Introduction¶

Start by reading my story of being in A.L. Williams / Primerica Financial Services for 16 years. WEB SITE

Watch Primerica Overview VIDEO

Note: This page is still under heavy construction. There are spelling errors, grammar errors, content, and many updates that need to be made. However, the spirit of the message is accurate in the issues that really matter. In addition to the facts presented here, I also include my personal opinions, beliefs and observations as a 16 year veteran at A.L. Williams and Primerica (my last eight as a Regional Vice President).

I hope the content herein will be thought provoking and may even enlighten about how Primerica operates. I've often found that many Advisors are kept in the dark about the independent market and don't know what questions to ask and what answers to look for.

PFS Stole The Best Years Of My Life¶

Beyond the financial rewards of leaving Primerca I felt like I got my life back and I was part of the human race again. No more prospecting the 19-year waitress, no more meetings on weekends and holidays. No longer was I viewed by my friends and family with suspicion as an "MLM-junkie". I re-built relationships with friends who were not agents in the company (or even clients).

I felt "normal" again (that's a good thing).

Brief History of our Firms / Groups¶

A.L. Williams / Primerica¶

February 10^th, 1977, 85 middle-class men and women built a different kind of company. ALW had a unusual financial philosophy and a very unique business model. It introduced business concepts that had been unheard of in the financial services industry at that time:

• No prior financial services experience required.
• Allow agents to start part-time.
• No quotas or minimums.
• Ability to recruit others, at every level, with overrides.
• Unique product (level term insurance).
• Ability to build your own business, with ownership.

Becoming concerned about what would happen to his people if he were to become ill or die, in 1989 the founder of ALW sold his company to New York-based Primerica Corporation for $75 million and an override on the entire company for 20 years (ending in 2009).

The loss of the original founder caused field leaders to question the current opportunity. Over the next few years many left the company to start their own endeavours based upon the ALW business model. He writes about this it in his book "Coach"...

"To my utter delight and amazement, thousands of former ALW leaders took our financial and leadership concepts and built other entrepreneurial businesses."

In fact, this book was one of the reference books we used to build our company.

AdvisorFirst Group¶

The hierarchy structure of ALW was designed in the 1970's. At the time they built it the best way they knew how, but four decades later errors have emerged. Thus, In 2007 a few ex-PFS RVPs decided to start a new company. We wanted to correct those errors. The solution was to build the firm on a modern, mature, independent, and open-architecture platform. We asked ourselves, "If we could improve anything about Primerica, what would it be?" Then we set out to build that company...

Primerica is not a "scam" nor a "rip-off" and we're not "smarter" or "better" than anyone at PFS - we just had the benefit of hindsight and the fortune of starting "from scratch". We looked at PFS' 40+ year history, and other firms as well and asked ourselves, if we were new entry-level financial advisors, but somehow knew what we know now, what would we be looking for in a broker/dealer? The result is Parsonex.

There is much more to our design than what is in this web site. The devil is in the details, so please feel free to contact me for questions. We are an open book and very transparent; we have nothing to hide; I want you ask the tough questions.

The Two Foundations of AFG¶

1. Don't just do whats "right", but do what's "best". This can only be accomplished by having access to the independent products, and having high-quality training.

2. Have an "Advisor-First" philosophy. Build the compensation program, training and culture around the individual advisor. Then, build an override system on top of that. Take care of the Advisors properly and the uplines, managers, executive and shareholders will be taken care automatically.

Three Challenge Questions¶

Challenge #1 - Primerica's (fake) Pilot Program¶

Imagine PFS told you they have a new Pilot Program for strong securities producers/builders. Here's the deal:

1. You have to pay an extra $5,000 per year, in addition to your upfront securities fees.They'll take it out of your commissions.
2. You get much higher commissions on variable annuities, and higher trails on ALL your securities business.
3. Get to choose how you take your commissions. Balance upfront payouts vs trails. You can sell c-share mutual funds.
4. As you get promoted, your commissions and trails on ALL your old accounts go up.
5. Access to a very large selection of mutual funds, 529-plans, 401ks and variable annuities. Always have access to the newest and best available in the independent market.
6. Earn securities promotions with no recruiting requirement.
7. You get to keep all securities producers that you recruit. There is no "give-up".

Would you join this Pilot Program? You can, it's called IP/AFG.

Challenge #2 - Ask Yourself These Five Questions¶

1. If you could offer products with more benefits and were less expensive than at PFS, doesn't the Crusade obligate you to do so, for your clients? Where is your loyalty strongest: to your clients or toward Primerica Corp? If the two were contradictory, who would you serve?
2. Would you like to build a true residual income, without having to recruit?
3. If you do want to build a sales force, would you like to have an override system built on top of a residual income? (Hint: it's about securities.)
4. If there exists a business system that has essentially the same structure as PFS, but can offer your downlines more income for their families and more freedoms, don't you owe it to them to thoroughly research it?
5. How many reps do you personally know of who can support their families solely on their PFS income?

Challenge #3: Take the Coke vs Pepsi Test¶

Remember the old Coke vs Pepsi test (or "Refrigerator A vs B")?

As you peruse this web site, ignore the names “PFS” and “Parsonex”, and compare them solely on their virtues. Which one would you choose?

I truly believe that once you compare the two firms you'll be compelled to agree that we are a viable alternative to PFS - one that is superior for your clients, superior for your downlines, and superior for you.

The Crudade¶

Primerica's product focus is term life insurance. They pay lip service to "..invest the difference", from their limited securities products, a culture that does not properly recognize securities producers and the lack of training. Often, securities reps are treated as "second-class citizens". The real modern "Crusade" is Retirement Income Planning. The term insurance crusade is over. Every financial advisor worth his salt recommends term. The horse is dead; stop beating it. Term has become a commodity, bought and sold on pricing and to a lesser extent underwriting.

Product Restrictions ≠ "The Crusade"¶

Financial services is a very competitive landscape and to doom your clients to only the same vendor (for life insurance) or a handful (for securities) is unconscionable. No company, no matter how good, can provide the best features, and the best service, at the lowest cost, to all consumers in all situations. You must have choice.

The financial philosophies of PFS are (mostly) sound, but the implementations are flawed. One of the miscalculations was tying the salesforce to only one or a limited number of product providers. A distribution channel should be completely separate from the product providers, thus giving Advisors true freedom and choice in servicing their clients.

You see, PFS does the right thing for their clients, but not necessarily the best thing. Refrigerating your food is the right thing to do; but that doesn’t mean that Kenmore is the best refrigerator for every kitchen, don’t you agree?

PFS product restrictions manifests itself in five ways¶

1. Extreme limitation of product choices.
2. Many of the products they offer are average/mediocre.
3. Lack of pricing options, such as C-shares, variable annuity payouts, variable annuity surrender lengths, fee-based flexibility etc.
4. Lack of high-quality training and education to be a Professional Advisor.
5. No outside financial business allowed.

Lessons¶

1. No single product provider can beat every other company. You must have choice to do the best thing for the client.
2. You must separate the salesforce from the product providers.

Whom are you an Advocate for?¶

• When a captive agent (ie, PFS) visits with a client, who do they promote? *their *company (Primerica)**
• What does an independent advisor promote? Their client.

When I was at PFS my presentation largely revolved around “Primerica is the best. We’re so great. We’re the only company that is doing what’s right. PFS has been around since 1977. We’re the largest financial company (they’re not). PFS, PFS, PFS.” I was be a "bannerman” for Primerica.

Now, I’m a “bannerman” for the client. I rarely talk about my firm or the product providers (with the rare exceptions). Instead, I talk about the client and their plan. What are their goals, what strategy is best for them, and which products and companies will solve their problems the best.

My loyalties are with those I serve, not the carriers. I couldn’t care less about the vendors. They are merely a tool to help me help my clients. I'm an advocate for the best interest of those paying the premiums (or investing). I can do that because I'm not tied to one company, instead I let the insurance & investment companies "duke it out" and then select the best ones.

If you are limited to one company that makes you a salesman not an Advisor and as such you must sugar coat your products beyond objectivity. I am under no obligation to worship any company. Don't you have a fiduciary duty to find the *best* products for your clients. So once you understand that the problem is in the fact that you are being limited to sell one product you should feel bad about that. The crusade is not owned by one company; the crusade is about what you do when helping someone without the chains of captivity.

Lack of Professional Training¶

Without deep, thorough and professional training, an Advisor will have a difficult time closing higher net-worth clients and complex cases. In my 16 years experience at Primerica I’ve found that PFS' “training” mostly consists of “R & R” (“recruiting” and “rah-rah”).

I’ve met PFS reps who didn’t know that a Roth IRA was completely tax-free. Or, how a 1035-exchange works. Or what a “backdoor IRA” is. Or, that it’s better to put short-term clients in C-share mutual funds, instead of A-shares. Or, how to use two variable annuities together (taking income from one to fund the other). Or, how to construct succession planning / inheritance using variable annuities and living trusts. Or, what a 401k in-service withdrawal is. And the list goes on and on...

Alternatively, at Parsonex we spend almost no time on motivation, but an enormous amount effort on training and client case design. Our belief is that a competent advisor is a confident advisor, and a confident advisor is a productive advisor. No amount of products will help if you don’t know how to put them together.

Securities¶

The Real "Crusade" - Retirement Income Planning¶

Watch Crusade - Securities VIDEO

It can be argued that securities is more important than life insurance, since most people make it to retirement (only 5% die before age 65). That's OUR focus, and the most dramatic differences between PFS' product offerings and those in the independent market are securities products. The improvements are even more exaggerated than the term life insurance. How much training and education is provided at Primerica regarding Variable Annuities with guaranteed income riders?

Worse, PFS has started selling indexed-annuities!?!?! They are the "whole life" of the investment world. There are only two reason agents sell them:

1. They pay very high commissions.

2. A securities licensed is not required (and no FINRA oversight). When I heard of this in early 2011, I just shook my head. “They’ve gone to dark side, so sad....”

Products Available via Broker/Dealer¶

¹ Variable Annuities are the current Crusade in financial services; and FFC is woefully behind. They have an extremely limited selection. Lincoln is best one they have, and though it is fine (we've had it on our platform since 2009) it is two generations behind. Of course, without the proper training it doesn’t matter what you have, if the agent doesn’t know how to use it properly. PFS has: 1. PrimElite (restricted version of the "real" MetLIfe VA) 1. Lincoln (limited) 1. Axa (limited)

Watch Summary of VA Options and Share Classes Available VIDEO

Watch Client example PrimeElite IV VA-002 VIDEO

Watch Transfer from PrimElite to Jackson National VA VIDEO

Advisory (fee-based & managed money)¶

Primerica¶

• Lockwood Advisors
• Founded 1995
• $12 billion AUM

For investments over $250,000, the cheapest fees, FFC advisors charge 1.48%, PLUS 0.90%, PLUS investment costs from the mutual funds, which if they are 1%, the client would pay almost 3.4%! They could purchase a variable annuity with riders for that cost.

IP Advisory¶

IP has multitude of platforms, products, and services too many to list here. Visit this Wiki page for details (it will shcock you).

IP also does not charge an extra fee, just the platform fee, management fees and the Advisor fee (your fee - which you can set from 0.25% on up).

Term Life Insurance¶

Buy Term And Invest the Difference¶

PFS reps promote the philosophy of Buy Term & Invest the Difference. However, it's really "Sell Primerica Life and Maybe Invest". It's not buy “the best term available", but buy Primerica's term. There is no choice of other term policies. Agents can only sell their own company's term, so that is not an accurate expression of the "Buy Term" concept.

How often is the "....Invest the Difference" portion of the philosophy really implemented? Be honest! Just look at the ratio of life-only agents vs securities Advisors in most Base Shops. Look at the Leader's Board and see the disparity between life insurance production vs securities revenue. Obviously many clients are getting life coverage but not investing the difference.

The High Cost of Primerica Life¶

There are a number of reasons for PFS' high cost.

• It's just plain expensive. Period.
• It uses unisex rates, which is not industry standard. This severely penalizes females, which are lower risk.
• The policy fee is $75; the industry average is $50.
• PFS charges a substantial premium to sustain the large commission payout to the salesforce over six generations of Branches.
• They pay 95% to the Base Shop (this is reasonable).
• They pay another 25% in six generational overrides.
• They pay another 10 - 50% bonus to RVPs and above.
• Primerica Life Insurance Company takes its profit (unknown amount).
• PFS Corp takes its profit (unknown amount).
• Their height/weight chart is very restrictive. Thus, clients that don't get preferred rating with PFS often do qualify for a better class with another carrier. Keep this in mind when running quotes.

You'll notice the most dramatic premium differences with females, with longer term lengths and higher face amounts.

Replace Primerica & Invest the Difference¶

We routinely replace PFS' term life insurance policy with term that is less expensive, has longer guaranteed level term and with higher face amounts.

Art Williams said it best, “In fact, replacement was a perfectly wonderful thing. It forced competition, badly needed and long overdue.”

Remember, no single company can beat every other company. You must have choice to do the best thing for the client.

Watch Life Insurance Crsuade 1 VIDEO

Watch Life Insurance Crusade 2 VIDEO

View Replace Primerica and Invest the Difference GOOGLE SPREADSHEET. This is a list of Primerica Life policies my team and I replaced a few years ago.

Freedoms & Culture¶

Freedoms¶

| No ownership of your client book-of-business. One of dirty secrets PFS doesn't tell it's agents is their draconian policies on who "owns" your client book-of-business. When you leave the company, PFS's "Family Headquarters" very quickly turns into the "Compliance Department". They discourage you from leaving by using golden handcuffs and a golden cage. Sure, you can leave, but don't take "our" clients with you (or downline reps). Huh? I thought I was building my business? A company within a company.... be in business for myself but not by myself, and all that rhetoric. Look at the contracts. | You own your book-of-business and you can sell it to another licesned Advisors |

| PFS does not allow you to earn CFP or other financial planning designations. If you already have one, you cannot promote it. | We allow you earn, and promote, any officially recognized designation you want. |

| FFC' compliance is very restrictive. It is difficult to get advertising and marketing approved. Such as, newspaper ads, internet ads, public presentations, social networking etc. | IP is very modern and up-to-date in our marketing and compliance restrictions (within the regulations, of course). We support advertising, Google Ads, Craisgslist, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and other Social Networking. |

| PFS requires you to place your downline agent who is 50 miles away from your base in another local base shop, and thus "network" him. | You can hire an Advisor anywhere in the U.S. that you're licensed and they are part of your Team 100%. We do not believe in "networking" Advisors. They don’t have to be near an office. This dramatcially opens up your client and recruiting opportunities! |

| Can't communicate or close securities cases via email. | You can communicate with your securities clients via email. This enables you to close securities trades via email and regular mail in any state you're licensed, without being physically present. We are currently working with the largest fund families (AMF) to enable digital signatures. |

| Because of everything mentioned thus far it is very difficult to prospect and recruit fully licensed advisors from other firms.....JP Morgan, Edward Jones, Waddell & Reed, Morgan Stanely etc. | We have no such challenges. We have the best of both worlds... the products, freedoms and training of the "independents", and the override structure, part-time, no-quotas and camaraderie of the "MLM"s. |

Culture¶

Culture is the way in which the members of a group behave and implement their strategies. This is often the most important factor that differentiates one firm from another.

| PFS's perspective, "It's not about the product, it's about the pyramid." | We don't recruit to make it work. We recruit because it works. |

| FFC is predominantly recruiting-oriented, not client-oriented. Recruiting is the end-all at FFC. | We are client-focused. Recruiting is very important at MBD, but it takes a back seat to product development. We believe Advisors can earn $25,000 - $100,000 with NO recruiting. |

| At PFS the recruiting philosophy is recruit everyone you can. Pressure them into it. | You'll recruit more effectively by recruiting objectively and selectively. Don't recruit just because you can, but because you want to. Don't recruit to get "points on the board" or to amass an army of code numbers, but for a specific purpose (which is to develop competent, independent Advisors).

Prospect everyone, but don't recruit everyone. Always recruit for the right reason. Sometimes we allow contests, promotions and recognition to cloud our recruiting judgement. You don't help yourself, or your prospect, when you recruit someone that isn't right for the business or isn't ready at this time. In fact, this is what gives you a "MLM / Network Marketing" image - recruiting an individual who isn't ready and subsequently quits without making any money. A person who is ready now is also going to be ready tomorrow or the next day - there is no need to "pressure" the prospect to join now. In fact, by being low pressure and giving your prospect "space" until she is ready, you will build respect and credibility. |

| PFS has a "R & R" strategy, which is "Recruit and Rah-Rah". Recruiting a greenie and using them to get clients takes precedence over building a solid client base. Motivation takes the place of training. | Our strategy is to train Advisors and actually teach them the fundamentals. Though we believe in working through a trainee's market, we also teach you how to market yourself and get referrals. |

| One of the messages in PFS is that anyone who has a "j.o.b." is a "dummy". Everyone should be in PFS. | We don't believe that everyone should be in our business. There are good careers other than financial services. We recognize that sales and entrepreneurship is not for everyone. |

| Many FFC Leaders (not all) exert tremendous pressure on Reps to go full-time. | We don't pressure Advisors to go full-time. You're an adult, you know what's best. |

| Reps are often cajoled into attending every meeting, all the time (which are more often than not thinly disguised motivation and "pump-up" sessions). | We don't pressure Advisors that way. We encourage meeting attendance, of course. We treat people like adults. We also broadcast our meetings over the Internet, and record them. |

| Another PFS "belief" is that anyone who is in financial services, but not in FFC, is "evil". Notice how few (if any) Financial Advisors join PFS if they already have securitie experience. | We believe that there are good people outside of our firm, including PFS. PFs does not have a monopoly on the "crusade". |

| The "FFC" name is saturated for sure, at least here in California. Similar to Amway in the sense that a very large number of people have already been "approached" by a FFC rep. Its almost like all other other 90,000 FFC reps are screwing with your market share. How many times have you braced yourself when you were getting to asnwer the question, "You do you work for?" | I can't begin to tell you how refreshing it was to say, "I'm an independent Advisor." EVERY person who've hired from FFC has the same enlightened experience. |

| Fraternizing with the "Enemy". Another aspect of the FFC Culture is that I was strongly discouraged from associating with anyone in the financial industry who was not with PFS. The biggest mistake I ever made in my professional career was staying with PFS for as along as I did. It hurt me, it hurt my clients, and most importantly, it hurt the people who were following me. Had I been able to mingle with other advisors in financial services, I probably would have broken out of my naivety much sooner.| At an independent such as IP we are encourage to mingle with Advisors from other firms and join trade groups and attend industry events. |

| Another cultural "scam" is the "going out strong to Branch President" message. I've found this is just an effort to get more production out of downlines and/or keeping downlines within a Base Shop longer. If you want to help reps "go out strong" how about NOT TAKING A REPLACEMENT! | The solution is two-fold: 1) have firm and fixed guidelines across the company with no deviation. They hit the numbers then they become a Franchise Owner; if they don't, they don't. 2) Make the Base Shop override and the 1^st Generation override the SAME (10%). Then there is no incentive or disincentive for the uplines to promote out a Franchise Owner nor to keep someone in their Base Shop. |

Compensation¶

General Compensation¶

| There are too many Branch generational overrides (six). Out of 93,000 agents, less than 100 have six downline Branches, yet for every dollar of revenue, six generations of commission are allocated. If there aren't six Branches to pay out, the remainder goes to Primerica Corp.| We pay cash personal, your Franchise and on your 1^st Generation Franchises. We equalized the branch and 1^st Generations securities spread (10%). This eliminates the need for give-ups and bonuses. 2^nd & 3^rd Generations are paid in pre-IPO Parsonex stock. We took generations 4, 5 & 6 and gave those commissions back to the Advisors and the Base Shop. |

| The "give-up" system is the most abusive concept in network marketing. Euphemistically named "replacement", "promotion exchange" or "franchise fee". Upon promotion to Branch Manager, you lose your best leg(s) and all of those securities Reps. | This was the first thing we eliminated. If you recruit someone, they will be in your hierarchy forever. If they "pass you up" their production still counts, and you can "re-capture" them. |

| Three problems with PFS' generational override system: 1. They pay over too many generations, and thus the 1^st generation is only 6.1% (see above). 2. You have to provide a "give-up" leg(s) to benefit from the generational system (see above). 3. If you're not a Branch Manager and you hire someone who become a Branch Manager before you, and then once you do become a Branch Manager you do NOT re-gain that generational override. | We pay 10% 1^st generational override. No "give-ups" not "replacements". You retain everyone you hire. In our system you WOULD re-gain the 1^st generation override. |

| The override spread within a branch and 1^st generation branch is not the same. This can unduly incentize an upline to promote someone to Branch Manager early, or try to keep them within the branch. And, leads to the need to provide "replacement" legs and bonuses to make up for the lost revenue when someone "promotes out". | The minimum spread within a Branch is 10% (for all prodcuts), and the spread between a franch and 1^st geenration branches is also 10%. This means that there is no incentive or disincentive to promote a branch manager or keep him in the branch. This is elimanted the need to "replacement" and "bonuses". |

| All promotions are tied together and based upon one product (life insurance) and recruiting. The recruiting requirement excludes those who just want to be personal producers. | Promotions are unique to each product. You may have "commission X" for life insurance, and "commission Y" for securities. Each product has it's own promotion guidelines based upon that product's production only. No recruiting requirements |

| PFS requires recruiting for every promotion. | We don't require any recruiting for any promotions or contests. |

| PFS major contest is once a year and very difficult to win. They are also based on a fixed number of slots, thus are you competing with 90,000 reps. | PFS' major incentive trip is every six months and based upon a fixed amount of personal revenue. You are NOT competing with others in the company. If you do the production, you win. |

| Observe how many reps have been at FFC for years, even decades, who earn dismal income. See the screenshot below. | In my organzation with 35 Advisors we've developed 6 $100,000-earners and 8 $50,000-earners (most of them with no "downlines"). |

| The compensation program is Top-Heavy. For every $200,000+ earner, he/she has 27 people in their base shop who are earning $6,000 a year, or less. I've rearely seen a FFC Base Shop where the Branch Manger makes great money AND the downlines make a decent income. It takes a boat-load of part-timers making very, very little money, to support the Branch Manager financially. | Our compensation program is more equalized. For example, as I write this I'm a $200,000 earner (no "chargebacks" or "advances" and 20% of it residual, by the way), AND I've developed six other Advisors who've earned over $100k, and eight who've earned over $50k (some are earning a big chunk of it residually). The income is more fairly distributed. |

Securities Commissions¶

View PFS vs IP Securities Commissions GOOGLE SHEET

Watch PFSI Securities Commissions VIDEO

2¶

p¶

| Limited payout choices: no "C" or "F" shares on MF; only 1 payout type on variable annuities. Low commission rates: only up to 63%, and only 6.1% on 1^st Generation. See the next slide (#5b) for more details. Trails are paid a lower commissions rate than upfront revenue. See the next slide (#5b) for more details. Surprisingly, a lot PFS securities reps are not aware that their securities commission rates are locked to the level at the time the account was established, and do not rise as they get promoted!

For example, if you are a Rep when you open an IRA, then that will be the commission rate you will get paid forever on that account. Future PAC, subsequent contributions and trails (which are lower anyay) will be paid as a Rep, even after you get promoted. So, if years later the client rolls their 401k into that IRA you will get paid as a rep, even if you're a RL! Unpredictable trail compensation. FFC got rid of securities trails for below-RL in 2005 (I was at the Branch Manager meeting in the Staples Center in LA when he announced it). Then in 2014 they brought them back (but you don't get your old trails back). Maybe they'll take them away again. Trails are paid at a lower commission level than upfront revenue. FFCI has only one commission option for variable annuities. 5% upfront and 0.5% trails. Securities commissions range from 30% to 63% within a branch, with six levels. Trails don't count toward contests and promotions. For investments over $250,000, the cheapest fees, FFC advisors charge 1.48%, plus investment costs from the mutual funds, which if they are 1.20%, the client would pay almost 3.6%! They could purchase a variable annuity with riders for that! They charge a 1.48 advisor fee but only run 1% through the advisor's commission grid.

Before commissions to the Representative are calculated, however, 0.25% (25 basis points) is deducted from the full Program Fee at each breakpoint as payment to the co-advisor. The remainder of the Program Fee is payable to PFS Investments and is the basis of commission payments to each Representative (“Commissionable Program Fee”). For instance, with respect to the first $250,000 in assets in each managed account, the Commissionable Program Fee is 1.25% annually. For the second $250,000 in assets in each managed account, the Commissionable Program Fee is 1.10% annually, and so on for each level of the breakpoint schedule.

lockwood advisors bundle from pfsi mf

5 models

0-250k = 1.5% 250 - 500 1.13% 500 - $1m = 1.09% $1M+ = 0.95%

no breakpoints.

0.25% goes to lockwood whichs is taken above

fund models can't show history before 2011

IP¶

By having more product/share class options you can close more sales. See previous slide (#4) for a list. See the next slide (#5b) for more details. We pay the same commission on upfront revenue and trails! See the next slide (#5b) for more details. We have "raising commissions" on old accounts. For example, you are at 40% when you open an IRA, and 5 years later you are at 62% and your clients adds money to his IRA, you would get paid at 62%, not 40%. This goes for trails, as well. We've always had trails for all levels, and always will, at every level, and "rising (see below). We pay you the commission rate that you currently have the day your clients add money. Trails are paid at the same commission level as upfront revenue. Our variable annuities have anywhere from 6 to 12 commission options. Ranging from 7% upfront / 0% trail to 2% upfront with a 1.5% trail, with a spectrum in between. See the next slide (#5b) for more details. We have nine levels within a branch (to prevent "stacking"), ranging from 25% to 70%. Trails are paid at the same level. We have the same number of levels for life, again to prevent "stacking". Trails (all types) count towards contests, promotions and recognition. We recognize the amount of "Annual Recurring Revenue" an Advisor (or Banch) has. This is the long-game. Fee based fee schedule range: 0.5% - 2.5% (99% of the time we charge 1%). Most of our Advisors charge a flat 1.00% plus investment costs of less than 0.80%, or all in of around 1.80%.

Life Insurance Commissions¶

| life commissions. 1,500 credit and max payout is $750 | No "bonusable premium". No cap. All the production/reveue that comes in the door counts. |

| Life commssions are paid upon submission. This dramically increases chargebacks since many policies never get to the "delivery" stage. | The independnet market pays once the policy is issued, delivered and paid for (the client doesn't pay until delivered). This dramatically reduces chargebacks. |

FAQs and Transitioning¶

Watch Why Transfer from Primerica to Parsonex VIDEO

Primerica Pays Life Insurance Commissions Advanced and Upon Submission¶

Primerica Life pays commissions when the policy is submitted to the company, not issued. This is a benefit when working full-time, commission-only (and if you're selling just life insurance). The rest of the industry pays when the policy is issued and delivered to the client, and a premium is submitted.

Short-term this may seem like a benefit, but upon closer inspection the story is different:

• We do not collect money from the client until the policy is issued and delivered. This is a much "softer" sales approach. And, we’re not collecting premiums until we know what the actual premium is going to be.
• By waiting until the client accepts the policy and pays for it, you dramatically reduce your chargebacks. (I can count on one hand the number of chargebacks my hierarchy has received since 2007.)

Advisors have a strong incentive to deliver the policy!

How should I Communicate that I’m Leaving to my Former Uplines / RVP?¶

My personal preference is to tell your uplines, downlines and colleagues after you've made the transition (I did the same thing in September 2006. I faxed my resignation then told my team). This will demonstrate your commitment and reduce their attempts of dissuading you.

Either way, I would say something like, "I have some great news but shocking news: I've decided to resign from Primerica and continue my financial planning practice with an Independent firm. There are numerous reasons, but essentially I want to do a better job for my clients, and have more freedoms for my business. I know it's a surprise to you, and if you're open to it I can tell you more, or not.”

I would try to avoid getting into long. drawn-out debate. Let me (or your Parsonex upline) do it for you. This reminds me of the cardinal rule of prospecting, “Just get them to just take a look.”

Can I Move My Clients / Recruits?¶

• I am not a lawyer, so ultimately you are responsible for complying with compliance, and your ethics. These are my opinions, and mine alone. Sometimes you may find yourself at odds with PFS' version of "compliance" and your desire to do "what's right", I recommend tread carefully regarding Primerica’s compliance and always protect yourself.
• You are not supposed to "solicit" your clients or downlines for two years within 50 mile radius of your home or office.
• Any client beyond a 50 mile radius from your branch office or home is fair game.
• You cannot recruit anyone in your downline or direct upline. However, if they are not in your upline/downline hierarchy they are fair game.
• You’re not supposed to tell anyone in your downline PFS about your decision to leave while you’re still at Primerica.

The primary restriction is that you cannot solicit your clients/recruits. But they can contact you.

• PFS Termination Letter 2010 (below-RVP).
• See this article, Non-Compete - Harvard Business Review - February 2014.
• I recommend contacting an employment contract attorney. Here is one we’ve used before: http://www.rentealaw.com. He has helped a captive agent transition to an independent firm who had $1200 million AUM and 12 downline Advisors.

One of the easiest ways to help avoid running afoul of your Primerica agreement is to have another life agent replace your client’s life business (if it’s better for the client, of course).

In addition, you can ask your client to write a quick hand written note and save it in your Google Drive.

To whom it may concern,

We, John and Mary Smith, have personally requested Michael Thomas with Parsonex to be our Advisor for our insurance and investments. He did not solicit or negatively influence us.

Sincerely,

My personal non-compliance real-world view of what I would do.¶

1. I would resign first, telling only my spouse.
2. Once accepted at Parsonex, I would update my public profiles on Google+, LInkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (with approval) with your Parsonex information. Many reps and clients will see it and contact you.
3. I would contact by “best” Registered Reps whom I like and trust and ask them if they want to hear why you made the transition. I would either call or see them face-to-face. Don’t email, don’t txt, don’t send a letter and don’t leave a voicemail.
4. I would replace/move all my personal accounts, those of my family, those of friends whom I had a relationship before I joined Primerica, those that become clients within the last six months and those who’s life insurance was written before Primerica was sold-off by CItigroup. Again, everything is done via phone for face-to-face.
5. I would hire a non-Primerica rep ASAP and get him/her life licensed. I would let him be responsible for replacing all life business, going forward.
6. I would contact my biggest AUM clients and either do rollovers or change the agent to the “new me” (if it makes sense). I would do this slowly and methodically, roughly one per week.
7. I would meet with ALL of my former clients, explain what is happening, but NOT move them right away. Remember, nothing is stopping you from talking to you clients.
8. Finally, I would very slowly move your clients from step #7 above over the next year or so. All life business will be replaced by the rep in step #5. And I would even “give away” a lot of my smaller clients to downlines RRs.
9. Most importantly, I would continue building my NEW business. Many of your existing clients and former Reps will begi contacting you. Trust me on this!

A few more notes:

• Conduct all your conversation in-person or on the phone, never in any form of writing.
• Only change clients if it is an improvement for them…. lower premium, or higher face amount, or longer guaranteed term, or lower fees, or better historical returns, or better VA benefits etc.
• If you’re personally replacing business, as opposed to the agent in step #5, have your client write the note shown above.
• Don’t worry about the life cases too much. Move them slowly. Focus on securities. Primerica is really cares about their life business, and it has replacement procedures that notifies them of the replacements. Not so with securiteis.

The Process of Leaving Primerica¶

• You can email your resignation to: us_coding@primerica.com.
• Do this one day before submitting your Parsonex licensing paperwork via DocuSign.
• After submitting your Parsonex paperwork email a copy of the resignation form to jessica@parsonex.com.

Simply write, "With this email I resign from Primerica and all affiliated companies. Thank you."

I have Chargebacks at Primerica¶

You do need to resolve your chargebacks at Primerica before you get appointed with another insurance company (they’ll find out anyway). It has to do with “credit worthiness”. You can set-up a payment arrangement with PLIC or your former RVP. Then, send an email to Parsonex describing the payment arrangement you’ve made.

Why Don’t more PFS’ers Go Independent?¶

What I find most often, is that some Primericans will look for reasons not to switch, and look for justification to keep them with a captive company rather than looking at their situation and realizing there are better alternatives for their clients, their downlines, and themselves. Frankly, there is no rational reason to stay (only emotional).

They could save their clients money and provide a more liberal business model for their agent if they weren't such blind fans of their favorite company. The best advice I can give someone with this mind-set is to view PFS as nothing more than a "corporation" (which it is, and nothing more); it is not a "movement changing America"; it is not "guided by the hand of God", etc. Put your clients' well-being, and that of your downlines, ahead of the company.

What Levels Will I Come In As?¶

Because we have found that there is a large variance between the salesforce size, production, and knowledge among Primerica Advisors, we have designed a "point score" for RLs & RVPs to determine their fairest securities level. (See the next slide.)

Primerica Regional Leaders

1. Current PFS RL in good standing.
2. Running their own physical branch (not clustering) and will continue to do so after transitioning to Parsonex. This means they pay office expenses and have a training facility for their Advisors.
3. They have earned $50,000 in Primerica (Watch).

Primerica RVP/SVP/NSD/SNSDs

The Primerica RVP position is often equated with the Parsonex Branch President (BP) position. However, they are not the same. A BP is more akin to a PFS SVP or NSD. Note: The equivalent securities level for an RVP, referencing variable annuities at the best breakpoint, is ≅ 50%.

1. Current PFS RVP in good standing. This excludes those who may have been RVPs in the past. This criteria is mandatory.
2. Running their own physical branch (not clustering) and will continue to do so after transitioning to Parsonex. This means they pay office expenses and have a training facility for their Advisors.
3. They have earned $100,000 in Primerica (Ring).
4. They have at least five active securities-licensed RRs upon transitioning to Parsonex.

They have produced $300,000+ in total revenue within the previous 12-month, through their salesforce.

What Should I Say to My Existing Clients?¶

I have some exciting news, hopefully for both of us. I recently resigned from Primerica and went "Independent". If you choose to stay with Primerica, they will assign you a random agent. Alternatively, I'd like the opportunity to give you the details as to why I made the transition.

My primary reasons were access to a larger number of, and better products for my clients, and more freedoms for me as an Advisor.

For example, Primerica has a few good products, but not great products. The primary issue is that they don’t have access to independent market, so Primerica would dictate to me what I could offer my clients. Now, I can freely select the best financial services available in the market. It comes down to representing your best interests, instead of the company’s best interest.

What Paradigm Shifts Should I Adopt?¶

• You are truly building your financial planning practice. You have a "selling agreement" with Parsonex, but you do not work for Parsonex.
• When explaining the transition to your clients, don’t say you are working for Parsonex. Instead, say, "I have decided to go independent and become a professional financial Advisor. My primary reasons for this change are two-fold: 1) more product choices for my clients since I have access to the independent market; 2) more freedoms on how I run my business."
• Have a goal of earning “real money”. The days of struggling are over. You should be thinking a minimum of $25,000+ your first year part-time; $50,000 your second; and $100,000 your 3^rd year.
• Your goal is to build a long-term residual income. We will teach you how.

Feel free to prospect many people for your sales force; but don’t recruit everyone. This isn’t “MLM”.

I’m Ready to Take My Securities Exam at Primerica. Should I Wait or Go?¶

For two reasons I would make the transition as soon as you're ready, regardless of your testing situation.

1. It may look bad to “use” Primerica to pay for your exam and then leave.
2. More importantly, you don't want to put your career on hold, nor your clients and downlines.

However if you already have your securities windows open, and you're ready to take them right now then go ahead and do so.

Also, if you haven’t signed your PFSI Agent Agreement do NOT do so. Don’t sign a binding agreement if you plan on leaving. Avoid that mess entirely, if you can.

You left PFS, and other Primericans are calling you…¶

• Don't try to recruit them (yet).
• Don't try to convince them.
• Don't "bash" Primerica.
• Entice them to just take a look at an alternative by showing them client examples; especially those who transitioned from Primerica. And, tell them about your personal business success since you’ve transitioned.
• Use the "crusade" as leverage - this is their Achilles heel. "If you could do a better job for your clients, would it make sense to at least look into it? Do it for your clients, if for no other reason."
• Talk about being independent. It's not really about "Parsonex", per se, it’s about having choice. It's about being independent and having access to products in the open-market. No one provider can offer the best products, to all clients, all the time.
• Most importantly, try to set-up a webinar with your Franchise Owner.
• However, I suggest you play it "low key". Don't try to recruit them right away (but don't be arrogant either). Make them want to find out more... entice and withdraw.

What are the Fees?¶

There is no cost to transfer your life insurance license. Your securities license costs approximately $650 one-time (varies based upon state).

As of this writing, the total monthly securities fees are $500. This includes Errors & Omissions insurance, admin costs and all software/services fees. It’s actually a low number compared to other independent B/Ds. I recognize that this is the single biggest "issue" with Primericans transferring over to our firm. In an effort to make is easier for reps, Parsonex debits the fees from your commissions account.​

• The fees are $380 per month.
• At at 50% contract (example), you need $800 GDC (dealer re-allowance) per month.
• Using an A-share lowest breakpoint, you would need $16,000 automatically invested per month.
• This could come from thirty five fully-funded IRAs (18 couples).

Note: if you don’t plan on earning at least 5,000 a year, you’re better off at PFS.

The securities fees are actually a blessing in disguise. There are three benefits to the fees and I recommend you address them early in the recruiting process.

1. It filters out non-serious and non-financially stable prospects.
2. It gives the rep a sense of ownership because they have skin the in the game. They tend to take the business more serious because they have to produce to pay the fees.
3. When reps quit the business they really quit. I was in a company for many years that had very, very low fees and many reps would "hang around" which gives you a false perspective of you business. It is good when reps who are not producing (and thus not paying their fees) leave the business.

I’ve made the Transition to IP. What Should I do Now?¶

I’ve been helping Primerica reps, including 10+ RVPs, get started with Parsonex since 2007. I encourage you to be coachable and embrace our system. Don’t make more work for yourself. Here are my recommendations:

• Start plugging into our weekly Monday Kickoff Meeting. If you are currently conducting a Monday meeting I recommend either forgoing it, combining it with another one of your meetings (such as Saturday), or shifting it to another time. I will tell you that over the years we have dramatically reduced the number of meetings we conduct to the joy of our reps! In fact, the MKOM is the only meeting we run.
• One of the reasons we reduce our meetings is because we have shifted much of our training to our On-Demand Training, which are training modules that are posted Monday through Friday on our AdvisorFirst Community. Please encourage your team to consume this training on a daily basis.
• AdvisorFirst Community.
• HPP Curriculum.
• HPP Hangout
• AF Knowledge Base
• Onboarding Process
• Top 5 Tips.
• Focus on securities, less on term life.
• Set goals for your reps to get their monthly securities fees paid for automatically ASAP.
• Master our philosophies. They’re not dramatically different from Primerica’s, but they are different.
• Focus on securities.
• Master Nick Murray. He is our “Art Williams”.
• We are technology-oriented and online-based.