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7 Responses to “ What About Mutual Funds at Primerica? ”

1. # 1 V Says:
   July 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pm

   What about Primerica Common Sense Seg Funds? What do you have to say about these?

   Primerica Common Sense: Asset Builder II

   Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total %
   2008 0 0.1 0 0 –
   2007 1.1 1.1 1.9 0 4.1
   2006 4.2 -3.2 4.5 5.3 10.8
   2005 2 3.7 5.7 2.3 13.7
   2004 4.4 -1.1 1.5 5.1 9.9
   2003 -4 9.4 2.8 7.1 15.3
   2002 1.4 -5.4 -5.2 3.2 -6
   2001 -5.8 0.6 -2.4 6.2 -1.4
   2000 1.5 6.8 5.9 0 14.2
   1999 -0.6 -0.3 -5 2.4 -3.5
   1998 6.5 1.6 -8.9 9.6 8.8
   1997 2.5 8.9 8.6 4.6 24.6
   1996 -0.3 4.1 4.4 12.3 20.5
   1995 4.2 4 2.3 3.6 14.1
   1994 0 -1.8 4.6 0.8 3.6

   Primerica Common Sense: Asset Builder III

   Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total %
   2008 -1.6 0.7 0 0 –
   2007 1.1 1.6 1.6 0.2 4.5
   2006 5.1 -4.2 5.5 6.6 13
   2005 2.9 4 7.9 3.6 18.4
   2004 4.4 -0.6 1.5 5.8 11.1
   2003 -4.5 10.7 3.4 8.5 18.1
   2002 1.7 -6.5 -7.5 3.6 -8.7
   2001 -7.1 1.1 -3.8 7.7 -2.1
   2000 1.8 7.1 6.4 -0.8 14.5
   1999 -0.5 0 -5.8 3.9 -2.4
   1998 6.9 2 -11.5 11.5 8.9
   1997 3.2 9.7 8.8 4.9 26.6
   1996 0.3 4.9 4.1 12.8 22.1
   1995 3.6 3.4 2.2 3.2 12.4
   1994 0 -2 4.7 0.8 3.5

   Primerica Common Sense: Asset Builder IV
   Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
   2008 -2.4 0.8 0 0
   2007 1.1 2 1.5 0 4.6
   2006 5.5 -4.5 5.8 7.4 14.2
   2005 2.7 4.1 8.4 3.9 19.1
   2004 4.3 -0.6 1.3 6.1 11.1
   2003 -4.4 10.8 3.2 8.7 18.3
   2002 1.4 -6.8 -7.8 3.7 -9.5
   2001 -7.2 1.2 -4.2 8 -2.2
   2000 0.8 8 6.7 -1.2 14.3
   1999 -0.5 0.7 -5.8 4.9 -0.7
   1998 7.2 1.7 -13.2 12.5 8.2
   1997 3.6 9.6 8.5 4.4 26.1
   1996 0.5 5 3.9 13 22.4
   1995 3.4 3 2.2 2.7 11.3
   1994 0 -1.1 4.4 0.7 4

   Primerica Common Sense: Asset Builder V

   Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
   2008 -2.7 –
   2007 1.2 2.3 1.4 -0.2 4.7
   2006 5.9 -4.4 5.4 7.7 14.6
   2005 2.8 3.8 8.7 3.7 19
   2004 4.5 -0.3 1.2 6.1 11.5
   2003 -4.5 10.9 3.2 9 18.6
   2002 1.5 -6.8 -7.7 3.7 -9.3
   2001 -7.3 1.1 -4 7.7 -2.5
   2000 0.3 8.3 6.8 -1.5 13.9
   1999 -0.4 1.1 -5.8 5.5 0.4
   1998 7.1 1.4 -13.9 13 7.6
   1997 3.6 10.2 8.5 4.1 26.4
   1996 0.6 5 3.8 12.8 22.2
   1995 3.7 3.3 2.2 3 12.2
   1994 0 -0.9 3.9 0.4 3.4

   *Data delivered straight from Morningstar.ca.
   If you calculate the average total return (since each of these funds began), you will see that they ALL have of them have 10% rates of return. Not only that, but these seg funds have a GUARANTEE!! When you invest in Primerica Common Sense funds, when your investment matures, you are guaranteed to get back 75% of what you put into it. so there’s virtually no risk of loosing your nest egg.

   Come on people… Primerica is CLEARLY the real deal. It truly is the ONLY company that is teaching the average person how to retire wealthy, get out debt, and have the right type of insurance (not mortgage insurance, not whole life or U/L).

2. # 2 The Financial Blogger Says:
   July 10th, 2008 at 1:25 pm

   V;
   Those funds seem pretty solid to me because
   #1 they are SEG funds and their capital is guaranteed (75% in this case I presume)
   #2 they exist for more than 10 years and saw more than 1 economy cycle
   #3 their average returns seems pretty good, especially for Seg funds
   #4 the fluctuation is not too bad as well.

   Thx for bringing these funds up

   As for your last comment where Primerica is the only company making their client wealthy and getting them out of debt, I would just ask you how come they don’t own 90% of the insurance, investment and credit market? Come one, they are not the only one

3. # 3 V Says:
   July 10th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

   lol. Because we’ve only been in business for 30 years! (20 in Canada) The insurance/finance industry is probably one of the oldedst industries on the planet. They have been taking advantage of people for sooooo long. You don’t expect Primerica to come in on it’s White Horse and change everything in a matter of 30 years do you?

   We’ve already become the largest marketer of term life insurance in north america. In Canada, we just surpassed investors group as the largest independant market of mutual funds in the country. We basicaly revolutionized the ife insurance industry (with regards to the permanent life insurance philosophy vs buy term & invest the rest). As I mentioned already in a previous blog, we have created more 100K+ earning individuals that any other company on the planet (to my knowledge).

   I’d say that’s pretty extraordinary. If you were comparing companies in terms of what they have accomplished over their life time, who they have helped along the way, what is the top income bracket in that company (and more importantly, how MANY people are listed in that bracket), what are the pay-outs/overhead costs etc, I’m pretty sure Primerica would be ranked among the best.

   We have virtuall no overhead, the company has a goal to pay out 1 Billion dollars (in total combined income) to the sales force. What company do you know is trying to figure out ways to pay out that kind of money to it’s employees, and increase it year by year?

   I mean… I could go on and on about the legendary status of this company. And speak factual information. But there’s always too sides to the coin. In my opinion, it seems as though you are continualy looking at the “other” side. Which, quite frankly, is pretty meaningless….

   I say (and morningstar says) Primerica has great funds, you say “yea but.” I say, Primerica has turned more people into 100K+ earners than any other company (which I can’t verfiy, but I would like to see which company has more) and you say “yea but most people won’t make it, or most people quit.” I say (and the experts say) that primerica has been marketing term insurance since day one, doing the right thing for people (fact). You say “yea but NOW all the other companies are marketing term insurance.” < even though they still sell the other crap (whole life).

   Think about it, imagine an industry that created a product that was good for the company, and bad for consumers. Imagine a company that used the money consumers paid (for the product) and used that money to pay agents commission. Imagine a company that sold a life insurance policy to a client and then when the client dies, they say “all that money that you were accruing in your “cash surrender value, belongs to us.” And then you found out that they could have sold you a term policy for less, and you could have invested the difference in Primerica Common Sense Funds over the last 10+ years and earned triple what they other company was quoting you? And then, after 100’s of years, this company turns around and says “we’re sorry, we made a mistake” we’re going to sell term insurance now…….

   If Primerica isn’t the only company making a difference, then who is? Name 5 other companies that stood up for something. And not just anything, I’m talking about a company that corrected someting that an entire industry was doing wrong (affecting the consumer). These companies should must be headed by someone with integrity. Someone who knew nothing about the industry that he was about to take over. Art Willams was a FOOTBALL COACH. No finance background! And look what he had built in 30 years.

   are you serious right now? C’mon…. If you constantly look at the down side or the short comings in life, you will never do what it takes to succeed at anything. You see the glass as half empty, especially when it comes to this great company. If you read/watched “The Secret” you would know that people get exactly what they want out of life. This is DOCUMENTED down to a molecular science.

   Financial Blogger, start looking at the positive side of what Primerica has accomplished!There is too much positive information to ignore. Hating on Primerica is like hating Oprah! Who does that? lol

   V

4. # 4 JCB Says:
   August 7th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

   Good afternoon Financial Blogger,
   I stumbled across your website because I am a new Primerica representative and I was trying to find out a little bit more about the company that I have just signed on with. I must say that some of your comments, and those of your readers, have given me some food for thought and a few questions to ask my trainer and RVP next time we get together.

   However, based upon my limited exposure to the company, I must say that I have to come down on the side of Primerica’s proponents on many of the issues that have been brought up about the company. Let me preface this by stating that I am pretty skeptical about the company still. As with most people, the whole pyramidal nature of sales overrides does make me question the legitimacy of the sales structure.

   That being said, all of my experiences with the company thus far have been very positive. I have been shocked to see so many descriptions of people arriving at Primerica overview meetings and being met with an immediate demand to furnish contacts and to sign up or get out. The only contact list that I have been asked to come up with is for my own personal benefit, in order to give me an idea of who I might be able to go to in order to begin my business. No one at Primerica has requested that list from me, nor have they even so much as requested a phone number of anyone on my contact list. My RVP has been very involved in my training, and since he has a PhD. in Finance Economics, I don’t believe that anyone could say that he is unqualified to be training me. It is true that I will not get paid for any sales that are done during my training sessions, but to my mind this makes sense, since it is my trainer, not myself, who is doing the presentation and I am just along for the ride.

   I will admit that the presentation given at the company overview is highly motivational and is tailored to appeal on more of an emotional level than on a logical, intellectual level. Again, this is sales, so that makes sense to me. In my experience, 90% of sales are emotionally driven rather than logically based. The advantage with Primerica is that the sales done in the company truly does benefit the customer, as well as the agent making the sale. It is true that Primerica may not be the absolute best in every category of every product that it offers, but is there any highly diversified company that accomplishes this goal? Usually, the top contender in any category is going to be a company that focuses exclusively on that category. Since Primerica’s goal as an organization is to act as a full service financial brokerage, they try to offer a broad assortment of products that will meet the needs of the people the company is trying to help. Jack of all trades, master of none. I’d say that characterizes Primerica fairly well. However, that being said, even though they may not be number one, I would say that Primerica is probably in the top ten percent of companies in each of the areas in which it provides services. In some areas, it is rapidly rising towards the top, such as in its refinancing of mortgages. To my knowledge, Primerica is one of the only companies in the country that offers personal refinancing of mortgages that is not hurting because of the sub-prime mortgage market meltdown. This is because they offer a decent product with no frills, and hidden surprises. Again, I would say that this characterizes the majority of products that Primerica offers.

   It is true that sales overrides are one of the easiest ways to make money in the company, and that because of this, recruiting is a major focus of many of the offices. I would have to say that this is the area that makes me the most uncomfortable with the company. I do believe that in order to recruit others, the person recruiting should have a good idea of what they are doing and what kind of company they are recruiting people in to. To this end, I have decided not to recruit anyone until I have obtained my Life Insurance licensing and have been with the company for at least 3 months. If I’m going to recruit people into the company, I want to make certain that I can give my word that what I am recruiting them into is good and that it works.

   However, I think that this highlights another of the excellent things about the company: the freedom to handle your business how you want, within certain limits of course. Though it is recommended to me to recruit others, I have shared my concerns with my RVP, and he is completely supportive of the decision I have made not to recruit until I am more sure of the company.

   Unfortunately, some people abuse that freedom and operate their Primerica businesses in ways that most people would consider unscrupulous. This is a very unfortunate reality of the world in which we live. Any time freedom exists, unscrupulous people will exist to take advantage of it. Show many any large corporation that does not have unscrupulous people in it, and I will buy their product 100% of the time. Show me any corporation whose profit making focus is entirely sales based that does not have a lot of unscrupulous people working for them, and I will buy whatever they are selling. I don’t think these problems are unique to Primerica, and I think that people within Primerica are aware of the problems that do exist. This past Tuesday night I met a woman who left an office where she was on a 200 person team and moved to the office at which I am working because she felt that the way things were run at the old office was unacceptable.

   However, I would say that this is the fault of the individuals, not the fault of the company. My RVP is personal friends with A.L. Williams, the gentleman who founded Primerica, and as V stated above, Primerica was founded in the beginning to help people who were being taken advantage of by large insurance companies. What V did not mention is that one of the primary motivations for Mr. Williams to do this, is that when he was a child, his family was taken advantage of by one of these companies, and when his father died with a whole life policy barely able to cover the costs of his funeral, he learned that the agent who had sold his family the policy could have sold them a term policy for the same price that would have helped his family through the loss of their primary provider. As he got older, he learned that this failing was not unique to his family’s agent, but was standard practice in large insurance companies. Thus, Primerica. Though I do agree that Primerica has lost the claim to exclusivity in its business practices, I do believe that the company as a whole, and many of the individuals in the company (myself included) are genuinely interested in helping people become financially secure.

   Another complaint that people make is that Primerica is not really interested in helping people, since the agents and the company itself make commission off of the sales that we perform under the auspices of “helping others.” I think that this complaint is one of the more ludicrous that I have seen. Is it simply not possible to help others and make money at the same time? I don’t think so. Primerica is a business, not a charity, so making money is one of the goals. However, I think the business model of Primerica is unique (at least in my experience). Before any sales attempts are even made, a Primerica representative will furnish the client with a fairly complex Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) that provides strategies for families to get out of debt and start saving/investing for their future. What makes this unique is that Primerica charges the client absolutely nothing for this Financial Needs Analysis. The way Primerica makes its money is that, after presenting the FNA to the client, the agent offers them the financial vehicles they need to make the FNA a reality. However, the client is under no obligation to buy. They can take the FNA, take the advice it gives them, and use the products of any other company to make it a reality. How does the consumer lose in this arrangement?

   Going back to the company overview, one of the common complaints that I have heard about Primerica is that the sales overview makes it sound as if making money at Primerica is easy. It could very well be possible that in some Primerica offices, this is the way that it is presented. However, in my experience, this is not the case. At the company overviews I have attended, my RVP gets in front of the audience and says straight out that this business is not easy. He says it is very hard work. What he says is that the business is simple, and I agree that it is, since all you really have to do is present the financial data to the customer and let them make up their mind.

   As for allowing people with no advanced education to handle the sales aspect of the company, I do not see how Primerica differs from any other company. Every Primerica representative must pass the same State certified examinations to obtain their licenses as the representatives from other companies. They must complete the same number of training hours each period to retain their licenses. I have been told that I am not even allowed to mention Insurance or Securities products until I have been properly licensed, so I do not believe that this is a fair accusation to make against the company. In addition to the required training hours for the licensing, my office also offers classes twice a week in order to further my education.

   Finally, in the research that I have done online, every single complaint or accusation that I have seen leveled at Primerica has been from some one who signed up to work as a representative or attended a company overview and did not like the experience. I have yet to see one complaint from a Primerica customer who has been dissatisfied with the company. Again, as with most companies, I am sure there are consumer complaints, but these seem to be far fewer that those of disgruntled ex-employees.

   Thanks so much for your time. Sorry to ramble on like this, but it was actually very helpful for me to clarify some of the thoughts and doubts that I had about the company.

   In closing, I love your blog, and you have definitely gotten yourself another loyal reader. Thanks so much!

5. # 5 V Says:
   August 8th, 2008 at 10:50 am

   ahh, Mr. Blogger..

   Guess who’s back!!?

   You know what, since my first post on your blog, there has been an explosion of posts about Primerica… something like double the posts that were there before our initial conversations.. I can’t help but feel somewhat responsible for that! lol.

   FB, I think you owe me some overides! Forget Primerica, break me off with some of that advertising money man! I swear, I won’t tell anyone. lol

   But seriously, all jokes aside. I have some questions for you about mutual funds. Completely unrelated to Primerica, well not really:

   Here goes.
   I hear a lot of people talking about the turnover ratio in mutual funds. How exactly does the buying (and more specifically) the selling of funds by clients, affect the overall performance of a mutual fund.

   Another concern of mine is the whole issue surrounding MERs and fees associated with mutual funds. If my fund is reporting a 10% rate of return, isn’t that After the 1.5% or 2.3% MER has been deducted? Meaning, if a fund reports 10% rate of return it really did 12 %or 13% before fees were deducted? The reason I ask is because, if my fund is averaging 10% after fees, why do I care about the fees? 10% is 10%. Ultimately, that is the goal I am concerned with - hitting 10% or better on my overall performance. So, even if the MER was 5%, if the fund is averageing 10% over a 20 year period, should I really care?

   Cheers,

   V

6. # 6 The Financial Blogger Says:
   August 8th, 2008 at 7:53 pm

   Hey V,

   I am almost glad to see you around just joking!

   Actually, you brought a lot of life on my Primerica Series Thx a lot!

   In regards to your question. I think it worth a whole post. I’m working on it and I will prepare and answer for next week.

   Cheers,

   FB.

7. # 7 Bookmarks about Optimal Says:
   August 26th, 2008 at 12:45 am

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