World Financial Group???

[Rtype1206]

Has anybody ever invested, purchased or joined World Financial Group(http://www.worldfinancialgroup.com/wfghome.asp?loc=us)? Is this another pyramid scheme I should avoid? Today I have met with two individuals (friends of the family) that wanted to talk about my finances, life insurance and retirement. Long story short they seemed very knowledgeable and very helpful but I need to hear from others about their experiences with WFG. Any feedback will be appreciated...:biggrin:

 

[SilverStone05]

Meh. If you aren't disciplined enough, a sit down with a financial planner may be a good thing.

Chances are, they are going to want to sell you disability insurance/life insurance and then put you in some loaded mutual funds within a ROTH IRA.

Keep your eyes on fees....ask them how they get paid....and whatever you do, do NOT purchase permament insurance unless you are a business owner or are looking to transfer wealth.

Not discounting your friends...they may be very knowledgeable. However, its probably in your best interest to do some light research and invest on your own. You'll save a lot of $$$. You can buy term insurance online for dollars a month from reputable companies. You can invest in an IRA through Fidelity/Vanguard. You'll pay no sales charges either.

The only loaded mutual funds I would buy are through American Funds.

 

[02#154]

Here is my personal experience and opinion of WFG:

For the most part, they are a legit company. They sell all of the same investment products that more traditional companies sell. What I don't like about them is that they tend to just sell the same thing to every one of their clients without taking into account each individual client's needs or circumstances. This leads me to believe that they do not sell what's best for a client, but rather what gives them the best return on your investment.

Add to this that the underlying structure of the company is a "pyramid" scheme not unlike Amway. Each employee is encouraged to recruit other new employees. Each new employee gives a cut of his/her sales to the person who recruited them.

What this does is encourage new employees to be fast-tracked through training. The new employee learns whatever the minimum is to sell investment products and is then sent out to sell. Without really knowing how to direct client's money to best suit them, the employee just sells what they were shown during OJT, which is to sell a certain product that makes the company the most money.

Buy from WFG if and only if you've done your own research, possibly with the help of a truly trained professional, and you already know what product will benefit you the most. And then, only if because you want your commission to go a friend or family member who is WFG. Otherwise, just stick to traditional companies.

To quote Dennis Miller: "...of course, that's just my opinion... I could be wrong."

J

 

[Alittleboost]

Do you friends a have a back ground in finance or a CFP?

Or are they just accountants somewhere and using WFG as a secondary income?...think about it.

 

[ryans]

WFG is owned by The Aegon Group. Aegon is a 50 Billion dollar company from the Netherlands. The netherlands produces pretty much nothing but consist of some of the most wealthiest companies in the world. In the early 1900's they secretly invested in the US steel market. They made a fortune...that's why you have lots of rich people there today.

Aegon purchased the trans america building and their company to keep them afloat. WFG was started by Hubert Humphrey who first started WMA in the early 90's. World Marketing Alliance. They sell insurance but they claim they are just marketers for Aegon. Aegon's insurance they sell is called Western Reserve Life, which the WFG guys will try to sell you.

Anyways Hubert sold WMA for 25 million to aegon and that really pissed everyone off who worked 10-15 years in that business to grow their business. Essentially all their hardwork and profits went down the drain.

So Aegon markets WFG as a shield. Their whole thing works with downlines and uplines. Your always supposed to recruit recruit recruit. After they show you the presentation about Family A and Family B,, they'll show you how you can start making money too.

The more downlines you have the higher you get in rank. Eventually you won't have to sell anymore, just manage your downlines.

For starters WFG will charge you $100 to join. Processing fee. which is BS.

The insurance they sell is legit. It's not the greatest price though. For example my insurance is about 15-25% cheaper.

Here is what they sell.

Term Life
Just plain old life insurance. You die your family gets the money. You live you and you keep paying until you reach the age it's no good anymore.

Equity Index Universal Life - You get insured for say $500K. You monthly premium is $150. You can put extra money on top of that because they have what they call cash value. So say you put in $300/month. Your extra money goes into the insurance pool with all the others billions of dollars and your money makes money off compounding interests.

After paying into this for 30 years you've accumulated maybe $100K that you can pull out to yourself in the form of a loan. It's essentially your tax deferred (free) retirement plan.

The law of 72 states that the interest rate divided by 72 is the number of years it takes you money to double. EUIL is usually around 8%. So every 9 years your money doubles. in 27 years you've tripled your money. That's how compounding interest works.

The problem with WFG is the people running it these days. You got some real pricks as the higher ups making 5 Million a year. Their motto is "Fake it until you make it."

I was totally into WFG for a few years. Aegon asked our group to start a new company because WFG has such a tarnished name. People google wfg and are instantly turned off because of all the horror stories. Cool thing about our company is we get all the perks like the real training, higher discounts, no pressure to recruit etc. If someone wants life insurance then we just give them a quote.