What would you say about a financial company that has an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau, and an accredited member for over 30 years, is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), is rated A+ (Superior) by A.M. Best, insures 4.3 million people, has 2 million investment clients, pays an average $2.8 million in benefit claims each day. This companies stock debuted on the NYSE 5 years ago and has seen a 156.79% growth over that time. The company employees over 2000 people and have over 100,000 independent licensed representatives. Today marks its 5th anniversary as a public traded company with the honor of ringing the bell of the New York Stock Exchange. If you haven’t figured it out by now the company is Primerica.
Have you heard the Name
Have you ever heard of Primerica? I was first introduced to the company years ago from a reference from a friend. This was before the time that we decided to clean up our financial act. We meet with the Primerica representatives and they gave us a great overview of what they did, what they had to offer and collected some financial information from us for an analysis. On a return visit the presented our overall financial picture in a nice presentation, and gave us some option to address some of our needs. We were not ready to make any changes at that time, so we parted ways. There was a follow-up call or two, but nothing else after that.
Multi-Level Marketing
The list of multi-level market (MLM) companies is long and in a lot of cases successful. Companies I’m sure you have heard of like Avon, AdvoCare, Amway, Mary Kay, and The Pampered Chef. All of these companies sell goods like makeup, weigh loss products, cleaning products, and cooking items. Tangible items you can touch and feel. I think most of these companies are respected and there is no negative associated with the MLM approach of their business. When I first hear MLM business I think of that stereotypically pushy salesmen try to sell me something I really don’t need, but with the companies and product listed above its often easy to say no. When I met with Primerica I was unaware that they were a MLM company, but based on the interaction it wouldn’t have matter to me. The only other MLM financial business that I’m aware of is a company called World Financial Group, a company founded by a former Primerica employee. The larger list of MLM companies is made up of mainly health & beauty and weight loss type product companies.
What’s your thought on MLM companies? Have you ever heard of Primerica or WFG? Do you think an independent approach to financial services can be successful?
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