Primerica

I’m so glad I stopped here five years ago. They have really helped my family get out of debt. I never would have been able to experience my current lifestyle without this company. They have provided such a great experience.

I met w/​Primerica as a favor & left completely distraught! I met their «main person,» we’ll call him Mr. F & he asked me what it is I do. I told him I’m w/​Aflac & prior to Aflac I was w/​a financial planning firm. Here’s our conversation w/​my little commentary:
Mr. F: So what have you heard about Primerica?
Me: mostly bad things, stuff about fraud & Primerica being one of the biggest MLM’s in the insurance industry. (MLM is a Multilevel Marketing company: Amway, Melaluca, etc)
Mr. F: (w/​a confused look) MLM?! What other MLM’s are in the insurance industry?
I named a few others & left it at that.
Mr. F: what’s the difference between us & Prudential? They do the same thing
I was in shock! He blew off my fraud comment to address the MLM comment & then compared them to Prudential!
Me: no, Prudential has a clear relationship w/​their clients. They have the roll of the financial advisor & the client. You guys meet w/​clients & after they get your ‘advice’ you then try to recruit them. Prudential doesn’t advise their clients & then try to recruit them
Mr. F: Prudential does the same thing
Me: No they don’t. They have a clearly drawn line between the advisor & the client
Mr. F: But they don’t need to be licensed. We require licenses. We have our mortgage license & our insurance & investment licenses
Me: the others are required to be licensed too
Mr. F: not the mortgage ones
Me: uh, yes they have to carry licenses. & they still caused the mortgage crisis
Mr. F: well not that I know of. & w/​Primerica, you can have ownership of the company. Have you ever been w/​a company you can have true ownership in? You can’t do that w/​Aflac. Primerica is the only company you can have true ownership in
Am I missing something here?! Why are we not answering my concerns?!
Me: yes I can
Mr. F: oh you can? That’s not what I heard. You can’t have true ownership of Aflac
Me: if I jump online & buy Aflac stock, I’m an ‘owner’ of the company. I can own a lot of companies right now if I’d like to
Mr. F: that’s not what I mean. You can’t have true ownership, like you can’t own your own Aflac franchise
Me: yes I can. We’re all independent representatives of Aflac. We start up our own little companies & using the power of Aflac, we build our Aflac franchise
Mr. F: that’s not what I heard
He then dismissed me and told me to talk to a woman who was sitting in the back. She took me into her office & began to tell me «the plan.» OMG!!! So, first off, she explained to me how they want to be able to sleep at night, so all permanent insurance is «bad.» She showed me a bunch of charts telling me how much I can make if I buy term insurance & invest the rest. Her charts reflected 10 — 15% gains. WHERE IN THE MARKET ARE YOU GOING TO GET A CONSISTENT 10 — 15% GAIN?! Historically, the stock market has yielded under 4% total gains. This is taking into account all ups, downs & all the risk behind it. She said they’re in «private Primerica investments. We haven’t gone public yet because we want to take care of our families first. But it will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.» Uh, anyone see the legal problems w/​this statement? The last guy that did this was good ol’ Bernie & he’s not comin out any time soon! After listening to a little more craziness I said I had to leave because I had another appointment.
Here is why term & invest does not work for everyone:
You buy term & invest the difference, let’s say you invest into a great fund that’s spinning out 10% per year. Using their numbers that will get you $ 2.7M in 30 years. Using a simple inflation calculator, a 30 year study period using past data (1978 — 2008), that $ 2.7M is still $ 2.7M unfortunately, due to inflation that $ 2.7M is spending like $ 797,642.82. Now, there are no investments right now that guarantees a 10% return. In the past 10 years alone the average rate of return on the ENTIRE stock market has been at 3.16%. You’ve got a better chance in Vegas then the market! Using the Primerica «$ 200 a month being saved in the Primerica investment» drag that through simple math, 200 per month x 12 months= $ 2400. ($ 2400 + 8% compounded interest per year) x 30 years = $ 317,780.46. Now, take into account inflation of food, gas, clothing, services, & cost of living. Don’t forget little Johnny’s braces, vacations & everything else throughout life that «comes up.» That $ 317,780.46 with the average inflation rate in the state of Hawaii of 6% in 30 years will spend like $ 55,328.72. So when you retire at age 65 you get to live out your retirement years on $ 2,200 per year.
Based on the Primerica «plan» you’re forced into poverty. I can name agents who have left Primerica w/​fat wallets, but I have yet to hear of any clients whose retirement was totally taken care of by a Primerica agent.
Word to the wise, don’t go w/​Primerica! They’ll feed you a lot of crap, then try to recruit you, your family & friends.