Prime America

[ditsleg]

I would be leary of buying from anyone whom is recuiting you to be an agent during or after sale

[Jacqueline]

Primerica used to be known as A.L. Williams back in the 1980's. They were fly-by-night outfit then and had been charged w/ some sort of pyramid scheme and insurance/investments violations charges, if I remember correctly. Then they re-emerged as Primerica a few years later. If you want to buy a good life insurance policy, try Allianz, US Financial, even F&G Life. F&G life has some decent products that offer return of premiums. You can also go the "big name" proprietary product route too if you want to. Allianz is also a good company and it is global. It is definitely not a Mickey Mouse outfit.

[Cullen]

As a former PFS rep, I can tell you that their insurance products are not competitively priced. You can find a policy that is much less expensive and has better conversion options.

I'd check AIG American General, Banner etc to start.

[OakRaidFan]

"Coach" Al Wms. lost his dad when he was young, and had to quit school to help make ends meet. A friend told him that if his did had spent the same premium he'd paid for his small whole life policy and instead had bought term, he and his family would have had enough coverage so that Al wouldn't have had to quit school. After finishing school and a coaching career, Al started A.L. Wms., and made it his mission to replace all whole life with his overpriced, poor quality, MLM-commission term. After getting into regulatory trouble, his company became MILICO (Mass. Indemnity & Life Insurance Co.). After getting into more regulatory trouble, MILICO then became Primerica. Unfortunately, CitiGroup bought Primerica, and, also unfortunately, has thus almost (but not quite) legitimized them. When
CitiGroup bought them, the Primerica agents realized that they then had the same database as another CitiGroup company, Travelers. In one of the largest cases ever of corporate cannibalism, the Primerica agents then
proceeded to replace Travelers Whole/UL life with Primerica term. Awful.

[Porter]

If you want to get the best coverage at the lowest price go see a life broker that represents many companies. Don't mess with a one company joker agent.

[JSJAG]

Go for the Prime America if you want to buy or sell over-priced term insurance. I won't discuss business practices just do a search and you'll find the history that dates back to ALW.

I recently had a term insurance client that called me telling me about this wonderful opportunity. They had been recruited into Prime America. They are in their early 60's. I asked them, do you really know how hard the life insurance selling business is and are you really into (after an hour hour daytime job) working nights.

They called me and said their up-line wants them to replace the 20 year term policy they have with me. That it will cost them less money. I said, ask them if they are quoting you the best, best, best rating? Did they ask anything about your health. The answer was no. The wife got back to me and said the up-line was quoting the best rate available from the company. I already knew the answer, that it would be the best rate available and that the up-line didn't do any field underwriting before quoting. They never do.

I told her that she has been a client for a long time, if she can earn a commission off selling herself a policy, well go for it. Just remember about the 2 year incontestability period.

So the husband and wife went though the entire blood work etc, They called me back and said they will not be changing policies. The Primerica policy that was offered (after underwriting) was several thousand of dollars a year more than they were paying. The first year commission they would get would never offset the difference.

Yep....good old ALW technique is still alive and kick'in. What was that saying from PY Barnum?

Ya just gotta love the pyramid........if you're at the top.

What is latest good or bad information about Prime America. Should a person buy a life policy from them or go with Prudential, New York Life, or someone like that?

Thanks,

Trotter

[SurplusFuss]

Primerica...

Run away!!!

One of their minions got ahold my number via "referral" (and if I ever figure out which one of my 'friends' did this to me, I'll smack em). Even after the first call when I said no, no thanks, not only no but heck no, she still called me every day, sometimes twice a day for over 3 weeks in a row. I was starting to feel like she was stalking me!

Certainly not all Primerica reps are like that. But after doing a little bit of Googling, the word on their product is not good my friend.

Take the sound advice of those here and go find a broker who can obtain quotes for you from a multitude of carriers.

[Big Dog]

The original concept of "buy term and invest the difference" was actually quite sound.

The pricing of the original MILICO product was relatively competative. However, their tactics left something to be desired. My experience with A.L. Williams forced me to do my own investigative work, which led me to go through and obtain the CFP designation. ALW poo-poo'd anyone with a CFP, and anyone or any firm that would actually charge a separate fee for doing a real financial plan.

I left and interned at one of the best financial planning firms in SoCal. Although I didn't remain beyond two years, how they handled clients was far better than how any ALW rep does.

Stay away from Primerica (it's not "Prime America" - it's Primerica). They're the Amway of financial products.

[JSJAG]

Relative what?

Way back in the 80's, the hay day of ALW, if I saw a MILICO policy it was a for sure sale. Any independent agent could easily provide better coverage and for a lower premium.



<<The pricing of the original MILICO product was relatively competative.>>

The original concept of "buy term and invest the difference" was actually quite sound.

The pricing of the original MILICO product was relatively competative. However, their tactics left something to be desired. My experience with A.L. Williams forced me to do my own investigative work, which led me to go through and obtain the CFP designation. ALW poo-poo'd anyone with a CFP, and anyone or any firm that would actually charge a separate fee for doing a real financial plan.

I left and interned at one of the best financial planning firms in SoCal. Although I didn't remain beyond two years, how they handled clients was far better than how any ALW rep does.

Stay away from Primerica (it's not "Prime America" - it's Primerica). They're the Amway of financial products.

[InsuredInsurer]

But I thought Term-Life Insurance was the ONLY recommended life insurance. CNBC's Suze Orman swears by it ... Anyways I'm not so sure about Primerica, except that it DOES sell term-life insurance. Contemplating buying a policy... why is Universal so 'bad' compared to term?

Check out the article on Primerica

[shortro]

There are several reasons why a Level Term Policy is more appropiate than a UL policy, but first let me explain the basics of a UL. A UL policy has two main functions: 1. Anual Renewable Term (ART) 2. Savings Account.

Agents who market a UL to middle america are not doing a service to their clients because:
A UL will:
-Keep all money for two years (meaning your savings account wont have cash value for two years...is that the type of savings account you want?)

It will give you 1-2% return on your money (thats after they keep it for two years)

-Charge you 6-8% to barrow your money (did you get that..barrow your own money...oxy moron)

-Can hold your money for up to 6 months (that means if the transmition falls out of your car and you think..."I have that UL policy with cash value, I'll use that to fix my car" not for 6 months you wont and not with out a 6-8% fee)

-Keeps return if you die

With that being said you will be paying more $ for less coverage on your life. Term is simple...you are insured for a set number of years (Term) for the face amount and you pay a level premium.

I am a financial services broker and I recomend that all my clients to buy term insurance.

[inscopywriter]

Pretty good explanation of why term is better here: http://www.insurance.com/article.aspx/T ... /artid/218.

[dot2mom]

I will repeat my story again and again. My first customer as A PFS rep was my son and daughter-in-law (ages 28 and 30). Their policy wsa effective February 28 and on May 1 my daughter-in-law died - suddenly and unexpectedly. I was able to deliver a check to my grieving son that will alleviate the need for him to go back to work right away. He has three children who are now without a mother - 8 years, 5 years and 6 weeks (at the time of her death). I've been a licensed P&C broker for 30 years and never experienced anything as gratifying as this even though it was as a result of tremendous tragedy.

Please know that there are over 130,000 of us "believers" and Primerica is debt fee. The net profit for 2008 was over $500 million. For the number of folks insured and the few negative things I've read and heard, I'd rather be insured by Primerica than AIG - they "lost" almost $29 BILLION in 90 days.

Thanks!!

[kevinraz]

Okay, dot2mom, you like Primerica. Happy for you.

Now tell us more:
How have sales been going ? How is your income? How many policies have you sold overall and then how many to non-controlled business? (Controlled means relatives or close friends). How many households do you sell a month & how many appointments do you make a month?

What you have is a great story but it's not enough of a reason to get someone to start working with Primerica.

[InsuredInsurer]

If anyone is having trouble with Primerica business, check these articles out... it should help anyone trying to get more appointments or more leads. I'm thinking about buying the Primerica term-insurance.

Primerica Opportunities
Opportunity With A Primerica Career
MLM Help

Success in the MLM industry is NOT an easy task... No one should believe that it's 'get rich quick' because it certainly is not that. Like EVERYTHING that has value (like financial freedom), it takes persistence and HARD WORK for at least 2-3 years, consistently. Don't let anyone fool you.