Welcome to “What Is Primerica Financial Services? Before you decide to become a Primerica rep let me share with you our personal experience with Primerica when my wife was an agent for three years.
She is no longer a Primerica rep so this review is unbiased. I just want you to be informed prior to making a decision to become a rep or not.
Primerica Financial Services has been around for some time now and is well-established in the insurance and financial sectors.
Their annual revenue was:
- 2017 – $1.7 billion
- 2018 – $1.9 billion
That is a $200,000,000 increase… in ONE YEAR, that’s pretty good if you ask me.
They do this by offering quality products like:
- Family Insurance
- Investments
- Debt Consolidation
- Auto & Home Loans
- Prep Paid Legal
- Identity theft
They serve both United States where it originated and also Canada. In Canada the part-time opportunity may be subject to certain restrictions, depending on your occupation.
Table of Contents
What is Primerica Financial Services?
Primerica is a Main Street Company for Main Street North America.
Their GOAL is to create Financially independent families by educating them and offering product solutions through network marketing.
Their main product is not Financial but Term life insurance in the amount of $9.1 billion.
In 2017, they report that they have 120,000 independent rep’s throughout United States and Canada.
Primerica was listed by Forbes as one of “Americas 50 Most Trustworthy Financial Companies” in 2015 but was not included in the 2017 list.
Their moto since 1977 is “buy term and invest the difference”.
They would sell you the term insurance and invest the money you would save into a mutual fund.
I won’t bore you with all the technical detail of the mergers, you can easily read about it in Wikipedia.
They are all about helping the lower class population.
Is Primerica a MLM or pyramid Scheme?
The answer is… well, YES it is.
According to Wikipedia Multi-level marketing is also called:
- MLM
- pyramid selling
- network marketing
- referral marketing
“which is a marketing strategy for the sale of products or services where the revenue of the MLM company is derived from a non-salaried workforce selling the company’s products/services, while the earnings of the participants are derived from a pyramid-shaped or binary compensation commission system.”
Isn’t MLM products bad?
Some can be good while most you want to stay clear of.
Keep in mind that MLM is a marketing strategy to sell products and how the company layers the strategy will determine if it’s something worthwhile to invest your time and money into.
With most MLMs because of the way they are structured it’s a direct selling method to your family and friends, then to strangers. This makes all MLM programs very difficult for most to do especially if you’re quiet, shy.
However, in my experience Primerica sold very well for me and my wife. In fact, it was my wife that decided to do it while I stayed in the military giving us an income until it got more established.
Even though she was shy, she had no problem introducing and selling this product and the biggest reasons is due to the quality of the products and the impact it has on a families future.
My wife loved the people in it and the pleasure she received by helping families was very real and rewarding to say the least.
Sad to say we no longer sell Primerica products which I briefly explain below.
Who Can Benefit From Primerica
Everyone can benefit from Primerica’s products if you have an income and especially if you have a family. What they teach you is taught by no other organization.
As for becoming a rep, anyone that’s interested in selling insurance and investments and doesn’t mind talking to strangers would probably do alright with this business.
However, I do not believe this is for everyone retired. The last thing I want to be doing is running around to appointments selling insurance despite the great pleasure you receive when you get to help someone.
If you’re out of work this could be a hard go for you, you will need money to run a vehicle, gas and money to attend functions and it costs around $175 / mth on top of that.
Financial
Primerica is the only company I know of that offers a true personalized strategy for families financial security and they do that using their “Financial Needs Analysis (FNA). This product I can’t say enough about, in my opinion every family need one.
Let’s face it, most people are not aware of their financial situation until it’s too late. Most will just keep on going to work, pay the bills and buy their toys with what’s left over. We see this all the time especially with today’s’ kids.
I didn’t wast a lot of money and my parents or their parents didn’t have it to waste.
Primerica will come in to your home and educate you on your situation and give you some scenarios of “What if’s” that is sure to wake you up to reality in a hurry.
Then they will work with you to get your finances cleaned by finding money been wasted and converting it into an investment for you and your family.
Insurance
Believe it or not insurance is where Primerica got started over 40 years ago when life insurance was sold door to door by big firms that took all your money and gave you very little in return. This action by the big corporations’s pissed off a guy named Art Williams who set out to change the life insurance industry, and he did.
You see Art’s Mother and Father thought they were set with insurance because they were paying a big premium for insurance at the time until one day his Father passed away his Mother discovered the insurance wasn’t worth very much.
Art then set out on a big mission, to start educating families on what was the best insurance to buy and when you need it. Of course this throw every other insurance company in a rage and tried to shut him up. Nope, Art didn’t give up he continued to share all their little secrets to the public.
Eventually he joined up with other forces and started selling other products that can help families.
I don’t believe anyone knows a families need for life insurance like Primerica.
And they make it simple and affordable for everyone.
Most insurance companies just don’t like to pay out but Primerica always paid out and in most times within 2 weeks. There are cases I do recall when policies took a little longer but never did know why that was.
Investments
The investment side of Primerica didn’t come out until 1977 when most financial institutions were not interested in working with the middle class. Most firms are out to fill their pockets and there’s just not enough money in the middle class.
Primerica stepped in and started educating the middle class about:
- short term and long term goals
- Annuities
- Managed Investments
- Mutual Funds
- and even business retirement plans
Their moto is PAY YOURSELF FIRST.
And the most important thing they teach you is the cost of waiting.
The Recruit Training
All training as a recruit is held in your local RVP office where you mingle with other more experienced members and share tips and ideas. Some training is done in the field by tagging along with someone else to see how it’s done.
Once you find your own clients you will have someone follow along with you to ensure your doing it right and to assist if needed.
You are required to complete a couple of Government exams to qualify to sell insurance and investments.
After that it’s just practice practice and practice.
You will be required to travel to several functions during the year and until you start making money it can add up very quickly.
It is best if you already have some form of income. Don’t’ expect to make money at this until about 6 months in.
As a recruit you can make money by selling the products which is a very small amount however the real money will only come when you recruit other members under you.
Conclusion
Now that you have a better idea of “What Is Primerica Financial Services?” lets recap some points.
Their products are pretty good, I still have money invested with them and it continues to grow through all the up’s and downs in the market.
In fact, we decided to stop primerica when we got posted in the military.
- We just had a hard time to find clients in a lower economy where we moved to.
- We were tired of all the running around and to attend any functions where we were now living was going to cost even more.
- It takes too damn long to make any money and even as RVP you are not making a lot of money like they make you believe.
Their products have a high interest with the public. Around 90% of the people we introduced the product to became a client. This of course would depend on the location and the saturation of reps in the area.
Their Commission payout is 25% which is a pretty good payout.
The problem I have with Primerica as a business is that:
- it is an MLM which means you have to climb the pyramid.
- It leans heavily towards recruiting and you need a lot of reps under you to see the money
- Once you have a team built you need to take care of them, even open your own office.
- The running around never stops, is this what you want as you get older?
- You do need to study for your insurance and securities license.
- The reality is most members don’t make it past the entry level which is 0 commissions.
- They have a 1 year charge back if a client defaults – that is very long but is standard in the insurance and investment industry.
- It’s only the insurance and investments that pay such a high commission.
I would only recommend this product if you really want to be a sales rep and enjoy a lot of driving around for appointments. It will cost you around $175 in fees and then you have gas expenses, events to attend along with the regular training meetings.
I have to tell you, with today’s internet there are much easier ways to make a living.
If you’re looking for a good legit online program to make money in the comfort of your own home with faster results then check out my #1 recommendation. It’s a whole lot cheaper to get started and to run.
Primerica’s training makes it look easy however like most MLM’s you won’t see any serious money until you have built up your team. And even then you won’t be replacing your day job for several years. Primerica in 2017 on average paid out $6,000 to their licensed sales reps. How the hell can anyone survive running a business on $500 a month.
Perhaps online yes but not a door to door sales man with vehicle expenses added on top.
This would explain why so many licensed reps quit each year, I am sorry but it’s just not sustainable to make a living at it.
Put your questions in the comments section and I will be glad to answer them for you.
I hope you found this review helpful… thanks for reading
Rick
Hi Rick.Great post,I have learned about a company that I did not know of before and I really admire the openness of your post.The post is unbiased and allows me as the reader to make a choice.Thanks for being honest and pointing out that it is an MLM company because personally I prefer affiliate marketing companies rather than MLM companies,,so now that I know it is an MLM…The choice was made a lot easier for me.
You are very welcome Yahya, these companies fool a lot of people to join by not telling the truth about their business or products. The best I can do is offer the truth so others can make the proper choice like yourself. I am very glade my article was able to help you in making a decision.
Thanks for dropping by,
All the best my friend
Rick
Hi Rick, thanks for an open and very personal view of Primerica. I had not heard of the company but now know much much more. The article was very informative and good to hear. I think your conclusion sums up the MLM field in that it takes time and a lot of effort to make a living as a MLM. Good luck to you and your wife in the future. Thanks for such an honest review.
Hi Mike, I am very pleased you found my article of interests. Perhaps I saved another from spending time and money on something that will get them now where. Perhaps you may find some of my other articles of interests as well.
All the best Mike
Rick
Thank you for sharing your wife’s experience with Primerica Financial, I will admit this does sound like an awesome opportunity. At the same time, I am wondering if this is a good investment for beginners, so is your wife and you going to mentor anyone who joins this program through you? The majority of people who join MLMs most often don’t succeed without a good mentor, so a good mentor with experience is something I would want if I decided to join you on this journey
Jeff
Thanks for reaching out Jeff, these are very interesting questions that I think is important to clarify. Primerica was a very fun and rewarding experience for the both of us. Albeit she actually did the program I attended some of the classes and events. I also prospected a lot of clients for her through friends at work. Just about everyone I talked to at my work not only attended the meeting but also became a client of hers. We really did enjoy it and wanted to continue with it however the payout was just not enough to cover the expenses to keep us going and when we moved we decided not to continue with it.
We are no longer a Primerica Rep and not planning on being one again either. If the payouts was higher then no doubt we would of continued with it. Lets face it we don’t want a hobby, we need a job replacement opportunity and today we are successful bloggers making more then we ever did at Primerica and with out all the travelling and expenses. So no we don’t mentor anyone joining Primerica.
On the other hand if you have any questions about becoming a rep I would be pleased to answer them for you.
Thanks for your comment Jeff,
I wish you all the best in your adventures my friend,
Rick
Thanks for this really detailed and informative article on Primerica Financial.
My perception – and experience with MLMs is that the guys at the bottom of the ladder have to struggle so much, and do so much running around for a decent profit. This is even more frustrating if you don’t have a mentor who is truly committed to helping you be successful because they have too many of you requiring their attention.
I never heard of good things about Primerica before, so this article is truly and eye opener because it worked for you and your wife. That is very encouraging information.
I quite like the Wealthy Affiate option – easy to get started, affordable, with great training and resources and definitely (with committment and hard work) where you can become quite successful – without the stress.
Good luck in your ventures.
You are very welcome, yes we too have heard many negative things that happened within Primerica Financial Services. When it comes to the “being mentored” it is VERY important to get under a good leader that is willing to put time into training those under them. We were under Fred Brogan and he put a lot of time into it which the majority of the people grew at a steady pace. However keep in mind the bigger the group the less personal it becomes and the less effective it ultimately will become. Just like a teacher with 10 students to 30 students in the class will have different results.
We use to hear about some of the groups that were not as effective as a team and if one was to join the first thing I would do is join the most active group going even if it requires you to move, it will make that much difference.
That is ashamed that you never heard of good things about them. Primerica Financial may not be the hottest business adventure to get into however I believe they are the only ones on track when it comes to helping families to find insurance and to get them to invest in themselves first. As the saying goes, if you are not saving money… you will never become wealthy. PFS teaches all this to the family long before banks even thought of helping their customers. PFS was one of the biggest leaders in offering a full solution to a family at their kitchen table. I am no longer with them however I think it’s only fair to share the truth about the quality of a company.
When it comes to becoming a rep I just don’t see the value in it, especially today with the internet. Like I said in the article, I can make way more as a blogger and never leave my home to do it. People are taking the internet for granted, they are using it as an entertainment source and are completely overlooking the business side potential.
Yes WA is VERY cheap and easy to get started, but like any business you will have to put your hours into it to make it work, and work it will. Just follow their simple training lessons and in fact if you click on the link in my article you will also get the first month for $19.
If one was to pick between PFS and my #1 recommendation, I would highly suggest taking another look at my #1 recommendation for a business.
Thanks for dropping by and leaving your comment Ceci,
Take care,
Rick