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I asked myself, is Primerica legit or a pyramid scheme many years ago. Over 2 decades ago to be exact. You see, I was presented with this opportunity the wrong way.
I was looking for a job and back in those days you looked in the newspaper. I saw an ad for an interview for a full time position in the financial services industry.
What I wanted was a job. Not an mlm opportunity. So as you can only imagine, I was not happy when I went on my ‘interview’ only to be pitched Primerica.
Many years later, with years of experience under my belt… Here’s my unbiased review on the Primerica business opportunity. Let’s see it is legit or a pyramid scheme.
What is Primerica?
Primerica is an American-based multi-level marketing company sells products and services in the of financial and insurance industries. It is popularly known for being the largest financial service organization in North America.
The company was founded in 1977 and headquarters are located in Duluth, Georgia. Primerica reported having more than 120,000 independent representatives through Primerica’s securities broker-dealer affiliate PFS Investments, Inc. in the United States, and through PFSL Investments Canada Ltd. in Canada.
The company serves many middle-income and main street families by offering them much needed financial freedom and protection against debt. Citigroup is its parent company and was formed through an IPO in 2010.
Primerica has a network of independent representatives who sell various types of financial products including mutual funds, life insurance, mutual funds, and annuities. All the products they sell are offered by Citigroup. The annuities and mutual funds are sold via a licensed dealer and broker called PFS Investments.
The company primarily sells term life insurance, as well as mutual funds, annuities, segregated funds, managed accounts, long-term care insurance, pre-paid legal services, auto insurance, home insurance, credit monitoring and debt management plans.
Here’s a tweet of someone sharing the product portfolio.
WHY USE PRIMERICA? https://t.co/2aah5wA61f pic.twitter.com/SdbkVgTIvl
— ANDRE JOHNSON (@AndreJohnsonny) July 24, 2019
How Does Primerica’s Business Opportunity Work?
Primerica sells its products through representatives who are required to recruit people to bring in more sales. Although reps don’t make massive amounts of money from the program, it is a nice opportunity to supplement your income.
On average, the amount you can earn as a sales rep is $5,156 per year. To join the multi-level marketing opportunity, you can visit their website at PrimericaBusinessOpportunity.com.
To get started, you have to pay an upfront fee of $99, which includes an official Primerica license and background check.
All distributors have to be screened for criminal records and more. This helps to ensure that all sales representatives have a solid background.
To access the platform, you also need to pay $25 every month. This amount also includes the cost of marketing materials and training, which are all ideal for this business opportunity. The $99 fee is refundable if this opportunity isn’t right for you.
The Primerica Compensation Plan
The company offers four different ways to make money.
1) Insurance
One of them is through sales commission on all the insurance products.
2) Overrides
The second way to earn is with overrides. There is a 10% override commission for all the sales made by your downline. When you grow and advance your level, you earn more through the differentials in your downline.
The key here as with any mlm is you have to support your downline to grow your organization.
3) Product Commissions
Finally, there is a commission on all the other products you sell. Primerica has a wide range of products that you can sell to earn more commissions such as debt management, long-term care insurance, credit monitoring, and auto and home insurance.
Commissions by Rank
As a simple overview of what you can expect from Primerica, Sales representatives earn 25% commission while senior reps earn 35% plus bonus.
District leader earns up to 50% and an additional bonus, while division leader makes 60% commission.
Regional leader and regional vice president earn 70% and 95% commission respectively.
At the highest rank, which is the senior vice president earnings increase to 95% commission and bonus.
The Primerica App
Primerica has developed an app that works exclusively for their representatives. The app features a great platform and technology that allows reps to access various powerful tools like financial calculations and quick quotes.
The Primerica app is free for download and is available in English. You can download the app for both IOS and Android devices in the app store.
The tools inside the app can also help you with financial planning. Things like buying a home, car or going for a vacation and more.
It also has features that can enable you to conduct your core business activities while on the go. It doesn’t require any internet connection.
Is Primerica Legit?
Primerica is neither a pyramid scheme nor a scam. It is a legit program that offers real products for distributors to promote and an opportunity to build a business recruiting members.
If you do well, you can make up to 95% commission by simply selling the products and this is why it is considered one of the highest-paying MLMs. They also have a good BBB rating of A+ which means it is legit.
The company has over 120,000 independent representatives in 2 markets (Canada and the US) and was listed by Forbes as one of “Americas 50 Most Trustworthy Financial Companies” in 2015.
Primerica is one of the fastest growing mlm companies and also tops the list as far as mlm rankings by revenue. In 2018, Primerica did $1.9 billion in revenue. Here’s a breakdown of the companies revenues since 2016.
Revenue growth
Insurance and Financial Services Sector
As I mentioned, Primerica is in the Finance and Insurance sector, which has grown at a stable pace over the five years since 2018.
This sector plays a vital role in facilitating necessary financial transactions between consumers, businesses and government agencies. The core services provided by companies in this sector include:
- Providing insurance products to cover risk.
- Offering borrowing services to finance new projects and save money.
- Investing to create and preserve investors’ assets.
Over the past five years, the Finance and Insurance in the US industry has grown by 2.8% to reach revenue of $5 Trillion in 2018. During that time, the number of businesses has grown by 0.6% and the number of employees has grown by 1.0% making it a solid sector to be involved in.
Conclusion
I have to admit. Many years ago, the Primerica business opportunity left a bad taste in my mouth. If you’re interested in the opportunity, never position it as a job and try to trick people.
Position it as what it is. An mlm business opportunity in a solid industry with a good company. A company that has been around for a long time and offers an opportunity to earn income in a legit business model.
