Wondering if Primerica is the right business opportunity or if it’s just another pyramid scheme-ish scam? This Primerica review is the right place for you! We will also talk about some complaints about this company.
An Overview of Primerica
Let me start by stating that this is not a review of the products and services offered by Primerica. The whole point of this review is to help you determine if the business opportunity presented by this company is right for you.
Even though we will talk a little bit about the products and services, this is a review of the business opportunity rather than the individual products and services.
I completely understand that some people might not be able to sit through this long review due to time or patience constraints. If you’re one of such people, here is a point-form summary of some important stuff to know about this company:
- Primerica is a real company that offers financial planning services and sells products like term life insurance
- To become a rep of this company, you will have to pay a $99 licensing fee
- After that, you could choose to pay a $25 monthly fee for Primerica online
- The company operates a Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) business model
- This is not a part-time or work-from-home opportunity.
Primerica is a legitimate company that offers a somewhat unique product in the MLM world: Term Life Insurance. Having said that, I don’t think insurance is something you can expect to sell a lot of by walking from street to street talking to people.
You need to invest in training if you’re looking to make any substantial income as a Primerica rep. As far as I know, the company doesn’t offer in-depth training on how you can get leads to sell to.
Fortunately, you can follow the exact system I follow to get leads promoting absolutely anything you want (this includes Term Life Insurance). It’s FREE to sign up for too 🙂
What is Primerica?
This is an MLM-based company that offers financial planning services and sells products like term life insurance, auto & home insurance, and more. The company has been around the block since 1977.
The Products
The first thing to look at with any MLM is the product you will be promoting. Poor products set you up for failure from the get-go, regardless of how much the company says you could potentially earn.
The signals I use to test the quality of products are:
- Are the products unique?
- Are they reasonably priced?
- Are they trustworthy?
Not that your chances of doing well with any MLM would be high anyway but if any if these signals are missing, you will definitely have a hard time selling and it is almost certain you are going to fail to make money.
My golden rule is: Only join an MLM opportunity if you truly believe in the value of the products. Only opt-in if you would buy the products if someone you didn’t know promoted them to you.
Primerica offers a range of products but out of the bunch, their most popular product is Term Life Insurance.
Now, let’s test this product using our strength signals…
Is their Term Life Insurance unique? Banner Life, Genworth, AIG and many other companies offer Term Life Insurance and there is nothing to suggest that Primerica’s plan stands out. Therefore, they are not unique.
Is it reasonably priced? Well, not according to most people. I snooped around the internet to hear what ex-clients have had to say and a vast majority of them are slamming the price of their Term Life Insurance. So no, they are not reasonably priced.
Are they trustworthy? This is a little bit less straightforward than the previous two. Primerica was named one of America’s top 50 financial companies by Forbes in 2015, they have an A+ grade with the BBB and they have an A+ grade with A.M. Best – an authority rating agency in the insurance agency. These earn them some trustworthiness points.
But we could choose to look at this from the angle that should concern you more as a representative of the company. There are many complaints about Primerica reps everywhere on the internet, people are complaining that the products are overpriced and a lot of people are linking this company with being a scam or a pyramid scheme.
While Forbes, the BBB and A.M. Best indicate that this is a good company, the many complaints about the company and its products do not bode well for you that will be trying to sell their products. Primerica might be legit but that does not imply they offer a good opportunity for you to make money.
By the way, I might be wrong about this but isn’t life insurance kind of a big deal to the individual involved and their family? I struggle to see why I would buy insurance from someone on the street that is not an employee of the company.
Another problem is your pool is limited from the beginning. There is a certain age and income demographic that would be interested in getting any kind of life insurance and most of them would either be in other plans or they would prefer whole life insurance, which Primerica does not offer.
The Business Opportunity
Your best bet with promoting the products will be by selling it to your family and friends. Personally, I think it would even be difficult to promote just the insurance to your warm market.
While you might be unable to sell term life insurance, one thing you stand a chance of selling is the very same thing that made you become a rep in the first place: the idea of making money. As with most MLMs, recruiting is where the real money is.
The gist of it is the same as other MLMs. You are taught to start by recruiting your family and friends. Then these people go on and recruit other people. The cycle goes on and on and this is how you grow your downline. The more people you have in your downline, the more money you make.
Sounds easy, right? I wish!
The warm market approach might seem like a conducive place to start but it’s never the long-term solution to earning any form of substantial income. You can only have so many friends and at some point, the number of people you can reach will run out.
To make this a profitable business for you, you will need a method of getting leads every day. Having a constant influx of leads is essential to having a successful business anywhere.
Unfortunately, Primerica does not teach you how to get consistent leads. If you want to build your own business or learn how to get consistent leads for any business, not just Primerica, here is a systsem you can follow.
Fortunately, Primerica only charges you a one-time licensing fee of $99 and you do not have to pay the $25 monthly fee for online services. This means you should only need a few sales to break even and I cannot say this about most MLMs.
Compensation Plan
For some reason, the company decided not to share any intricate details about the opportunity on their website. However, I was chatting with an ex-rep of Primerica and he told me there are a few ranks within the company and even though he was not 100% sure of the numbers, here’s what he gave me:
- The first entry level is the Representative level. At this level, all you need to do is pay the $99 licensing fee and you qualify to earn 25% commissions
- The next level is the Senior Rep level. Recruit 3 reps and earn 35% commissions on sales. There are more criteria you must achieve to reach this level but he could not remember.
- Next up is the District Leader. You can earn 50% commissions on sales by meeting certain criteria, including having at least one of your recruits up to the Senior Rep level. I asked if the 50% was from group sales but he couldn’t confirm this.
- Then there is the National/Senior Sales Director. You can earn 95% commissions by meeting certain criteria.
**The information in this section is vague at best and is probably incorrect. I’m relying on current Primerica reps to correct any possible errors by leaving a comment below.
Income Disclosure
From January 1 through December 31, 2015, Primerica paid cash flow to its North American sales force at an average of $6,119 per life licensed representative. Average cash flow includes commissions paid on all lines of business, and reflects combined U. S. and Canadian dollars remaining in the local currency earned by the representative. Exchange rates fluctuate daily and could impact the average. – Primerica Official Income Disclosure
$6,119 per year is the average of all Primerica representatives, including the most successful ones that might be earning six figures. This means most reps earn far less.
This figure does not factor in any business expenses representatives might have incurred like the cost of actively seeking potential clients or the monthly fee.
What I liked about this company
- The company is a real company, as proven by the BBB, Forbes, and A.M. Best
- You do not have to purchase the product or keep any inventory
- It is relatively cheap, compared to most MLMs. No auto-ship, no mandatory monthly charges and you could run this business with just paying $99
What I didn’t like
- Even though the cost of joining the opportunity is cheap, the products are relatively expensive
- The product is not the type where you could just walk on the street and market
- The training is limited to reaching your warm market
- The company hardly discloses any information about the opportunity on their website
- Abysmal average earnings
- The testimonials on the website jump straight to hyping the business opportunity rather than the quality of their products. This is never a good sign!
- There is a lot of controversy about this company online and how their reps promote the company. Whether you believe it or not, it is going to affect you when you’re trying to sell the products to people
Is Primerica a Pyramid Scheme?
This is where things get subjective and it becomes a matter of perspective. I’m willing to give this company the benefit of the doubt that if recruiting ended right now, the company could still stand with its products.
That’s the stand I have chosen to take and anyone could easily make a strong case that Primerica is a scam or pyramid scheme. The fact that commissions go all the way to the very top does not help matters at all too.
Regardless of where you stand on this issue, it’s something you will have to face head-on if you go ahead and promote this company. When people look online to see what you’re offering them, a lot of them will read the complaints about the company and it will be your job to persuade them that the complaints are wrong.
Closing Thoughts
Primerica is a legit company that offers real products. Having said that, if you are not 100% certain that you will be comfortable promoting their products or actively recruiting people to join the company, I would suggest you stay away from this opportunity.
If you are not the kind of person that can walk up to people, interact with them, persuade them and then follow up with them, you probably should not be considering network marketing. The truth is MLMs are hard!
If you were looking to build your own successful business without recruiting, cold-calling or hard-selling, check out my preferred system.
If you have any questions or thoughts, please leave them in the comments below. I would love to hear them.
Primerica Review
PRODUCT NAME: Primerica
Price: $99 Licensing fee + $25 monthly
Overall Ranking: 50/100
All you need to do is look at their official Financial Reports. As a business opportunity, Primerica is bad. As of march 2017, each Sales Agent sold 0.20 policy on average per month! Or 2.5 policy per year! Here is the link to the Financial Report Page 5:
http://investors.primerica.com/Cache/1001223924.PDF?O=PDF&T=&Y=&D=&FID=1001223924&iid=4245322
Thanks Michael for sharing this.
One, Pyramid Schemes are illegal and if this was a pyramid scheme then FINRA amd the SEC would have shut them down a long time ago. Two, if this was a scam and no one REALLY makes money in the company, how is it that Primerica has more people making 6 &7 figures than any other company in North America? Microsoft is #2. If you become a Regional Vice President, the commission is 110% not 95%…may want to check your facts. If this was a scam, you don’t have companies like VOYA, Invesco, Lincoln, John Hancock, AIG and many others who have partnered with us to be brokers for them. A rep can make money by helping families find cheaper home/auto insurance or help them with a Will or Identity Theft or Long-Term Care. What make Primerica different from any other insurance company is that they ONLY sell Term insurance NEVER Whole life because that is what is in the best interest of the client.
Oh well, maybe if the company wasn’t so secretive about the details of the opportunity (e.g compensation plan), my facts would be accurate. Thanks anyway for pointing that out.
Maybe you should do some research and check out companies like WakeUp Now and Vemma. It wasn’t until years later that they were shut down because they were discovered to be pyramid schemes and these are only recent examples. Some have been shut down after 30 years! So this is a point many distributors love to lean on, but it really doesn’t prove anything with regards to a company being a potential pyramid scheme.
There is probably no company in the world where no one makes money and I know I didn’t say that. If you’re going to make a claim about having more 6-7 figure earners in North America, at least send us a link.
Again, most MLMs (especially the old ones) have relationships with big companies. Doesn’t really change anything from the business opportunity side of things.
You do realize that $100k figure is a cumulative one rather than a current list of those presently earning that amount? It is merely a cumulative count of those who ever earned $100k (before expenses), during a single, best, 12 month rolling window, including advances. Furthermore, it includes earnings from revenue sources available only to a select few. As an RVP, for instance, you are required to rent a “storefront” office, which includes paying utilities, administrative staffing, liability insurance, office supplies and maintenance, etc etc..
The company is not a scam. It’s a legit company, but it’s practices are garbage. I have just cancelled my policy after 20 years because they increased my premium by 370%!!!! It went from $53 per month to &197!!
And they didn’t even give me a heads up. And they didn’t really seem to give a sh&* that I was cancelling.
Stay away!
I worked Primerica from approximately 2004-2006, before the real estate market crash. We marketed a simple interest mortgage and encouraged biweekly mortgage payments. These factors would bring a 30 year mortgage to around a 21 year mortgage. Then, buy term and invest the difference was the slogan for the life insurance. At the time, their term life insurance rates were competitive, better than average. I didn’t sell a ton of policies, however, was never beat on price and rarely saw anyone from our office beat on price. Finally, the investments was where you could build a portfolio and honestly earn legitimate residual income. There was a cost you paid out of pocket to get licensed and I never made the leap. As far as MLMs, Primerica seemed the most legitimate with the best products. I knew reps who made a living doing little to no recruiting, mostly from their investment residuals. These reps did market the simple interest mortgage then a little of the life insurance. I know things changed after the real estate market crashed and they moved away from mortgages. I still know people in 2018, almost 15 years later, earning residual income. I personally still have life insurance, mortgage, and investments through Primerica today and they are good products that have shaped my finances for the positive. I agree that if reps are only schlepping term life insurance today, it would be tough to earn a living. We used to offer a full financial picture report called the FNA (Financial Needs Analysis). This report was great and gave a path for the customer to target a retirement date and get their house paid off sooner.
I believe that a company that has been in business since ’77, has an average stock price of $127 a share, has no debt and only advertises by word of mouth seems pretty legit to me. I think it is quite impressive that I have 300k life policy for $70 a month. The premium will go up to $111 …. in 20 years (read your contract). I like that all my children are covered under my policy for no extras in premiums. I like the option of being able to increase my face amount each year. I like that there are no military clauses. I like that I was able to save $600 a year on my auto insurance and $1200 on home insurance. I like knowing what my net worth is. I like knowing how to invest. I like knowing how much money I will need to retire in 20 years and how to get there. I like having a financial coach!
Its not a secret how the company works, it’s explained to you in the first meeting. The $99 is for a background check, not licensing. If you already have a license you do not have to pay anything. The training probably depends on your V.P. but if you have any brain cells it’s not difficult.
Interesting. I have $300 life policy for $28 a month forever, no increases as i get older, directly through my insurance agent. Wonder how much you are spending on auto and home? Maybe if you contact your insurers without the middle man you’d save even more! Just a thought.
I’m interested in checking into life insurance. We are 62 & 65 years old. Right now my wife pays $184. each month for $150,000.. coverage and it increases each year. (Relia Star Insurance Company). Should we keep or should we shop for new insurance. Thank You.
I just joined Primerica after 18 years as a lawyer and 22 years as a stock trader. It is not a pyramid scheme because it provides legitimate products to the public. The profits of the company do not depend on the payments of the people who join the company. They depend on the sale of legitimate financial products to the public.
The MLM nomenclature is misleading because it is based on the compensation structure. Compensation by commission is inherently multilevel. Every broker is in fact a multilevel business if it has sales personnel below the broker. In fact, every business that has at least one employee is based upon someone making money from the efforts of the employee below them.
As a publicly owned company, the stockholders are the ultimate recipients of the profits. Anyone can buy stock in the company, subject to the laws for all companies. Finally, the fact that the average compensation seems low is based on two facts. First, many representatives like me work only part-time. Second, , the representatives who do not do well leave the company. What should be looked at is the average income for those who work full time for the company.