Complaint Review: Tenacity Financial Services and Jay Gauthier Jr. - San Dimas CA

I am complaining about Tenacity Financial Services at 1200 N. San Dimas Canyon Rd., San Dimas, CA 91773.  Tenacity Financial is a branch office of World Financial Group (WFG) as I found out later.  The owners of Tenacity are Jay Gauthier, Jr., and Veronica ("Ronnie") Gauthier. 

I joined Tenacity Financial in 2018.  I had been invited to a Money Seminar, which turned out to be a recruiting event.  Some Tenacity agents refer to the event as Money Seminar; others just call it Business Presentation Meeting (BPM).  We arrived at about 9:00 AM.

I was guided to a room to mingle with Tenacity agents.  The pre-event is called Mo-Zone.  After Mo-Zone, someone gave a scripted introduction, whereupon I was led to the presentation room.  The presentation didn't cover much about how money works but more about how much money you can make at Tenacity Financial.  I then paid $100 for a background check which never happened.

We received my agent code.  What follows is a bullet-point summary of what is going on there:

1. Agents are asked over and over again to recruit, recruit, recruit.  During weekly meetings and at events, we were told that recruiting is the name of the game.  We received scripts, and were asked to recruit at malls, restaurants, on the street, at church, on Social Media and wherever else.

2. Mr. Gauthier told us numerous times to jump into our cars, all leaving at the same time, to pick up phone numbers within 10 minutes.  If we don't come back with a number, we won't be allowed in the building.  Tenacity agents jumped into their cars, disregarding and violating every traffic law there is. 

3. Mr. Gauthier expects his agents to sign up for what he calls Elite Circle.  Elite Circle is an 8-week boot camp to learn the ins and outs of the business.  The boot camp is just a collection of PowerPoint slides, maybe a guest speaker here and there, and the topic is mostly about recruiting, selling the dream etc.

4. Everything at Tenacity costs money.  The Elite Circle in #3 costs about $300 per person.  With 80-90 participants, that's $24K to $27K.  Mr. Gauthier claims he's still in the negative.  The question is, where does the money go since the PowerPoint doesn't change from year to year.  ALL money is paid in cash.

Mr. Gauthier expects advancing agents to rent office space in the Tenacity building.  Tenacity is a lease space, and Mr. Gauthier sublets for $400-$800 per office.  We pay our rent in ALL cash.

Mr. Gauthier pressures his agents to sign up for quarterly and annual events.  Quarterly events are about $100; the annual convention is about $300 (not including hotel etc).  Fees are paid in ALL cash,

5. The business is not really a business.  Agents give a scripted presentation to clients.  Mr. Gauthier tells his agents what the words of the business are, and how to get little Yes answers from clients.  The entire presentation appeals to people's dreams for the purpose of selling them an IUL.

Tenacity agents don't even understand how the IUL works.  Mr. Gauthier's wife, Veronica Gauthier, is Series 6&63 licensed.  She does not even interject when people push for the IUL or make misrepresentations like, "Cash value accumulation is all tax free.  You'll get a big fat retirement at 65." 

Tenacity agents, per Mr. Gauthier's instructions, over-fund IUL policies by 15-25%.  Agents tell clients to pay higher premiums to keep the policy in place even during hard times (e.g. loss of job).  The real reason is to earn more commission.  Uplines (and ultimately Mr. Gauthier) gets an overwrite (i.e. the spread).

Tenacity agents tell people they cannot touch their money for 15 years.  Tenacity agent Mr. Elson Mills even tells people he won't let them touch their money even after 15 years.  He instructs the agents on his team to ignore client requests for withdrawals and policy cancellations.

Tenacity agents claim to set up a financial plan for their clients.  That's false.  The financial plan is not a plan, but an illustration of how the IUL supposedly works for them.  No one explains anything about fees, costs, and/or potential risks.  No one does a risk analysis.  No one follows the needs of the client.  For example, if a client wants to retire at age 55, the Tenacity agent still builds an IUL with premiums paid to age 65.  No one does what the client wants and/or needs.

6. Tenacity does not provide any legal updates.  Mr. Gauthier, as he himself says over and over again, does not believe in education.  In his words, education is for dumb people.  Thus, Tenacity agents have outdated information (e.g. no one cares about IRA law changes).

7. Mr. Gauthier does not follow Compliance regulations, DOL regulations, or other relevant laws.  He tells certain agents, such as Mr. Frank Vidal, Elias Castro, Alexandra Sanchez, to hire an assistant for as little as $100 a week.  He doesn't seem to understand that doing so creates an employment relationship.  He instructs them not to report anything.

Mr. Gauthier has an assistant himself, Ms. Sherri Cubangbang.  I don't see any required DOL posters in his office.  There's no accurate time keeping, job description, or anything that a regular business has in place.

8. How do you make money at Tenacity?  The focus isn't so much on servicing clients.  The focus is on recruiting and internal consumption.  All agents are expected to set up a Transamerica, Nationwide, or Pacific Life IUL.  All agents are expected to set up what Mr. Gauthier refers to as the Legacy Plan: An IUL, an Everest Policy, and an LTC rider. 

This is what every recruit goes through: BPM, $100 "background fee," a 2-hour Orientation where the recruiting agents explain the Top 25 list (a list of phone numbers from family/friends for field training -- the real purpose is to sell to friends/family), and a "needs analysis" for the recruit to open his/her own IUL.

Commission ladder: Training associates get 30%, Associates get 45%, Marketing Directors get 62%, and Senior Marketing Directors get 80%.  From Training Associate to Associate: 3 recruits and 3 policy sales (i.e. IULs) within 30 days.  From Associate to Marketing Director: 40,000 points and 5 licensed agents on your team within a rolling 3 months.  From Marketing Director to Senior Marketing Director: Mr. Gauthier has a list of 10 requirements (WFG only has 3 requirements).

It all boils down to this: Recruit, recruit, recruit and internal consumption.