However, I have also seen the reports he gets. Frankly, the reports given by Primerica are easier to read and are more to the point.

There are very few companies that actually seek out the middle income families. Primerica is one of the better ones, if not the best, of that bunch of companies. How many will allow an individual or family start investing with $0 and $25/mo? How many will actually teach people how insurance and investments work and what they are meant for? Not many. Many companies believe these things to be to complicated for the average Joe to understand.

I know this is the case from the people I have dealt with. They have a certified adviser or professional money manager. I show them how it works and they get pissed because they feel there got had.

If anyone notices, Primerica, as a company, does not advertise. We are a warm market business. Ideally, we work through referrals, friends, family, and word of mouth.

I will not say Primerica is the only company doing this. But, to my knowledge, AL Williams did start the trend.

You get what you pay for… in this case do you get advice commensurate with the kind of commissions an advisor can make from you? If I don’t have 50,000 liquid, will the full-time advisor — one who keeps up with all the latest news and competing offers — bother with me?

Which (reputable) companies actively seek out low to middle-income earners to offer their services, especially in Canada? And I don’t mean seek through advertising — I mean intentionally seek referrals and contact you. There has to more than Primerica using this approach.

If you did not have income support, is that Primerica’s fault or your own? Primerica is commission only thus, if you don’t sell, you don’t make money. The “dream” is what you make it. You should not have been promised riches and ling is unacceptable for any business.

The concepts that Primerica works under were not created by Primerica, nor AL Williams before it. They are concepts that the industry as a whole developed and Primerica simply choose to use the ones that are best for middle income families.

Regardless of any business opportunity you may go after, any bad debt you may have, or acquired, was caused by your decisions and actions, not by the business you were associated with.

The truest of pipe dreams is believing you will achieve all your dreams by working a job and having someone else control your income. Business Owners and Investors have lifestyles most dream about because most will not put forth the effort to do what is necessary.

Primerica, like many successful businesses, has a system that if worked, pays out. If you did not plug in, work the system, and keep at it, you are guaranteed to fail. Do not blame a system that has proven to work time and time again for your own failure.

This system, on average, produces 10-20 new 100k+ earners every month and about 2-5, if not more, new millionaire’s every year. The system works.

Those that cannot run a business, deserve to have a job and an average life. Those that want more out of life, must go above and beyond, become a business owner and an investor, and make money work for them instead of working for money.

I wish you luck in what ever you choose to do. Just remember, you are where your actions and choices have brought you. If you are unhappy with were you are at, it is your own fault and no one else.

I actually work for a Canadian Bank. All Canadian Banks all took their hit last summer but they are now in a pretty good situation (most of them).

And as I previously mentioned, I don’t mean to bash anybody, I just try to report the 2 sides of the same coin. I would have deleted several comments if I wanted to have a biased opinion about Primerica on my blog

cheers,

FB.

I think if you dont like marketing practices that is fine, but spending your time giving bad rep for people that work hard to try to make a living,that is not cool.
Anyway take it or leave it that is your choice.
Best regards!

Dear Mike

I just got a phone call from a Primerica recruiter.

You are right with your observations.

Keep up the good work !!

Sincerely

Brian McBreen

It is true that if you hold that relationship with your clients, they will follow you. But with the restaurant, they make the choice to follow, not you taking them with you. My uncle is a perfect case. He was head chef at a 5 star restaurant, management changed and he went to a different place. 90% of the customers followed him there. He was expected to leave them and he did. They choose him though. Needless to say, that restaurant is no longer.

In the end, the point of ownership of your book of business is moot. If you do a great job and keep doing it, they will follow you regardless of which company you go with. Just because you can’t forcibly take them, does not mean they wont follow you.

In essence, it is a franchise system. Most organizations I have seen that allow ownership run life that. That being said, a franchisee is still a business owner, just look at the Bennigin’s fiasco down here. The franchisee’s are putting money together to buy back half the old corporate owned ones.

As a financial planner, I do have a book of clients (that belongs to the bank of course). I manage the book according to what I think its best for my clients (then again with guidelines in the back… as it is the case with any company). If I leave the bank to go independent or for another bank, I have to leave those clients behind me as they are not “mine”.

In the meantime, by giving a great service and taking care of my clients, they will send me referrals and business should become a lot smoother after a few years of work. I can see it with the “older” planners. They don’t have to work much and business is coming in.

I just find that the system is pretty similar on that point of view. However, I clearly understand that you have a lot more flexibility and you have the possibility to manage employee. In the end, I see it more as a franchisee system than pure business ownership.

You are right that the definition is debatable for ownership. I have found in many cases the insurance industry has there own set of definitions for common words. For Primerica, ownership is in terms of the business it self, not the client base.

If you owned restaurants, shopping malls, hotels, etc. And you sold them to create something new, would you still keep the same clientele or would you have to build it fresh again?

From the client prospective, if you change companies every so often (once every 5 to 10 years), they may just decide to stay where they are at because you changed. They could look at it as a sign that you are not committed to seeing everything through and your just using them for a nice commission. Not saying that is true, just a possible thought.

My background varies as much as the stock market, I do have a business background. From that perspective, Primerica RVPs do receive ownership of their business. From the financial services industry prospective, they do not.

Hopefully with this comment we can put that matter to rest.