I am planning for my future and just opend a retirement fund and a money market with Primerica.?

Question

I am not looking to work for them but just to invest in my future, Someone told me they are a scam. I want to know if anyone else has invested with them and what they think of the company.

Answer 1

One step removed from pyramid sales. Find former Primerica sales reps and ask them. Shouldn't be hard to find a few. Probably about half the world has been propositioned to work for them on commission (ie bring us money and we'll give you a bit of it.) Does that give you an idea of how they operate? Bottom line is: at the very least they'll charge you high "service" and administrative fees off the top. And if Citigroup does control Primerica - with the subprime scandal, are you really willing to trust a bank to look after your future?

Answer 2

while anyone can post bad things on the internet...when there is a plethora of bad comments about a specific company then you probably should look a little deeper before you give them your money.  

Most importantly look at fees and expenses for the funds they push.  After that look at the returns.  If the returns match their peers but the expenses are .5% higher then invest elsewhere.  If you're going to be paying higher fees and expenses then by god they'd better outperform their peers.  Which, given that they are an insurance company, is not likely to  happen.    Due diligence is most important.

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don't let the Primerica employee fool you.  They can control how much gets charged.  They can choose to offer up only those funds that do not charge a 12-b1 fee, choose to offer up funds that don't require any loads (front or back), and choose to offer up only those funds that refuse to participate in revenue sharing.  Of course the Primerica reps should be paid for their work (financial advising is not an easy thing and I don't want to diminish what they do) but they can do it through a hourly fee rate or flat fee rate (they can use 12-b1 fees to offset this rate if they feel that fund is exceptional but it doesn't mean any extra money for them).  

Do the research...check the product against the competitors.  Primerica is not the cheapest option (by far!!) so then you have to decide for yourself if the advice is worth the added cost.   don't forget to check ALL of the products and make apples to apples comparisons (ie simple interest loans - SMART to regular mortgage loans).

Answer 3

Primerica had a lot of legal problems and got themselves into a lot of trouble before Citigroup got a hold of them. They are not a scam, just a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup.

Answer 4

My mom open a UGMA account (a child custodian account) with them over 10 years ago. She just put in $500 into it and when I took all the money out, it was worth about $2200. After college, I joined Primerica Financial Services in the year 2004 because I like what the company was able to do for families and the fact that I was able to build a business. Middle income families in America are in a debt crisis, which means they also have a savings crisis. What's even more scary is that less than 40% of families own life insurance and about 66% of these families say they need more coverage. If the breadwinner dies, the income stops coming into the household. Without adequate life insurance coverage, the family would not only be emotionally devastated, but financially devastated as well. In Primerica, I solve all these areas for the client through a customized, confidential, and complimentary financial needs analysis (FNA). The FNA evaluates the current financial situation of the client and show them how to reach their financial goal(s) such as retiring financially independent, putting kids into college, buying the home they want, and so on. The FNA will also find any shortfall of income if the client can't reach a certain goal. They would either have to find a higher paying job or work at 2 or more jobs. Or they can take a look at the business opportunity in Primerica and make extra income on a part-time basis.

When people say its a scam, you should ask them how is the company a scam? Do you have legitimate source to back that up? The internet is not a legitimate source because anyone can write anything about companies. Reading about the company in publications such as Wall Street Journal, Forbes, etc. and talking to agents (such as myself) and employees in the company are legitimate sources.

Anyway, I open my Roth IRA at Primerica and my investment portfolio has been doing ok. I invest about $333/month and I will increase that to $416/month. (Maximum contribution limit to any working citizen under the age of 50 is $5000 for this year. $6000 for people above the age of 50).

Some other facts you should know:

1) Primerica has won the Dalbar Service Award for the 5th consecutive year. Since 1997, Primerica Shareholder Services (PSS) has made its shareholders’ needs a top priority and has focused on becoming a leader in customer service. And now, for the fifth consecutive year, that commitment has been recognized. Dalbar, Inc. is a client service rating organization focused on raising the standards of customer satisfaction and quality in the financial services industry.

2) Clients have invested over $40 billion through Primerica

3) There are over 25,000 securities licensed reps in the company, making Primerica the largest mutual funds sales force in America.

4) Clients can access their portfolio online by going to www.primerica.com

5) They market many mutual fund companies such as Legg Mason Partners, Fidelity Advisors, American Funds, Van Kampen, AIM Fund, Pioneer, and many others.

If you are worried about fees, all mutual funds have fees in them, whether you get them through Primerica or at some other financial company or go to the mutual fund company directly. They all have operating and administrative fees. Primerica does not charge any additional fees. All the fees are base on what the mutual fund company charges, which Primerica has no control of.

Answer 5

View It Now    FinanceExtends.com

Answer 6

Primerica was founded in 1977 in Duluth, GA.

There are over 100,000 representives throughout the USA, Spain, & Canada.

More than 6 million clients!

Federal & State regulators regulating them every day with no problems.

Each Rep is required to be licenced to do business in the state that they do business.

Over $90 billion dollars in Life insurance business in 2007.

Paid out over $2 million every day in life insurance claims.

Primerica does not own mutual funds or money market accounts, they market investment funds from American Funds, Legg Mason, and many others.

Answer 7

PrimeAmerica has one of the worst reputations. Stay clear.

Go to one of the following;

Charles Schwab

Fidelity Investments

T. Rowe Price

or Vanguard.

Paying the high fees for PrimeAmerica for mediocre to poor product makes no sense.