Comparing Primerica To Other Companies
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| Does Primerica has a commercial advantage?
According to their sales pitch, they do. If I sit down and I listen blindly to what they have to tell me, they will explain that they are not there for the money (but will be bragging later on that they are making 6 figures by working teens hours) since they really care about people. They want to help out people with their debts and bring them to a better financial position. They pretend that you only need term insurance and that the rest of the products are useless. Therefore, they don’t sell any (or so they say, because I heard they have them too). The truth is that if you sit down with another company, they will more likely tell you that they place the client in the center of their business. Their goal is to meet their clients need. Well duh, Have you ever heard somebody saying that his main goal is to sell a low cost product at the highest price no matter what the client wants? Seriously! All that to say that any personal finance oriented company will consider their client as their core of business. It is crucial to build a network and survive in this world. Primerica says they are there to help, some proclaim that they are providing clients with professional help, other will explain that their goal is to keep their clients as happy as a rabbit in a garden. In fact, Primerica does not have a commercial advantage compared to other companies. The truth is that if a client google Primerica compared to most companies prior to the meeting, the Primerica agent will have a hard time selling anything! Can you build your own business within another company than Primerica? Primerica is advertising the “build your own business” model. It is up to each agent to create their own office and run their own business with their own employees and their own clients. Most companies in the personal financial field does not offer this “opportunity”. If you want to manage employees, you can become a “team leader” or a “director”. Those positions are still commission based but since you are also a recruiter for the firm, they will pay you a commission on your team’s sale in addition to your own. You also have the possibility to go higher up in the company and become a regular salary based employees. In fact, Primerica is more or less supporting the same system. They office that you “own” is rented and show the Primerica banner. “Your employees” are self employed / commission based employees that are totally independent. Finally, “your clients” belong to Primerica. In their contract, it is clearly stated that if you leave Primerica, you are leaving your clients to Primerica as well. Hum, to me it sounds more like a franchise than anything else. What is so different in their commission structure? If you want to meet with clients, write financial plans and close deals, Primerica is definitely not for you. You do not really have to write financial plans since everything is populated from the Primerica system. And when you close deals, you are making less money than you would with any other company. Commission rates are very low since you have three other people on top of you that will eat a part of the cake you just bake. These individuals have to be receive money from somewhere. Guess what, Primerica is not giving a penny to them, you are financing their “team leader”, “regional director”, “VP” position. So unless you want to become a full time recruiter, the commission structure is much better with other companies. And if you recruit people, you have to convince them to sell with under paid commissions. Sounds like a real challenge, isn’t? Please let me know your comments, and once again, I encourage Primerica advisor to explain what I am missing in the system. |
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hehehe!
November 28th, 2007 at 10:13 am
This reply is to your opinions above. Obviously you have never engaged into the company or any aother financial company as you have missed the entire business building approach on two areas. First you can not compare other insurance companies and their intentions of their agents unless you have actually done it yourself. First area is products. Of course you can make bigger commissions with other companies because if they sell Whole Life or Universal life products they are gouging the middle income earner which represents 86% of Canadian Households. That is backed up by the Vanier report of Jan. 2006. The crusade that Primerica has on the insurance industry is buy term and invest the difference. Buying insurance at the lowest cost compared to having a savings plan inside your life insuranceis the best value for the consumer. By the way for your knowledge in those two plans if you want your money that you have paid into the plan, you borrow it from the insurance company at anywhere from 4-8%. IT IS YOUR MONEY!
Second this is a business building approach that if you learn your craft and and can teach a person to do your craft you are creating a team and yes you will override. All businesses override including all other insurance or financial companies. It does take on a franchise way of earning money , what wrong with that? Are you telling me that all real estate offices are bad. They operate in the same manner. Also let me point out this FACT, Primerica is the ONLY company to have more 6 figure income earners than any other company in the world. I will give you this though, as in any other business that operates on the globe, there are good reps and there are bad reps. There are people who make a lot of money and there are people who do not, but the point is our mission statement remains true, we only do what is best for the client. Maybe I suggest you sit down with an Regional Vice President and go over the total process before you come out with opinion. Notice that I said a regional Vive President and not someone who just joins or someone who does not generate any income in the business. The real challenge is is finding good , hard working individules who want to get a license and talk to people. Find a succesfull RVP and they will take you under their wing and teach what is best for the client. One last jab at your statement is that every business recruits through temp agencies or companies that have people screen resumes and pass onto the companies Human Resources.
You can work for someone or you can have income come to you in different streams through Debt Management, Insurance needs, or investment commissions. We use the same professional investment companies as every other financial company out there so again I express to you, go do some more homework and get your facts straight.
December 2nd, 2007 at 2:49 pm
Dear Sandy,
I was expecting this kind of comment after writing so much about Primerica. However, if you read carefully my series, I am not trying to kill Primerica or say it is a bad company, all I am saying is that it is not as beautiful as what it seems. And it is not the case only for Primerica, several other companies pretend that they will give you the world if you work with (for) them. I am just trying to make things clear.
You are asking me to do my homework and revise my knowledge before I write on my blog. Maybe you could do the same in regards multiple usage of a CSV line of credit in a wealth management plan. Universal or Whole life insurance policies have their utility for wealthy people. I will not explain it as you may want to do your homework as well.
By the way, Primerica is not the only company selling term insurance, you did not invent the product. And yes, if you sell a term insurance with another company than Primerica, you will earn a bigger commission. You might have forget this part as several people working for Primerica seem to be completely brainwashed by the company mindset.
Let me quote a part of your comment:
“Also let me point out this FACT, Primerica is the ONLY company to have more 6 figure income earners than any other company in the world.”
There are 2 things in this quote that bug me. You want to point out a fact, but you do not advance any numbers. Where is the fact? Where did you get that information? Maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong, but simply pretending that Primerica has the more 6 figures income earners on the planet is pretty easy to write!
The second thing is that working for a company that (supposedly) has the more 6 figures income earners doest not mean anything for ones personal situation. I look at more than a thousand files per year and I can tell you that I found millionaires in almost every work fields. There are obviously engineers, doctors and lawyers, but there are also teachers, metal shop worker and graphic designers. I you love what you do and you work hard enough, you can make money everywhere. Than again, I really would like to see some decent source of information showing Primerica as the best place to by in term of income.
I know financial consultants that are making 7 figures income. However, it does not mean that they all make it. Actually, most of them (in the whole industry) are starving to death. This is the honest truth about what is going on in this field.
I actually write this series to make people understand that working for Primerica will not make you rich within 3 years working 20 hours a week as it is presented by the company.
Sandy, I do not know if you read my other post regarding Primerica but I one of them I explain that I got most of my information from one of my friend who is a Regional Director at Primerica and will probably declared VP within another year. He tried to recruit me and we discuss several times for long hours. In the end, if I would be a financial advisor, I would not chose Primerica simply because they pay less than the other companies.
January 31st, 2008 at 6:08 pm
Last night, my husband & I met with friends of ours, a husband & wife, for dinner & their ‘presentation’ of Primerica. Prior to our engagement, I knew nothing of the company. As soon as we returned home, I googled Primerica to read some reviews to get a better scope of things.
After reading several blogs, I’ve decided that becoming employed in the company probably isn’t the route for us. However, I’m still trying to figure out what exactly, if anything, we should be interested in doing as far as debt consolidation & savings as a client through Primerica. Is there anything that those of you with several years in the company would honestly recommend or that is worth doing through Primerica rather than anywhere else?
Our friends will be meeting with us tomorrow to begin the FNA (is that right?), but that’s all we have going so far.
Any polite response is welcomed. Thanks!
February 1st, 2008 at 8:03 am
Hi Chris,
when you are about to deal with a Financial Advisor, they will all tell you that they are working for the best company. However, all financial institutions have similar products! The real difference is coming from the advisor himself.
I would suggest to meet with your friend, let him prepare his plan for you and then shop around. No matter what he says, you are not bound to accept his proposition. Meet with more than one financial advisor from different company and then, decided the one that seems to be more trustworthy. Unfortunately, this is always a guessing game. However, by meeting with more than one advisor, you have better chance of finding somebody that will really help you out:-D
March 22nd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
First, let me say that I love Primerica. It is true that PFS is not the only company to underwrite term life insurance. But what else is true is PFS is the only company on the face of this planet that ONLY underwrites term life. ALL other companies underwrite both cash value AND term life insurance. Even if you go to Dave Ramsey and get a quote from his preferred provider, which is Zander Insurance, you are getting quotes from companies who underwrite both types of insurance. The argument between term and cash value was settled years ago. Anyone who recommends, sells, underwrites, or otherwise peddles cash value life insurance is a thief. Even companies who provide term quotes for Dave Ramseys clients through Zander are quilty. I appreciate that Dave Ramsey teaches the correct principle of “buy term and invest the difference”. But he’s sort of sleeping with the enemy, don’t you think? So why Primerica? Because it’s the only life insurance company on the planet that hasn’t sold it’s soul down the river.
One other thing. I talked with a friend recently who has a Roth IRA with an “advisor”. This advisor is charging my friend an extra 1% on top of the normal fees and expenses normally charged by the mutual funds he is investing in. You figure out what 1% less on your rate of return over 30 years will do to your retirement nest egg. This 1% is not charged by PFS Investments on any client. I cannot wring any more commissions out of any of my clients than is already built into the mutual funds they invest in. My friend is pissed off. Wouldn’t you be? So who’s scamming who? It aint PFS!
I lied, one more thing. We preach that for most Americans there are really only 2 places to save money for retirement. The first place is your company provided plan such as your 401(k). Second is in an IRA, preferrably a Roth IRA if you’re still years away from retirement. This isn’t rocket science. If you’re maxing out your 401(k) and your IRA then you will put away $20,500 this year if you’re under age 50. You tell me how many Americans can save more than that? If you’re married and both work it’s $41,000! That’s about 98% of America! If you’re in the other 2%, go hire a CFP. Notice that annuities and life insurance are no part of a savings plan for the 98%. Annuities are only for high income earners who have already maxed out 401(k) and IRA or make too much to contribute. So if you’re one of the 98% and some “financial” guy is trying to put you into a cash value life insurance policy because it’s a great place to “save money’, RUN! If he’s trying to sell you on an annuity, RUN!
So anyway, there’s my ramble.
July 10th, 2008 at 6:00 am
[…] those who know my blog for a while, you know that I am not a big fan of Primerica and its pyramidal structure. For those who are new to this blog, I invite you to visit my Primerica Series including the way […]