A difference between financial rep and insurance salesman

This is in my own words and is not taken from a dictionary, but base on my experience as a Primerica representative.

A financial representative is someone who takes a look at the client's finances and gathers information for a financial analysis. He/she would look at what areas the client can spend less on so that the client can achieve realistic goals. For example, if a client was spending $1000/year on life insurance and the financial representative can offer life insurance that costs $500/year for the same coverage, that would save the client $500/year or $42/month. If the client was spending $2000/month on debt payments and the financial representative can offer a debt program that would cost $1800/month, that would save the client $200/month. That's an extra $242/month savings. The financial representative would then figure out how the client can use the $242 savings effectively. A portion would be applied toward the debt payment and the rest would be invested in one or more saving vehicles (IRAs, college plans, money markets, etc.) This is what a Primerica representative does for clients. The goal of a financial representative is to help the client increase the net worth over time. A majority of my clients don't spend a penny more after I sit down with them. If they are already spending whatever amount they spend a month, my goal is not to have them spend a penny more. Of course, there are some situations where clients do need to save more money and the client would need to cut spending on certain areas (such as entertainment or cable or magazines subscriptions) in order to reach whatever goals they have.

An insurance salesman is someone who tries to figure out what is the client's income and from there, figure out what the client can afford. The primary purpose of the salesman is to sell the product, even if it's not suitable for that client to buy it. Its even worse when the salesman doesn't even own that product him or herself. Why is that majority of life insurance people that sell whole life or universal life or variable life don't own these products themselves, but own term insurance or no life insurance at all? I tell you why. They know that those products are crappy to own and that term insurance is the best life insurance product out there.

Insurance salesman really don't have the same passion as a financial representative. Insurance people are more focus about the commissions. Financial representatives are more focus on helping the client achieve his or her financial goals.

Life takes Visa..

it sure does! Visa or any credit cards put you into debt. For how long? That's depends on how fast the person pays it off. The way I use credit cards is that I pay off the full balance every month. For many others, people make minimum payment on their cards. So they have a left over balance remaining. You would think that interest will be charged on the remaining balace. That is totally untrue. Companies charge interest on the average daily balance of your credit card. If you borrowed $1000 today and pay $500 of it next month, interest is not calculated on the remaining balance (the $500). It is actually $1000 plus any other new purchases you made with the card.

You can do an internet search, "how is interest calculated on credit cards?" (remove quotation marks when you type or paste it in the search box), to learn more on how companies calculate the interest on your credit cards.

A little bit of rain....

and the entire highway becomes a nightmare... why is traffic so slow on rainy days? Even when it drizzles, traffic comes to a near stand still.

Primerica needs to do more to help people in the mortgage crisis

While other companies and homeowners are struggling with the mortgage mess, Primerica is not doing enough to help families with the mortgage crisis. Despite that the company consolidate debt of almost $9,800 per minute, Primerica is not even making a small dent in the debt problem in America. It is estimated that over $460 billion of adjustable rate mortgages will reset in 2008. That means many people will have to pay more every month to keep up with rising interest rates or face foreclosure. Primerica's clients are not worried about their mortgage being adjusted because Primerica's loans are always fixed-rate 100% of the time.

George Boelcke, FCI wrote an article about the mortgage crisis in the American Chronicle and he wrote, "Primerica has never originated any ARMs with their refinance products (done through Citicorp Trust Bank). Their clients are watching the mortgage crisis from the sidelines and the safely of a fixed-rate term and consolidation, thinking: 'that could have been me in a foreclosure…'" You can read the full story at: http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/52696

About a month ago, Oriental Financial Group entered into an exclusive mortgage alliance with Primerica Financial Services. Primerica will function as a new distribution channel for Oriental mortgages in Puerto Rico. The primary focus of the effort will be Primerica's long term, fixed-rate mortgages provided by Oriental as a means to consolidate debt at attractive terms. Primerica has approximately 400 full time and 2000 part-time financial representatives in Puerto Rico. (Source: CNN Money Jan 29, 2008).

Primerica is doing something great that is helping families bring back financial stability. The problem is that Primerica's agents needs to do more before more families goes into foreclosures. I wish I can do more, but I can only do so much in such little time. That's why I and many other Primerica's agents recruit. Its to manage our time effectively and get more things done.

FTC comment on Primerica's business opportunity

Check out this 56 page document written by the Federal Trade Commission. Its a .pdf file, so you need adobe acrobat to open this file.

Primerica Wins Fifth Consecutive Dalbar Award

For the fifth year in a row, Primerica has been awarded the prestigious Dalbar Service Award for top-notch customer service in mutual funds.

Since 1997, Primerica Shareholder Services (PSS) has made its shareholders’ needs a top priority and has focused on becoming a leader in customer service. And now, for the fifth consecutive year, that commitment has been recognized. Dalbar, Inc. is a client service rating organization focused on raising the standards of customer satisfaction and quality in the financial services industry.

Buy Term and Invest the Difference WORKS

30 years to date, Primerica still stands by its philosophy of "Buy term and invest the difference." As for the rest of the life insurance industry, they just keep changing their approach to the marketplace by creating and re-inventing life insurance policies that don't work.

In 1970s, other life insurance companies were selling whole life insurance.
In 1980s, Universal life insurance was created.
In 1990s, Variable Universal Life was created.
In 2000s, Return of Premium Term Insurance was created and now they are going back to selling whole life insurance again.

Would you put your financial future in the hands of a company lacking a clear direction?

Three decades. One timeless principle. We stand for something!
Primerica has always believed families need affordable protection for today and control over building wealth for tomorrow. Our “Buy Term and Invest the Difference” approach to personal finance puts families in position to achieve their goals in life! We’ve never had to change our approach in the marketplace … because it works!