Alternative to Primerica
Larry
who they were or what they did. They came under the guise of
financial planners and
I took it at face value. They showed me a lot of numbers, said a lot
of
things that made sense, and started to build a plan for "my future".
I
started the process of getting a term life insurance policy for my
wife and
I and he is coming back this friday to talk about financial planning,
getting out of debt, home loans, etc...
Today I did a deja search on Primerica and WOWza is there a lot of
negative feedback. I had no idea that Primerica was an MLM venture and
the rep
made no overtures towards that. He seemed to approach it as financial
planning only and didn't mention anything about me selling these
services myself. He asked if we could refer him to a few of our
friends, but that was it.
Maybe that will come on Friday but I certainly didn't see it coming
last
Friday and I am usually pretty perceptive about that kind of stuff
(very
skeptical).
Here is the problem. NOw that I see what is going on it kind of
pisses me
off. But on the other hand I have to admit that the whole idea sounded
great
to me from a cosumer perspective. I know I need to plan better for my
future, I know I needed life insurance for my wife and kids, I know I
need
to start planning to get out of debt and get a house soon. I finally
had
someone helping with all of this, charting out investment strategies,
giving
me options. Now I understand that everything is under the Citigroup
umbrella with choices being limited only to their offerings and that I
could get everything I am getting from Primerica through other
companies probably cheaper and better. But my problem is that I am so
ignorant to much of it. I have this guy talking to me for free about
a lot of things that I don't have the time to learn myself. ANd if I
pay someone to do this stuff how can I be sure I wont end up with
another guy that doesn't have my best interest in mind. I am
Primerica's target market, early thirties (30 actually), $50-65k
range, and don't have time or knowledge to do all this myself. I start
reading about investing and information comes from a hundred different
sources and I get overwhelmed.
My questions is, what is the harm in just being a Primerica consumer
(not a
salesperson) if this guy is willing to help with just planning and
doesn't start trying to recruit me. And if there is harm, as there
may be I really don't know (that is why I am asking for help), then
what are my alternatives? Is there some other alternative to
Primerica that is just a normal business and is also free or very
reasonably priced? Is there a plan or a website that lays out steps I
can follow? Something that wont take hours and hours of time I don't
have?
I know this will probably start an argument between pro and anti
Primerica
people, that is not my intent. I am asking what the worse that could
happen to
me as just a Primerica consumer and what are my other options if I
don't use
Primerica?
Thanks a lot.
Larry
BreadW...@fractious.net
> Here is the problem. NOw that I see what is going on it kind of
> pisses me off. But on the other hand I have to admit that the whole
> idea sounded great to me from a cosumer perspective. I know I need
> to plan better for my future, I know I needed life insurance for my
> wife and kids, I know I need to start planning to get out of debt
> and get a house soon. I finally had someone helping with all of
> this, charting out investment strategies, giving me options.
Note that this guy wasn't really going to offer you many
options. He has a specific structure of deal that he's
going to try to sell you. For some folks that structure
may very well be the best thing they could do. For others
it won't be.
> companies probably cheaper and better. But my problem is that I am so
> ignorant to much of it. I have this guy talking to me for free about
> a lot of things that I don't have the time to learn myself. ANd if I
He wasn't talking to you for free. He was selling you something.
That's OK. Sometimes we all need to be sold something when we
really do need it and don't know any better. If he gets paid
for having sold you that something, there's nothing wrong with
that. The only potential problem is whether or not what he's
selling you is really what you need.
Many many folks are underinsured and really ought to be sold
appropriate insurance (though arguably life insurance isn't
the one that they need most - woefully few folks have
disability insurance, for example).
> pay someone to do this stuff how can I be sure I wont end up with
> another guy that doesn't have my best interest in mind. I am
Your only defense is education. That applies no matter _where_
you turn. And even after learning more, you might very well
still need someone to sell you and/or educate you more about
certain products.
Rather than asking whether or not the plan that the primerica
salesman was trying to sell you was any good (especially since
you didn't post any details) or even appropriate, perhaps the
better question is to ask what basic beginning book on
personal financial planning folks here can recommend.
You might take a look at, for example, Personal Finance
for Dummies by Eric Tyson. Condescending title, and
annoying yellow cover, but well written, covers basics
and very enjoyable to read.
Do be careful before committing any money to something
you don't understand.
--
Plain Bread alone for e-mail, thanks. The rest gets trashed.
No MIME in E-Mail! -- http://www.expita.com/nomime.html
Are you posting responses that are easy for others to follow?
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting
Ed Zollars
>Is there some other alternative to
>Primerica that is just a normal business and is also free or very
>reasonably priced?
Well, I guess I'd put it this way--since you've indicated that you don't
have the background or inclination to "do it yourself" most likely whoever
you have help you with this is going to charge a fee (I certainly don't do
tax planning for free <grin>) either directly (billed for the service) or
indirectly (taking their fee through commissions or some other method that
allows the provider to be compensated for his/her time).
Of course, as you've noted, a Primerica agent will be selling you Primerica
product. And, as you will probably not be surprised, those not selling
Primerica products will generally not have as positive a view of the
products, generally, as those who do sell it.
---
Ed Zollars, CPA (AZ)
http://www.hmtzcpas.com
John G Fidder CFP
A client of mine decided he "wanted to do what I did" so he quit his job in
his mid-40s (making about $80k at the time) and took a job at Primerica.
His management team told him to cancel his insurance through me (which he
did) and start a new policy on himself there for his first sale (which he
did). Unfortunately, they never told him to get the new coverage BEFORE
canceling the old coverage. During the underwriting process, they "learned"
he was a smoker and the medical underwriting uncovered higher cholesterol
than expected. He ended up paying twice the cost for virtually identical
coverage. He quit within a few months and now sells mortgages.
This is my closest personal example but I've read far too many negative
comments on Primerica to trust them as a company. There are certainly good
people at the company just like their are crooks at the best companies. If
you really like the person you're dealing with, if you really trust them,
and if you feel they're a benefit to your situation, get the coverage. If
later down the road he/she suggests something you don't feel is quite right,
post it to the board and we'll let you know. ;-)
Maybe in 2-3 years after you've had more education (from life, from books,
and from Primerica) you'll be in a position to find other help. Or you may
be perfectly happy with Primerica.
My vote is to let your salesperson sell himself, not his company. Will he
have limited options? Sure. But all companies do. Do you know how few
investment folks have access to Vanguard Funds? Not many. Nobody has
everything.
"Larry" <goo...@larrygrady.com> wrote in message
news:c2a951c1.02042...@posting.google.com...
Randy H
Based on my very limited knowledge of Primerica there are a few basic areas
where they fall short. However, those shortcoming may not necessarily
affect your situation. The problems as I see it are:
1. Multi-Level Marketing. I avoid it like the plague, but if the guy isn't
trying to sell you a "business opportunity" then it may not be a problem.
If it becomes a problem, I would show him the door.
2. One size fits all approach. The old saying "if the only tool you have
is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail" (or something like that) comes
to mind when I think of them. However, I do believe that their basic
financial plan does fit most and is certainly better than no plan at all.
There are also a lot of traditional insurance people out there who hard sell
cash value policies to people who would be much better off with a plan like
Primerica's, so going the traditional route has its potential pit falls as
well.
3. Under trained sales force. This kind of comes with any MLM
organization. There is a much greater emphasis on sales training than
financial training. It does not require a lot of product knowledge to sell
Amway products, financial products are an entirely different animal. The
guy you are dealing with may know his stuff, I don't know. What is his
background? Does he have a degree in a finance related field? Has he ever
sold insurance or other financial products for other companies? If all his
knowledge comes directly from Primerica, for me that is a big red flag.
4. Overpriced products. Their products tend to be on the expensive end of
the scale.
What they teach is not entirely bad. In fact it is generally pretty good
for most people, but the MLM aspect is just too big a turn off for me to
overcome personally.
Ez
Group. I think not too many people mentioned them? Any comments on
these companies?