WFG Scam? Yes It Is In My Opinion!
One common scam is the job interview bait and switch scam. This is a scam where you are contacted about your resume for a job and offered an interview. At the end of the interview you are offered a position, but you have to pay a fee to become an independent representative. They do not have a job for you. My subscribers have requested I take a look into the World Financial Group WFG business opportunity. Here is what I have found.
WFG Scam Claims
We are here to educate the poor working families about how to plan for their futures.
Through our revolutionary business platform, we make a positive difference for families and individuals throughout North America. Our business platform provides our associates with the resources they need to build their own businesses and find limitless success by serving everyday individuals and families who are often overlooked by the financial services industry. This platform helps people create financial turning points that can lead to better futures.
Our associates are committed to:
- Empowering people with the financial knowledge they need to build a better future
- Sharing with clients a broad array of financial products and services, offered through our affiliated companies, so they can choose the best option based on their goals
- Offering people from all professional backgrounds an opportunity to build a business in the growing financial services industry
- Helping people stay on track to achieve financial success
Here is how the WFG business opportunity is presented to people:
WFG Scam Reality
World Marketing Alliance (WMA) was founded by Hubert Humphrey after he left Primerica in 1991. In November 1998, WMA was fined $100,000 “for not properly supervising its sales agents” after their clients lost nearly $2 million in unregistered investments. In 2000, WMA was fined $125,000 “for failing to report nearly 900 customer complaints”. In June 2001, select assets of WMA were purchased by AEGON and renamed World Financial Group, Inc.. They have more than 28,000 life licensed associates throughout the United States and Canada.
WFG is a marketing company that gets you to pay them to sell products for the companies they represent. WFG representatives are known for trolling the job boards. They do not offer jobs, but they bring people in for job interviews.
Here is an example of how these job interviews are run:
I wish to warn all job seekers (especially who are laid off or in desperate need to take up a job ) to stay away from them. They find your information from your resume posted online. Then they will call you for the interview and will tell the lie that they have position available in whatever trade/profession you are looking the job in. Once you setup the interview with the caller, just few minutes before you will receive a call from the original caller that he got busy and you will be talking to one of their financial advisers or his peer. He or she will talk to you and will try to convince their great business model where you will try to recruit more people to form a team and be your own boss and they wish to hire you on 1099.
They will start asking your personal financial details to give you financial advice for free as if they are doing some favor on you.
I am not bothered with whatever shitty things they are doing within the legal limits, however I am bothered by their unethical practices (lies) and how they hook people to come to their meetings/Job Interview by taking advantage of the need of simple people who are looking for regular legit job, telling them that “Yes…we have job available for you….same position whatever you are looking for”…so this is same illegal tactics as “Bait and Switch”..
I am surprised that sitting within the USA, how can they pull of these bunch of lies without getting sued?
They are bunch of liars who are feeding on the desperation of unemployed people in these tough times.
About experiences of other people, read Ripoff reports. It is full of their unethical tactics and pyramid scheme.
– Source Yelp
In the World Financial Group System Manual this is what they say about building a successful business with them:
A WFG business is built on a warm-market prospecting system — meeting with people with whom you have a natural trust and pre-existing relationship.
A WFG associate must consistently and continuously bring new people into the business.
In order to build a business with WFG, you must make a commitment to:
Recruiting: You must personally recruit to continually build your team.
Leadership: You must lead by example, think big, but keep things simple.
System: You must commit to duplicating the system and having your team do so.
Positivity and Optimism: People prefer to be around positive, optimistic and motivated people, so set the example for your team.
Duplication: You must keep duplicating the WFG System again and again, even if you are bored with it.
Recruiting is clearly the focus of the WFG business opportunity.
This is what one recruit had to say about the WFG warm-market prospecting system:
“I refused to leech people’s warm markets from them and then leave them out like a fish out of water. Which is what they want you to do. Take their warm markets (friend family) and then let them go at it on their own. I couldn’t do it and would never be ok with it.” – Source Ripoff Report
In 2008, the SEC sued five WFG representatives (KEDERIO AINSWORTH, GUILLERMO HARO, JESUS GUTIERREZ, GABRIEL PAREDES, and ANGEL ROMO) for fraudulently selling unsuitable securities, primarily variable universal life policies (“VUL”), financed through adjustable rate sub-prime mortgage refinancing. The refinancing generated two sources of funds: short term savings in the difference between the old mortgage payment and the new mortgage payment, and equity removed from the investors’ homes. Investors lacked the funds necessary to purchase the securities recommended by the WFG representatives absent the refinancing and lacked the funds necessary to continue to pay for the securities once their mortgage rates adjusted. – Source SEC Lawsuit
Guillermo Haro who was sued by the SEC back in 2008 now has his wife on the WFG stage in 2013 promoting the business opportunity:
You can read more about the WFG plan for keeping you in debt with a mortgage at the following link:
http://financialuproar.com/2011/07/20/my-experience-with-world-financial-group/
The most common way that people are scammed by WFG representatives is they contact you about a job interview that turns out to not be a job interview. They then charged you a one time fee and many times a monthly fee. They attempt to sell you an expensive life insurance policy. Then your warm market is sold to by your training WFG representative and you are left to fail.
Cost
Administrative fee of $100
In order to sell the product and services offered by WFG, a WFG associate needs to become fully life-licensed which involves, but not limited to, expenses associated with exam materials, exam fees, registration fees, other educational cost and appointments with insurance companies. This can cost $500-$1000.
All licensed WFG Associates are required to have Errors and Omissions liability insurance (“E&O”) through the company’s E&O provider. Participation in this program is MANDATORY.
E&O Monthy Insurance: $30 Life Licensed, $100 Registered Rep, $125 Investment Adviser.
They will attempt to sell you an expensive life insurance policy: $200 per month.
Your actual costs to do this business opportunity are not clearly communicated to you when you start.
Products Sold
Life Insurance
Annuities
Critical Illness Insurance
Disability Insurance
Long-Term Care
Mutual Funds
Segregated Funds (Canada)
Group Insurance (Canada)
Business Solutions
College/Post-Secondary Education Funding
Investment Advisory Services
Financial Needs Analysis
Compensation Plan
Recruitment of representatives is required to be promoted to the higher positions in the compensation plan.
You can receive overrides on people six levels below you.
This compensation plan lures the representative in by telling them that they would not only gain by sales of their own but also gain by sales of agents under them. The agent should understand that although they are earning some from other agent’s commissions, a big chunk of their commissions are also eaten up by agents above him. Therefore, the commission that the agents gets from WFG sales is smaller than the commission they would get when selling the products directly.
Click Here for the compensation and promotions guidelines.
Income Disclosure
No income disclosure is provided for the average income achieved as a starting associate.
Refund Policy
The Administrative fee is non-refundable. – Source mywfg.com
WFG Scam Conclusion
In my opinion, the WFG business opportunity is a recruiting scam. Many people are brought in under the false impression that a job is available for them. At the end of the interview they are offered a position, but then have to pay a fee to become an independent representative. No job is available. The actual costs to do this business opportunity are not clearly communicated when you start. No income disclosure is provided for the average income achieved as a starting associate. WFG is a marketing company that gets you to pay them to sell products for the companies they represent. You can receive overrides on people six levels below you. This makes the compensation plan very exploitative of new representatives. I would avoid the WFG business opportunity.
hello i joined WFG and Now i want out can anyone help me out?
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Hi there, yes you can get out. Just write them a letter that you are no longer want to represent WFG and you want your agent contract to be terminate immediately. And also send the copy of your request to terminate letter to the insurance carriers that they appointed you with just to be sure because sometime your up line won’t send in your request to the carriers. I saw that happened many times with the agents that I am helping getting out from WFG.
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So I am getting suckered in to this scam to be an agent. My co-worker even paid for me to sign up to be an agent but I have not taken the classes or gotten liscenced do I have to do anything to get away from being involved with them because I don’t want to be apart of it.
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Who do you send it to?
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I just want to air my grievances on WFG as a company. WFG SHOULD HIRE AND TRAIN PEOPLE WHO ARE COMPETENT. You should explain your products and services well to your client. Refrain from taking care of how much goes towards your pocket.
You sold insurance at such a premium price and hide it as an investment. But yet when you want to cancel after 2 years you get nothing back from the Investment part of the premium.
Not everyone is capable of being an Insurance broker. If you do not have proper education or training do not sell or claim you know what you are doing.
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Thank you for the real honest review. I knew something didn’t seem right about it especially when the rep never really talked to me about their products and only about the 100.00 to get started. I have a job, don’t need another one and it seems like she really wanted my business contacts.
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They also push Index Universal Life insurance policies on people as a retirement. What a crock of garbage!
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The IULs help the retirements of execs at WFG Corp and at carriers like Transamerica which owns WFG. Plus those <0.5% legacy agents perched at the tippy-top of WFG's pyramid(s), many if not most of them grandfathered in from the pre-2001 WMA days. The FFIUL and other IULs are powerful wealth transfer scheme to these people from the poor folks in the 99.9% whom the morally bankrupt agents suckered into buying these reeking toxic pigs in pokes.
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I’m sorry, but you guys got me laughing. I would like to see how you think WFG is a scam? Its not, WFG does not advise people to quit their job and go Full time in the beginning. At least when I was active I didn’t tell people to do that. I always qualified my new prospect. I don’t build because I need people who want to make a ton of money, I build with people who want to make a difference. That’s not how a legit licences associate operates. Do I think there are bad baseshops who do this. There are no doubt in my mind that there are, but the problem is, you’re basing 1 presentation from a Baseshop that is not replicated all over.
WFG is not a Job, Career, or anything for that matter. You pay the money up front to start your own business. There is a Business Format System that you should reach to under stand how to build a successful business.
Transamerica does not Own WFG. Aegon does. Aegon when they purchased Transamerica and WFG, merged them together. Also don’t use words like “pyramid” because WFG is most definitely not.
I cannot advise you on the IUL becasue I am inactive for the time being but I can tell you I have seen the return on mine and gues what, By the time I’m 65 I will be pulling out an income over 20k a month. Please educate yourself about a company before you bash them becasue you are not making a solid impression on people who are really looking to change their own and other people’s life.
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Positive Person please… You reek of pure vomit and crook. You must have ripped off a bunch of hard working Americans out of their hard working money.. Friends have tried to recruit me on your stupid crap pyramid. No thanks, I dont want the feds looking over me in a couple of years when thy shut your biz down. Oh yeah .. Good luck in the pokey.. Tyrone will be waiting for you.
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Bunch of crap
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Positive Person: A fool is born every minute. Don’t feel bad. That includes me. I am in WFG for 2 years then realized it’s a colossal pyramid scam. They constantly push you to recruit people. Spent a lot of monies on useless training and seminars and education materials and costs far outweighed what pittance of a commission earned. Waste of time and money. The worse thing is I don’t even believe in the products sold and have sold out my friends and family in my social circle. Big time mistake. That’s just my experience. Good luck to your endeavors.
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First of all this is a breadcrumb comment… meaning it is here for people to stumble across when they are in need of information on why not to trust this company. Second… I just lost someone I deeply loved because I wouldn’t support her by buying one of WFG’s policies… she never wants to speak to me again, very heartbreaking. Third, I have 4 published books… one of those is how to invest in the stock market for the average guy. I did a lot of research before writing the book and found that the market too was corrupt but the pint of that is I know a lot about all the different avenues one could use to save money for retirement. That will come into play a bit later.
Now… I’ve been doing research on this topic of WFG being a scam ever since my friend asked me to help her out and I seem to be the only one using my head and seeing what it is we are not supposed to be seeing. For example… there are loads of people who counter negative comments with their own experiences. What people aren’t noticing is that these people ALL CURRENTLY, or at the time of commenting, work for WFG which makes anything they say biased to include their arguments. I’d like some of those guys to actually follow up and see how they are doing now but I’m pretty sure they won’t be working for WFG. Another thing is that there are loads of comments and counterpoints saying the company is changing their lives and the lives of people they know but no one EVER gives any QUANTITATIVE evidence of positive activity or evidence that can be measured in numbers and this is across all forums speaking on WFG. For example… if people really do make money at WFG then doesn’t any of them actually tell us how much money they make?
Now. My experience. My friend one day texted and asked if I could help her out with her job. She said she need training hours for her job in order to stay compliant. Her being her I said of course. I show up and am immediately in the red… here’s why. I drive a really nice car. I always park it where no one else has parked to keep people from hitting it with their doors but that day she wanted me to park it right in front of the office so everyone could see. Then, when I walk inside, it’s just a big office space that is very unprofessional looking. There was nothing that mentioned any parent company anything on it, no office chairs or desks… no nothing. So I am then shown into a room where my friend and now someone else, who I thought was her boss, sit me down and give me a presentation. I knew I was gonna get a presentation but I thought my friend was going to be the one giving it. I was wrong. The presentation is about ways to save for retirement but WFG doesn’t do their homework on clients and what they didn’t know is that I have multiple retire and savings accounts and a book on investing in the stock market… so I just let the guy sit and try and explain this stuff to me and here is where another red flag comes in. They claim to sell a lot of different products but they only ever talked about one… some FIUL or something. FUTURE POINT: I did some research on this product and found that not many people keep it after signing up for it because they can’t afford it. Not only that but you don’t get the money that was shown to you in the presentation when you pass. The policy has put more people in debt than anything. After the presentation was finished they tried to get me to fill some paperwork out as if I was gonna sign up for one on the spot… WRONG, and this is where I start to see things going downhill with my friend because she was VERY upset with me after that. Her boss though.. knew, and made repeated comments about how I knew what I was doing and that they don’t usually deal with people like me. I guess that’s why I never got a call about a great job opportunity.
Well… to cut things a bit short I am going to address a couple things that I see people talking about but never really fully address. First… WFG IS NOT A PYRAMID SCHEME… IT IS A MLM. That statement is true by definition but read a bit further people for one is just the invers of the other. have you never heard of people changing the name of something to try and get more people to buy it? Well now you have. If you just read you will see the OBVIOUS pyramid lying within. Here’s another one… WFG DOES NOT PAY YOU TO RECRUIT NOR DO AGENTS GET PAID FOR RECRUITING. The first part is absolutely true and the second is a twist of words. WFFG doesn’t pay anyone to recruit but remember the terms upline and downline. The agents get commissions from the policies they do manage to sell so what happens if you can’t sell many policies… the common sense thing to do is TO GET OTHER POEPLE TO SELL THEM FOR YOU. So WFG threw in a snippet about you as an agent making a percentage of what your recruits sell and now it starts to sink in. RECRUIT RECRUIT RECRUIT. But Johnny… you get promoted based on how many policies you sell. That is true but remember it’s hard to sell these things and on top of that, for added pressure, WFG threw in the 3-3-30 rule and if you can’t do that you don’t make any money. So… how do you get past that? You sell policies to your recruits that’s how. My friend bought two and after reading the 3-3-30 rule I now know why.
One thing I don’t see here is anything about the convention trips. Anywhere else you’ll read about how the agents are pressured into going and if they don’t the they are basically black listed. My friend has been to plenty but… she never told me how she got there. What she did tell me is that agents get points based on the THE AMOUNT of the policy they sell. The amount is in bold because remember they get commissions based on that number as well and where does the commission money come from??? THE MONEY YOU PUT INTO THE POLICY!!! That’s a walk away if I ever seen one and yes… your mind should be racing and your heart throbbing because that means you are paying the agent who sold you the policy… not WFG. OFF POINT: This shouldn’t be a surprise to some because if you did your research you’d see that when you have a retirement account you actually pay HIDDEN maintenance fees or fees for someone to maintain your account. WFG is no different with life insurance policies. ON POINT: Yes you get pints for policies so how does WFG ensure that they do not foot the bill for all these thousands of people going to these conventions… they set ridiculously high goal levels and when an agent can’t meet this goal they are not told that they cannot go… they just have to foot their own bill. That’s room and board people MINUS the cost to attend which means WFG pockets all ticket expenses and pays only for the venue.
How’s this. “If WFG is a scam then why haven’t they been shut down!” The people who say this line are in need of serious help because they only see what is in front of their eyes. Question… why don’t people trust the news? Because it’s never 100% true that’s why. So how can these programs stay on the tele and keep doing what they’re doing? Because of the money that’s how. Corruption is not just a word in the dictionary. This is America where money can buy you anything… even rights. You think the heads of these companies don’t do a bit of government lobbying? And remember this… people still watch certain news channels knowing they spout false stories.
Some of these things are put right in front of you but people refuse to see. I strongly urge everyone involved, even those who currently work and defend this company, to go out and watch the movie BOILER ROOM. It is the same thing only with stocks. Heck.. you can even see this in The Wolf of Wall Street when JB loses his job on WS and goes to work for the firm that sells penny stocks. He made his commissions off of what those people bought. The amount of stock they bought. If you’ve seen that movie you’ll remember that the stocks were crappy and everyone who worked in the office looked like they worked in a strip mall parking lot but the big companies paid them to sling that crap HINT HINT HINT. Realizing how much money he could make from the higher commissions he went and started his own company and he started by… yep you guessed it… RECRUITING HIS FRIENDS who sold stocks for him and now this should bring to light who actually makes money in these places. If you watch Boiler Room you’ll definitely see it.
Now I want to say this. There are signs of everything. Signs that your friend is depressed, signs they are thinking about suicide and even signs your friend is in too deep with WFG. I will not mention any here but I will tell you this. My friend claims that her only friend is her upline. She doesn’t go out and has a really nice car with a really high car note. She had a second job and although it may not have been one of the nicest.. she made a lot of money but now is spending the majority of her time, to include weekends, at her office space for WFG. And last but not least… on her social media accounts, her favorite thing to say is… if anyone needs a job just let me know.
I have more things I want to say but can’t remember because I’m really angry about my friend being brain washed. I want everyone who comes across this to know that I’m going to get my friend back. She is putting herself in so much debt and all because of this place selling her a false dream. I also hope that this helps a great deal of others.
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Johnny Rockets, this is the best comment I’ve read in ages on the promise and profound failure and deception of WFG. Thank you very much for this.
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Hey Johnny,
I’m really sorry to hear about your friend 🙁 If you look a little further down in the comments, I responded to most of Ethan’s points, which don’t resemble the way we run our office at all (disclaimer: I DO still work with WFG).
To put my comments into perspective, I’ve had my license for just over two years, and I have not sold a single Universal Life policy in that entire time, because (as you rightly mentioned) it is not an appropriate solution for most families.
You also asked for some actual examples of how anyone from WFG has changed someone’s life. I can’t speak for anyone else, but here are two recent examples:
#1. Helped a friend improve his existing insurance coverage while also paying less each month. A couple weeks later he came to a tax seminar we hosted, and implementing a single strategy from that event is cutting his annual income tax bill by about 70%. Last week, we sat down and I showed him how he could cut THAT tax in half yet again with his investments (and no, not in a UL), how he could cut 8.5 years off the date he would be debt free (without increasing his current payments), AND how he could invest the funds left over from the sale of his home in such a way that they would pay him enough tax-advantaged income each month that it would make all his debt payments for him.
#2. Helped a family member consolidate 11 insurance policies (sold to them by advisors from 3 different insurance agents and 2 different banks) into TWO policies, for the exact same (or even slightly improved) amounts of coverage; by making those changes, their monthly insurance payments immediately came down by about $500, and over the next 10 years, this will end up saving them over $120,000.
Those are the most dramatic, recent examples that come to mind, but if you spoke to any one of my clients that were formerly clients with other advisors and firms, they would tell you pretty unanimously the difference they’ve seen. At the end of the day, it comes down to who you’re working with. WFG has some amazing people…and it has some people that I believe should not be in the industry at all…and I think the same is true about every single organization.
Take care.
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…and in the interest of transparency, helping those two families save all that money pays me just over $9,000. This had nothing to do with recruiting anyone, or convincing them to buy a financial product they didn’t need or understand. They didn’t pay me any of that; I put money BACK in their pockets and into their future.
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this is insane i have a friend out here and she is completely brain washed. they prey on fillipinos and mexican immigrant communities because they know they are inherently trusting. They are heavily recruiting latinos for that exact purpose. She even regurgitates the same sales lingo over and over and even went on a tirade about how she deserves to be rubbing elbows with millionaires and elites amazing.
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If they’re a scam, how is it that they are BBB accredited? I’m interested in knowing how that is. Does this mean The BBB is not to be trusted..?
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Yes. It means BBB ratings are not to be trusted: https://ethanvanderbuilt.com/2014/02/02/better-business-bureau-bbb-rating-scam-yes-opinon/
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BBB ratings are worthless:
http://business.time.com/2013/03/19/why-the-better-business-bureau-should-give-itself-a-bad-grade/
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If I signed contract with them, can I get out from there?
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Folks, M brings up an excellent point. For all those people who consider to sign up with WFG–READ CAREFULLY and UNDERSTAND THOROUGHLY the contract carefully before you SIGN!
** PLEASE DO NOT SIGN WFG’s ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT (AMA) UNTIL YOUR LEGAL REP HAS CAREFULLY REVIEWED EVERY WORD OF THIS 17,000+ WORD LEGALESE-FILLED DOCUMENT AND THOROUGHLY EXPLAINED ITS KEY PROVISIONS TO YOU.**
The moment you sign WFG’s AMA form and pay your money, you LOSE your signup fee. And worse: You agree to GIVE UP your Book of Business, you’re subject to extensive and restrictive NON-COMPETE CLAUSES that last up to 2 years or longer, and you GIVE UP a lot of legal redress, including YOU WAIVE YOUR RIGHT TO A TRIAL BY JURY.
M, if you have not yet signed WFG’s AMA, please *DON’T*–at least if you hope to sell insurance with competing firms anytime soon or wish to fight WFG in court about the legality of its onerous clauses. WFG’s AMA locks you into lengthy non-competes that last for *two years* and longer:
On page 1 of the blandly and deceivingly named section in that AMA called “GLOSSARY AND EXPLANATION OF TERMS”–that’s PDF page 13 in the online document–you will find your non-compete restrictions. In very small and hard-to-read type within the “D. “Covenants” subsection you find 9 Subsubsections which are too long to post here. **Folks WFG details these covenants and restrictions in almost 1600 words in complex legal language.
If you have already signed the AMA, you need to notify WFG in writing to tell them you wish to end your contract with it. You can find that on page 4 of the blandly and deceivingly named section in that AMA called “GLOSSARY AND EXPLANATION OF TERMS”–that’s PDF page 16 in the online document. In very small and hard-to-read type within the “T. “Termination” subsection you find this:
“… the termination by Associate at any time, without any reason or any cause, effective upon the delivery of written notice to WFG…”
Folks, again, ** PLEASE DO NOT SIGN WFG’s AMA UNTIL YOUR LEGAL REP HAS CAREFULLY REVIEWED EVERY WORD OF THIS 17,000+ WORD LEGALESE-FILLED DOCUMENT AND THOROUGHLY EXPLAINED ITS KEY PROVISIONS TO YOU.**
Thank you for reading this.
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Yes they really are a scam! Back during the financial melt down around 2009 I had been laid off and got a call from World Financial Group offering me an interview. My background is in insurance so I naturally jumped at the offer. When I went and sat through the presentation with about 50 people I realized immediately this was not a legit business.
To put us all on the spot, they made everyone raise their hands after the presentation to see who was still interested. About 5 of us did not (myself being one of them) and they immediately sent the rest of us into another room to have a “one-on-one” interview with a “Senior Partner.”
This person used high pressure tactics to try and get me to spend “just $100 today” to join the program at this special rate and I would be on my way to making real money ASAP. I told him I was pissed at having wasted my gas to come to this meeting and walked out.
When I went through the main room where the other people got to stay, I was immediately shamed by the head honcho. He was supposedly a Doctor that went to Harvard but was making so much more with WFG said, “there goes someone who has no vision and will end up poor!” I gave him a middle finger and told everyone in the room it’s a major scam and left.
Fast-forward a year later and a good friend of mine who was looking for work called and said you have to come with me to this meeting, its perfect for you, its called World Financial Group. I told her what my experience had been with them in the past but she said it would really help her out if I went. So I thought “What the hell? This will be fun.”
The same scenario as above happened again although this time there were about 200 people in the meeting. My friend had already bought in to the program, this was like her 3rd meeting and they were asking her to recruit new people. I again told them I had no money but it wasn’t as big of a deal because they had so many more people to try and rip off.
My friend spent about 6 months with them, spent $1000’s on their course’s and books and never made a dime. So watch out for these scum bags. They are the worst! They prey on people at their lowest point in life and use the promise of a non-existent job to try and scam you out of your last $100 bucks.
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WFG has brainwashed my wife into divorcing me. I don’t fit the “Power Couple” mold. All of issues starts when she joined the company a little over a year ago. The 5 “F’s” they preach are complete BS they don’t care about any of them except 1 that is finance . The one they preach the most is Family, followed by Finance, Faith, Fitness and Fun. But they have her convinced that since I’m not “all in”that I am the Anti-Christ and she should divorce me .
How do you break up a family if you preach family first. To many night spent at the office being force fed the doctrine of WFG. I am very bitter because I am a victim of the brainwashing tactics of this company. Please beware and make sure you don’t trust your spouse with them because sometimes after a month of 16 hour days you will be out ,they do a great job of isolating wives from their husbands. I know for a fact that lots of people get into relationships because they spend so much time together even though they are married. Disgusting behavior.
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yea they really trick you well. they dont mention costs of anything until you actually join then you slowly find out you need to pay for this then pay for that then for this and the cycle continues.
I even bought the 52 hour course but they NEVER told me it has an expiration date of 3 months and I did not find out until I bought it. you would think 3 months is more than enough time to study right? But at that time I bought it in the last 2 months of my semester meaning midterms, group projects, projects, papers, finals so I only had a month left to do this which isn’t enough time unless you really cram it.
when they teach you i can imagine anyone falling for it really it sounds extremely convincing but if you think about it can life really be that easy? answer is NO. It is not a job its just a small meeting where you learn a bit from lectures by those who work there and as you have heard its all about recruiting really.
I’m sorry about your wife but she was caught hook line and sinker by them. It sounds good and they make it really convincing if my mindset wasn’t “never take things as face value” or “never look at things simply as shown on the surface” i might have been convinced as well. while its true there are people who make hundreds of thousands or millions per year is it really that easy for everyone or you to do the same? NO. its a bit of a scam and it also isn’t because there are people who can make this work but the problem is they convince you that EVERYONE can do this which is BS.
some things they teach you are important though like the importance of saving money this is an obvious thing but many people even if they know it they dont really understand the importance of it.
I say if you can learn something for your own personal use then learn it but DO NOT go too deep into this business.
the people you recruit need to do well or even better than you for you to earn money so don’t bother unless you are really good at interacting with others and have many friends/acquaintances.
I wrote quite a lot but this is what I learned and experienced in this as a student who has not earned the license for this business yet. You can’t start earning money until you finish the online course which is 3 months for $40 which may vary depending on where you live.
They will NOT tell you about having to buy this course BEFORE you pay for membership to continue appearing at these meetings to learn. They tricked me into buying those course I didn’t even know you had to pay for it after paying to be a member to the meetings and of course I never knew about the expiration on the course UNTIL I bought it. I was busy with so much crap for 2 of the 3 months so I really fcked up. Do not let them get you into buying the course if you are a busy person for the next 3 months.
I do not have much knowledge about how this job works but this is my experience and opinion about things that have happened to me in this business for the first 3 months.
A few things I think I should mention is that they are pushy. If you have a hard time saying no or rejecting people I have to warn you to be careful. As a business being pushy is normal though. Take in what they teach you about the financial stuff, as for their persuasion and attempts to convince you by saying “he or she earns millions of dollars per year” etc. then just listen but NEVER take it to heart. They teach you about insurance, real estate, finance, etc which if you think can help you then go learn. As for their persuasion and attempts to convince you at how amazing this job is and that you can be one of those people too, i might be repeating myself here but NEVER take it to heart. You really need have a strong mind here or you will definitely fall for it. Ah and be careful if you are depressed or something this will give you false hope that can convince you even more easily..
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You said it wrong it Faith, Family Business. And if we were illegal then they would shut us down. We sell MILLIONS of policies per year and your just one of the many people who have been negatively effected by world financial group because you never gave it a chance in your mind. They do great work for families. And what people don’t see is THAT THIS IS YOUR OWN BUSINESS!!! Of course you will be paying money dumb-dumb and the policy the force you to purchase( guess what it’s in your name, its your investment, oh and one more thing, it protects your family when you die; everyone dies it just a matter of when).- You can feel free to reply to my post, 100% chance I will never read it again
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WFG Agent way to barf up the pyramid’s lies straight outta the book. You really believe all that sh*t or you too desperate for money? WFG sucked you in big time. Hey good luck with that.
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lol what a cocadookie bullshit that is! I went for an interview 5 years ago and what shit load of f*ck! the funny part was after I was done with the interview they want you to pay a fee??? F*ck off! what kind of job who asks you to pay money even before starting with them lol. Total BS!!!
That’s when I was like “hey smell that?? smells like BS!!” I got my ass out of there like there was no tomorrow and swore to never come back again to any pyramid scheme money sucking scammers!
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You still reek of scam artist and puke … I have friends who do it. And i dont really associate with them anymore. He showed me what what you guys do.. You guys totally suck . But what sucks more is you people getting away with it. Get a REAL JOB
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Wow you are very salty. I dont think you should blame others for your wife divorcing you. Im pretty sure you both had problems before and now that she is making money… she finally has the money to divorce you.
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Lol from his account, it seemed like his wife changed due to the business’s manipulative behavior which actually happens to many people. I had extremely close friends way back from high school till about 1 year ago because this business changed them so much. I was incredibly disappointed that they changed, but nonetheless could care less cause if they’re willing to push relationships away for money then maybe they’re not as worth my time as their current self. Anyway, you can even go to other sites like world-financial-group.pissedconsumer.com on the same incidents happening to other people. How can you assume that they had problems before when he clearly stated it was only until after she was consumed by WFG manipulative tactics that changed her? Lol. Like you I don’t personally know the man, but it seems like you pulled out make believe issues out of nowhere when the man’s account states otherwise. Very childish thinking if you ask me. From his account though, it seemed like his wife valued money and a company with known manipulative tactics more than the person she fell in love with. Even subtracting the tactics, I know that businesses and work can consume a large amount of a person’s time and energy, but it should not be prioritized over love and family in the end; most people make money to support their family and loved ones. If you think it’s right for her to leave him when her husband seems like someone who truly cares about her and wants to keep their family together, then I guess you have a selfish sense of love. Let me ask, if your spouse left you because you weren’t “all-in” on their OWN separate work/business and they were convinced by said business to divorce you, would you be accepting on that even when you know it’s not really your own thing to be involved in their work? Even if you do the same line of work, do you want them to divorce you because they state you’re not “all-in” (in that case though it’d probably mean they make more than you or more committed) and then leave? Is it good that they “now have the money to divorce you”? And like the man said, WFG promotes family first, but yet it seems like all the WFGers cares about is money. I know it’s a long paragraph, but I simply cannot stand someone putting down another on a very painful issue, especially when this man seems to genuinely care about his wife and keeping his family together.
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In doing research on the company since my friend asked me to join, I am so surprised to find out all the issues relating to WFG. After she talked to me about the company, I decided to get more information about it without signing up immediately. She was not happy about my decision, saying I don’t trust her. On the way home, she texted me like crazy blaming not signing up with her. I was shocked to see this as she’s been my friend for a long time and how could she behave like this. After reading this post, I kind realized that the “business” may have changed/washed her mind. I am glad I didn’t sign up.
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In my opinion, she has been taken in by scammers and is now trying to scam you.
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@Kai and Suki–
Kai, I agree what you say. WFG is incredibly exploitative and manipulative. People need to avoid this outfit at all costs. Friends, family your personal wealth–WFG can wreck them all. You can find lots of reviews over at Pissed Consumer that explain in detail and facts why WFG is a horrible choice for new recruits and customers.
Suki, you say “…Im pretty sure you both had problems before…” Suki, unless you happen to personally *know* commenter “Dumped Husband” and his wife, then Suki, you HAVE NO IDEA what in h*ll you’re talking about. I hope you will stop saying these very stupid and ignorant things. Thank you.
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I am sorry about your story. It sounds like a painful experience. It is one thing to lose some money but to lose a spouse is just not right! I was an Executive Marketing Director when I resigned from WFG after 14 years with the company (resigning in April 2013). As an associate you want so bad to believe this company will be what they say. I truly believe I was “brainwashed” at some level while at WFG. When I finally realized they had lied to me about owning my business was when I really questioned my association with this organization and cleared my mind of the fog. It truly has a “cult like” environment and plays and preys on people’s emotions and their vulnerabilities. The lies and deception are much deeper than most think or even know. I would like to build and grow a collation and find a way to build a class action lawsuit against this marketing monster. Spread the word and with many we may someday stop this unethical financial sales machine. Quinn qdw@usa.com 801-941-8800
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Quinn, thank you for coming forward and taking your courageous stance. The world needs to hear from more ex-WFGers who act on the consciences and willing to share their experiences about this terrible, pernicious, profoundly dishonest broker/dealer. I hope you’ll spread the word at other active discussion sites including:
https://world-financial-group.pissedconsumer.com/
http://www.finance-guy.net/streetonomic/world-financial-group-review
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/specific_search/wfg
http://www.ivetriedthat.com/2014/03/10/transamerica-wfg-primerica-what-do-these-businesses-have-in-common/
Quinn, you may even want to start your own web site to help you organize people who feel the same.
About class action suits, Lieff Cabraser and Zamansky LLC are investigating how dishonest B/Ds and agents like WFG/WFGers market Universal Life policies. Including WFG’s current flagship product, Transamerica’s FFIUL:
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/consumer/universal-life-insurance/
http://www.zamansky.com/
Quinn, you may also want to contact the attorneys driving the Feller class action suit against Transamerica:
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20160323/FREE/160329968/transamerica-sued-for-cost-increases-on-universal-life-insurance
Again Quinn, thank you for coming forward and please keep spreading the word about this truly terrible outfit! –William
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Interesting that i had a similar experience except it was with my boyfriend. I was dumped because he told me he wanted a girlfriend that would do this business with him but i refused. i couldn’t understand how i could be dumped for that sole reason so researching more on transamerica and wfg brought me to this site. I feel somewhat better inside knowing that maybe they really were brainwashed.
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I ended up dumped too. My boyfriend and lived together for seven years. I am just glad I dodged the WFG scam.
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And you think the ppl smarter than that lol they really need help hope they don’t get sued 1st
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check this crook out Guillermo Haro from wfg pomona ca
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Yes. I talk about him and his wife in the post above.
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How Guillermo Haro is still in this industry is amazing. I met him a handful of times while an Executive Marketing Director with WFG and he was a classless, arrogant person (to be nice about it). He clearly partook in illegal activities and should have been sanctioned and barred for life. There were some shady things that went on behind the scenes to keep him onboard WFG and in the industry. After 14 years with WFG I am extreamly grateful to be removed from this organization (resigned in 2013 after learning you have no ownership of your business and beign lied to for years to the contrary).
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If any one wants to know how venal and disreputable WFG is, look no further than one of its top ripoff artist rock stars: Guillermo Haro.
Haro racked up a litany of offences in his nine years the authorities allowed him to sell securities. This includes a guilty conviction against him on criminal charges. The SEC permanently barred Haro from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities to the public. You can see all that here:
brokercheck dot finra dot org/Individual/Summary/3213457
You’d think that since Haro is a convicted bad actor, WFG would dissociate itself from him. Guess again! WFG stills *embraces* Haro and trots him out each year at Momentum, its yearly blowout confab in Vegas. This past June, they sent that crook out there on the stage to work his dark magic, to whip up his ignorant greedy adoring WFG fans. Thousands of morally bankrupt folks that don’t give a rat’s-*ss WHAT crimes Haro committed. So long as Haro shows them how to grub lots of $$$ any way they can. That’s ALL they care about. Even if they HARM families in the process.
I look forward to the day the authorities put WFG out of our misery and its own. This B/D is a disgusting abusive exploitative vampire we need to kill with lots and lots of daylight and proper legislation so it doesn’t morph into another disgusting creation. The way WMA did when it rebooted as WFG.
WFG. Different name. Same Whopping load of Foul Garbage.
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I just found your website and you are spot on. I never had an interview. An old coworker of my mum’s recruited me. These people are pushy as fuck. I stop going to their meetings and they are still trying get me to come back.
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WFGers love to say “…WFG is owned and backed by Aegon/Transamerica, a big Fortune 500 company…”
But does it really?! Is WFG really wholly owned by Aegon?”
Good luck trying to ascertain that!
Have you ever seen any recent official docs that definitively state: “Aegon/Transamerica owns WFG?”
I tried to find them. I checked Aegon’s Annual reports from 2005 to 2014, the latest published report.
Aegon lists WFG in its 2005 and 2006 Annual Reports. Then USA’s WFG suddenly disappeared. Aegon fails to mention WFG from 2007 on. It gives only brief mentions to Canada’s WFG only in the 2011 and 2014 reports.
So did Aegon shed USA’s WFG in 2007?
I spoke with a Transamerica rep at 800-Pyramid. Bobbie (sp?) in Florida. She insisted that WFG is “affiliated” with Aegon’s Transamerica, but that the latter firm doesn’t own it, that WFG is an independent broker-dealer. I asked her this three times. She insisted this was the case. She claimed to work for (Aegon’s) Transamerica for 10 years. You’d think she might know.
Then I called WFG’s main office in St John’s GA. On its voice menu, the company lists “Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc” as though this was a co-company. However, this appears NOT to be an Aegon Transamerica but some *other* Transamerica company. When I spoke to a TFA rep in St Pete FL, he told me that a John Hancock broker, Signator One, just bought Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc! See the release here:
http://wealthmanagement.com/ibds/signator-doubles-advisor-force-purchase-transamerica-unit
Let’s skip the dubious WFG Wikis and go straight to the source. What does WFG’s site say? When you go here:
http://www.worldfinancialgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/aegon-trans-wfg-15.jpg
it says WFG “is a part of the Aegon Group” and that WFG “is a Transamerica Company.” Plus you get a Venn-like diagram showing WFG and Transamerica clustered around Aegon.
Hmm. “WFG is a part of the Aegon Group” sure like Aegon owns WFG, right? But nowhere does it actually say “Aegon owns WFG.”
And about WFG being “a Transamerica Company” well we now know a “Transamerica company” doesn’t have to belong to Aegon. Like the recently sold Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc you see above,
Here on WFG’s site:
http://www.worldfinancialgroup.com/us-factsheet-2/
We read: “…Through OUR ALLIANCE with Transamerica, WFG is able to offer…” In other words, Transamerica is merely *allied* with WFG. Transamerica doesn’t necessarily *own* WFG. Whichever Transamerica that even refers to! You find dozens of different “Transamericas.”
What does all this this mean for WFGers?
IF Aegon *doesn’t* own WFG, then this Hague-based giant can slash ties with your org at any time. WHOOSHHH! Where’d that “Fortune 500 backing!” go?
Even if Aegon does technically owns WFG, what happens if the SEC/FTC and the law firms crank up the heat enough on WFG to swamp it with fines and class-action lawsuits? Could be Aegon/Transamerica buried this “business unit” so deeply down through the subsidiary layers that the main holding company in the Hague–even Transamerica–suffers little if any liability. So much for “backing.” You can read more about how that works here:
http://www.gulawreview.org/entries/commercial/hiding-behind-subsidiaries-holding-parents-liable
Dear WFGers please consider: If legal pressures force WFG to close, what happens to the teams you worked so hard to build? Something to ponder as you work 16-hour days around the week, while you suspend some or most of your conscience and rend your relationships with family and friends that may never completely heal.
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Firstly I would like clear the air that all these statements made by people are all their opinions and personal experiences. Everyone has a right express their opinion but only because they failed or couldn’t succeed doesn’t mean others willing to take the challenge can’t. Can you imagine that living in USA and Canada where laws and systems that if WFG was a scam they would still be in business? I doubt that. They are absolutely legitimate and all advisors are licensed by the state or province. Please do not let a few people who didn’t make
It bring your morale down. All companies have good & bad people like every where in life, good people succeed under good leaders. Just to let you all know that there over 20,000+ reps with WFG who work under different offices with different leaderships. The challenges can be in the leadership and unethical people, we can’t generalize the whole company. It’s like saying I don’t want to shop at Walmart because it has the highest number of law suits, but why do people still go there? They see value . WFG shows value through its independent product line up, some people see value and some Don’t. It’s okay but WFG is not a job it’s business opportunity and every office presents it differently. The purpose of this by this blogger is to prey on people who are curious and didn’t succeed in WFG to attract new visitors to his site so he can get more hits and he can get paid through advertisers and sell his brand or agenda. This too is a way of business but think about it folks by discouraging someone ambition they build their future. My suggestion is don’t believe anyone and go for your self at your pace. Attend the trainings and get clarity. Vent your concerns to your trainers or office and seek honest answers. The investment to learn this is a couple hundred dollars depending on state and province. If you don’t have this kind of money to spare to learn this business, then don’t go
But do not also discourager to someone else who wants to pursue it. Everything is transparent and why should you doubt it when the companies they represent have done their due diligence. I’m assuming they have more lawyers, compliance and legal teams. Please go through http://www.researchwfg.com
And make up your mind as everyone’s journey is different. Don’t let anyone tell
You can’t achieve your dream
Only because they didn’t achieve theirs.
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Hey “Sunny” thought I recognized you. Your comment reads just about verbatim to what “Anon” posted–twice–over at finance-guy dot net in his streetonomic/world-financial-group-review post.
Where else are you “clearing the air” with your same heartfelt spontaneous comment?
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I found these within 2 minutes of searching Aegon’s website:
1st bullet of page 3 clearly states that WFG is wholly owned by Aegon.
http://www.aegon.com/Documents/aegon-com/Investors/Ratings/Moodys-Aegon-USA-Credit-Opinion-27May2016.pdf
Page 17 discusses WFG and TFA
http://www.aegon.com/Documents/aegon-com/Investors/investor-conference-2016/Aegon-Americas-strategy-presentation.pdf
The company/companies (WFG / TFA / Aegon) are good and the products/services offered are good. It’s the people in various offices that unfortunately tarnish the reputation of the company and products.
If I walk into a Toyota dealership looking to buy a Prius b/c I’m concerned about fuel economy and I live in an urban area where parking spots are small, but the sales person manages to sell me a Tundra, that doesn’t mean that Toyota is a bad company or that the Tundra is a bad vehicle. Toyota is a great company that produces great vehicles. The Tundra is a great vehicle for the right person. It’s the sales person who didn’t care about my needs.
If I were to go to a different Toyota dealership would I experience the same thing? Maybe, maybe not. I would say that the majority of the issues stem from people issues.
If you believe in the products/services and company, don’t let the bad apples of whatever office discourage you. Find a different leader, find a different office, or just find a way to make it on your own.
If you think the advice/suggestion given to you is shady or unethical, question it and/or don’t take it. At the end of the day, its your business. Run your business and team (if you have one) the way you see fit. Your leader/upline is supposed to be there to help you. Yes, helping you can can help them, but what does it matter as long as you’re reaching your own goals. In just about anything you do, your hard work will be benefiting someone else directly or indirectly.
Example 1:
If you work at a corporation, your hard work will somehow make the company more profitable down the line ie: you’re in IT and helped work on the company website redesign that now brings in more web traffic. Hopefully, you get a raise, bonus, and/or promotion as a result.
Example 2:
You work as a bartender at a bar. Patrons love your drinks and personality. As a result, they become repeat customers and bring more friends. The bar owner gets more revenue from the drinks you sell; you get higher tips.
In all these examples, the person above you has a vested interest in you doing well. At the same time, don’t you have a vested in yourself doing well?
Now let’s spin these examples a bit.
Example 1a: The IT Director asks you to embed some spyware in the company website so that the company can gather personal information of visitors, including bank account info.
Example 2a: The bar owner asks you to run each patrons credit card through a “card skimmer” so he/she can make cloned credit cards for use/resale.
In both of these alternate examples, you can choose to 1) comply, 2) refuse and continue working there (if allowed), 3) refuse and find work elsewhere.
One of the biggest difference between the examples I laid out and WFG? You can be fired from those jobs in the example. With WFG, you can’t be “fired” so easily. It’s your business. Sure, if you have a lousy leader/upline, he/she can refuse to help you and maybe try to hinder your growth. If that’s the case, do it on your own or seek out a new leader, better yet think of the person you’d like help from as a business partner or mentor. Act like a business owner, not an employee.
If you opened a restaurant with a friend and were passionate about it, but later found out that you didn’t like the way your friend was running the restaurant, are you going to walk away from your restaurant business or are you going to buy out your friend and find a new partner? You’re not an employee of the restaurant, you’re the owner! Why would you quit from your own business!
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Hi DZ. It likely matters little or none at all whether or not Aegon technically owns WFG. This huge Dutch holding company has pushed WFG down through so many subsidiary layers, the parent holding companies hold essentially no financial culpability for WFG’s endemic dubious behavior that goes WAY beyond “a few bad apples”–the “few bad apples” trope being a common lie/misrep that WFG folks propagate. Please see these two reviews at:
world-financial-group dot pissedconsumer dot com:
28 March 2016: World Financial Group – Aegon/Transamerica DOESN’T own WFG after all?!
18 May 2016: World Financial Group – 10 Lies and Misreps That WFGers Tell You–And Themselves (Please see Lie/misrep #7: “Don’t judge us on ‘a few bad apples.’”)
The second review, the “10 Lies and Misreps” also addresses what you say here: “…With WFG, you can’t be ‘fired’ so easily. It’s your business…” Please see Lie/misrep #6: “You own your own biz.” In short, you DON’T own your own Book of Business–you can’t take your clients with you should you and WFG part company. You have to pay nearly all the expenses of a biz owner, but get few of the advantages or control of your biz. WFG *can* quickly terminate your contract for unethical behavior and for a host of reasons, and *poof*–you’ve lost your client base and downline you worked so hard to build. Please go to this review over at that Pissedconsumer link above for details on that:
17 June 2016: World Financial Group – Are You Really “Your Own Boss?” Do You Truly “Own Your Own Biz?” Closely READ and *KNOW* WFG’s Contract Before You Sign It
In there you find this:
1) BOOK OF BIZ. On page 2 of the main body of the agreement titled “World Financial Group, Inc. Associate Membership Agreement” (PDF page 8) you find this in Subsection B, which explains how you GIVE UP your Book of Business:
2) T. “TERMINATION”. On page 4 of “GLOSSARY AND EXPLANATION OF TERMS” (PDF page 16), you find an imposing list of reasons for which WFG can terminate your contract and force you to GIVE UP client base and downline you worked so hard to build:
The occurrence of any of the following: …the revocation, termination or non-renewal of any of the Associate’s licenses and registrations with any regulatory agencies; …Associate fails to achieve and/or maintain a personal commission level of $2,000.00 or more for the first full calendar year of membership, or any calendar year thereafter…WFG shall have the right to TERMINATE this Agreement…Associate agrees … that any of the following will be “cause” for termination of this Agreement by WFG: Associate’s violation of any federal or state law or regulation; Associate becomes subject to sanctions or censure by any state or federal regulatory agency or body; Associate becomes temporarily or permanently enjoined from acting as a sales associate of WFG or conducting his/her business or performing any of his or her duties under this Agreement or from acting in any of the various capacities relating to the insurance or financial services business; Associate is censured, suspended or disciplined in respect to the violation of any law, rule, or regulation regarding the purchase or sale of any products and services, including the Products and Services; misappropriation or commingling of premiums or payments for any Products and Services; engaging in a fraudulent act or misrepresenting characteristics or benefits of the Products and Services; any interference with the collection of renewal premiums; Associate violates any law or regulation that governs the conduct of any part of Associate’s business; Associate is indicted or subject to trial for any crime involving moral turpitude; Associate breaches any provision of or fails to perform or observe any obligation under this Agreement or any other agreement that the Associate may have, now or hereafter, as a member of World Financial Group; Associate fails to timely discharge any monetary obligations to WFG; Associate engages in any activity which, in the sole opinion of WFG, may adversely affect the good name and reputation of WFG; Associate’s failure to comply with the procedures, manuals, rules, and regulations promulgated from time to time by WFG, including the Associate Agreement Rules; any false or incorrect statements made by Associate in any application to a regulatory authority; termination for any reason of any agreement between Associate and any or Product Provider; or the failure of Associate to comply with WFG’s annual compliance review and review procedure…Suspension or disciplinary action shall not in any way preclude or diminish WFG’s rights to terminate this Agreement at any time…”
DZ, would you like further reading on WFG? Here are two more reviews at the same PissedConsumer site listed above. Here’s one that gives warning signs about the long-term viability of WFG. That’s important for you to know if you are working hard to build a big client base and downline:
15 May 2016: World Financial Group – Will WFG Die? Dissect this Evidence. Do your Homework. Decide for Yourself.
And this review discusses very troubling and quite possibly very costly elements in WFG USA’s flagship product, Transamerica’s Financial Foundation Indexed Universal Life (FFIUL) policy:
25 May 2016: World Financial Group – Plan to live a long life? Will your FFIUL–WFG’s “top” product–FAIL and leave you with NOTHING? I show you the MATH.
These reviews focus on WFG USA. If you are with WFG Canada, your experience may vary.
Thank you for your attention.
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I feel sorry for you. Like a mommy feels sorry for his baby getting a little boo boo.
Buddy. The society you live in has brainwashed you in to accepting mediocrity.
I challenge you to do something great in life.
Cry baby worthless piss ant.
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Hi “Rav.” Nice job with your feelings and your gratuitous insults. You even trot out a few random WFG Playbook talking points.
You evidently feel you must resort to grade-school language because you simply *can’t* defend, point by point and by the numbers, the evidence I presented in my comment you responded to.
That’s fine Rav. I expect no less–and no more–from you.
Indeed, Rav, thank you for doing your part to set the example. The example to help show why people should steer clear of this harmful morally bankrupt outfit. And to ignore the meaningless “faux-risms” that dribble out of the mouths of its legions of troll-y anonytrons, e.g. “help families,” “own yer own biz,” “we are not a pyramid scheme,” and on.
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Hey Rav, how ya doin? Hey, whaddaya ya think about this review that totally destroys WFG’s featured product, Transamerica’s FFIUL?:
World-financial-group dot pissedconsumer dot com/plan-to-live-a-long-life-will-your-ffiul-wfg-s-top-product-fail-and-leave-you-with-nothing-i-show-you-the-math-20160525854331 dot html
This does a stand-up job to show how much WFG’s main product–Transamerica’s FFIUL–RIPS PEOPLE OFF ROYALLY. It shows just how dishonest WFG is.
So whaddaya think Rav? Can you defend the FFIUL by the numbers? Can you show us how it doesn’t steal BIG TIME from the families that WFG claims says it “helps?” Hey Rav, if you can’t do this, then how ’bout you just quietly move along? Thanks Buckwheat.
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Thank you for bring WFG & Transamerica to light! It’s so sickening to know how close minded/brain wash they are, and they tells others to keep an open mind! They are more afraid of the truth than anyone! If they take their most popular and profitable products like IUL and Index Annuities (use to be VUL and VA) and compare with others, facts will show how terrible they are in terms of benefits, cost/fees and overall value. …and you wonder why they only promote and train about Motivational Speeches, Recruiting and basic concepts like Rule of 72, X-Curve, Selling the Opportunity, becoming debt free, etc.
And check their securities license standing (if they are licensed) by going here: brokercheck.finra.org
You will notice a lot of them have complaints or only have series 6 & 63, and some have series 26 and 65, but they talk about Stocks, Bonds, etc (which they are not allow too). As for their education and training, they are complete BS! They only know best how they get paid and to override others through recruiting, they don’t the mechanics of the products but just how they work (as we all know, the devil is in the details), they just take everything they are told by their UPLINE/recruiter as gospel, but they compare to others – they absolutely suck! a real embarrassment!!!
And they talk a lot about “Tax Free” etc, giving tax advance where they clearly are not CPA, EA or Tax Attorneys. They always speak out of compliance as they seem to keep matching things up as they go! It’s a real scare, they don’t know any better!
Seek a real professional who are CFP or ChFC, and especially those who are fully license, including series 7 and 65 or 66, if you want advice on investments.
Please think critically, always think twice when people invite you to join their business or team. Trust, but VERIFY!!!
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Forgot to mention, I was a recent Marketing Director (MD) with them. So I know them well, feel free to post your questions. I did have success with them, but it was ALL FOR THE WRONG reasons, so I know their methods well. Now, I am a real independent with no quota, etc and can truly present my clients, not WFG or group of peers who only promote sales & #s behind all those RawRaw meetings!
And WFG is all about quotas! Don’t believe it when they say they don’t have quotas etc, it’s all play on words (which they are the master of). If you don’t produce a certain amount of sales & recruits for a rolling 3 or 12 months, you won’t hit your promotions (which is everything there!!!), hence, why they pressure their team, new recruits and themselves to sell and recruit so they can advance, so THEY can make themselves more money really!!!
And their model is recruiting in new people so they can SELL (by fielding training, etc) to that person’s market. So they will burn/sell through their market to make themselves the real money because they have a higher override contract, so be careful if you value your relationships, credibility and reputation, be careful!!!
I say, if you are so good, why do you need to recruit/to sell other people’s market instead of your own? And the only way to be promoted fast is through recruiting! Why can’t I just help others directly…well you won’t make much money with a 25% contract. If you go independent, you can go direct to the companies (no WFG’s BS, etc) and get 90-100% of the commission, fyi!!! 🙂
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Hi Joe, I joined and have begun finding out bad things. Can you tell us how to become independent?
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Hi Joej, you said that you were successful but IT WAS ALL For the Wrong Reasons, what does it mean? Isn’t it that people who are joining WFG is obviously for MONEY.? Then why did you leave?
My friend is aggressively active with this WFG and she said that she makes almost 10k already in 3 months time. She was very, very ,very upset at me when I told her that I am not going to buy insurance from your company because I don’t feel comfortable and safe. Do I not have the right to say my opinion? She said that I am her friend and she expects me to support and encourage her instead of discouraging her. Were you not told at your meetings how to handle negative people like me?
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I was part of WFG for a fair period of time so maybe I can help shed some light despite this being long after. WFG often promotes rather aggressive sales tactics that specifically targets a person’s warm market. When your friend asked you to buy a product, it is essentially because it’ll be easier to target someone that trusts you. If anything, it seems like your friend got mad simply because you didn’t fall for her ploy. Also you must remember that WFGers often speak of how much they make to make it seem like it’s a lucrative business when it’s not. And as for handling ‘negative people’, agents are taught several things through book and simply by example from others. Examples are: stating how much you make to make yourself seem ‘credible’, hide crucial or harmful information (they state it as ‘avoiding the scenario of disaster’ in their handbooks), making you question whether you are the dumb one, and getting one’s upline/boss to vouch for you. Hope this helps and sorry for your friend’s behavior, WFG often makes MANY people become bad apples.
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Wrong reasons means that you know an IUL is very costly to those individuals/families but you would sell them anyway so you can make a lot commission while those clients going down the wrong financial path. It is legal money to use warm market to sell these super high fees/costs products but it is really unethical to do so. You have to sacrifice many people so you could get the 10K per month income by selling high commission products and recruit your own friends, families members and colleagues! Very sad to see 99% of WFG members lost money (not just the join fee but also bought the expensive permanent life policies themselves). Once these people ran out of friends/families/colleagues, they no longer have income and also lost all the relationship. Yes, I was an insider and saw all of these. Only the 1% who don’t care if other people die as long as they are rich will do very well in the WFG system.
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World Financial Group is a multi level marketing pyramid scheme.
If you are invited to and go to one of their so called seminars..
They never pitch their sub par products(most are high load, high commission products
terrible for the customers that could involve “cash calls” down the road.
It is all about constant recruiting.
WFG wants to hijack your personal contacts book and use you to sell their bad products
to your contacts list. They don’t tell you that they will try to sell all your contacts while
you are trying to get licensed and not pay you for any of your people because you are not yet licensed.
Then, they leave you high and dry and tell you to go out and recruit others.
I never joined, but know people who have been burned by WFG.
And, I have read much bad/negative information about WFG on similar discussion boards..
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Completely false. First of all calling them “they” is like calling all black people ‘they’ or gay people ‘they’. Each office operates independently with it’s own leadership and like any other company, leadership is everything. My office has excellent, knowledgeable leaders who care for each team member. So for example:
“They don’t tell you that they will try to sell all your contacts while
you are trying to get licensed and not pay you for any of your people because you are not yet licensed.”
Actually my trainers encouraged me to get licensed RIGHT AWAY. Then, I split commissions with my trainer when we met with my contacts. It’s basic, treat people right and you can expect to be treated right. If what you say is true and they sold my contacts ‘bad products’ the law says you have a 10-14 day ‘free look’ period to cancel. Then the company also gives you 1 year to cancel. This is called a ‘chargeback’ which is bad for them and bad for the agent who sold them so there is no point to selling a ‘bad product.’
“They leave you high and dry and tell you to go out and recruit others”
Again, our office meets twice a week and the trainers spend hours each week coaching people how to grow and succeed in their business. They do not get paid for this. The point is that when you succeed, they succeed and vice versa. Does that sound like being left ‘high and dry’?
It’s interesting you post all this slander and yet you never joined to see for yourself. Stop making excuses. Read “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy and take responsibility for your decisions. Then you will learn that you cannot get burned by others you can only burn yourself. The beauty of it is no one can stop you if you take ownership of your decisions either. No one can stop you from rising to the top. And that’s how it is with this company and by the way that’s how it is in life as well.
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Sydney, where’s your office and who are your trainers?
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Sydney, you there? Is your office so great you don’t want to share it with the rest of us? I thought MLM was supposed to work opposite of that. 🙂
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Hi BryanH, I am not Sydney. But you can come to our Norco CA office any time. I concur with a lot of the stuff some people do is simply outrageous. I am an Agent with WFG and I am always looking to really help people to achieve their goals. I will not offer anyone something that will not suit their needs, since we can offer basically any company product (Voya, Prudential, AIG, etc) I always make it a point to return with a financial plan which takes time and research. Integrity is very important to me, and so I try to answer and research any questions posed to me. I was invited to a meeting some about two years ago, and loved it! I never felt pressured, conned or lied to. Some aspects of the business can be challenging, but I make it a point to never miss a meeting for training and gladly pay my plug ins and my monthly errors and commissions fee. It is my business, and I pay for some brochures, my desk and my copier, toner, etc…
I was never told its “a job interview” but a business opportunity meeting.
I am pretty sure some people will act without integrity, but they actually end up quitting and bad mouthing the company eventually. I cannot speak for all but only for the people I know in our office. Nick, Josh and Mike are caring, high quality people whom I respect and look up to. Its a complete breath of fresh air to be here and not in the rat race of corporate america, where people are truly used to achieve the boss’ dreams.
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This sounds like EVERY OTHER INSURANCE COMPANY YOU CAN WORK FOR… Really, they all do this. So why pay the extra $100 if you are going to do the same work? PS – I did go through WFG in my early years, made MD – discovered that most of them didn’t know what they were doing, and my early training days, my trainer(s) didn’t find any business- thats not WFG’s fault there, but my experience.
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This is a pretty good point. Working for most other financial companies will cost you a lot more than WFG though
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Ethan,
Great writeup, in addition to this information, there is a very concise thread posted up @ https://www.reddit.com/r/jobs/comments/34c6im/world_financial_group_be_careful_of_this_mlm/?
The above investigation is very thorough, guy claims to have background checked the local CEO MD and found a $334k IRS lien, in addition to discovery that a claimed residence was actually in a relatives name. How you can sell financial products with that kind of situation is unbelievable.
In my own experience, your post is a great look at WFG itself, but fails to capture the motivational groups within that will take your money for seminars, training, cd etc. It is this sub-world, contained in groups like WeatlhWave, World System Builder, DreamGivers etc. that are all affiliated underneath WFG. You won’t become aware of these groups unless you become a member of WFG. In my opinion, these particular groups within WFG are a hot-bed for coordinated racketeering.
In addition, there are various accounts of Indexed Universal Life policies being the bread and butter of WFG agents. The Reddit thread goes into detail on exploitative accounts where these types of products are leveraged and explains this from a cited perspective. The walkaway is that agents are allowed to sell these products with minimal licensing due to a legal precedent. The agents themselves possibly being deceived into trusting ill advice. This resource sums up the point greatly, http://thebishopcompanyllc.com/wp-content/uploads/pdf/indexed_universal_life.pdf
You are doing a service for everyone here with your information.
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Hey Ethan, just wanted to let you know that I appreciate the work you do – I have a lot of respect for anyone who cares about raising peoples’ awareness of those that are out to take advantage of them. Full disclosure, I am a WFG Marketing Director from Canada, and there were a couple comments I wanted to make.
First of all, I am in 100% agreement with you on the people that were brought to someone’s office through deceptive practices, or were sold some kind of financial product that wasn’t appropriate for their situation (especially those that were encouraged to borrow money to do so). This is straight up unethical, and any individual that conducts their practice that way definitely should be put out of business, regardless of the company they work for. I can’t speak for others, but living and acting with integrity is something I take pretty seriously, and I believe anyone in this line of work should feel the same.
That being said, even great companies can hire bad people. If you look at any major financial organization in North America, you will find unfortunate examples of this. There is a big difference between members of an organization acting unethically and an organization encouraging its members to act unethically, and the latter is most definitely NOT the case. Now, I’m not trying to say “See? Everyone else is just as bad!” because that’s a pretty lousy defense, haha …however, the difficulty in regulating a large sales force is a challenge that faces the entire industry, and especially the MGA brokerage system, not WFG in particular.
The same goes for licensing costs, E&O Insurance, etc. E&O Insurance is something required by everyone in the financial industry, as are the necessary licenses and qualifications. In fact, getting fully licensed to distribute investment and insurance products costs our agents a great deal less than they would pay anywhere else (To give a local example, taking the pre-certification course for a Life Insurance license in my city costs $800 at a nearby college, while the cost to our agents for the same course is $100).
Like I said before, I cannot speak for anyone else, but the people I work with care a great deal about transparency. We are entirely open regarding any and all costs an associate might expect to pay in their business, and encourage people to act in a way that is financially responsible for their families and respectful of their relationships.
Keep up the great work, Ethan. Protecting individuals and families from being misled is a worthy cause, and it’s one we share – that was and continues to be one of my first motivations in the work I do as well.
Cheers!
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Derek you say: “…the people I work with care a great deal about transparency…”
Great to hear it! Derek maybe you know how I can get a full copy of the WFG flagship product, Transamerica’s FFIUL, complete with real Policy data, including things like index floors and caps, and caps and caps on the numerous monthly and “periodic” fees that are subject to such caps? All this to review to my satisfaction *before* I buy it? Also, a full copy of WFG’s compensation plan to review to my satisfaction *before* I pay to join WFG? Derek, in the spirit of full disclosure, don’t you think WFG should make these data available to prospects *before* they spend their hard-earned money, time and gas joining and trekking to all the meetings? The two recruiters (a man and a woman) that have been courting me have so far refused to give me that complete FFIUL and the compensation plan even though I asked for those many many times. The man stoutly refused to give me any of that, giving me every excuse in the book from “I’m not sure it’s legal” to “we just do *do* that.” Even though it’s his own FFIUL and is free to distribute to whomever he pleases. I suggested he can cover up his personal info and make a copy for me, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Better yet, why can’t WFG just run a what-if for me with my data and email me the PDF for me to study? Thanks Derek.
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Ugh, I wrote a reply and then lost it +_+
Thanks for that, WBryanH – I apologize for not responding sooner, I haven’t been watching this very closely 😛
Here’s me being transparent: I haven’t yet sold a single UL policy in my career here. Not because it’s a bad product, per se, but because it’s just not the right thing for most people. I don’t consider myself to have a “flagship product”; I’m much more interested in finding the best solutions for my client’s actual needs, from the wide range of tools that are available to me. In some scenarios (not many), that would be a UL…but I haven’t bumped into that scenario yet. For this reason, the UL is a tool I haven’t made any use of yet, because it hasn’t fit the bill – all of the life insurance policies I’ve written have been Term insurance, with the exception of a couple Whole Life policies for children (parents pay $15/month for 20 years, then their child has insurance for the rest of their life that they don’t need to pay for anymore).
One thing to note is that there are significant product differences between Canada (where I operate) and the US. Regulations up here are a great deal more strict; one result of this is that there are a number of things our company makes use of down in the States (IUL, for example) that we don’t have access to up here.
I believe pretty strongly that you shouldn’t be doing anything with your money that doesn’t make sense to you…so it falls to me as the advisor to provide accurate, honest information that’s easy to understand. Good for you for not settling for less than that.
I won’t make any excuses for the way certain individuals choose to run their business – people that try to operate the way you’ve described don’t do very well or last very long.
Cheers!
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Also note that in WFG there are chargebacks. Instead of taking from future commissions like most companies, It’s taken directly out of your bank account! I sold $3,000 worth of business one month and 2 canceled the following month then they took $2500 straight out of my account and overdrafted. I saw that on my account waking up in the morning a complete nightmare to see -$2500
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Kind of sounds similar to Transamerica. I walked away before the meeting even began.
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Transamerica and WFG are connected.
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Jesus Christ, anything for money right? This is the lowest level of people.
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Was invited to one of their presentations. They definitely prey on the unsuspecting job hunter making it seem like a business opportunity. This model is very popular right now with companies hiring “independent consultants” who pay for the opportunity to recruit others for the company. I mentioned this was a MLM and a friend got very angry claiming it was not. I didn’t argue with him. Said I had been to a meeting and wasn’t interested. End of story.
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Did they say they are with Transamerica, AEGON, or name the many companies they market for? Everything but World Financial Group or WFG right!? They are something right! Good for you for standing up for your values!
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To verify, it’s very simple, google Broker Check or direct link (http://brokercheck.finra.org/)
And look up all there “top producers” and you’ll see they have complaints, etc and IRS tax lien issues. So wait! these guys are teaching people about financial success, money management, etc, etc? Financial professional really!?
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