I've recently been offered an opportunity to become a Financial Analyst for Primerica, which is a sub-division of CitiGroup. Does anyone have any experience working for or with this company?
Any opinions about the company in general? Its seems like a great deal for someone that is willing to give it 100%, but going from having a regular paycheck to 100% commissions is a bit scary.
I've been in the business for almost 20 years and when I first started training with Prudential I was also attending Al Williams meetings for training purposes, the fore runner to Primerica. Today I neither recommend Prudential or Primerica, especially Primerica. Their product is over priced and "defective" compared to many many many other companies. I could go on and on and on. Run as fast as you can from Primerica. Those people are horribly mislead. The high commissions are paid at the expense of the policy holders. Their agent contract is ridiculously long and highly restrictive, unlike any I've ever seen. Not the normality of the industry. AL Williams started because God talked to Art Williams and told him to replace every permanent life insurance with term insurance. I'm not debating which is better, term or permanent, but both are great products in the right situation sold by a knowledgable agent that is interested doing the right thing. It's not the products which are bad (even though some products out there stink) but it's the agents that misuse the product or are not knowledgable. If you are interested getting in the business, go to Guardian, Massachusetts Mutual, New York Life. They are all reputable companies with good products.
Go in there, ask tough questions, read a bit about finances (like 3-4 best sellers personal finances book) and go to a couple of financal board on popular websites, and you'll find like me, that their bad reputation is unfounded as they putin practice what is recommended.
Mostly people anti-MLM and the competitors bash them.
I agree with Worth that their agent contract is restrictive but with their override commission system it is a good thing from a business standpoint for them and for you.
And while whole life can be sometimes useful, for middle class families, the Primerica market, the "buy TERM life insurance and invest the difference" philosophy is right on 95-98% of the time.
Dont beleive me, them or anyone. Just read books like The Wealthy Barber, Automatic Millionaire, The ABCs of making money. And go to sites like CNNmoney or motleyfool. They all say the same thing. Yet most insurance companies do the opposite for the consumer. You search in the facts, do the math, and make a decision yourself.
Do any of you think that it is strange that they are trying to recruit me yet I have absolutely no background or experience in finance.
"I can tell you financially that Primerica is very successful and has distributors that are making seven figure annual incomes. One of the biggest problems with MLM companies is that they go out of business because of capital issues. You don't have to worry about that with Primerica. The big question is whether it is the right opportunity for you, not if the system works or the company is solid. Be realistic, do your homework, and don't get caught up in the financial dreams pitch that so often goes with selling an MLM venture."
Gordon sums it up well. The thing is though, you can try it out basically risk free, remain part time, and make a bit of money basically helping out people.
The commissions overall are the same as in non MLM financial services companies so the customer isnt robbed by any means. The commissions are simply more spread out on diferent levels in the Primerica override system than in other companies.
People making huge income basically make a tiny bit of money on large volume of sales, instead of other companies where you'll get way bigger commissions, but only on your own personal sales.
Over TIME, a business like Primerica pays more and you get lots of PASSIVE income. It just takes time and lots of effort. While their retention is pityfully low, it still is on par (and even better though I'm not sure) with the rest of the industry. Lets face it: the financial services industry is a tough one. But since there's no quota and you can be part time, you can try it out and see if it fits you.
Like Gordon says, they'll take anyone. If you follow through, you simply expand their distribution network, which is your job descritption there: building your own distribution of financial services through their system. If you dont follow through, well you dont. In a way its win win. They have NOTHING to lose unless you have a truly bad experience and badmouth them, and you can try risk free a business opportunity.
Thank you everyone.
Never look at the money, look at the quality of the product compared to other companies in the industry and you'll see their product is inferior. Call up the Dept. of Insurance and see if they have any complaints. I started collecting published articles about them for 2 years and stopped 14 years ago when my file folder was somewhere between 4-6 inches thick of negative articles, complaints, fines, etc. If you want to sell insurance, hook with a local life insurance agency that will give you training and allow you to do it part time. Take professional classes towards a professional designation at the American College through the mail, www.amercoll.edu Check out their course list. Go to www.sfsp.org or www.naifa.org and check out a meeting and talk to some insurance agents about what to expect and companies. All these people will talk to you. You'll get answers from different people with different backgrounds with different companies rather than the opnion of a MLM organization that has the motive to recruit you to make money off of you. At one time, I believe if you sold 5 or 10 policies you got to put the title Vice President on your business card. This didn't mean you knew anything.
Worth you're full of BS. I have a friend of mine in Primerica and its a LOT tougher to be VP, and of course they have tons of complaints, as do any and all big companies BTW.
But you know I aint surprised seeing you hate them as you sell whole life yourself, that probably get replaced on a regular basis with term, whcih is simply better for 95% of consumers as I've read time and time again in books, websites and newspaper.
What is so bad as letting the dude see for himself what HE wants?? He can check Primerica and the competitors companies out. He can read stuff on his own.
And MLM or not, do the company you work with "make money off you" or they just pay you out of pure kindness?? In good businesses, every one should have a profit: the client, the rep and the supplier. Weak trolling.
"i've seen your resume on monster and wondering if you're keeping your options open."
if this is the offer, then it's really not an offer.
when i was unemployed, i got many voicemails from these people.
i sent some nasty pix to a couple of them that spammed my email box.