Primerica Investments

Anybody know anything about these guys? Good, bad, ugly?

The company works as a pyramid scheme. Not many of the agents started their career as a financial advisor.

I had some stuff with them for a while. It was hard to get a hold of my “adviser” for questions about my account. That usually took several calls. When I did get a hold of them ( my account “advisers” changed a couple times) they couldn’t answer my questions on the spot and always had to get back to me = I wasn’t impressed.
IMO they are pretty hands off when it comes to their clients, at least they were with my GF and me. My GF and I NEVER got a follow up call asking if I had questions or to discuss the status of our accounts. After a couple years of that, I just didn’t feel comfortable doing business like that so I rolled my stuff out of there. MY GF did too a few years after that. That was years ago and both my GF I have no regrets leaving PA.

My advice would be to pass on PA.

biggill wrote:

The company works as a pyramid scheme. Not many of the agents started their career as a financial advisor.

This…know a few people who went in. They basically have you provide them a list of everyone you know so they can get leads.

And, like 98% of Financial Advisers, they have no real handle on investing, markets, or long term planning…it’s all about chasing commissions.

skinnywater wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>biggill wrote:</div>
The company works as a pyramid scheme. Not many of the agents started their career as a financial advisor.

This…know a few people who went in. They basically have you provide them a list of everyone you know so they can get leads.

And, like 98% of Financial Advisers, they have no real handle on investing, markets, or long term planning…it’s all about chasing commissions.

Isnt the “list of family and friends” pretty standard in that industry? I remember interviewing at a few places during college and that’s what they all wanted from me! Amex, Prudential, all of them.

As far as Primerica goes it’s like the rest of them, Find a solid rep that knows what they are talking about and you will be just fine. It’s my understanding that Primerica works off of lower commissions.

I am not impressed. I can only speak from the agent side because they recruited me. After my second meeting they offered to do a financial analysis for me to show me how it all worked. I told them my income and investment goals and then they said they were putting together a report. The next time I went in they wanted me to pay them some type of new agent fee to see the results. It wasn’t very much maybe around $100, but I think it’s ridiculous that I have to pay a fee to learn what I would be doing in my career. They talked over and over again about how we could help our family and friends. In my eyes it seemed like they were just recruiting me to provide them with clients. The two guys I met in the meetings, quit within a year.

My only dealing with them was a friend who tried to sell bi-weekly mortgages from them. You paid a fee, a higher rate and because you made 2 extra payments per year, you paid off your mortgage faster.

I when I asked why I shouldnt go with a traditional mortgage with the lower rate and no fee and just make extra payments and pay it off EVEN FASTER, I got a blank stare.

Good going Dave. Most people don’t know you pay a fee for a biweekly program. That and the bank holds half a payment for 6 months before they apply to the principle. Just pay extra now.

Finding a good FA is tough if you don’t have a lot of money to invest. Id look at Edward Jones or Metlife as they don’t require your net worth to be as high as say Merril Lynch.

ritz9876 wrote:

Finding a good FA is tough if you don’t have a lot of money to invest.

I was never comfortable with someone giving out “free financial planning”, but they make there living selling you their insurance and investments, makes it difficult to believe they have your best interest in mind. A “Fee Only Financial Planner”, is the best route to go they do not sell you anything and do comprehensive financial planning. But they are not cheap, you need a sizable portfolio and are not easy to locate. As with anything involving financial planning you need to do your homework and be comfortable the planner puts your fiduciary interests first.