is a worldwide consumer reporting Website & Publication, by consumers, for consumers, to file & document complaints about companies or individuals who ripoff consumers."
How are you helping the victims John? Are so few
people attending the Primerica rah-rah meetings
that you had to troll your way over here to get
somebody to listen to you.

PS John, get yourself a spellchecker as your
spelling is horrible and I can't respect someone
who can't spell, especially somebody who tries to
pass himself off as being professional.

PPS To the visitors at Ripoff Report: I've done a
number of postings quoting directly from websites
regarding Primerica and Citigroup which would be
worth your while to study. You'll be able to make an informed judgement after you study up on them.

All you have to do is call the Department of Insurance and the Securities Exchange Commission to find out how much the License really costs. Each state is costs about $800.00 in total to get licensed. It's not $40.00 I am insurance licensed that I got through working with bank One and it costs me $830.00 to get licensed orriginally in the state of Illinois, one of the other jurisdictions I got was New Jersay and I had to pay $498.00 to get licensed there, and that is on top of the part that Bank One paid. Primerica is not a Pyramid Scheme. If you think that the largest company in the wold would have somethign to do with any illegal schemes, you are crazy. Primerica is a part of CitiGroup (look at the website) which is the largest company in the world. Who also owns other companies that we see everyday such as CitiBank, CittiCards, Travelers Insurance which owns Progressive Insurance, Solomon Smith Barney, The DinersClubCard, CitiMortgage, Citi Corp Trust Bank, and others. Primerica is the central marketing and distribution are of the Citigroup. They are a financial company. The largest Financial Company in the world. The only thing peculiur about Primerica, is that they give people who dont' come from a financial background the opportunity to do something great with their lives, byu offering to sponsor them to get their own financial licenses, such as a Mortgage Brokers License, an Insurance Brokers License, and an Investment Brokers License. Most businesses are out there and don't offer the little guy a chance. The person who went and got an engineerign degree, but now there is no engineering jobs available. Rater than going back to school for two to four more years to get another degree, Primerica says "Hey...you pay halvf of your license costs to the state($199.00) we'll pick up the other half and then reimburse your half back to you, as soon as you complete your training and fully know how to help families out. Primerica, is a great company to work for. Not many places out there would allow you to work from home. Primerica is not about recruiting, that is one of the aspect but that does not have to be what everybody does there. The main focus of the organization is to educate families on the area where they are getting taken advantage of. Most people are paying into Cash Value insurance, and it is ripping them off. Basically that stuff is a savings account that you are either going to pay to get your money out of, or you dont'get at all. Primerica, gives the opportunity to show you credable information from sources, like Suze Orman, Rich Dad-oor Dad, Personal Finances for Dummies, Forbes, Money Magazie, and Fortune. There are some people that do recruiing in the Primerica sales force, because they want to run opperations and be in control of their own future. My mother is a blind lady that is insurance and securities licensed and works with Primerica, but she does not do any recruiting at all. She mearely works with a few families here and then and there are others that she referrs other representative in the company to help out and she makes about $60,000 a year by doing that. That is what she wants to do.

Thanks all, for giving me your thoughts about joining Primerica. I do appreciate it. Yes, I stumbled upon this site because I was researching. I had questions in my mind about this business. I have no background in finance. I have not clue how insurance and investment industries work. I thought that Primerica is like Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton...etc..except that Primerica is targeted to the middle and lower income with low fee requirements for clients to join.

Jeff Wrote:

"Please read for a moment what I am about to write. I am a Primerica Representative. I have joined this company not just on a whim because someone told me it was a great company." - Lie #1, Primerica is not a Great Company.

Jeff Wrote:
"I joined it after doing research on what companies were the strongest and had the highest ethical standards." - Lie #2, Jeff will NEVER give an EXACT DETAIL of his research process or the SOURCES that outlined Primerica as the "STRONGEST" of anything, or "THE HIGHEST ETHICAL STANDARDS". Let's assume for a moment that there IS a measure of "Strength" or that there is a measure of "Ethical Standards". Primerica would not be at the top of either list. Find that source! Be proud of it! Offer it to customers! (That'll be the day; Primerica sucks.) Oh by the way, one CAN check out J.D. Power and A.M. Best...two "measures of strength and ethical standards". (Take note, I just gave you TWO sources, two more than Jeff or any Primerica agent will EVER give.)

Jeff wrote:
"I have found that with this company." - Lie #3

Jeff wrote:
"For Melania in Livermore, CA I would tell you to not judge the company because someone tells you something negative about it but judge it for yourself after doing due diligence yourself by researching it, yourself." - Stupid move #1. "Research" IS "Judging the company". Any job-hunting book will tell you to have questions that you must have answered favorably in the INITIAL interview or drop that firm like a hot potato. Even at Burger King, you can expect pay of minimum wage (say $5 for an easy calculation, in my state it's higher) so - $5 x 80 hours (two weeks) = $400.00 every two weeks you show up. I don't work at Burger King, so in my case it's $26 x 80 hours = $2060.00. Either way, PAY is received on a REGULAR schedule. At PRIMERICA, for me, I NEVER got a clear answer on WHEN to expect regularly scheduled PAY of any kind. I was just told to "work harder". RVPs NEVER tell you about THAT recipe for starvation on day one; you will only hear about it when he/she drops your a*s. That day, of course, will coincide with the day your warm market is dried up.

Jeff Wrote:
"As far as the $199 Independant Business Application (IBA) fee goes, that is a small price to pay to be able to own your own business and get the tax advantages that a small business owner gets." - Lie #4 Think VALUE. I can sell you a business of people who clean the Brookly Bridge. Now if you get three people to clean the bridge and they get three people...etc, what a clean bridge! Now imagine they all paid $199! Wow! We'll all be Cleaning up America by beautifying that bridge, and getting PAID for it! Just sign here and pay your $199 licensing fee and we'll get started. Don't know how to clean bridges? Don't live near NYC? No problem! First, you need a map to NYC - get one for yourself. Second, who do you know in NYC with $199?

Jeff Wrote:
"As far as the price for the other licenses goes, to do home loans (both refinances and new home loans), you use the branch's (the office that you would be working from) license and get training from someone who knows what they are doing." - Lie #5, A Complete and Utter Lie. Will not get training from someone who knows what they are doing. You will be told to recruit several hundred time while you starve.

There is some official compliance training required, but this does not cost you any money. - Lie #6, but a somewhat oblique lie. Your compliance training WILL cost you TIME (which is money, indirectly) that you should be getting pay from the company for. You can trade your time for money, which is not optimal, but you'll eat. Your can trade your time for the knowledge that will lead to actions that will make money, which is better, but a bigger challenge. Primerica will provide neither...YOU will provide warm-market recruits (for your upline).

Jeff Wrote:
"For the investments, you will need to obtain a Securities License which will require you to pass an intense background check by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) before they will even allow you to take the federal and state tests known as the Series 6 and Series 63, respectively. The cost for this for me last year for California was $390, plus you must pay for a fingerprint card ($12) that you must submit with the application. If you fail the test, you must pay more money to take it over. I didn't fail either one, and so I don't know what those dollar amounts were. At any rate, the reason people (we) are trying to recruit other agents is two-fold." Finally! The truth! Of course, this is true INSIDE OF PRIMERICA AND OUTSIDE OF PRIMERICA.

Jeff Wrote:
"First, the company has devised a pay structure such that they make it a win-win situation for someone like me to recruit, train and develop quality people in a financial services career." Lie #7, the biggest lie, the one which will cost you dearly. One must KNOW exactly what it means to be RECRUITED, TRAINED, and DEVELOPED. There must be a well-established curriculum of clearly-defined topics of expertise which will make you more knowledgeable and EFFECTIVE once the training and development is complete. If you're not SPECIFICALLY getting "trained and developed" with specific effectiveness-development EVERY time you talk with your District Leader and/or RVP, each time that happens (double that each time you are told to RECRUIT x 3) you are participating in a Pyramid scheme.

Jeff Wrote:
"People who are negative about this idea seem to have a closed mind and think it's a Pyramid Scheme "Thing" of sorts. What they neglect to realize though, is that the same idea is and has always been used in other financial services type industry, where a Broker has an office and hires agents to work for him or her.

The structure is referred to as an Override structure. Let's take Real Estate for Example. A Real Estate Broker has an office, and every time one of his agent sells a home, he splits the sales commission with the agent because he has trained and developed the agent and also must pay the overhead on the office and risk his own butt for being the business owner.

It is no different here, except that people think it is a thing because of the facts I just stated."

If that's true, if being a Real Estate agent offers as little training/development as Primerica - then Real Estate brokerages are Pyramid Schemes as well. Sure there's no need to single Primerica out. A Pyramid is a Pyramid.

They think, you just want me to come and work with you so that you can make money from my efforts. Bingo! But, you are not going to make any money unless someone puts alot of time into training and developing you.

Jeff Wrote:
"Hence, it is a win-win situation. By mean teaching you how to succeed, I would be rewarded." Lie #8 - By raping you and your warm market, he [Jeff] would be rewarded.

Now, as you get to higher ranks in the company, the percentage of commissions I receive from your sales goes down, while yours goes up. Now, if anyone told you that this is a get rich scheme, then I would tell you the truth that most people do not get rich doing it.

Jeff wrote:
"What I will tell you is that it is a get rich slowly "scheme" if that is what you want to call it, but the only way that you would get rich doing this type of business, whether it is for this company or any other, is to go into it with the mindset that you will always do the right thing for clients and that you also understand up front that you probably won't make huge numbers your first year or two." What?? You can "get rich slowly" at a REAL JOB.

Jeff wrote:
"Now, there are many rebuttals that I have just finished reading saying that my company is a ripoff, but it seems as though to me that they are just hastily making assumptions based on their experience with some overzealous agent that probably had the people skills of an 8th grader." Response: Nope, I was financially raped by my RVP who has been in the business for nine years.

Jeff Wrote:
"The second reason that we want to recruit is to grow our sales force to replace as many of these cash value life insurance policies that the unethical insurance companies keep selling to help their pocket books while hurting consumers. They are really the unethical people in the financial services industry, but try to convince people that we are the unethical "part timers". They are just upset that we are taking millions of dollars out of their pockets and putting it back into the consumers pockets where it belongs for their own retirements, not some scum cash value insurance salesman's pocket. We are part time to start, because our commission is very small on Term Insurance, while they can be full time because they recieve a huge commission on selling cash value life insurance."
Response: If you want to go around replacing cash-value life insurance policies for a living, be my guest. Is that really what you paid $199 for? Is that the actual "business opportunity"? What's the REAL market for "a Whole Life policy replacer"? KNOW THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS, your RVP will not tell you satisfactory answers to these questions.

Jeff wrote:
Now, for Pauls argument. He claims first off that about 100% of recruited Primerica Reps quit because its "nonsense" as he called it. He claims that all the "good" jobs stay filled up because people don't quit jobs that pay well. Well, my argument to that is that I am quitting my "well paying job" in three weeks. I am educated with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo 1997. I work in Rancho Cordova for a company that manufactures elevator control systems. I've been in this corporate America ratrace for 8 years now, now at a meager pay of $63,000 per year. Some people may think that is a good salary, but I know I am worth a lot more than I am being paid."
Response: if Jeff is back here in two years making $70,000 per year in Primerica, I will pay him an additional $1000. I can afford to make that offer; I have a job. Even if I didn't, Jeff won't be making anywhere near $63,000 without his job.

Jeff wrote:
"The other thing that Paul doesn't understand is that this is a business, not a job. If he understood that, then he would understand that you must have a different mindset as a business owner than you do with a job. People with jobs are told where to be, what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and told not to ask why. Successful business people have tenacity and can self start, don't need to be told to get up in the morning and work, they just do it and do so effectively."

Response: This is FLUFF TALK (which will not get you paid. If Jeff had added "financially rape customers", which is what PFS do when the rubber hits the road, then THAT is what PFS "business people" do. THAT gets them paid.

Jeff wrote:
"Next, there is Al from Fort Worth - Again, he is also ignorant for the statements he made. No one is promising anybody any dollar amounts. They are just showing what is possible to be made." If you join Primerica after reading THAT, you're going to be scammed. Learn your lessons from that experience. If you subsequently scam others - you are a dirt scumbag thief.

first off, my peanut size brain happens to graduate from uci with a mathematics and an economics degree. maybe any idiot can do that huh.

second, i dont think too highly of a company who is willing to hire just about anyone as long as they dont have a criminal record.

third, you're not a real financial advisor to think that "buy term and invest the difference" is the best thing to do. apparently you haven't done your research. EVERYONE's financial situation is different, thus there is no such thing as one solution for all. but hey if term insurance is the only thing you guys offer then it must be the solution. dont get me wrong term is not bad but its not for everyone. but on the other hand you claim that whole life is such a terrible thing, do you even know whats the advantage and disadvantage of whole life? then you claim that your investment beats any cash value policy hands down, can you guarantee that or is it only a prediction base on a computer program where you can plug in any numbers you would like. unlike your investments, whole life has a guarantee cash value, no risk involve which is suitable for those risk adverse people but hey "buy term and invest the difference" is the best right. but back to your point, even if i were to buy "term and invest the difference" i would invest with ubs, allianz group or fidelity and a bunch of other companies before i turn to primerica. you have also mentioned "doing the best thing for these people before they end up broke at retirement", maybe you should take your own advice and look into these other investment companies.

Jeff

Where do I start with you? Let's see for starters Melania did do her research and found this site, all I'm trying to do is give her and everyone else my experiences with the pyramid scheme company so that she, and all the other hard working people out there don't get screwed like I did by snakes like you Jeff! As for the "being a business owner" bullshit line, guess what Jeff you do not own anything, nothing, nada, zero! Answer this Jeff if you quit Primerica today to start your own financial services company let's call it Jeff's snake in the grass financial services, would you be able to take all of your PFS clients with you, and would you even be able to sell your PFS "business"? Now for your canned line about the real-estate broker/agent yes a broker overrides an agent, but now if that agent becomes a broker the original broker does not override the new broker and the agents that the new broker hires. This is what separates legitimate business from pyramid scheme companies like Primerica, cause at PFS your RVP overrides you and the people you recruit, and the people they recruit and so on all the way down to six generation deep. That Jeff is a pyramid you can sugar coat it any way you want, but somewhere in that black hole between your ears that you call a brain you know this, or maybe you are just too stupid to get it yet. Oh yea and your get rich slowly comment is the one my old RM would use all the time, typical PFS crap. I will agree with you on one thing yes some companies do recruit, but unlike PFS, they look for quality not just someone with a pulse so they can fill out an IBA. Now Jeff about your attack on me personally, which by the way is typical of Primerica village idiots like you when they come across someone with brains and morals, and who don't agree with the PFS mentality of recruit, recruit, recruit. I think that the only one here who is ignorant is you Jeff you're the one with the "mediocre mentality syndrome" you need to go back to the head idiot who recruited you and get a update script for when you come to this site pretending to be someone who is educated, by the way. I don't buy your bullshit lie about having a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering. I've run into so many stupid people like you Jeff who pay their entrance fee into PFS, go to the rah rah meetings, come to this site and try to act like somebody with intelligence and defend this pyramid scheme company with all their canned PFS lines it makes me sick! Jeff you make me sick you disgusting little worm everything from start to finish of your post was noting I haven't heard before at the weekly PFS meeting when I was apart of this crap! You're a loser who manipulates people that's the only kind of people who stick around with PFS! And yes Jeff they did say it would be easy, and they did tell me that I would be a RVP in a year making six figures! I put 80 hours a week into this and got very little out, and nobody taught me s**t it was just go out and recruit! After reading your scripted PFS post, I gather that you also do that to new recruits. Jeff you're the one here with a brain the size of a peanut your stupidity is beyond belief you were most likely recruited while stocking shelves at the local grocery store. I won't waste any more time on a retard like you Jeff I just wanted to let you know how stupid your canned PFS rebuttal sounded. Get a life you Primerica village idiot and stop screwing with peoples finances!

Your a loser Jeff, use your PFS money (if you have any) to buy a clue!

I am in the financial services industry. From my experience I can tell you everyone does need some kind of financial servicing done. I am not here to say anything bad about Primerica or any other insurance company. I will say that each company has their own philosophy on how to run their business. Money will make people do some crazy things.

As I said I am not saying anything bad about Primerica. I will tell you what I have OBSERVED. I work for a company that does offer WHOLE LIFE POLICIES and I do sell it because I believe in it. I also sell term because I believe in it. It is all up to the client to decide what they feel is right for them. The main thing is getting people insured. The TERM insurance that my company offers costs a lot less than Primerica. I have replaced about 20 Primerica Term policies with my company's and the clients always have no problem with it. I don't understand how Primerica can charge so much for some Term insurance. All of the ex-Primerica policy owners say they never talked to the agent after purchasing the policy. This is not good business.

Primerica has the potential to become a juggernaut in the insurance business if they believed in customer service. Once you take care of the client the business will come.

As far as the recruiting goes, Primerica is aggressive! I seen a Primerica Rep try and recruit a person at a local bookstore. The recruit had tons of questions about the BUSINESS but the Rep never answered the questions. The REP kept telling the recruit he needed to get 10 more people interested in the business before he would learn anything. I was amazed that this was going on. Needless to say, I could not take it anymore. I introduced myself to both of them and offered my businesscard to the Recruit and told him to do some research to compare my company and Primerica. Can anyone guess what happened next?? The recuit called me and said he did not want to work for Primerica and requested an interview. I have worked for my company for over a year and never recruited anyone or was told to recruit anyone.

To sum it all up there are some truths and falses about Primerica, I guess you just have to make your own mind up about what you want to do.

I'm a Systems Engineer, and at the time was married with 2 kids, one income was not enough, I actually got licensed and made a few sales. But, one night while I was taking a smoke break during a "night time interview" which is a meeting, or recruiting event, I overheard some of the "Regional Managers" talking about how much money they were going to make off these people even if they didn't hire on. I'm no saleperson by far, and I still recieve that stupid tax reciept every year from them. Trying to remove yourself from their company is harder than taking the life insurance exam.

They promised I'd make $50,000 in a year, and 2 months after I quit I signed an offer letter with Lockheed Martin fro $63,000, now I make 25% more, so I guess they were right...just not saling insurance to a bunch of people who could use that money for other purposes...like food and shelter!

They are cold and heartless, despite the religious aftertaste they give off. And they really don't care about you or your faily, just as long as you make those sales, because that's the AMWAY type company they are. PLEASE KEEP YOUR REAL JOB! Owning your business is smart, but that's not really what these people are out to let you do. As for VAGUE answers? They provide training for that as well, they will tell you how to avoid "tough" questions and they're famous for turning no's into yes's....sick! I'm ashamed I ever sunk so low, I should have flipped burgers instead for a few months. At least BK doesn't charge for licensing and training.

Please read for a moment what I am about to write. I am a Primerica Representative. I have joined this company not just on a whim because someone told me it was a great company. I joined it after doing research on what companies were the strongest and had the highest ethical standards. I have found that with this company. For Melania in Livermore, CA I would tell you to not judge the company because someone tells you something negative about it but judge it for yourself after doing due diligence yourself by researching it, yourself. As far as the $199 Independant Business Application (IBA)fee goes, that is a small price to pay to be able to own your own business and get the tax advantages that a small business owner gets. As far as the price for the other licenses goes, to do home loans (both refinances and new home loans), you use the branch's (the office that you would be working from) license and get training from someone who knows what they are doing. There is some official compliance training required, but this does not cost you any money. For the investments, you will need to obtain a Securities License which will require you to pass an intense background check by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) before they will even allow you to take the federal and state tests known as the Series 6 and Series 63, respectively. The cost for this for me last year for California was $390, plus you must pay for a fingerprint card ($12) that you must submit with the application. If you fail the test, you must pay more money to take it over. I didn't fail either one, and so I don't know what those dollar amounts were. At any rate, the reason people (we) are trying to recruit other agents is two-fold.

First, the company has devised a pay structure such that they make it a win-win situation for someone like me to recruit, train and develop quality people in a financial services career. People who are negative about this idea seem to have a closed mind and think it's a Pyramid Scheme "Thing" of sorts. What they neglect to realize though, is that the same idea is and has always been used in other financial services type industry, where a Broker has an office and hires agents to work for him or her. The structure is referred to as an Override structure. Let's take Real Estate for Example. A Real Estate Broker has an office, and every time one of his agent sells a home, he splits the sales commission with the agent because he has trained and developed the agent and also must pay the overhead on the office and risk his own butt for being the business owner. It is no different here, except that people think it is a thing because of the facts I just stated. They think, you just want me to come and work with you so that you can make money from my efforts. Bingo! But, you are not going to make any money unless someone puts alot of time into training and developing you. Hence, it is a win-win situation. By mean teaching you how to succeed, I would be rewarded. Now, as you get to higher ranks in the company, the percentage of commissions I receive from your sales goes down, while yours goes up. Now, if anyone told you that this is a get rich scheme, then I would tell you the truth that most people do not get rich doing it. What I will tell you is that it is a get rich slowly "scheme" if that is what you want to call it, but the only way that you would get rich doing this type of business, whether it is for this company or any other, is to go into it with the mindset that you will always do the right thing for clients and that you also understand up front that you probably won't make huge numbers your first year or two. Now, there are many rebuttals that I have just finished reading saying that my company is a ripoff, but it seems as though to me that they are just hastily making assumptions based on their experience with some overzealous agent that probably had the people skills of an 8th grader.

The second reason that we want to recruit is to grow our sales force to replace as many of these cash value life insurance policies that the unethical insurance companies keep selling to help their pocket books while hurting consumers. They are really the unethical people in the financial services industry, but try to convince people that we are the unethical "part timers". They are just upset that we are taking millions of dollars out of their pockets and putting it back into the consumers pockets where it belongs for their own retirements, not some scum cash value insurance salesman's pocket. We are part time to start, because our commission is very small on Term Insurance, while they can be full time because they recieve a huge commission on selling cash value life insurance.

Now, for Pauls argument. He claims first off that about 100% of recruited Primerica Reps quit because its "nonsense" as he called it. He claims that all the "good" jobs stay filled up because people don't quit jobs that pay well. Well, my argument to that is that I am quitting my "well paying job" in three weeks. I am educated with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo 1997. I work in Rancho Cordova for a company that manufactures elevator control systems. I've been in this corporate America ratrace for 8 years now, now at a meager pay of $63,000 per year. Some people may think that is a good salary, but I know I am worth a lot more than I am being paid. The other thing that Paul doesn't understand is that this is a business, not a job. If he understood that, then he would understand that you must have a different mindset as a business owner than you do with a job. People with jobs are told where to be, what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and told not to ask why. Successful business people have tenacity and can self start, don't need to be told to get up in the morning and work, they just do it and do so effectively. To me, Paul sounds like a negative person who has low self esteem, and doesn't really have the sense to be able to educate himself. If he really did educate himself, he would find that Primerica Reps are trying to help middle income American families become debt free and financially independant and make it to retirement with some wealth built up, and along the way we are trying to recruit key quality people to help us with that mission. The recruiting we do is no different than any other company - all companies recruit to build their businesses. I happen to work with one of the best Primerica Reps in the country here in Sacramento, and he is keen on making sure everybody stays compliant with all laws both state and federal, and above all, his motto is that we will always do the right thing for families by putting the interest of the clients first, and he is instilling that motto into the people who didn't learn that from their parents. Now, that isn't to say, that no one in our company will ever be a rogue and do unethical things like put their interests (usually money driven) in front of the customers - but they don't last long in this company. The company will fire them, and if it has something to do with fiduciary things, they will most likely end up in jail. Now, I could go on with some other things about Pauls lack of knowledge with regards to insurance, but I am tired of Paul.

Next, there is Al from Fort Worth - Again, he is also ignorant for the statements he made. No one is promising anybody any dollar amounts. They are just showing what is possible to be made. No one told you it would be easy, did they? Anyway, he is just talking out of his rear end because he could never do the work that it would take to earn a $100k income here or anywhere else probably, because he has the mediocre mentality syndrome. He talks about the fact that you know just as much about finances as Primerica People, because he's scared that some guy tried to sell him something that maybe that particular person knew less about than he did, but he will generalize everyone who is an agent and say we don't know anything about finances. He's an ignoramus.

For the last guy, Huy, he thinks that just because he works in the financial services industry that his company is going to do better things for clients than Primerica Reps. He might personally be an ethical guy. But, he too is being ignorant for stereotyping the people who work for primerica as unethical for working there. What he fails to realize is that it is the life insurance companies that sell whole life and all the other non-fixed life insurance policies have a cash value component attached to them that are hurting consumers come retirement time. If you haven't heard Primerica's slogan before, it is "Buy Term and Invest the Difference", which is exactly what all the leading investment people in the papers and talk radio shows say is the right thing to do. When you invest the difference and then some, you actually own the money that is in the investment, and don't have to "borrow" your own money, or pay your own money back either. And when you run the spreadsheets comparing the two, ours always beats any cash value policy hands down. So how can you people come up with this crap that we are not doing the best things for the people who have been sold this type of stuff to get it replaced ASAP before the consumers end up broke at retirement. Get friggin real. I am beginning to think you have a brain the size of a peanut.

Please read for a moment what I am about to write. I am a Primerica Representative. I have joined this company not just on a whim because someone told me it was a great company. I joined it after doing research on what companies were the strongest and had the highest ethical standards. I have found that with this company. For Melania in Livermore, CA I would tell you to not judge the company because someone tells you something negative about it but judge it for yourself after doing due diligence yourself by researching it, yourself. As far as the $199 Independant Business Application (IBA)fee goes, that is a small price to pay to be able to own your own business and get the tax advantages that a small business owner gets. As far as the price for the other licenses goes, to do home loans (both refinances and new home loans), you use the branch's (the office that you would be working from) license and get training from someone who knows what they are doing. There is some official compliance training required, but this does not cost you any money. For the investments, you will need to obtain a Securities License which will require you to pass an intense background check by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) before they will even allow you to take the federal and state tests known as the Series 6 and Series 63, respectively. The cost for this for me last year for California was $390, plus you must pay for a fingerprint card ($12) that you must submit with the application. If you fail the test, you must pay more money to take it over. I didn't fail either one, and so I don't know what those dollar amounts were. At any rate, the reason people (we) are trying to recruit other agents is two-fold.

First, the company has devised a pay structure such that they make it a win-win situation for someone like me to recruit, train and develop quality people in a financial services career. People who are negative about this idea seem to have a closed mind and think it's a Pyramid Scheme "Thing" of sorts. What they neglect to realize though, is that the same idea is and has always been used in other financial services type industry, where a Broker has an office and hires agents to work for him or her. The structure is referred to as an Override structure. Let's take Real Estate for Example. A Real Estate Broker has an office, and every time one of his agent sells a home, he splits the sales commission with the agent because he has trained and developed the agent and also must pay the overhead on the office and risk his own butt for being the business owner. It is no different here, except that people think it is a thing because of the facts I just stated. They think, you just want me to come and work with you so that you can make money from my efforts. Bingo! But, you are not going to make any money unless someone puts alot of time into training and developing you. Hence, it is a win-win situation. By mean teaching you how to succeed, I would be rewarded. Now, as you get to higher ranks in the company, the percentage of commissions I receive from your sales goes down, while yours goes up. Now, if anyone told you that this is a get rich scheme, then I would tell you the truth that most people do not get rich doing it. What I will tell you is that it is a get rich slowly "scheme" if that is what you want to call it, but the only way that you would get rich doing this type of business, whether it is for this company or any other, is to go into it with the mindset that you will always do the right thing for clients and that you also understand up front that you probably won't make huge numbers your first year or two. Now, there are many rebuttals that I have just finished reading saying that my company is a ripoff, but it seems as though to me that they are just hastily making assumptions based on their experience with some overzealous agent that probably had the people skills of an 8th grader.

The second reason that we want to recruit is to grow our sales force to replace as many of these cash value life insurance policies that the unethical insurance companies keep selling to help their pocket books while hurting consumers. They are really the unethical people in the financial services industry, but try to convince people that we are the unethical "part timers". They are just upset that we are taking millions of dollars out of their pockets and putting it back into the consumers pockets where it belongs for their own retirements, not some scum cash value insurance salesman's pocket. We are part time to start, because our commission is very small on Term Insurance, while they can be full time because they recieve a huge commission on selling cash value life insurance.

Now, for Pauls argument. He claims first off that about 100% of recruited Primerica Reps quit because its "nonsense" as he called it. He claims that all the "good" jobs stay filled up because people don't quit jobs that pay well. Well, my argument to that is that I am quitting my "well paying job" in three weeks. I am educated with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo 1997. I work in Rancho Cordova for a company that manufactures elevator control systems. I've been in this corporate America ratrace for 8 years now, now at a meager pay of $63,000 per year. Some people may think that is a good salary, but I know I am worth a lot more than I am being paid. The other thing that Paul doesn't understand is that this is a business, not a job. If he understood that, then he would understand that you must have a different mindset as a business owner than you do with a job. People with jobs are told where to be, what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and told not to ask why. Successful business people have tenacity and can self start, don't need to be told to get up in the morning and work, they just do it and do so effectively. To me, Paul sounds like a negative person who has low self esteem, and doesn't really have the sense to be able to educate himself. If he really did educate himself, he would find that Primerica Reps are trying to help middle income American families become debt free and financially independant and make it to retirement with some wealth built up, and along the way we are trying to recruit key quality people to help us with that mission. The recruiting we do is no different than any other company - all companies recruit to build their businesses. I happen to work with one of the best Primerica Reps in the country here in Sacramento, and he is keen on making sure everybody stays compliant with all laws both state and federal, and above all, his motto is that we will always do the right thing for families by putting the interest of the clients first, and he is instilling that motto into the people who didn't learn that from their parents. Now, that isn't to say, that no one in our company will ever be a rogue and do unethical things like put their interests (usually money driven) in front of the customers - but they don't last long in this company. The company will fire them, and if it has something to do with fiduciary things, they will most likely end up in jail. Now, I could go on with some other things about Pauls lack of knowledge with regards to insurance, but I am tired of Paul.

Next, there is Al from Fort Worth - Again, he is also ignorant for the statements he made. No one is promising anybody any dollar amounts. They are just showing what is possible to be made. No one told you it would be easy, did they? Anyway, he is just talking out of his rear end because he could never do the work that it would take to earn a $100k income here or anywhere else probably, because he has the mediocre mentality syndrome. He talks about the fact that you know just as much about finances as Primerica People, because he's scared that some guy tried to sell him something that maybe that particular person knew less about than he did, but he will generalize everyone who is an agent and say we don't know anything about finances. He's an ignoramus.

For the last guy, Huy, he thinks that just because he works in the financial services industry that his company is going to do better things for clients than Primerica Reps. He might personally be an ethical guy. But, he too is being ignorant for stereotyping the people who work for primerica as unethical for working there. What he fails to realize is that it is the life insurance companies that sell whole life and all the other non-fixed life insurance policies have a cash value component attached to them that are hurting consumers come retirement time. If you haven't heard Primerica's slogan before, it is "Buy Term and Invest the Difference", which is exactly what all the leading investment people in the papers and talk radio shows say is the right thing to do. When you invest the difference and then some, you actually own the money that is in the investment, and don't have to "borrow" your own money, or pay your own money back either. And when you run the spreadsheets comparing the two, ours always beats any cash value policy hands down. So how can you people come up with this crap that we are not doing the best things for the people who have been sold this type of stuff to get it replaced ASAP before the consumers end up broke at retirement. Get friggin real. I am beginning to think you have a brain the size of a peanut.

Please read for a moment what I am about to write. I am a Primerica Representative. I have joined this company not just on a whim because someone told me it was a great company. I joined it after doing research on what companies were the strongest and had the highest ethical standards. I have found that with this company. For Melania in Livermore, CA I would tell you to not judge the company because someone tells you something negative about it but judge it for yourself after doing due diligence yourself by researching it, yourself. As far as the $199 Independant Business Application (IBA)fee goes, that is a small price to pay to be able to own your own business and get the tax advantages that a small business owner gets. As far as the price for the other licenses goes, to do home loans (both refinances and new home loans), you use the branch's (the office that you would be working from) license and get training from someone who knows what they are doing. There is some official compliance training required, but this does not cost you any money. For the investments, you will need to obtain a Securities License which will require you to pass an intense background check by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) before they will even allow you to take the federal and state tests known as the Series 6 and Series 63, respectively. The cost for this for me last year for California was $390, plus you must pay for a fingerprint card ($12) that you must submit with the application. If you fail the test, you must pay more money to take it over. I didn't fail either one, and so I don't know what those dollar amounts were. At any rate, the reason people (we) are trying to recruit other agents is two-fold.

First, the company has devised a pay structure such that they make it a win-win situation for someone like me to recruit, train and develop quality people in a financial services career. People who are negative about this idea seem to have a closed mind and think it's a Pyramid Scheme "Thing" of sorts. What they neglect to realize though, is that the same idea is and has always been used in other financial services type industry, where a Broker has an office and hires agents to work for him or her. The structure is referred to as an Override structure. Let's take Real Estate for Example. A Real Estate Broker has an office, and every time one of his agent sells a home, he splits the sales commission with the agent because he has trained and developed the agent and also must pay the overhead on the office and risk his own butt for being the business owner. It is no different here, except that people think it is a thing because of the facts I just stated. They think, you just want me to come and work with you so that you can make money from my efforts. Bingo! But, you are not going to make any money unless someone puts alot of time into training and developing you. Hence, it is a win-win situation. By mean teaching you how to succeed, I would be rewarded. Now, as you get to higher ranks in the company, the percentage of commissions I receive from your sales goes down, while yours goes up. Now, if anyone told you that this is a get rich scheme, then I would tell you the truth that most people do not get rich doing it. What I will tell you is that it is a get rich slowly "scheme" if that is what you want to call it, but the only way that you would get rich doing this type of business, whether it is for this company or any other, is to go into it with the mindset that you will always do the right thing for clients and that you also understand up front that you probably won't make huge numbers your first year or two. Now, there are many rebuttals that I have just finished reading saying that my company is a ripoff, but it seems as though to me that they are just hastily making assumptions based on their experience with some overzealous agent that probably had the people skills of an 8th grader.

The second reason that we want to recruit is to grow our sales force to replace as many of these cash value life insurance policies that the unethical insurance companies keep selling to help their pocket books while hurting consumers. They are really the unethical people in the financial services industry, but try to convince people that we are the unethical "part timers". They are just upset that we are taking millions of dollars out of their pockets and putting it back into the consumers pockets where it belongs for their own retirements, not some scum cash value insurance salesman's pocket. We are part time to start, because our commission is very small on Term Insurance, while they can be full time because they recieve a huge commission on selling cash value life insurance.

Now, for Pauls argument. He claims first off that about 100% of recruited Primerica Reps quit because its "nonsense" as he called it. He claims that all the "good" jobs stay filled up because people don't quit jobs that pay well. Well, my argument to that is that I am quitting my "well paying job" in three weeks. I am educated with a bachelors degree in electrical engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo 1997. I work in Rancho Cordova for a company that manufactures elevator control systems. I've been in this corporate America ratrace for 8 years now, now at a meager pay of $63,000 per year. Some people may think that is a good salary, but I know I am worth a lot more than I am being paid. The other thing that Paul doesn't understand is that this is a business, not a job. If he understood that, then he would understand that you must have a different mindset as a business owner than you do with a job. People with jobs are told where to be, what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and told not to ask why. Successful business people have tenacity and can self start, don't need to be told to get up in the morning and work, they just do it and do so effectively. To me, Paul sounds like a negative person who has low self esteem, and doesn't really have the sense to be able to educate himself. If he really did educate himself, he would find that Primerica Reps are trying to help middle income American families become debt free and financially independant and make it to retirement with some wealth built up, and along the way we are trying to recruit key quality people to help us with that mission. The recruiting we do is no different than any other company - all companies recruit to build their businesses. I happen to work with one of the best Primerica Reps in the country here in Sacramento, and he is keen on making sure everybody stays compliant with all laws both state and federal, and above all, his motto is that we will always do the right thing for families by putting the interest of the clients first, and he is instilling that motto into the people who didn't learn that from their parents. Now, that isn't to say, that no one in our company will ever be a rogue and do unethical things like put their interests (usually money driven) in front of the customers - but they don't last long in this company. The company will fire them, and if it has something to do with fiduciary things, they will most likely end up in jail. Now, I could go on with some other things about Pauls lack of knowledge with regards to insurance, but I am tired of Paul.

Next, there is Al from Fort Worth - Again, he is also ignorant for the statements he made. No one is promising anybody any dollar amounts. They are just showing what is possible to be made. No one told you it would be easy, did they? Anyway, he is just talking out of his rear end because he could never do the work that it would take to earn a $100k income here or anywhere else probably, because he has the mediocre mentality syndrome. He talks about the fact that you know just as much about finances as Primerica People, because he's scared that some guy tried to sell him something that maybe that particular person knew less about than he did, but he will generalize everyone who is an agent and say we don't know anything about finances. He's an ignoramus.

For the last guy, Huy, he thinks that just because he works in the financial services industry that his company is going to do better things for clients than Primerica Reps. He might personally be an ethical guy. But, he too is being ignorant for stereotyping the people who work for primerica as unethical for working there. What he fails to realize is that it is the life insurance companies that sell whole life and all the other non-fixed life insurance policies have a cash value component attached to them that are hurting consumers come retirement time. If you haven't heard Primerica's slogan before, it is "Buy Term and Invest the Difference", which is exactly what all the leading investment people in the papers and talk radio shows say is the right thing to do. When you invest the difference and then some, you actually own the money that is in the investment, and don't have to "borrow" your own money, or pay your own money back either. And when you run the spreadsheets comparing the two, ours always beats any cash value policy hands down. So how can you people come up with this crap that we are not doing the best things for the people who have been sold this type of stuff to get it replaced ASAP before the consumers end up broke at retirement. Get friggin real. I am beginning to think you have a brain the size of a peanut.

i work in the financial industry as well. ethically i am not suppose to bad mouth any insurance company regardless of how bad they are, so i really can't say much but i can i tell you my first hand experience. first off 200 is about right. it should be for a life and health course that is a week long. that is just for the course, not license. you got to take a state test in oder to get the license. i dont know exactly how much it is to get the license because my company paid for that. with the license you can sell more than "term". you can sell all life products that are fixed.

one thing i truly advise you to do before you decide to sign up with primerica is to find out their products. i say that because i have heard a lot of complaints. and also when u start in this career your first 20 or so sales are from family and friends. which means potentially you are screwding your family and friends first. those are the last people you want to disown you =) i have seen first hand, fanancial advisors from dumb companies lose their family and friendship.... often time you can't blame the financial advisor because they don't know that they are doing wrong because they are inexperience and gullible.

i think this is a great career but its not meant for everyone. if you truly think you can sale then give it try but please do your research first. there are actually a few good companies out there...

oh yeah one more thing...my high school drop out friend was recruited by primerica. this guy had an iq of a peanut. i know for a fact i wouldnt let this guy handle my money....

You need to run away from these people trust me, I was once apart of this crap. They pull you in with all these promises of 100K a year, and all their canned bullshit lies. Believe me Paul is right you would make a lot more just taking an extra shift then wasting what little money you have with this primerica bullshit, and as far as the license, you can go to the local library and check the book out for free, and just pay the 40-60 dollars for the exam.

As for the "training" at primerica it's a joke, let me state this again IT'S A JOKE!!! All you will be taught to do is go out and recruit, recruit, recruit to pump more bodies into the pyramid. there is no education at primerica just the hard reality that you got scammed into a pyramid scheme company with piss poor products to sell to people who don't want to buy from you because of primerica's awful reputation.

So please just save yourself some headache, and most of all your money, and just run away from these scam artist their not here to help you just to recruit you, and hope that you have a warm market that they can rape to make a sale and get a little paycheck! If you want a real education go to college, and if you want financial advice go to a real professional, and not some primerica dumbass because you know what Melania they don't know anymore than you do about finances all they know how to do is throw some scripted sales pitch and hope you take.

Take care and best of luck in whatever decision you make.

I don't know exactly what the license costs. Probably around $40. So, at $200, you're not getting any kind of a deal on it. In fact, it looks to me like you're getting cheated.

You work in a restaurant, right? Tell me, what happens if you put out a plate of fresh donuts? Good, jelly-filled donuts. The sign on the plate says free. How long would they last? Hell, they'd be gone in 15 minutes or less.

Same thing with jobs. Good jobs fill up fast. And, they stay filled up. People don't quit something that pays well.

So, why does this primerica nonsense have about a 100% turnover? How good can the job be if everybody keeps quitting?

Here's why they quit. The insurance trash doesn't sell. People don't want it. There are many reasons. They might be happy with the insurance they have now.

One big reason people won't buy the trash is because primerica has one hell of a bad reputation. They scammed so many people with this fake job nonsense that a large part of the country will avoid them at all costs.

But, say that you do get the license and manage to find someone who might buy some insurance. You better hope they never check the internet. Right under primerica is this fraud site. Then, there's another site about primerica fraud. Who the hell is going to buy the insurance after seeing that?

The s**t doesn't sell. If it did, everyone would keep the jobs. They'd be making good money. Instead, the people average $5 an hour. Probably less than you make as a waitress.

You'd make more by taking extra shifts at the restaurant. It pays more than $5 an hour, right?

Of course it sounds so promising. Fraud always does. That's why it's called fraud. They make big promises that they never deliver on.

But, if you're determined, give it a try. After that, you can be another person in a long line of suckers who got taken by this company.

You can learn the easy way, by watching what happens to others. Or, the hard way, by getting cheated yourself.

It's your choice.