does anyone know about Primerica?

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I know that this is of topic--way off-- but my husband and I are looking into different financial businesses. Do anyone of you know anything good or bad about Primerica? Thanks in advance. Lynne

-- lynne (leaves8@hotmail.com), October 29, 2000

Answers

We were approached about it. It's a multi level marketing type business like Amway. You buy the product which is life insurance , you get recruited to sell, then you begin to recruit people to sell under you. I have always heard those programs are great if you get in at the beginning.Since Primerica has been around for awhile it might be tough to make any money. I tend to shy away from multi level marketing. But people do it all the time and a few do well. Maybe you would be one of them. That's all I know!

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), October 29, 2000.

I have had a term life insurance policy with them for about 9 years. No problems at all but I've never made a claim. Not much to help but that's my 1.324 cents worth...(2 cents after taxes)

Jason

-- Jason (AJAMA5@netscape.net), October 29, 2000.


A guy I work with tried to rope me into that deal. About 3 months after he got hooked, he wrote it off as a scam and forgot it.

-- Jay Blair (jayblair678@yahoo.com), October 29, 2000.

A friend of mine is involved with Primerica and is trying to get me involved. I've spent the last 3 hours researching this company because from the information I recieved from him it SOUNDS like a great company, except it has the attributes of a Pyramid scheme. After 3 hours of reading reports, message boards, rebuttals, I'm definately sure that this is not a company I want to be involved with. I'm going to an information session today to use the information I obtained today to try and convince my friend to get out. I think the only reason he's involved is because the hype they create has boosted his self worth and self exteem. Before he got involved he was a totally different person and has now been brainwashed into thinking he's happy. He just recently finished his Mechanical Engineering degree which he worked real hard to obtain, but after becoming involved in Primerica, it seems he's letting that degree go to waste.

-- Bob (beer_god@email.com), July 11, 2001.

I've been working for Primerica for five months. I previously hauled heavy equipment for the largest towing company in the world. Never did my previous employers help me to make $100,000 my first year, nor did they ever care about my self improvement or my family life. Primerica is the ONLY company I have ever found or heard of who's number one concern is honesty and what is right for the consumer. And no, it is not a pyramid scheme, they are illegal. I don't think the largest company in the world ($903 BILLION in assets) could get away with it. Let alone, be be partnered with CitiGroup, Solomon-Smith Barney Investments, and Travelers Insurance. What they promised me was not a lie, but freedom. With five to seven years of hard work, I can and will be in a position to retire debt free and financially independent. How can that be wrong? Who is really being brainwashed? Me and other Primerica PFAs or the millions of people working for somebody else and being told to work from 8 to 5 your whole life, and maybe have some savings to retire on. How many actually get to do that? How many bankruptcies were filed last year? Over 1.42 million. That's the American Dream? Not in MY house, and not in Primerica.

-- Lance (freedomplnnr@aol.com), July 20, 2001.


I had to respond to Lance's stirring defense of Primerica. He has been involved in it, as he says, for 5 months. My wife and I have been in it since 1993, she as the PFA, I as the "partner." Not only has she made no money in that time, we have lost tens of thousands of dollars. In 1995, after 2 straight years of losses, she was told that the reason for it was that she had another full-time job and that only full-time Primerica commitment would guarantee success. So she quit a lucrative day job. The result has been, larger than ever losses which have now eaten up our retirement funds and brought us to imminent divorce. Why didn't she get out? Because the company crafts its appeal, very cleverly, and to my eyes, with sinister intent, to develop an emotional commitment to the business in advance of any rational examination of it. They appeal to greed, fear, and that little pocket of addictive behavior each of us secretly harbors within us. My wife has swallowed it completely, and has been acting like a riverboat gambler when the dice are cold. She keeps playing, raises the bets, and can't be coaxed from the table by any manner of reasoning. A year and a half ago, when I merely suggested that she go back to making Primerica a part-time element in her life, and get a full-time job to help with the bills and financial needs we have, she accused me of failing to be supportive, being "negative," etc. This kind of denial and addictive-variety behavior is structured into the meetings, presentations, communications from the top down. I've been to them: meetings, retreats, conventions, I even became life licensed in 2 states to support her and understand more fully what she was trying to do. Instead, I came to understand how destructive their policies and operations are for the non-addicted.

-- Dennis Lowden (denlowd@att.net), July 25, 2001.

While I would have nothing to do with a multi level marketing scheme, there are some people that swear by them. I think you have to be extremely outgoing, have friends/contacts, and have the "sales personality." It is also hard to make it in financial businesses that involve selling products. My husband was an investment banker for over 15 years, and the industry had its ups and downs, like any industry. Companies are bought and sold, the markets change, people change, people get laid off. It's not a static industry by any means. There are a lot of questions to ask yourself...Is this a company that sells decent products? Will these products be attractive to customers even when the economy changes? Even though on paper they are successful, what does this really mean? These are all things to consider.

Keep in mind, too, that MLM's want you to sign on so that someone in the pyramid makes money. They will say anything they want you to hear, try to build you up and make you feel like someone special and capable. Their success, in my opinion, isn't so much about their products but about their ability to railroad people into investing money into a scheme. It's my guess not a heck of a lot of folk end up selling anything they set out to sell. Not everyone is cut out for sales.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), July 25, 2001.


Dear Lynne,

I can tell you that Primerica is a fabulous company that truly does what is right for the consumer. Now to answer your question, should your husband do it? I have no idea.

I will be honest with you, Primerica is not for everyone. I would recommend that he test the waters and try things out and see if it is for him.

Anyone can make it here, however, they must be prepared to work hard and put up with rejection. It is frustrating when you know you can help families with our products and truly change their lives and they do not even want to hear about it. That will happen to him.

I guess my response would be that no one should judge who si right for Primerica. It is up to the individual to decide. The person should care about others, like to mentor and work with people, like to help families, and have a reason for being here, a 'why'. That is what will get them through the challenges that all businesses face.

To the other gentleman whose marriage was torn apart. To you sir, I apologize. Everyone can make it here, however, there are no guarantees that this will happen. It sounds to me like your wife should maybe explore other income avenues, until she has things in place here. I guarantee her one thing, if she plugs into the system and does the right thing her success is imminent. How long it will take I cannot say, but, she will eventually succeed. Of that I am certain.

I hope this has been helpful.

Sincerely,

Donald

-- Donald Putnam (dputnam@look.ca), September 09, 2001.


Just wanted to respond to a few comments that were made about Primerica earlier on. You do not have to buy Primerica products to be a Primerica sales rep. You do however, have to get licensed and are highly regulated as part of the insurance industry. Also unlike multi- level marketing, you do not get paid to recruit people, nor do you work out of your home. It is not a get rich quick scheme. It is a very unique business opportunity that pays you according to how many families you help and how much time and effort you are willing to put in. And in response to anyone who may say that this is a pyramid scam...think for a second. Where you work do you answer to someone? And does that person also answer to someone? Do people progressively make more money as they move higher and higher up the food chain? The difference is at Primerica that there is no glass ceilings, everyone has a chance to move up according to their efforts, and even surpass their uplines. Multi-level marketing is based on internal consumption, you don't have to buy anything at Primerica and you can make a lot of money without ever recruiting anyone. That is just my 1.21 cents. ;-) Thanx for listening

-- tammy (sunflower28ca@yahoo.com), October 04, 2001.

primerica is a legal pyramid. simple as that. those people in the company are no more than just regular salesmen. most of them have no solid education and i would not trust them with my money. no smart person should. they claim they want to help u but they just want your money. no one just wants to help someone. everyone has a motive in life.

-- darius chan (dchan@yahoo.com), February 20, 2002.


Some of these responses seem rather strange for this board. Are there that many homesteaders that are Primerica reps on this board? Could Primerica be spaming us?

-- Joe (CactusJoe001@AOL.com), February 20, 2002.

I had a client alert me to this site. She was concerned about the disparaging comments being made about Primerica here. After reading some of the moronic responses I must help anyone that wants to think rationally.

First of all please pay attention to some facts. The mutual fund investments that we sell are the SAME EXACT MUTUAL FUNDS sold by Merrill Lynch, Dean Witter, Smith Barney and from YOUR LOCAL BANK INVESTMENT REPRESENTATIVE! SAME EXACT fees SAME EXACT commissions paid out SAME EXACT returns or loses on the investments.

To claim categorically that Primerica rips off anyone or is bad or hurts people is asinine, it's ludicrous and the people that write anything to the contrary are uniformed idiots.

I'm positive that there are Primerica people who need to improve their skills, but to label them all negatively is WRONG.

I have millions of dollars under management, with thousands of clients and I met with most of them AT THEIR HOME. Giving them personal attention when it was convenient for THEM! The mutual fund investments that I put them in are the SAME EXACT MUTUAL FUNDS sold by Merrill Lynch, Dean Witter, Smith Barney, and YOUR LOCAL BANK INVESTMENT REPRESENTATIVE! The major difference between the traditional brokers and us is this… They want you to have thousands of dollars to open up your account. We only need $25.00 to help them open up their account. This is such a terrific thing, but if you think that this is bad, please call one of the brokerages and tell them you have $25.00 to invest and ask them to have a licensed investment counselor to come over and help you.

We also sell Term Life Insurance. Last night I just put 350,000 on the husband (32) and 250,000 on the wife (30) for $61.47 a month. This was a 25 year level policy, price and coverage stays level for 25 years. This is cheaper than 99% of the life companies out there. There are companies that have a cheaper rate out there but it might be for a different type of policy. How much cheaper? Maybe $2 or $7 a month? Using a representative to help you determine how much you need is certainly worth a couple of dollars more per month. If you think that you can do better on your own, knock yourself out, go, go, go! Apply online through one of the Internet sites, you'll find out you won't qualify for the cheap-cheap coverage they display. (Do you ever buy the auto or truck that's lost leader in the paper advertisement?)

I'm paying my 21st and 22nd death claims this month. Both of these people carried more coverage as a direct result of me counseling them about their needs. One of the widows is receiving $250,000, they had $100,000 before I talked them into more coverage. I'm sure some moron will find the bad in what I've posted. And come up with some asinine response. Check yourself into the Zoo, have them put you in the Jackass pen!

-- Curtis M. Cooper (goldenec@aol.com), March 12, 2002.


What is happening here??? I don't recognize these people. This used to be a fun, homesteading forum and more and more of this crap is going on here. I could care less about Primerica, Amway or any other scheme to separate me from my money.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), March 12, 2002.

blushing.............I just realized this is yet ANOTHER of those old threads reborn. O.k., so I still don't recognize them :>)

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), March 12, 2002.

Curtis,

I hope you are not representative of the type of people hired by this firm! On the basis of your response alone, I would have nothing to do with them. And Sears and Roebuck are rolling in their graves.

-- J McFerrin (JMcFerrin@aol.com), March 12, 2002.



Yea, Curtis really would turn me off to them, not that I like pyramids anyhow & wouldn't have joined. But no way if that is an example of 'their' people!

I must have been approached by one of these people 20 years ago - it all rings bells in my head from that long ago. Came on the farm & wanted to sell me insurance (back when gas was cheap & long distance was expensive). I needed to cut oats, said I was busy. He said he would come back later that day, I said whatever. He came back later & made his spiel. I said I really wasn't interested. He was just amazed & distraught. He said he only wanted to help me, & didn't understand my thoughts at all, and I had asked him back. (I had not - that was _his_ deal.) He only wanted to help me. I told him he made a real nice presentation (he had) but I was just not interested. He went away muttering about how it was a bad deal, that he wanted to help people, that I just didn't understand...

After all these years, that guy still rings bells in my head. I understand now, he was part of this brainwashing. He was a nice salesman, but there was certainly something different about it all. He didn't seem healthy about it all somehow.

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), March 12, 2002.


I posted my resume on the Washington Post Tech Job web site. Within a few hours I received an e-mail offering me an interview with Primerica. The message stated that I has the "skills they were looking for", I thought it a bit strange since I have no experience in the financial industry. I visited their web site, it looks legit but it provides no real information on the company and it contains no links to HR or careers. I think this is one I will pass on. After searching the Internet I found hundreds of posts, warning everyone to stay away from Primerica and a few that referred to them as "snakes."

-- Elaine (luvcarib@aol.com), March 24, 2002.

Anything that even hints of being a pyramid scheme is a scam. Period.

All these schemes are designed with suckers in mind and aimed point-blank at the gullible.

If it looks too good to be true, you can bet your last dollar that it is.

Avoid them all like the plague.

-- Hank in Oklahoma (hbaker@ipa.net), March 24, 2002.


i found it strange that Primerica's web site was rather sparse. Anyway, i was lucky to find a salaried job. The VP who gave the info session talked of being able to penetrate the Korean community, the chinese community, etc. briefly. No way in hell I would want to use Primerica to penetrate the Indian community (I'm Indian). Business and friends don't mix in my opinion. If they would provide me some warm leads, then it may be worth a shot. Otherwise, I'll take the fixed salary. Also, paying $200 for securities licenses? Heck, they are part of citigroup. such expenses should be on the house. I know a broker at Salomon Smith Barney and a former broker at merill lynch. They don't charge employees for training or getting the licenses, so why is Primerica charging $200? something is fishy

-- balu sastry (bsastry2000@hotmail.com), April 05, 2002.

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