Primerica Guarantees

[WinoBlues]

Now you're catching on. You'll be Primerica material in no time.

Many years ago I was sent most of the defense of replacement deals from JNL and one other company. Before that it was most of the John Hancock office I was in and The Coach's minions. I have sat across the table from so many of their "agent" and managers. I used to have a casset of the coach explaning how they should replace policies. I would start it at the beginning of the meeting. They can get very emotional.

 

[sman]

Many years ago I was sent most of the defense of replacement deals from JNL and one other company. Before that it was most of the John Hancock office I was in and The Coach's minions. I have sat across the table from so many of their "agent" and managers. I used to have a casset of the coach explaning how they should replace policies. I would start it at the beginning of the meeting. They can get very emotional.

My question has always been, if they believe so much in "buy term and invest the difference", then wouldn't it make sense to get the least expensive term available? That way there would be more to invest. Can't seem to ever get a Primerica person to answer that question.

 

[WinoBlues]

My question has always been, if they believe so much in "buy term and invest the difference", then wouldn't it make sense to get the least expensive term available? That way there would be more to invest. Can't seem to ever get a Primerica person to answer that question.

They try to come back with the "you can buy cheap or you can buy good" BS. They also say say _they_ pay their claims alluding that other may not.

 

[sman]

They try to come back with the "you can buy cheap or you can buy good" BS. They also say say _they_ pay their claims alluding that other may not.

Right. Rarely do you see a Primerica rep actually become a true student of the industry. If they did they wouldn't be making those types of comments.

 

[VolAgent]

Right. Rarely do you see a Primerica rep actually become a true student of the industry. If they did they wouldn't be making those types of comments.

There is some validity to that statement, just not in regards to Primerica and not in the way they imply.

 

[Norwayguy]

What's sad is they don't even get the crap they tell you right. I stopped and actually spoke with one of their RVPs when I knew I was leaving my B/D at the time and was not sure I would do a lot of securities in the future.

I was told they were the only company to offer a decreasing surrender charge on their annuities so my BS didn't even need to be one to know some crap was coming my way. I was then told they could sell multiple mutual fund families and combine balances across all families to meet breakpoints ie 10k with Aim funds and 15k with American Funds would meet Americans 25k breakpoint. I got him to call the home office on speakerphone to confirm which they confirmed could NOT be done. Finally in regards to their loans he pulled out a homemade sheet showing different Interest rates and payments essentially saying Interest rates did not matter however he downplayed the difference was monthly payments on the other loans and biweekly payments on his using the same payment amou t meaning look how much interest I can save you while disguising g the fact you would be paying more than twice the total payments monthly.

 

[Robert Barney]

My question has always been, if they believe so much in "buy term and invest the difference", then wouldn't it make sense to get the least expensive term available? That way there would be more to invest. Can't seem to ever get a Primerica person to answer that question.

I remember I was in Chicago in 1986 and decided to call the Primerica office (A.L. Williams) to ask that exact same question. I was told A.L. Williams had the cheapest term life rates. I then explained who I was, and that I had developed life insurance comparison software with their rates as well as other companies in the system, and that I could point out lots of examples where they weren't the cheapest. They promptly crab walked.

In the early 1990's, after Primerica made heavy use of this video in their sale presentations (I'm featured at 7:45):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR9qkhGQbyE

the CBC got complaints from the industry who wer unhappy that Primerica was using a video of the program for commercial promotion. The CBC called me and wanted to know who or what was A.L. Williams. That results in a a followup program examining the costs of A.L. Williams versus other alternatives in the market. Art Williams was interviewed, as well as myself.

It was funny, after the first program a lot of A.L. Williams agents (strangers to me) would come up to me in churches and thank me for my efforts in the first video. After the CBC ran the A.L. Williams followup story, I was no longer approached by those agents. I went from being loved to hated. That seems to happen a lot.

I think it was my comment on air, about those agents, that the lights were on but no one seemed to be home.

 

[Integrus Financial]

Unreal!!! It's amazing how many similar stories there are and we were once on the other side of it. We learned a ton more once we were actually exposed to the industry.

 

[DHK]

That's what most of these "MLM Financial Cults" do.

They preach "We're the only ones that do it right" over and over again so that their agents believe it.

They don't join industry associations.

They don't pursue industry certifications.

They don't seek any additional training outside of their 'cult-firm'.

They don't learn how to think.

They just keep repeating the same mantras over and over again to themselves and their clients - not truly knowing if they are doing real good or harm to their clients.

Of course, most don't sell enough individually to make a living, so there's plenty of business to replace and give great advice afterwards.

 

[Robert Barney]

In fairness to Primerica, they have succeeded in making consumers much more aware of term life insurance, than say your average agent who has a CLU behind his name.

Now I don't want to paint all agents with a CLU with the same brush, but there is no doubt in my mind, after years of being a life insurance agent, and dealing with the life insurance agent community, that we have a pant load of agents out there who recommend and sell whole life to everyone for everything, and ONLY sell term when forced to by a consumer who happens to be a little better educated than a mushroom.

Term is a VERY important product.

Term is the product MOST consumers should buy.

MOST consumers are badly underinsured. MOST consumer are in that position because MOST life insurance agents are more interested in cranking a whole life sale than they are in educating consumers about the importance of carrying sufficient coverage.

And if life insurance policies paid commissions based upon face amounts, rather than premiums, this debate would have ended decades ago.

How about a world where commissions for ALL life insurance were based upon the term component of a whole life premium, which has to be disclosed in the policy, rather than the entire premium? That might gets some of these agents off their butts and start selling coverage rather than peddling policies that are too small and which will only stay in force until the consumer smartens up.

Do you know what motivated Art Williams to start selling term in the first place? It was his own PERSONAL experience from when his father died, who was badly underinsured because he bought the whole life product(s) he was peddled.

Go back and watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR9qkhGQbyE

There are TWO young widows who talks about the economic reality of life after a husband died, where they were sold small whole life policies. SAD, SAD stories. Watch the vice president of a large life insurance company try to explain why the one widow would not have been better off if her husband had spent the same premiums on a larger term life policy.

Someone at Williams taped that show, and when Williams got a hold of it he duplicated it throughout his entire organization, in Canada and the U.S. That's why a copy of it was still around, and how it got on the web. Williams saw it and immediately identified with it, because his situation was the same. So whoever shorted the Williams family, on too little insurance, is to blame for the existence of that entire operation.

Don't get mad, get even.

How anyone, could be proud of an industry that is plagued with these problems, is beyond my comprehension. Primerica may have its faults, and may have exploited the situation to sell over-priced term policies, but at least they are out there selling coverage, except for those who simply replace a whole life policy with a term policy of equal face amount. And yes, that's what some Primerica agents do.

When I replaced a whole life policy I replaced a ton of term, it was always with term that had far more coverage than that provided by the pitifully small whole life policies that I discovered and happily replaced.

I'll always remember the farmer I met, who brought his life insurance policies to the kitchen table, in a large paper grocery bag. There were more than 15 policies, $5,000 here, $10,000 there. His agent showed up every 2 years to sell another one.

What a farce.