Crap for most..

I have experience with Primerica and Amway. In my eyes they are similar. Both go out of their way to not tell you the truth. Both hide their names at times.

Personally I think its a waste of time, but I am sure people make some money. I would suspect those making $200 bucks worked 200 hours.

They also accept anyone in their program and help them get the insurance license.

Thanks Jock!!!

are they cousins of smith barney?

Smith Barney is in no way associated with or comparable to Primerica.  

aren’t they both owned by citicorp?

Yes, they are. Primerica is a division of Citigroup, just like Smith Barney. Isn’t that something?

Primerica is a subsidiary of Citigroup that was bought by Sandy.

Its format is set up as a MLM pay structure. Thats not a bad.

You pay $199 to get set up.. which covers the fees of having you in the system.

Its kinda high to just have your name in the system but thats the deal.

You are step up as an Independent Contractor / Self Employed.

Your contract starts out at a 25% payout and a goes to a 90% payout with 15-30% monthly bonuses

Based on growing your business.

To move from 25% to 35% to 50% (which we are lucky if we see 50% with major brokerage firms)

Can be easily done within 90 days, nothing off the way.

Its a good system for helping avg Americas get a game plan.

Its a great system once you build your business.

They have a book of individuals who make 100k or more.. Its about 3 inches thick with about 15 pages of people making 1 mill or better.

The negs.

You are only series 6 and 63 when it comes to investing.. so mutual funds is all you are doing, along with life insurance products

You are always recruiting dead beats.. (Dull Disillusion frustrated dadgum cry babies)

So the turn over rate is high. If you have 10 good producers youre golden but youll go 100s before finding 10. Thats people.

Hello all.  I am a representative of Citisolutions Financial UK Limited, a subsidiary company of Citigroup.  We are owned by Primerica Financial Services.

First of all, I can understand why there is an element of skepticism surrounding the activities of Primerica and it's sub-companies.  I too had this skepticism to start with, but slowly and surely as I socialised more with my team-mates and learned more about what the company does, the skepticism was weened away.

It does however bother me when people who don't really know what they are talking about post on forums like these stating that "Primerica is a con" etc. because everything that we do is legitimate.  Citisolutions is regulated by the FSA (Financial Services Authority).  We operate in the UK and are much the same as the American company Primerica.  We use strict policies when contacting individuals and informing these individuals of our intentions.  If a representative of Citisolutions is found to be non-compliant with Citisolutions' rules of conduct, they will not be working with Citisolutions for much longer.

Please, take a pinch of salt with the bad things that you read on the internet about Primerica or Citisolutions - because if figures are anything to go by, these systems are working and have been working for a very, very long time.

Many thanks,

MishimaSan

Sorry for crap comment.

I dont like companies that have to hide their name when they are prospecting? I think any company should be proud and confident if they say their name people will not run.

Now after I went to the meeting and listened to a similar "Amway" (personal experience with both) presentation I decided this was not for me. First the MLM format.. The gentleman who I informed I would attend meeting was totally shocked that someone with a MBA showed up. Now I dont go around stating I have an MBA, but my resume on monster had this posted.

During the presentation I heard multiple comments on "Primamerica brining finance to the normal people" and "Primamerica is the McDonalds of finance. On every corner and in every household". 

After the laim presentation I talked to advisors in the industry and Citybank employees. Multiple parties stated how they were not to excited about Primamerica. 

So in the end like AMWAY I am not fond of Primamerica. Good luck to those who make money, but I question the success rate.  

It’s always a great idea to buy a product from someone that is doing this as a “side job”. With Primerica that is how EVERYONE starts. The general knowledge level at Primerica is quite pathetic. How do I know this you might ask, I manage accounts for several former Primerica contractors.

When I was in college and looking for an internship in the financial field, I was approached by a Primerica "recruiter" (all agents are recruiters, as is the nature of the MLM system) who sold me on joining.  At the time, I barely knew what a money market was, so when I heard I'd be interning for a Citigroup company, I was happy to pay the $199, which was a lot of money to me at the time to get started. 

Our meetings were in our "up-line's" living room, and I spent my own student loan money on the prep class and the test to get 6 and 63 license, all of which were encouaged by my "mentors."  As far as product knowledge, here you go:  Primerica term good.  Cash value life insurance bad.  All cases, all situations.  Period.  Every other financial institution was vilified, and it was our mission to protect and defend all our friends and neighbors by seeling them as much term as we could shove down their throats, and then maybe see if we could sell them some Van Kampen Comstock or Smith Barney Agg Growth. 

Primerica term is overpriced.  The average agents are unqualified and ill-equipped to do financial planning on the most basic of levels.  It truly is somewhat cultish.  We had organization wide meetings with our NSD (National Sales Director), who basically is someone who is at the top of his chain and does make substantial profit...his was well over one million dollars a year. 

He got on stage like an evangelist, and preached of the "good life" and of our noble calling to be the financial saviors of middle America.  On a huge screen, we saw pictures of his mansion in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city.  It was all smoke and mirrors.

When I tried to terminate service to take on a real internship at another firm, it was almost impossible to find out how.  No one would tell me.  Supposedly, "no one has EVER quit before.  Why would you???"  I had to call home office, and resign by certified letter.

Financial planning is not the focus of Primerica.  Recruitment is #1.  Second is life insurance sales and replacements.  Investing runs a distant third.  You are a 1099 employee.  All expenses are yours to bear.  There is no technology support to speak of on the individual level.  To say my opinion of Primerica is poor is an understatement. 

It is organizations like this that hurt our profession.  Just last week, a lady came in one of my branches with a travelers variable annuity, down $20,000 since 2002 on an original investment of $75,000.  She insisted that she had been assured that she could not lose money on it, and that her Primerica agent had guaranteed it.  While I'm not suggesting this issue would be isolated to Primerica only, it is a much higher probability when you have auto mechanics and batenders selling VA's to their neighbors on the side.  It's ridiculous.   

In short, stay away from Primerica. 

my only experience with the local primerica rep was that he couldn’t figure out how to fill out ACAT paperwork.  He had no clue on how to tranfer his parents accounts.  I also had to answer easy questions on his parents mutual funds.  The guy asked me the difference between A B & C shares of mutual funds.  Needless to say i was really impressed with his knowledge. 

Anytime you meet a primerica individual just ask them why their business card doesn't say financial advisor.  The reason is they are low level insurance salesman with little training.  On top of that their term insurance is incredibly expensive.  One policy a friend recently purchased  is almost thirty dollars over monthly what I could have gotten him from  a mid tier company.  A rep in my office came from their ranks and basically said there is no training.  Anytime I find someone with their products I always end up switching them over and most importantly they save money.

DodgerDraftpick,

1)If you are replacing Primerica policies, there is probably something wrong with your market.

2)The most important thing with life insurance is not saving somebody money.  The most important thing is to make sure that the policy is in force at death and the death claim is large enough.

I just helped a client get out of a Travelers (now MetLife) VA that a broker from Primerica put her in.  After dealing with the legal department, Primerica’s chief counsel explained to me that brokers at Primerica are only “introductory brokers”, so they aren’t expected to follow up with clients after the sale or give them any advice.  What a joke.

[quote=azdawn]I just helped a client get out of a Travelers (now
MetLife) VA that a broker from Primerica put her in.  After
dealing with the legal department, Primerica’s chief counsel explained
to me that brokers at Primerica are only “introductory brokers”, so
they aren’t expected to follow up with clients after the sale or give
them any advice.  What a joke.[/quote]



Citibank does discredit themselves with Primerica. I hope they spin it
out like AXP did AMP. Then you can dump it and move on with life. 
Primerica is class action nightmare waiting to happen.

[quote=BankFC]

When I was in college and looking for an internship in the financial field, I was approached by a Primerica "recruiter" (all agents are recruiters, as is the nature of the MLM system) who sold me on joining.  At the time, I barely knew what a money market was, so when I heard I'd be interning for a Citigroup company, I was happy to pay the $199, which was a lot of money to me at the time to get started. 

Our meetings were in our "up-line's" living room, and I spent my own student loan money on the prep class and the test to get 6 and 63 license, all of which were encouaged by my "mentors."  As far as product knowledge, here you go:  Primerica term good.  Cash value life insurance bad.  All cases, all situations.  Period.  Every other financial institution was vilified, and it was our mission to protect and defend all our friends and neighbors by seeling them as much term as we could shove down their throats, and then maybe see if we could sell them some Van Kampen Comstock or Smith Barney Agg Growth. 

Primerica term is overpriced.  The average agents are unqualified and ill-equipped to do financial planning on the most basic of levels.  It truly is somewhat cultish.  We had organization wide meetings with our NSD (National Sales Director), who basically is someone who is at the top of his chain and does make substantial profit...his was well over one million dollars a year. 

He got on stage like an evangelist, and preached of the "good life" and of our noble calling to be the financial saviors of middle America.  On a huge screen, we saw pictures of his mansion in one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the city.  It was all smoke and mirrors.

When I tried to terminate service to take on a real internship at another firm, it was almost impossible to find out how.  No one would tell me.  Supposedly, "no one has EVER quit before.  Why would you???"  I had to call home office, and resign by certified letter.

Financial planning is not the focus of Primerica.  Recruitment is #1.  Second is life insurance sales and replacements.  Investing runs a distant third.  You are a 1099 employee.  All expenses are yours to bear.  There is no technology support to speak of on the individual level.  To say my opinion of Primerica is poor is an understatement. 

It is organizations like this that hurt our profession.  Just last week, a lady came in one of my branches with a travelers variable annuity, down $20,000 since 2002 on an original investment of $75,000.  She insisted that she had been assured that she could not lose money on it, and that her Primerica agent had guaranteed it.  While I'm not suggesting this issue would be isolated to Primerica only, it is a much higher probability when you have auto mechanics and batenders selling VA's to their neighbors on the side.  It's ridiculous.   

In short, stay away from Primerica. 

Now that is a GREAT post.  Sounds very similar to the Ameriprise cattle calls around here.

Anonymous I have to say I am a little perplexed by your comments.  I certainly don’t try to replace policies every week by any means.  However when the client can get the exact same death benefit, with a significant amount of savings, and with a much better company how is there something wrong with my market.

Nothing is wrong with replacing a policy when you can do better for your client.  I'm not being critical of what you are doing.  It's more of an observation.

A)I've also run into my share of Primerica clients in my time.  They all seem to share some general characteristics.  1)They were financially naive.  2)They didn't have much in the way of investable assets.  In other words, Primerica clients don't have the requisite assets to help you build your practice.  The good news, at least, is that you know in advance that you can make an insurance sale.  However, it's not worth the effort if the sale has to go through a grid.

B)Saving money for someone on their term insurance is a positive.  I do it all of the time.  However, in the typical case, you'll save them a few bucks.  Big stinkin' deal.  You've done more for yourself by earning the commission than you've done for your client.  Let's try to make a tangible difference in the lives of our clients.

  It's more important that you take the Primerica client who has $250,000 of coverage and have them increase it to the proper amount of coverage.  It's also more important that you take someone 4 years into a 20 year policy and have them replace it with a new 20 year policy, thus giving them 4 additional years of coverage, or helping them make some of their coverage permanent in nature if there insurance need won't go away.