Posted by Gladys_IL on April 20, 1999 at 17:13:28:
Boy you hit it right on the head.
I also joined PFS I was with them a couple years ago
The only way to make money is to recruit.
They have alot to offer but there are others that can
give you the same if not better.
I was runing all over and not making it.
Primerica Financial Services: best finance school? - Posted by Javi
Posted by Javi on April 18, 1999 at 20:36:43:
Have you or any of your friends heard of worked with this financial services company. I am going to see a meeting on tuesday and am looking for feedback from you guys out there in the REI world. The Co. sounds like a good place to get trained and make a few $$ in the finance field, plus this might be a help for REI.
Thanks for the feedback
Javi
Basic Guide to REI Finance - Posted by Baltimore BirdDog
Posted by Baltimore BirdDog on April 22, 1999 at 10:51:10:
Javi,
I don’t pretend to know anything about your personal life, so please don’t take this question the wrong way, but why do you want to learn about finance? Is there some particular area of finance that you want to learn? Do you think you need to know a lot about it to invest in real estate? Or is there some other reason?
What I can tell you is that there are few things you absolutely need to know from a basic perspective when it comes to starting your real estate investing career…
Time value of money. This essentially says that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow (or next year or in 10 years) due to inflation. The farther out in time you go, the less valuable the same amount of money becomes. The interest rate that a lender charges is the sum of an inflation factor to compensate for the time value of money and a risk factor to compensate for the level of risk. If you’ve had some finance background, you probably already know this.
A good foundation in accounting basics and financial statements. Kiyosaki talks about this in his books. The thought, and a correct one at that, is that you need to be able to read and understand your company(ies) financials (balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flow) if you want to know how you’re making/losing money. Not to mention how to allocate resources, how to protect your assets from liability and taxes, and how to understand your accountant. Either a basic course or text in financial (as opposed to cost-based) accounting should do the trick.
On the subject of Primerica, much of your success in any field depends on your ability to sell and negotiate. To that end, it might be a good learning experience from a sales/negotiation perspective if Primerica puts you through a top-notch sales training program like the IBM’s of the world do. Seems like some of the other postees should be able to tell you one way or the other. Alternatively, there are plenty of good books and seminars out there on becoming a top shelf salesman. Though they’re not a necessary read before you start out, I highly recommend that you pick up/attend some as you go along.
Hope this helps you to proceed. Congratulations on finding and selecting REI as your vehicle to wealth, and good luck in your investing! Hope to see you at the next convention.
-Jeremy
Re: Primerica Financial Services: best finance school? - Posted by Laure
Posted by Laure on April 19, 1999 at 01:33:32:
YUP, I too was a member of Primerica. I just didn’t like selling life insurance. 98 percent of people wanted to be met after their job on a weeknight. Which, guess what? meant that I wasn’t with my family. I got my insurance license, learned a lot about insurance and MLM. And let the license expire ! LOL And am STILL doing real estate ! hehehe. I don’t think it was a waste of my time, and it seems to be a good company, but the info I learned has not impacted my life.
Laure :-0
Re: Primerica Financial Services: best finance school? - Posted by John(TX)
Posted by John(TX) on April 18, 1999 at 23:41:27:
Hello Javi,
Several years ago I attended a meeting, probably just like the one you plan to attend on Tuesday. I was impressed with what the speaker had to say. It seemed to make sense. Ultimately, it did not work out for me. But, I’m not saying it can’t work. Here’s my story and what I know about the company:
As I said, I attended one meeting as “a favor” to a friend. I had no intention of getting involved. But, the information presented sounded good so I started going to meetings on a regular basis. But what are the meetings all about, you ask? Well, quite simply Primerica Financial Services or PFS, as it’s called, is a multi-level marketing (MLM) company whose products are insurance and securities.
Now, most people’s reaction to MLM is negative. They’ll have flash backs to some Amway salesman cornering them for an hour and trying to sell them soap or perhaps some other MLM company trying to get them to join.
That was my first reaction to MLM as well. I liked the financial concepts I was hearing at the PFS meetings but I didn’t like the idea of recruiting others. I also didn’t really want to sell. Eventually that’s what it all boils down to. PFS “agents” recruit others who then become “employees” of the “recruiter”. They teach you to sell insurance and much later (after obtaining a license) to sell mutual funds. This is where it started to fall apart for me. It’s true that if you are good at selling and recruiting you can make money, and eventually have an organization under you that earns you money. But it takes lots of time and hard work. At that time in my life I was simply not willing to invest neither the time nor the effort it would have taken to make it work. As I said, I was simply turned off by the MLM concept.
However, if you’ve been around CRE Online for very long you have no doubt seen many recommendations of Robert Kiyosaki’s books, “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and most recently “Cashflow Quadrant.” His first book, which hasn’t gotten as much mention, is entitled, “If you Want to be Rich and Happy Don’t Go to School.” I highly recommend them all. After reading these books I learned that MLM is a great way to build a business when you have no money. All you need to invest is time and work. It’s hard in the beginning but it provides residual income for years. This is greatly simplified but it addresses the point well enough.
The bottom line is this. PFS is a reputable company. They can provide you an opportunity. It’s hard work and it’s MLM. If you don’t like that idea, don’t bother going to the meeting. On the other hand, if MLM doesn’t bother you and you think you would be good at recruiting and selling then go for it. To borrow Robert’s metaphor, it will allow you to build a pipeline rather than carry buckets of water. But don’t let it completely distract you from your real estate investing. Remember that Robert says he does two things, build companies and buy real estate.
Having said all that, I still have a problem with PFS. The company is based on ideas that I’ve learned are for the middle class. Such as, “Buy term life insurance and invest the difference.” The difference referred to is the difference in premiums of a whole life or other cash value type insurance and cheap term life insurance. If you spend say $150/mth on whole life and can get the same dollar amount of coverage in a term policy for $20/mth. That frees up $130/mth you could invest. Invest in what you ask, why PFS’s mutual funds of course.
Once you’ve bought the term insurance, they show you that you could save money on auto and homeowner’s policies by switching all of your policies to their companies. Having multiple policies with them will result in lower premiums. Lower premiums means more money to invest. Same coverage, lower price, the difference going to the investment.
Also, they encourage you to eliminate debt. That’s a great idea, but they want you to do it by getting a debt consolidation loan at 18% from one of their companies (see below). They then point out that the combined payments on your revolving debt was higher than the new payment will be on the consolidation loan. Presto, more “found money” to put towards that mutual fund.
Once they’ve spent 2 hours at your kitchen table explaining all this they recap by saying, “When I first got here you said you didn’t have any money to invest with. Just look at what we’ve done. We lowered your life insurance premiums, with the same amount of coverage mind you, by $130. We’ve decreased your other insurance premiums by $50 and we’re reduced your revolving debt payments by $275 dollars. You now have $455 dollars you can use to buy into this mutual fund.” The problem with all this is that it’s middle class thinking. Even so, I must say in defense of all these ideas that most people ARE middle class (or lower). If they are going to be middle class anyway, then at least you got them to invest something and showed them a way to eliminate their revolving debt.
One final thought, I think one of the reasons I was turned off by the MLM concept, is that I felt like I had to be tricked into going to that first meeting. Then, the MLM stuff was brushed aside for quite a while to keep you interested in coming to meetings. It was explained, even in the first meeting but you were not encouraged to do it. Later, after they felt you were sufficiently interested they would begin to push harder to get you to recruit and sell. If you go to this meeting knowing all this it may greatly enhance your chance of succeeding. You won’t feel tricked. You will know up front you must recruit and sell.
Boy, after re-reading this post it sure sounds like a rambling, unorganized rant. So, I’ll stop now and close with a little bit of general information about the company. BTW, they have a web page at http://www.pfsnet.com
Primerica Financial Services is a subsidiary of Citigroup.
Citigroup is the parent company of all of the following:
Citibank
Travelers Bank & Trust
Travelers Life & Annuity
Travelers Property Casualty
Salomon Smith Barney Asset
Salomon Smith Barney
Commercial Credit
And of course: Primerica Financial Services
PFS offers many products and services through these subsidiaries such as:
Debt consolidation loans (Commercial Credit)
Auto, life and homeowners Insurance (The Travelers companies.)
Mutual Fund Investments (Salomon Smith Barney)
Retirement Planning (Multiple Companies)
Re: Primerica Financial Services: best finance school? - Posted by James-IN
Posted by James-IN on April 18, 1999 at 23:33:07:
Javi,
I worked for Primerica during my last year of college. At that time, they were very focus on achieving the “DREAM” through selling Term Life Insurance and recruiting other people (MLM). Their slogan at the time was “buy term and invest the rest.”
I have have nothing bad to say about the company. I learned a ton about life insurance, annuities, mutual funds, and marketing. Lucky for me, I closed a few deals and actually made a profit. I left the company because I got tired of having to recruite and manage others to achieve that “DREAM.”
I have trouble enough keeping myself on track, let alone a “downline.” 
So, I pursued other opportunities that were better suited for me to achieve the “DREAM.”
As far as Primerica helping you with REI, unless the focus at PFS has changed, don’t count on it. You will, however, learn and make friends. Question to ask yourself is if the price for admission is really worth it? Much of the material they teach you can learn about from your local library.
James-IN
Re: Primerica Financial Services: best finance school? - Posted by William
Posted by William on April 18, 1999 at 22:14:52:
The answer to your question is. That this company is a
Multi-Level Marketing company. At that meeting you’re going to your head will be swollen up and you will be asked to pay in the area of $200.00 - $400.00. To join
along with some courses you will have to take. The ranking system is something like amway’s also.
Be careful. Just like all MLM’s the only one that make money are the one’s who invented the MLM. And nobody else.