Some of you are wondering what does a Primerica representative do? And some of you who are in the company are still trying to figure that out yourself. You have to understand that all Primerica agents are independent business agents. That means they are in business for them self, but they don't have to work by them self because there is support system to help them grow.
Anyway, the duties of a Primerica representative includes, but not limited to:
1) Scheduling guests for business opportunity
2) Scheduling appointments.
3) Interviewing guests.
4) Doing the appointments.
5) Do the financial needs analysis (FNA)
6) Setup 2nd appointment and go over the FNA with client.
7) Get referrals from client.
8) Follow up with old guests.
9) Be in constant communication with teammates.
10) Follow up with old clients.
11) Attend weekly training.
12) Prospecting
13) Read self-help books that can help make his/her business grow.
14) Stay compliant with federal and state laws
15) Be motivated.
16) Be positive.
17) Be consistent.
As you can see, this list describes what every business owner should be doing. The great thing about Primerica's business model is that there's no large overhead costs for the agent. There's no rent to pay, no salary to pay, no equipment to buy, and so on. Only thing the agent needs to pay is for licenses, which most of it is paid by Primerica (such as securities license). The agent doesn't need to spend money on advertisement (and if they do want to spend money on advertisement, they need to check with the compliance department to get approval). But the agent shouldn't spend any money on advertisement because most people ignore them. The best way to advertise is through word of mouth. Its free, its efficient, and if you say something wrong, no one is going to remember what you said in the first place.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Its bad!
1) Whole life, Universal Life, Variable Life, Variable Universal Life, or any type of life insurance that builds cash value. These are BAD products! If you spend time to research these products, you will see they are bad. Stick with term insurance.
2) Adjustable Rate Mortgages, Interest-Only Mortgages, Balloon Mortgages or any type of mortgages where your monthly payment is not fixed for life of the loan are BAD! If you plan to live in the house for the rest of your life or forever, get fix rate loans and make sure it says fix rate on there.
3) Leavings lots of money in your home is a VERY BAD idea. You are losing purchasing power and your money has no growth. Leaving lots of money in the bank is also a BAD idea since most banks give interest rates that are below inflation rate. Not only that, you also pay income taxes on the interest. Investing in tax-deferred mutual funds is a good idea as long as you know what you are doing.
4) Raising a family with no life insurance is a TERRIBLE idea. If you bring significant amount of income to the family and god forbids something happens to you, how would your family survive without your income?
2) Adjustable Rate Mortgages, Interest-Only Mortgages, Balloon Mortgages or any type of mortgages where your monthly payment is not fixed for life of the loan are BAD! If you plan to live in the house for the rest of your life or forever, get fix rate loans and make sure it says fix rate on there.
3) Leavings lots of money in your home is a VERY BAD idea. You are losing purchasing power and your money has no growth. Leaving lots of money in the bank is also a BAD idea since most banks give interest rates that are below inflation rate. Not only that, you also pay income taxes on the interest. Investing in tax-deferred mutual funds is a good idea as long as you know what you are doing.
4) Raising a family with no life insurance is a TERRIBLE idea. If you bring significant amount of income to the family and god forbids something happens to you, how would your family survive without your income?
Sunday, November 18, 2007
11 reasons why people don't make it in Primerica
1) Can't overcome fear.
Fear is just a mental mindset. If you take a look at kids, they have no fear of talking to people because they don't care what other people think. The best way to overcome your fear(s) is attack it. For example, if you are afraid of roller coasters, all you need to do is hop on the ride and after that, you are no longer afraid and want to ride all the roller coasters. That is what happened to me because I used to be afraid of roller coasters and now I'm not.
2) No discipline.
You need to go to training on a weekly basis. You need to stick to your schedule and do it.
3) No people skills.
You need to be a type of person who everyone wants to be friends with and the type of person people feel comfortable being around with. If you avoid people or just hate life in general, you need to change that.
4) Your work is non-transferable or non-duplicable.
If a person on your team believe he/she can't do what you do, its because you are not showing and telling that person what to do. Not only does he/she need to see what you do, but he/she needs to do it himself/herself. For example, you should let the person do the appointment and you watch and sit back. When he/she is in trouble, jump in and help out.
5) Poor communication skills.
Don't worry, you are not alone. There are many people with poor communication skills in Primerica. Some don't even speak English well. But you know what? You just got to keep practicing.
6) No specific purpose.
What is your purpose for doing this business? What do you want to achieve? Why are you here?
7) Lack of accountability.
Great leaders always stay accountable to their upline. They call them and report their activities, even if they don't have any activities going on, they still will call.
8) Poor follow-up.
You spend lots of time trying to get people into the business and spend lots of time putting in business, but you need to constantly stay in contact with your new recruits and once in awhile (at least once a year) follow-up with your previous clients.
9) No personal development system.
Do you want to make a change in your life? Do you want improve your mindset and take your business to the next level? Then you need to read books and listen to CDs and audio tapes that can help you grow your business.
10) Being lazy.
If you are lazy, you need to make a decision to change. Either you go get a job and be a slave to your boss or start building your business and fight for your freedom.
11) Not crusade driven.
Primerica's crusade is to help families eliminate debt and become financially independent. If you don't have the passion to help families, then you need to see more appointments to get a real understanding of what is going on in today's families.
Fear is just a mental mindset. If you take a look at kids, they have no fear of talking to people because they don't care what other people think. The best way to overcome your fear(s) is attack it. For example, if you are afraid of roller coasters, all you need to do is hop on the ride and after that, you are no longer afraid and want to ride all the roller coasters. That is what happened to me because I used to be afraid of roller coasters and now I'm not.
2) No discipline.
You need to go to training on a weekly basis. You need to stick to your schedule and do it.
3) No people skills.
You need to be a type of person who everyone wants to be friends with and the type of person people feel comfortable being around with. If you avoid people or just hate life in general, you need to change that.
4) Your work is non-transferable or non-duplicable.
If a person on your team believe he/she can't do what you do, its because you are not showing and telling that person what to do. Not only does he/she need to see what you do, but he/she needs to do it himself/herself. For example, you should let the person do the appointment and you watch and sit back. When he/she is in trouble, jump in and help out.
5) Poor communication skills.
Don't worry, you are not alone. There are many people with poor communication skills in Primerica. Some don't even speak English well. But you know what? You just got to keep practicing.
6) No specific purpose.
What is your purpose for doing this business? What do you want to achieve? Why are you here?
7) Lack of accountability.
Great leaders always stay accountable to their upline. They call them and report their activities, even if they don't have any activities going on, they still will call.
8) Poor follow-up.
You spend lots of time trying to get people into the business and spend lots of time putting in business, but you need to constantly stay in contact with your new recruits and once in awhile (at least once a year) follow-up with your previous clients.
9) No personal development system.
Do you want to make a change in your life? Do you want improve your mindset and take your business to the next level? Then you need to read books and listen to CDs and audio tapes that can help you grow your business.
10) Being lazy.
If you are lazy, you need to make a decision to change. Either you go get a job and be a slave to your boss or start building your business and fight for your freedom.
11) Not crusade driven.
Primerica's crusade is to help families eliminate debt and become financially independent. If you don't have the passion to help families, then you need to see more appointments to get a real understanding of what is going on in today's families.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
McDonald's food is crap
I remember when I was little, I used to love to go to McDonalds and order their chicken nuggets and the hamburgers and the french fries. Don't forget the happy meal that has a free toy in it. I think the toy excited me more than the food. That was during the late 1980's to early 1990's.
I've been going to McDonald's once in awhile when I'm in a rush to go somewhere and I'm hungry. I try not to go, but McDonald's is all over the place. I don't know what happen over the years, but does anyone noticed that McDonald's food is getting smaller and thinner?? Not only that, the food does taste different. I tried the chicken nuggets and that was crap. I'm not sure when they changed it from dark meat to white meat. The hamburgers are not even real size hamburgers. Its like a pancake. Its thin and it falls apart. The fries has changed as well. There's just something not right about the french fries and I can't pinpoint what it is. Then again, all the food in McDonald's is made from all sorts of mystery ingredients. All I have to say is that McDonald's food is poor quality. I think the only thing I like is the salad. Everything else is just crap.
So why I still go there sometimes? Its convenient, its all over the place, and some of them are open 24 hours. If there were more of the other fast food restaurants around such as Burger King and Wendy's, I would go there instead. I love Burger King's whoppers and onion rings. I also love Wendy's chicken nuggets and chicken sandwich.
Anyway, I don't go to fast food restaurants often. Some people go to fast foods everyday for lunch and maybe even dinner. I don't know how they can stand eating that crap everyday. I make my own lunch and dinner and when I don't have anything to cook, then I'll go somewhere to eat. If I'm in a hurry, I would go to a fast food restaurant and get something quick. If I got plenty of time, I go to one of the local restaurants. I like eating at Italian and Chinese restaurants.
I've been going to McDonald's once in awhile when I'm in a rush to go somewhere and I'm hungry. I try not to go, but McDonald's is all over the place. I don't know what happen over the years, but does anyone noticed that McDonald's food is getting smaller and thinner?? Not only that, the food does taste different. I tried the chicken nuggets and that was crap. I'm not sure when they changed it from dark meat to white meat. The hamburgers are not even real size hamburgers. Its like a pancake. Its thin and it falls apart. The fries has changed as well. There's just something not right about the french fries and I can't pinpoint what it is. Then again, all the food in McDonald's is made from all sorts of mystery ingredients. All I have to say is that McDonald's food is poor quality. I think the only thing I like is the salad. Everything else is just crap.
So why I still go there sometimes? Its convenient, its all over the place, and some of them are open 24 hours. If there were more of the other fast food restaurants around such as Burger King and Wendy's, I would go there instead. I love Burger King's whoppers and onion rings. I also love Wendy's chicken nuggets and chicken sandwich.
Anyway, I don't go to fast food restaurants often. Some people go to fast foods everyday for lunch and maybe even dinner. I don't know how they can stand eating that crap everyday. I make my own lunch and dinner and when I don't have anything to cook, then I'll go somewhere to eat. If I'm in a hurry, I would go to a fast food restaurant and get something quick. If I got plenty of time, I go to one of the local restaurants. I like eating at Italian and Chinese restaurants.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Primerica stays true to its fixed rate loans
While many companies are dealing with the mortgage crisis because they gave bad loans to people such as interest only or adjustable rate mortgages and putting people into bad debt, Primerica continues to stand strong by giving only fixed rate get out of debt loans. Primerica could of offered the bad loans that the rest of the industry was giving and that would of increased business sales. But there is always a cause and effect. If you get greedy, people will get hurt. Now these companies are facing financial troubles and some even filed for bankruptcy.
If you are a Primerica agent, you are in the right time at the right place to find people who are about to lose their homes because of increasing interest rates and increasing monthly payments. You can help someone refinance and put them into a debt elimination plan. You know that Primerica loans are unique because its the only loan that have a equity builder plan that is free to the client. The equity builder is what gets people out of debt sooner.
If you are a Primerica agent, you are in the right time at the right place to find people who are about to lose their homes because of increasing interest rates and increasing monthly payments. You can help someone refinance and put them into a debt elimination plan. You know that Primerica loans are unique because its the only loan that have a equity builder plan that is free to the client. The equity builder is what gets people out of debt sooner.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Term life insurance objections
Here are some objections or questions I get from clients about term insurance.
1) What happens at the end of the term?
Your life insurance policy will renew itself. When it renews, your new rates will be based on your current age. The premiums will remain level at 5 year intervals until age 70. After that age, your premiums goes up every year until age 95. At age 95, you will no longer be covered.
At the end of the term, it is possible for you to exchange the current term policy to another term policy. You do not need to provide proof of insurability unless you are increasing the coverage.
2) At the end of the term, my premiums goes up.
True, but that won't happen for another 20, 30, or 35 years (whatever level term you have). By that time, you probably won't even need life insurance. Why? Take a look at your current situation. You may have a mortgage and some other debts to pay. You may kids dependent on your income. You probably don't have lots of money saved. But in 20-35 years, your kids becomes adults, your mortgage should be paid off, and hopefully you built enough savings to retire on. At Primerica, they teach clients to buy term and invest the difference. Why? So that you can rent wealth (which is term insurance) and accumulate wealth (the investing side) at the same time.
3) I heard that less than 2% of term policies rarely pays up.
While this may be true for other companies, Primerica pays an average death claim of $2 million/day. An average face amount of Primerica term policies is around $280,000.
Basically the phrase "less than 2% of term policies pays up" is a sales tactic used by agents trying to sell you a cash value life insurance policy. While everyone wants to live for a long time, stuff happens and you can't predict when you are going to die. In fact, there is no real evidence on either type of life insurance that says what percentage of life insurance policies gets paid out. If there is evidence, who done the study? Was the study done by a group back up by insurance companies or independent researchers not influenced by any companies?
4) My agent or advisor says that my life insurance builds savings and I can use it anytime.
If you take a look at your life policy, you would see how it is the worst way to build savings. If you wanted to withdraw money out of it while keeping the policy enforced, you would have to borrow it and pay loan interest on it. If you take a look at the total amount of premiums you paid and the amount of cash value accumulated over time, you would see that you are paying at a loss. The time you may break even on your investment is when you are around 100 years old. At that age, your policy may cancel and you will get all your cash value.
If you have a universal life insurance policy, you will see that your cash value starts to grow and then it starts going down. At the end, you see the word "lapse." Even though premiums are level, the cost of your insurance increases internally every year. If you continue the same premium payment plan, your policy will lapse. The only way to avoid the policy being lapse is to pay more premiums than what is required.
At Primerica, they teach clients to always keep life insurance and investments separate. By keeping them separate, there is no such thing as borrowing and paying loan interest. You can withdraw money out anytime and don't have to put it back. If you worry about taxes when you accumulated 6-7 figures on your investments, you are only worrying about it now because you don't have 6-7 figures saved and you always seem to owe taxes when you do your income tax every year. If you talk to any wealthy person out there, they are not even worried about their taxes because they have so much money. Plus the government always seem to keep lowering taxes or giving tax incentives for the wealthy class.
1) What happens at the end of the term?
Your life insurance policy will renew itself. When it renews, your new rates will be based on your current age. The premiums will remain level at 5 year intervals until age 70. After that age, your premiums goes up every year until age 95. At age 95, you will no longer be covered.
At the end of the term, it is possible for you to exchange the current term policy to another term policy. You do not need to provide proof of insurability unless you are increasing the coverage.
2) At the end of the term, my premiums goes up.
True, but that won't happen for another 20, 30, or 35 years (whatever level term you have). By that time, you probably won't even need life insurance. Why? Take a look at your current situation. You may have a mortgage and some other debts to pay. You may kids dependent on your income. You probably don't have lots of money saved. But in 20-35 years, your kids becomes adults, your mortgage should be paid off, and hopefully you built enough savings to retire on. At Primerica, they teach clients to buy term and invest the difference. Why? So that you can rent wealth (which is term insurance) and accumulate wealth (the investing side) at the same time.
3) I heard that less than 2% of term policies rarely pays up.
While this may be true for other companies, Primerica pays an average death claim of $2 million/day. An average face amount of Primerica term policies is around $280,000.
Basically the phrase "less than 2% of term policies pays up" is a sales tactic used by agents trying to sell you a cash value life insurance policy. While everyone wants to live for a long time, stuff happens and you can't predict when you are going to die. In fact, there is no real evidence on either type of life insurance that says what percentage of life insurance policies gets paid out. If there is evidence, who done the study? Was the study done by a group back up by insurance companies or independent researchers not influenced by any companies?
4) My agent or advisor says that my life insurance builds savings and I can use it anytime.
If you take a look at your life policy, you would see how it is the worst way to build savings. If you wanted to withdraw money out of it while keeping the policy enforced, you would have to borrow it and pay loan interest on it. If you take a look at the total amount of premiums you paid and the amount of cash value accumulated over time, you would see that you are paying at a loss. The time you may break even on your investment is when you are around 100 years old. At that age, your policy may cancel and you will get all your cash value.
If you have a universal life insurance policy, you will see that your cash value starts to grow and then it starts going down. At the end, you see the word "lapse." Even though premiums are level, the cost of your insurance increases internally every year. If you continue the same premium payment plan, your policy will lapse. The only way to avoid the policy being lapse is to pay more premiums than what is required.
At Primerica, they teach clients to always keep life insurance and investments separate. By keeping them separate, there is no such thing as borrowing and paying loan interest. You can withdraw money out anytime and don't have to put it back. If you worry about taxes when you accumulated 6-7 figures on your investments, you are only worrying about it now because you don't have 6-7 figures saved and you always seem to owe taxes when you do your income tax every year. If you talk to any wealthy person out there, they are not even worried about their taxes because they have so much money. Plus the government always seem to keep lowering taxes or giving tax incentives for the wealthy class.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Hypocrites
Definition: (noun) a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, esp. a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
I find that most life insurance agents and the so-called "financial advisors" are the biggest hypocrites in the financial industry. How can they recommend others buy some sort of life insurance that builds cash value such as whole life and they don't own it themselves? Most people who recommend cash value life insurance either own term insurance or no life insurance at all.
My company (Primerica) believes in term insurance and thats the only type of life insurance they sell. While some companies are selling term insurance, they are doing it wrong. Other companies sell very short term policies that either renews every year or convert into a cash value life policy. At Primerica, their term policies only converts into term insurance. Primerica offers level term policies for 10, 20, 25, 30, and 35 years.
If you are selling life insurance, you better own it yourself before telling others to buy it. That way you understand your product. If you are an agent that owns whole life or universal life, you should ask yourself why you bought it when you know that term insurance is better? I own a 30 year term insurance because its going to take me awhile to build enough savings in my retirement account where I can be financially independent.
As for those who thinks is a good idea to build savings in a life policy, you are a completely brainwash by what others say. If you kept your savings in a life policy, the only way you can access it is by taking a loan or surrender the policy and pay surrender charges. If you die someday, you may lose all your savings in the life policy (you want to check your life policy on what it says about your cash value when you die). There are so many better ways to put your savings. At Primerica, they teach clients to invest in mutual funds. Mutual funds has historically have an average rate of return of 12% in the past 25 years. You can withdraw money from mutual funds anytime and if you die someday, your beneficiary will either get your investments or take control of it. So, if you have investments, you want to make sure you name a beneficiary or beneficiaries on them (you don't want the government to take control of it and decide who should get the money).
Primerica agents teaches clients to invest on a monthly basis by using the systematic investment plan. Well, if you are a Primerica agent, you better be investing on a monthly basis yourself before telling others to invest monthly. I invest $333/month into my Roth IRA and my average rate of return on my investments in the past 2 years is around 14%. How will it do in the future? I don't know, but I'm betting the stock market will never hit zero.
So, it is safe to say I am not a hypocrite because I own term insurance and investments and thats what I tell my clients to do. It is the right thing to do. It is the logical thing to do. It is the smart way to protect our love ones while building wealth.
I find that most life insurance agents and the so-called "financial advisors" are the biggest hypocrites in the financial industry. How can they recommend others buy some sort of life insurance that builds cash value such as whole life and they don't own it themselves? Most people who recommend cash value life insurance either own term insurance or no life insurance at all.
My company (Primerica) believes in term insurance and thats the only type of life insurance they sell. While some companies are selling term insurance, they are doing it wrong. Other companies sell very short term policies that either renews every year or convert into a cash value life policy. At Primerica, their term policies only converts into term insurance. Primerica offers level term policies for 10, 20, 25, 30, and 35 years.
If you are selling life insurance, you better own it yourself before telling others to buy it. That way you understand your product. If you are an agent that owns whole life or universal life, you should ask yourself why you bought it when you know that term insurance is better? I own a 30 year term insurance because its going to take me awhile to build enough savings in my retirement account where I can be financially independent.
As for those who thinks is a good idea to build savings in a life policy, you are a completely brainwash by what others say. If you kept your savings in a life policy, the only way you can access it is by taking a loan or surrender the policy and pay surrender charges. If you die someday, you may lose all your savings in the life policy (you want to check your life policy on what it says about your cash value when you die). There are so many better ways to put your savings. At Primerica, they teach clients to invest in mutual funds. Mutual funds has historically have an average rate of return of 12% in the past 25 years. You can withdraw money from mutual funds anytime and if you die someday, your beneficiary will either get your investments or take control of it. So, if you have investments, you want to make sure you name a beneficiary or beneficiaries on them (you don't want the government to take control of it and decide who should get the money).
Primerica agents teaches clients to invest on a monthly basis by using the systematic investment plan. Well, if you are a Primerica agent, you better be investing on a monthly basis yourself before telling others to invest monthly. I invest $333/month into my Roth IRA and my average rate of return on my investments in the past 2 years is around 14%. How will it do in the future? I don't know, but I'm betting the stock market will never hit zero.
So, it is safe to say I am not a hypocrite because I own term insurance and investments and thats what I tell my clients to do. It is the right thing to do. It is the logical thing to do. It is the smart way to protect our love ones while building wealth.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Possible reasons why people didn't make money in Primerica
Here are two possible reasons why people didn't make money in Primerica:
1) They are lazy. No one can't help you if you are lazy. You need to find a reason why you want to do this business and find that spark.
OR
2) They don't know how to do it. If you don't know how to do it, all you go to do is ask for help. Your RVP wants to help you grow. The more money you make, the more money your RVP makes. The more money your downlines make, the more money you make.
1) They are lazy. No one can't help you if you are lazy. You need to find a reason why you want to do this business and find that spark.
OR
2) They don't know how to do it. If you don't know how to do it, all you go to do is ask for help. Your RVP wants to help you grow. The more money you make, the more money your RVP makes. The more money your downlines make, the more money you make.
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Primerica Convention 2007
This is the 2nd time I went to the convention and this time I was more focus by listening to what some of the successful people said and taking notes. At my first convention in 2005, I was goofing around and being amazed of all the people cheering and clapping. I had no clue what was going on or why people are so pumped up or excited. I wasn't paying much attention to the speakers and I didn't learn much from it.
At the 2007 convention, I was prepared. Though, I didn't get much information from the speakers that spoke in Georgia Dome, I jot down one message from Mike Sharpe, who is a $5 million earner. He said, "You don't build leaders. You find them." Reflecting on that message, I see so many people focusing on trying to build leadership on their team and trying to get their guys to do something. Most of the time, they listen, but they won't take action. So the only thing a person can do is continue to motivate them and repeat the same message again until they decide to take action. What else they should do is keep recruiting until they find someone who will take leadership and pursue their dreams and goals.
I didn't attend any workshop that was there such as Technology Workshop or Women in Primerica. But I did attend the "District Leader" workshop, which I think it was the best workshop than all the other level workshops such as "Division/Regional Leader" or "Associate" workshop. In 2005, I was in the "Associate" workshop and the main focus was to get to District Leader and utilize your uplines for help. In the District Leader workshop, they talk about building Districts, duplicating yourself, when you should go full time, mastering the presentation, and self improve yourself. District Leaders are the foundation of your business. If you get 6 District Leaders, you qualify for the Regional Vice President contract.
Anyway, here are some videos from YouTube of the Primerica Convention 30th Anniversary. None of these videos are mine and I don't know who posted videos. All I have to say to the people who videotaped the convention is "Thank you for sharing the videos."
OPENING CEREMONY
JOHN ADDISON, CEO of PRIMERICA FINANCIAL SERVICES
(have you seen any other company where bunch of people cheered on for their CEO??)
CHARLES PRINCE, CHAIRMAN and CEO of CITIGROUP
CLOSING CEREMONY
THE DAY AFTER CONVENTION (Sunday, August 5, 2007)
If I was an agent for another company, I would be thinking, "Damn. Primerica is going to dominate the financial industry! Why isn't my company building like that? Why can't I recruit and override people? Why doesn't my company give out such recognition or put together an event like this?"
At the 2007 convention, I was prepared. Though, I didn't get much information from the speakers that spoke in Georgia Dome, I jot down one message from Mike Sharpe, who is a $5 million earner. He said, "You don't build leaders. You find them." Reflecting on that message, I see so many people focusing on trying to build leadership on their team and trying to get their guys to do something. Most of the time, they listen, but they won't take action. So the only thing a person can do is continue to motivate them and repeat the same message again until they decide to take action. What else they should do is keep recruiting until they find someone who will take leadership and pursue their dreams and goals.
I didn't attend any workshop that was there such as Technology Workshop or Women in Primerica. But I did attend the "District Leader" workshop, which I think it was the best workshop than all the other level workshops such as "Division/Regional Leader" or "Associate" workshop. In 2005, I was in the "Associate" workshop and the main focus was to get to District Leader and utilize your uplines for help. In the District Leader workshop, they talk about building Districts, duplicating yourself, when you should go full time, mastering the presentation, and self improve yourself. District Leaders are the foundation of your business. If you get 6 District Leaders, you qualify for the Regional Vice President contract.
Anyway, here are some videos from YouTube of the Primerica Convention 30th Anniversary. None of these videos are mine and I don't know who posted videos. All I have to say to the people who videotaped the convention is "Thank you for sharing the videos."
OPENING CEREMONY
JOHN ADDISON, CEO of PRIMERICA FINANCIAL SERVICES
(have you seen any other company where bunch of people cheered on for their CEO??)
CHARLES PRINCE, CHAIRMAN and CEO of CITIGROUP
CLOSING CEREMONY
THE DAY AFTER CONVENTION (Sunday, August 5, 2007)
If I was an agent for another company, I would be thinking, "Damn. Primerica is going to dominate the financial industry! Why isn't my company building like that? Why can't I recruit and override people? Why doesn't my company give out such recognition or put together an event like this?"
Monday, August 6, 2007
Things that makes Primerica unique
This topic is for all the current representatives or people who want to know more about Primerica before pursuing this career. Keep in mind that this is a business opportunity, not a job opportunity. I truly believe that Primerica is the best business opportunity and there is none like it. In order for this business to work, you need to get off your butt, get out of your home, talk to people, schedule an appointment, do the appointment, do the Financial Needs Analysis, schedule for a 2nd appointment, present the FNA, get referrals, invite client to see the business opportunity, then finally close the sale.
Here are some of the things that makes Primerica unique:
1) Primerica's sales force continues to grow while other companies are growing stale and their sales force are getting old. There are over 100,000 representatives in this company. How many representatives in other companies have?
2) Primerica is the only company that sells term insurance 100% of the time.
3) Primerica has the lowest term insurance rates in the entire industry with the new Custom Advantage Term Insurance that came out in 2007, which also includes Preferred Plus rates. Before, Primerica rates were pretty competitive and some companies were able to beat Primerica rates. Now, Primerica rates are 20-40% cheaper than our top competitors.
4) Primerica is the first company to use TurboApps. Agents can fill out life insurance, loans, and IBAs on a hand held palm pilot. This avoids all paper work and clutter. To read full story, click here.
5) The corporate Primerica and the sales force has a unique positive relationship. Sales force brings business in and the corporation is there to support the sales force.
6) Primerica is backed by a trillion dollar company called Citigroup.
7) Primerica has a communication service called GoSolo where the sales force can listen to messages sent out by the company and representatives can reply back to the message.
8) Primerica has sold more variable annuities than Metlife's sales force. All variable annuities are underwritten by Metlife and Primerica has a marketing agreement to sell those variable annuities.
9) Primerica has the largest securities sales force in North America with about 28,000 registered representatives. They sell more mutual funds than any other financial company.
10) Primerica is one of few companies that does kitchen table presentations, meaning the agent sits in the client's home.
11) Primerica does not advertise on newspapers, TV, radio, internet, or any other types of media. This keep costs low to the consumer and pays more commissions to the sales force.
12) CEO of Primerica talks to the sales force on a weekly or monthly basis using EPN-TV and GoSolo. CEO's from other companies rarely speak to the sales force.
13) Primerica rewards its sales force by holding company trips two times a year. About 2000 people can go and each person can bring one extra person for free. The trips are all inclusive. Transportation, food, hotel, and entertainment are all paid by the company. To win the trips, the sales force has to compete with one another. There are numerous categories which a representative can win.
14) Primerica has its own corporate television called EPN-TV that airs every Monday and Wednesday afternoon. Live and previous shows can also be watched on PrimericaOnline.com to subscribed users.
15) Regional Vice Presidents has access to Virtual Baseshop. Virtual baseshop allows RVPs and Representatives in that baseshop to effectively communicate with one another online and view productivity reports.
16) The only financial company that offers a business opportunity for just $99 (before it was $199). $40 of it will be go to the FBI to do a criminal background check, the rest will go to the state to start the licensing process.
17) Registered representatives can access Morningstar Hypothetical Portfolio Builder for free! People who use this program at other companies have to pay $2000-$5000/year. At Primerica, registered representatives can use it for free. Read the news.
18) Representatives can learn the products online by accessing PrimericaOnline.com under the "Field Instruction" tab and clicking on the sub-heading "Mastering the Product".
19) Representatives can bring a partner into the business, whether its a spouse, a brother, a sister, a child of legal age of 18 or older, a girlfriend/boyfriend, and so on.
20) Entire family can participate in the business. Imagine your family working together as a whole toward one goal, which is being financially independent. What would you and your family life be?
Here are some of the things that makes Primerica unique:
1) Primerica's sales force continues to grow while other companies are growing stale and their sales force are getting old. There are over 100,000 representatives in this company. How many representatives in other companies have?
2) Primerica is the only company that sells term insurance 100% of the time.
3) Primerica has the lowest term insurance rates in the entire industry with the new Custom Advantage Term Insurance that came out in 2007, which also includes Preferred Plus rates. Before, Primerica rates were pretty competitive and some companies were able to beat Primerica rates. Now, Primerica rates are 20-40% cheaper than our top competitors.
4) Primerica is the first company to use TurboApps. Agents can fill out life insurance, loans, and IBAs on a hand held palm pilot. This avoids all paper work and clutter. To read full story, click here.
5) The corporate Primerica and the sales force has a unique positive relationship. Sales force brings business in and the corporation is there to support the sales force.
6) Primerica is backed by a trillion dollar company called Citigroup.
7) Primerica has a communication service called GoSolo where the sales force can listen to messages sent out by the company and representatives can reply back to the message.
8) Primerica has sold more variable annuities than Metlife's sales force. All variable annuities are underwritten by Metlife and Primerica has a marketing agreement to sell those variable annuities.
9) Primerica has the largest securities sales force in North America with about 28,000 registered representatives. They sell more mutual funds than any other financial company.
10) Primerica is one of few companies that does kitchen table presentations, meaning the agent sits in the client's home.
11) Primerica does not advertise on newspapers, TV, radio, internet, or any other types of media. This keep costs low to the consumer and pays more commissions to the sales force.
12) CEO of Primerica talks to the sales force on a weekly or monthly basis using EPN-TV and GoSolo. CEO's from other companies rarely speak to the sales force.
13) Primerica rewards its sales force by holding company trips two times a year. About 2000 people can go and each person can bring one extra person for free. The trips are all inclusive. Transportation, food, hotel, and entertainment are all paid by the company. To win the trips, the sales force has to compete with one another. There are numerous categories which a representative can win.
14) Primerica has its own corporate television called EPN-TV that airs every Monday and Wednesday afternoon. Live and previous shows can also be watched on PrimericaOnline.com to subscribed users.
15) Regional Vice Presidents has access to Virtual Baseshop. Virtual baseshop allows RVPs and Representatives in that baseshop to effectively communicate with one another online and view productivity reports.
16) The only financial company that offers a business opportunity for just $99 (before it was $199). $40 of it will be go to the FBI to do a criminal background check, the rest will go to the state to start the licensing process.
17) Registered representatives can access Morningstar Hypothetical Portfolio Builder for free! People who use this program at other companies have to pay $2000-$5000/year. At Primerica, registered representatives can use it for free. Read the news.
18) Representatives can learn the products online by accessing PrimericaOnline.com under the "Field Instruction" tab and clicking on the sub-heading "Mastering the Product".
19) Representatives can bring a partner into the business, whether its a spouse, a brother, a sister, a child of legal age of 18 or older, a girlfriend/boyfriend, and so on.
20) Entire family can participate in the business. Imagine your family working together as a whole toward one goal, which is being financially independent. What would you and your family life be?
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
15 Characteristics of an Ideal Business
This excerpt is taking from the book "ABC's of Making Money" by Dr. Denis Cauvier and Alan Lysaght. The authors said that there's only one company that has all 15 characteristics and that is Primerica Financial Services.
1. Sell to masses.
At Primerica, our market is infinite.
2. Fulfill a fundamental need for many people.
Primerica provides financial services. Everybody has a need for what they do. Kids need college funds, families need to get out of debt and save money, old adults need a way to preserve their savings as long as possible.
3. Be low risk.
Primerica agents don't have any risk. There is no quota and there is no time table. If agents want to take off from work, they can and nothing will happen to their business. Only thing they have to worry about is keeping their license active, which isn't a problem at all since agents know what to do to renew their licenses.
4. Provide the opportunity for ongoing passive income.
At Primerica, agents can make passive income 2 ways. First way is by recruiting and making overrides. Second way is getting a securities license and get paid on securities business forever.
5. Require a low staff component.
At Primerica, you don't need to hire any employees. You can run the entire business by yourself because there is already 2000+ employees at the home office to help you process your paperwork.
6. Have a stable, growing, long term demand.
Financial services is going to be in high demand for a very long time because many people are in a financial mess.
7. Have a low overhead cost.
At Primerica, there is no overhead cost since you don't need to buy any equipment. The only incurring cost you may have is traveling and communication service such as GoSolo.
8. Have a low startup cost.
At Primerica, it only cost $199 to startup.
9. Have a unique quality, making it difficult for competitors to copy.
While there is many other financial companies out there, they only do parts of what Primerica can do. Primerica does it all! They do financial planning, life insurance, mortgages, debt elimination, investments, retirement plans, college plans, prepaid legal, long term care, and auto and homeowner's insurance.
10. Have a positive cash flow and low inventory cost.
Even though it cost $199 to startup at Primerica, you can make all that money back by doing business with one client. As for inventory, your only inventory is purchasing brochures, which is optional and they cost as little as 5 cents each.
11. Have a high profit margin and rate of return.
You can make profits if you get to work. There over 50 people who makes 7 figures in a matter of 10-25+ years. There are over 1000 people making 6 figures as well.
12. Have minimal government regulation.
Primerica is a very regulated industry, but they have very little or any government agents interfering with daily business activities. Why? Its because Primerica agents follow the rules and laws.
13. Be portable.
At Primerica, you can move or open your business anywhere in your country.
14. Be fun, challenging, and satisfying for the business owner.
At Primerica, it is fun because you are hanging out with people who wants to be financially independent. It is challenging because you face skepticism and objections. It is satisfying when you realize that what you do helps people.
15. Provide an opportunity to uncover other money making multiple sources of income.
At Primerica, you can use your money to do other things. There are several people who use the money they make at Primerica to purchase real estate. One person bought a shopping mall, some condos, and other properties and make money from that.
1. Sell to masses.
At Primerica, our market is infinite.
2. Fulfill a fundamental need for many people.
Primerica provides financial services. Everybody has a need for what they do. Kids need college funds, families need to get out of debt and save money, old adults need a way to preserve their savings as long as possible.
3. Be low risk.
Primerica agents don't have any risk. There is no quota and there is no time table. If agents want to take off from work, they can and nothing will happen to their business. Only thing they have to worry about is keeping their license active, which isn't a problem at all since agents know what to do to renew their licenses.
4. Provide the opportunity for ongoing passive income.
At Primerica, agents can make passive income 2 ways. First way is by recruiting and making overrides. Second way is getting a securities license and get paid on securities business forever.
5. Require a low staff component.
At Primerica, you don't need to hire any employees. You can run the entire business by yourself because there is already 2000+ employees at the home office to help you process your paperwork.
6. Have a stable, growing, long term demand.
Financial services is going to be in high demand for a very long time because many people are in a financial mess.
7. Have a low overhead cost.
At Primerica, there is no overhead cost since you don't need to buy any equipment. The only incurring cost you may have is traveling and communication service such as GoSolo.
8. Have a low startup cost.
At Primerica, it only cost $199 to startup.
9. Have a unique quality, making it difficult for competitors to copy.
While there is many other financial companies out there, they only do parts of what Primerica can do. Primerica does it all! They do financial planning, life insurance, mortgages, debt elimination, investments, retirement plans, college plans, prepaid legal, long term care, and auto and homeowner's insurance.
10. Have a positive cash flow and low inventory cost.
Even though it cost $199 to startup at Primerica, you can make all that money back by doing business with one client. As for inventory, your only inventory is purchasing brochures, which is optional and they cost as little as 5 cents each.
11. Have a high profit margin and rate of return.
You can make profits if you get to work. There over 50 people who makes 7 figures in a matter of 10-25+ years. There are over 1000 people making 6 figures as well.
12. Have minimal government regulation.
Primerica is a very regulated industry, but they have very little or any government agents interfering with daily business activities. Why? Its because Primerica agents follow the rules and laws.
13. Be portable.
At Primerica, you can move or open your business anywhere in your country.
14. Be fun, challenging, and satisfying for the business owner.
At Primerica, it is fun because you are hanging out with people who wants to be financially independent. It is challenging because you face skepticism and objections. It is satisfying when you realize that what you do helps people.
15. Provide an opportunity to uncover other money making multiple sources of income.
At Primerica, you can use your money to do other things. There are several people who use the money they make at Primerica to purchase real estate. One person bought a shopping mall, some condos, and other properties and make money from that.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Why Primerica is the best business opportunity
1) Low overhead cost. Only $99 needed to start this business.
2) No rent.
3) No equipment to buy other than a pen and a notepad.
4) No salary or wages to deal with. All paychecks are handled by the company.
5) No status quotas to meet.
6) Great way to earn some extra income.
7) No need to quit your full time job.
8) You create your own schedule.
9) No boss. Only coaches and mentors to help you build.
10) You are allowed to recruit people.
11) You can earn passive and residual income.
12) You can make overrides.
13) We have a huge market. No one is helping middle income families, which represents 95% of the American population.
14) Financial education.
15) Unlimited income potential
16) Tax benefits
17) Company trips
18) Equal opportunity.
19) Company support system.
20) You have ownership.
2) No rent.
3) No equipment to buy other than a pen and a notepad.
4) No salary or wages to deal with. All paychecks are handled by the company.
5) No status quotas to meet.
6) Great way to earn some extra income.
7) No need to quit your full time job.
8) You create your own schedule.
9) No boss. Only coaches and mentors to help you build.
10) You are allowed to recruit people.
11) You can earn passive and residual income.
12) You can make overrides.
13) We have a huge market. No one is helping middle income families, which represents 95% of the American population.
14) Financial education.
15) Unlimited income potential
16) Tax benefits
17) Company trips
18) Equal opportunity.
19) Company support system.
20) You have ownership.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Some misconceptions about Primerica
Here are some of the misconceptions that some people say about Primerica. You have to know that most of the hatred that people have against Primerica are agents from other companies. Primerica teaches clients about keeping life insurance and savings separate. By keeping them separate, this lower the cost for life insurance and increases the rate of return on the savings. Other companies rather bundle life insurance and savings together. By bundling them together, the premiums are higher and the rate of return on the savings is very low. Who you think the client is going to side with? Primerica or these other companies? Primerica because the client sees more value by keeping life insurance and savings separate. So this is one of the main reasons you may see things on the internet or hear bad things because nobody likes having Primerica taking their clients away.
Here are some of things I read online. Keep in mind the internet is not regulated and anyone can post whatever they want. If you want the truth about Primerica, go to the company directly and get your answers from there.
1) Primerica is a scam. I've been in this company since August 2004. There is nothing about Primerica that makes it a scam. I have a state life insurance license and a state mortgage license. I have a federal securities license. If Primerica was a scam, the state and federal government would not issue these licenses. Primerica been in business since 1977. After 30 plus years, do you truly think Primerica is still a scam?
2) Its a pyramid. Frankly, I don't understand what a pyramid is. Most people who say its a pyramid can't even explain it themselves. What is a pyramid??? It is one of those Egyptian things? Its not a pyramid. Its a business opportunity. In a pyramid, you are usually stuck at one level and the chance of you moving to the top is very slim. At Primerica, its an upside-down pyramid. In the beginning, you make very little or no money. As you gain more experience and put more effort into it, your income is unlimited. You can make as much money as you want. At a job, isn't there a salary cap limit? You may be the best employee in your department, but you are still getting paid the same as the worst employee in your department. The only difference is you have a better chance of keeping your job while the worst employee may get fired. At Primerica, the more experience you have, the more money you can make. If you work really hard and build a large team, you can earn more money than your upline. The fact that you are able to make more money than the person who recruited you proves that Primerica is not a pyramid. At a job, are you able to a higher salary than your boss? Of course not. Because your salary is base on position, not on the person. At Primerica, your income is base on how hard your work.
3) Its a pyramid scheme. The only reason why someone would think that is because they saw the $199 and didn't understand it. They either think its a job opportunity and no one should be paying a fee to get a job OR the recruiter will earn commission on the $199. This is not a job opportunity, but a business opportunity. There is a difference between the two. A job is where you build someone's else business. A business opportunity is where you get to build your own business. The $199 that people see is the state licensing fee. While the actual cost of the state license is more than $199 (about $100-$300 more), Primerica pays the difference. If you want to build a business, you have to show your commitment that you are serious about building your business and Primerica will show its commitment to you by giving you the best support system they have. So no one in the company is making profits off the $199. The company is actually making a loss by paying most of the licensing fee for you.
4) Primerica products are expensive. If you were the client, you wouldn't be saying that. But an agent from another company will. I don't see how Primerica products are expensive. If they were expensive, how would anyone afford it? If you comparing life insurance, I think Primerica's term insurance is competitive to the rest of the industry. Is it the cheapest? I don't know. There are so many life insurance companies out there. But when you compare term insurance to cash value life insurance, term insurance is the cheapest. When comparing term insurance to term insurance, you have to compare the type of term insurance is it. Are they both the same level term? Or is one just an annual renewable term and the other is a level term? What happens at the end of the term? What features does the term policy has? What are the riders attached to it?
If you are comparing loans, there is no way that other companies can compete against Primerica. Primerica loans are customize debt solution loans that show clients on how to get out of debt sooner and for less money. If you take a few years off your debt, this would save you thousands of dollars on interest payment. You go ahead and try to find other companies that will do this for you. They rather keep you in debt for the full length of the loan rather than have you pay it off sooner.
5) Primerica's mutual funds suck. First of all, Primerica doesn't own any mutual funds. Primerica markets mutual funds for other companies such as Legg Mason Partners, Fidelity Advisor, Van Kampen, Pioneer, AIM, American Funds, Alliancebernstein, MFS, Oppenheimer, Putnam, and Franklin/Templeton. Majority of the mutual funds offered by these companies are rated 4-5 stars by Morningstar. Saying Primerica's mutual funds suck is really saying, "all these mutual fund companies suck." If you think so, then you shouldn't be investing at all. But I'll tell you this, all wealthy people invest their money. They don't keep lots of money in the bank account.
6) Primerica got sued. In the beginning, Primerica was called A.L. Williams. We were only able to sell 20 year term insurance. Since the company was replacing cash value life insurance policies, almost every single life insurance company were suing A.L. Williams. No one likes having their clients taken away by another company. These companies even made death threats to Art Williams. That's how bad it was in the beginning. In the 1990s, many life insurance companies got sued by the United States Government from deceiving and lying to consumers about cash value life insurance. Being sued by the government is worse than being sued by another company. Many life insurance companies haven't been able to recover from these fines, so they either closed or merged with other life insurance companies or another life insurance company bought them out. Other companies pay off the fines by selling shares to its current policy holders. If a company says it will give dividends, then you know that company was sued by the United States Government. As for Primerica, they were not affected by the ruling because we sell term insurance 100% of the time.
7) Primerica was fined by the SEC. There was just one incident where 4 agents in the same office were involved in a Ponzi Scheme from 1991-1994. They were selling unregistered securities (investments not offered by Primerica), which is completely prohibited by Primerica. Primerica has failed to supervise and resolve complaints against these agents, so the SEC fined the company in 1998. Since then, Primerica has made lots of improvements in supervision and constantly keeping agents informed about the rules and regulations.
To make sure all securities licensed representatives follow SEC laws and regulations, Primerica holds annual compliance meetings. If representative fails to attend the meeting, he/she would lose his license. Primerica even sends quarterly newsletters reminding agents some of the rules and regulations and puts updates and notices on primericaonline.com website.
In the past 4 years, Primerica has the received the Dalbar Service Award for its top notch customer service in mutual funds. Dalbar, Inc. is a client service rating organization focused on raising the standards of customer satisfaction and quality in the financial services industry. Dalbar develops ratings for: Mutual funds, brokers/dealers, life insurance, and more. Would you rather do business with a company that has the best customer service or a company that puts you on hold or transfer you to some tech guy in India? Primerica's customer service are all located in the United States. The company has made its number one priority to resolve all issues and concerns as soon as possible. I even call them a few times and within a few minutes, all my concerns were resolved.
8) Primerica rips people off. I don't know how that is even possible. Would you rather pay $2000/year for a whole life insurance or just $1000/year with Primerica's 30 year term insurance? Would you rather be in debt for the next 30+ years or be in debt for just 20 years with Primerica's SMART loan? Would you rather pay 2% annual fees on your mutual fund or just 1% with most of mutual funds offered through Primerica? Would you rather go on with life without any financial plan or get a free financial need analysis at Primerica? Did you see anything here that can rip people off? I didn't and I've been doing this for many years. Its those other companies that actually rips people off. Primerica goes in and helps the client save money and build wealth. Other companies focuses on making profits. If they advertise, they spread the cost of it to its consumers. Primerica has not spent a single cent on advertisement, that's why the company is able to keep it costs to the minimum.
9) Majority of Primerica's agents don't know anything about finance. In the beginning, most of them don't. That's why there is a system in place to help train these agents. When a new agent goes out in the field to see a client, he/she always bring a field trainer. The field trainer does all the work, while the new agent watch and learn. Eventually, the new agent will become experienced enough to go see clients on his own and soon be qualified to become a field trainer. Most of the offices hold weekly training to help agents learn about the different types of financial products out there and learn how to build a business. At Primerica, you don't need a college degree. A college degree doesn't mean anything in real life. It just shows you are willing to work hard to earn more money. But if you are not experienced, most companies won't even hire you. When someone says Primerica agents are not educated or not fit to work in the financial industry, the truth is we actually know more than 95% of the population. We know everything about life insurance. We know everything about mortgages. We know everything about mutual funds. We know everything about how money works and how you can have money work for you rather against you. The average person doesn't know any of this stuff. Other agents from other companies can't even comprehend half the stuff what a Primerica agent can do.
In closing, people can say whatever they want about Primerica. Some people been saying bad things about the company for over 30 years. But you know what? None of these things affect Primerica. In fact, it made the company even stronger. Where does the competition stand? While all our other competitors have gone stagnant or losing their sales force, Primerica continues to grow its sales force and build a larger client base. Primerica is a strong financial company and is in position to dominate the financial industry. There is no other company that can match what Primerica can do. They are able to do parts of what we do, but they don't fully do everything for their client.
Here are some of things I read online. Keep in mind the internet is not regulated and anyone can post whatever they want. If you want the truth about Primerica, go to the company directly and get your answers from there.
1) Primerica is a scam. I've been in this company since August 2004. There is nothing about Primerica that makes it a scam. I have a state life insurance license and a state mortgage license. I have a federal securities license. If Primerica was a scam, the state and federal government would not issue these licenses. Primerica been in business since 1977. After 30 plus years, do you truly think Primerica is still a scam?
2) Its a pyramid. Frankly, I don't understand what a pyramid is. Most people who say its a pyramid can't even explain it themselves. What is a pyramid??? It is one of those Egyptian things? Its not a pyramid. Its a business opportunity. In a pyramid, you are usually stuck at one level and the chance of you moving to the top is very slim. At Primerica, its an upside-down pyramid. In the beginning, you make very little or no money. As you gain more experience and put more effort into it, your income is unlimited. You can make as much money as you want. At a job, isn't there a salary cap limit? You may be the best employee in your department, but you are still getting paid the same as the worst employee in your department. The only difference is you have a better chance of keeping your job while the worst employee may get fired. At Primerica, the more experience you have, the more money you can make. If you work really hard and build a large team, you can earn more money than your upline. The fact that you are able to make more money than the person who recruited you proves that Primerica is not a pyramid. At a job, are you able to a higher salary than your boss? Of course not. Because your salary is base on position, not on the person. At Primerica, your income is base on how hard your work.
3) Its a pyramid scheme. The only reason why someone would think that is because they saw the $199 and didn't understand it. They either think its a job opportunity and no one should be paying a fee to get a job OR the recruiter will earn commission on the $199. This is not a job opportunity, but a business opportunity. There is a difference between the two. A job is where you build someone's else business. A business opportunity is where you get to build your own business. The $199 that people see is the state licensing fee. While the actual cost of the state license is more than $199 (about $100-$300 more), Primerica pays the difference. If you want to build a business, you have to show your commitment that you are serious about building your business and Primerica will show its commitment to you by giving you the best support system they have. So no one in the company is making profits off the $199. The company is actually making a loss by paying most of the licensing fee for you.
4) Primerica products are expensive. If you were the client, you wouldn't be saying that. But an agent from another company will. I don't see how Primerica products are expensive. If they were expensive, how would anyone afford it? If you comparing life insurance, I think Primerica's term insurance is competitive to the rest of the industry. Is it the cheapest? I don't know. There are so many life insurance companies out there. But when you compare term insurance to cash value life insurance, term insurance is the cheapest. When comparing term insurance to term insurance, you have to compare the type of term insurance is it. Are they both the same level term? Or is one just an annual renewable term and the other is a level term? What happens at the end of the term? What features does the term policy has? What are the riders attached to it?
If you are comparing loans, there is no way that other companies can compete against Primerica. Primerica loans are customize debt solution loans that show clients on how to get out of debt sooner and for less money. If you take a few years off your debt, this would save you thousands of dollars on interest payment. You go ahead and try to find other companies that will do this for you. They rather keep you in debt for the full length of the loan rather than have you pay it off sooner.
5) Primerica's mutual funds suck. First of all, Primerica doesn't own any mutual funds. Primerica markets mutual funds for other companies such as Legg Mason Partners, Fidelity Advisor, Van Kampen, Pioneer, AIM, American Funds, Alliancebernstein, MFS, Oppenheimer, Putnam, and Franklin/Templeton. Majority of the mutual funds offered by these companies are rated 4-5 stars by Morningstar. Saying Primerica's mutual funds suck is really saying, "all these mutual fund companies suck." If you think so, then you shouldn't be investing at all. But I'll tell you this, all wealthy people invest their money. They don't keep lots of money in the bank account.
6) Primerica got sued. In the beginning, Primerica was called A.L. Williams. We were only able to sell 20 year term insurance. Since the company was replacing cash value life insurance policies, almost every single life insurance company were suing A.L. Williams. No one likes having their clients taken away by another company. These companies even made death threats to Art Williams. That's how bad it was in the beginning. In the 1990s, many life insurance companies got sued by the United States Government from deceiving and lying to consumers about cash value life insurance. Being sued by the government is worse than being sued by another company. Many life insurance companies haven't been able to recover from these fines, so they either closed or merged with other life insurance companies or another life insurance company bought them out. Other companies pay off the fines by selling shares to its current policy holders. If a company says it will give dividends, then you know that company was sued by the United States Government. As for Primerica, they were not affected by the ruling because we sell term insurance 100% of the time.
7) Primerica was fined by the SEC. There was just one incident where 4 agents in the same office were involved in a Ponzi Scheme from 1991-1994. They were selling unregistered securities (investments not offered by Primerica), which is completely prohibited by Primerica. Primerica has failed to supervise and resolve complaints against these agents, so the SEC fined the company in 1998. Since then, Primerica has made lots of improvements in supervision and constantly keeping agents informed about the rules and regulations.
To make sure all securities licensed representatives follow SEC laws and regulations, Primerica holds annual compliance meetings. If representative fails to attend the meeting, he/she would lose his license. Primerica even sends quarterly newsletters reminding agents some of the rules and regulations and puts updates and notices on primericaonline.com website.
In the past 4 years, Primerica has the received the Dalbar Service Award for its top notch customer service in mutual funds. Dalbar, Inc. is a client service rating organization focused on raising the standards of customer satisfaction and quality in the financial services industry. Dalbar develops ratings for: Mutual funds, brokers/dealers, life insurance, and more. Would you rather do business with a company that has the best customer service or a company that puts you on hold or transfer you to some tech guy in India? Primerica's customer service are all located in the United States. The company has made its number one priority to resolve all issues and concerns as soon as possible. I even call them a few times and within a few minutes, all my concerns were resolved.
8) Primerica rips people off. I don't know how that is even possible. Would you rather pay $2000/year for a whole life insurance or just $1000/year with Primerica's 30 year term insurance? Would you rather be in debt for the next 30+ years or be in debt for just 20 years with Primerica's SMART loan? Would you rather pay 2% annual fees on your mutual fund or just 1% with most of mutual funds offered through Primerica? Would you rather go on with life without any financial plan or get a free financial need analysis at Primerica? Did you see anything here that can rip people off? I didn't and I've been doing this for many years. Its those other companies that actually rips people off. Primerica goes in and helps the client save money and build wealth. Other companies focuses on making profits. If they advertise, they spread the cost of it to its consumers. Primerica has not spent a single cent on advertisement, that's why the company is able to keep it costs to the minimum.
9) Majority of Primerica's agents don't know anything about finance. In the beginning, most of them don't. That's why there is a system in place to help train these agents. When a new agent goes out in the field to see a client, he/she always bring a field trainer. The field trainer does all the work, while the new agent watch and learn. Eventually, the new agent will become experienced enough to go see clients on his own and soon be qualified to become a field trainer. Most of the offices hold weekly training to help agents learn about the different types of financial products out there and learn how to build a business. At Primerica, you don't need a college degree. A college degree doesn't mean anything in real life. It just shows you are willing to work hard to earn more money. But if you are not experienced, most companies won't even hire you. When someone says Primerica agents are not educated or not fit to work in the financial industry, the truth is we actually know more than 95% of the population. We know everything about life insurance. We know everything about mortgages. We know everything about mutual funds. We know everything about how money works and how you can have money work for you rather against you. The average person doesn't know any of this stuff. Other agents from other companies can't even comprehend half the stuff what a Primerica agent can do.
In closing, people can say whatever they want about Primerica. Some people been saying bad things about the company for over 30 years. But you know what? None of these things affect Primerica. In fact, it made the company even stronger. Where does the competition stand? While all our other competitors have gone stagnant or losing their sales force, Primerica continues to grow its sales force and build a larger client base. Primerica is a strong financial company and is in position to dominate the financial industry. There is no other company that can match what Primerica can do. They are able to do parts of what we do, but they don't fully do everything for their client.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
My first opportunity meeting at Primerica
It was August 2004 when I first saw the business opportunity at Primerica. It was a Saturday morning at 9AM. I got there at 8:30AM. Keep in mind, I had no clue what is going on. I just wanted a job to earn some money. I did not know that this was a business opportunity. All I know was that Primerica is a member of Citigroup and who wouldn't want to work for this gigantic company? I was 22 years old at the time and just graduated from college.
So the meeting started at 9AM. First speaker talked a little bit about Primerica. Primerica has over 100,000 representatives and been in business since 1977. They have over 6 million clients in USA, Puerto Rico, Canada, Spain, and UK. They are a member of Citigroup. Citigroup is listed on the NYSE as symbol "C". They are one of the DJIA companies. Citigroup has more than $1 trillion in assets and been ranked #1 in the Forbes Global 2000.
Then the next speaker talked about some financial concepts. Remember, I was 22 years old at the time and none of the stuff they talked about made sense to me. I don't know debt was. All I know that its bad to have and the only way to get rid of it is to pay it off. The speaker talked about the Rule of 72, which I was familiar with, but didn't know how to apply it in real life. The Rule of 72 is a mathematical formula that tells you how long it will take for your money to double given the interest rate. For example, if you get a 3% interest, it would take 24 years for your money to double. With 12% interest, it will take 6 years. How you get 12%? Simple, you invest your money into mutual funds. At that time, I had very little understanding of mutual funds. The only thing I knew about mutual funds was that it invests in many different companies. Then the speaker talked about how money works and the power of compound interest. Then he talked a little bit about life insurance, which I didn't pay any attention to.
Then another speaker came in and was tying in those financial concepts with their products. He talked about life insurance, the debt solution, and the financial needs analysis. None of it made any sense to me. I was 22 years old and single and none of this stuff did not relate to me. I don't have a family. I only have a student loan debt. And I wasn't too sure about investing.
And finally, there was one more speaker. He did a brief recap and talked about compensation and the business opportunity. This is the part that got me excited about Primerica. I joined Primerica because of the overrides and ownership. An override is the difference between my sales level and my downline's sales level. Then there was something about the $199 I didn't quite understand. They say its for the state licensing fee and the background check. I'm like, "huh?"
I knew nothing about business or know the cost of starting one because I'm not exposed to it. Most of us are taught to graduate from high school, go to college, and get a good job. Is there really such a thing as a "good job?" You work so hard to get an hourly wage, which the government taxes you on. You take home what's ever is left over and then you pay your bills. You have a boss that keeps telling you to do stuff and you may or may not like it. You have to wake up the exact same time every Mon-Fri. You eat lunch at the same time and you leave at the same time. You try everything to impress your boss because you think you will get promoted that way (sometimes it works, but most of the time, you are stuck at the same position). You may get an average salary increase of 3%, which may excite you, but really, its not even keeping up with inflation. The longer you stay at that job, the more experienced you are, but you will soon become a big liability for the company. Your salary increases over time and if your company provides health insurance, the cost of those premiums goes up as well. If you worked at the company for 20+ years, you know you are going to be replaced by someone younger and less experienced than you. Then what are you going to do after that? You are too old to work for any other corporation, so you have to work at a low end job such as Walmart, McDonald's, and so on.
I look at my parents, brother and sisters, and my relatives. They all have a job and none of them are happy about what they do. They complain about their pay, about their co-workers, about their boss, about the commute, and bunch of other stuff. I'm like, "shit, I don't want that kind of life style." They are so negative in life. So that's why I joined Primerica because I want freedom and be able to enjoy my life.
In my next blog, I will talk about some of the things people told me and what I read online about Primerica.
So the meeting started at 9AM. First speaker talked a little bit about Primerica. Primerica has over 100,000 representatives and been in business since 1977. They have over 6 million clients in USA, Puerto Rico, Canada, Spain, and UK. They are a member of Citigroup. Citigroup is listed on the NYSE as symbol "C". They are one of the DJIA companies. Citigroup has more than $1 trillion in assets and been ranked #1 in the Forbes Global 2000.
Then the next speaker talked about some financial concepts. Remember, I was 22 years old at the time and none of the stuff they talked about made sense to me. I don't know debt was. All I know that its bad to have and the only way to get rid of it is to pay it off. The speaker talked about the Rule of 72, which I was familiar with, but didn't know how to apply it in real life. The Rule of 72 is a mathematical formula that tells you how long it will take for your money to double given the interest rate. For example, if you get a 3% interest, it would take 24 years for your money to double. With 12% interest, it will take 6 years. How you get 12%? Simple, you invest your money into mutual funds. At that time, I had very little understanding of mutual funds. The only thing I knew about mutual funds was that it invests in many different companies. Then the speaker talked about how money works and the power of compound interest. Then he talked a little bit about life insurance, which I didn't pay any attention to.
Then another speaker came in and was tying in those financial concepts with their products. He talked about life insurance, the debt solution, and the financial needs analysis. None of it made any sense to me. I was 22 years old and single and none of this stuff did not relate to me. I don't have a family. I only have a student loan debt. And I wasn't too sure about investing.
And finally, there was one more speaker. He did a brief recap and talked about compensation and the business opportunity. This is the part that got me excited about Primerica. I joined Primerica because of the overrides and ownership. An override is the difference between my sales level and my downline's sales level. Then there was something about the $199 I didn't quite understand. They say its for the state licensing fee and the background check. I'm like, "huh?"
I knew nothing about business or know the cost of starting one because I'm not exposed to it. Most of us are taught to graduate from high school, go to college, and get a good job. Is there really such a thing as a "good job?" You work so hard to get an hourly wage, which the government taxes you on. You take home what's ever is left over and then you pay your bills. You have a boss that keeps telling you to do stuff and you may or may not like it. You have to wake up the exact same time every Mon-Fri. You eat lunch at the same time and you leave at the same time. You try everything to impress your boss because you think you will get promoted that way (sometimes it works, but most of the time, you are stuck at the same position). You may get an average salary increase of 3%, which may excite you, but really, its not even keeping up with inflation. The longer you stay at that job, the more experienced you are, but you will soon become a big liability for the company. Your salary increases over time and if your company provides health insurance, the cost of those premiums goes up as well. If you worked at the company for 20+ years, you know you are going to be replaced by someone younger and less experienced than you. Then what are you going to do after that? You are too old to work for any other corporation, so you have to work at a low end job such as Walmart, McDonald's, and so on.
I look at my parents, brother and sisters, and my relatives. They all have a job and none of them are happy about what they do. They complain about their pay, about their co-workers, about their boss, about the commute, and bunch of other stuff. I'm like, "shit, I don't want that kind of life style." They are so negative in life. So that's why I joined Primerica because I want freedom and be able to enjoy my life.
In my next blog, I will talk about some of the things people told me and what I read online about Primerica.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)