The BRB Bottomline: BRB Columnists were invited to a World Financial Group (WFG) branch where they learned about “paying it forward,” the Exchange Principle, company-wide trips to Vegas, and everything it takes to make it rich by selling life insurance—all while our recruiter tried to sell us an insurance policy, hundreds of dollars of license fees, and the opportunity of a lifetime.
“This is the business opportunity of a lifetime.”
He smiled and handed us his business card along with the dreams of becoming a successful entrepreneur .
Silver letters, WFG, glittered against the white background.
Former Agents Call World Financial Group a Scam
World Financial Group (WFG), owned by Transamerica, is a multi-level marketing (MLM) company that sells financial products like life and health insurance.
MLMs like WFG use a direct selling strategy, “person-to-person selling” outside the traditional retail setting (using social media, at home etc.), to sell a product. However, these products are often only used, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to “hide” the company’s “pyramid structure”. This hierarchical structure, composed of superior members recruiting new members to work under them, is small at the top and broadens at the bottom as the cycle of recruitment continues, creating the pyramidal shape. Current members earn upfront fees and a commission from sales made by new distributors that they recruit, moving the emphasis from selling the product to a consumer base in order to meet real demand to expanding the MLM network.
On the website of an independent WFG agent, we found a schematic of WFG’s business opportunity, cleverly designed to conceal the pyramid-like structure with a graphic depicting a visually linear model.
By turning the pyramid horizontally, Boyd and WFG try to make it seem like recruits can somehow end up on top of their recruiters. Rearranging the schematic such that direct recruits are arranged downwards reveals the pyramid-like structure.
This multi-level pyramid structure requires too many recruits to sustain and is destined to collapse. At the ninth level of a pyramid scheme in which each member must recruit only nine new members, 387 million or more people must be members to sustain the business, surpassing the population of the US, according to the Cornell Legal Information Institute. A former agent at It Works, an MLM selling beauty and weight loss supplements, told her firsthand experience of the flawed structure: “We were negative $1,000 after 18 months. And being within the top 10% at least of the company,” according to reporting by Business Insider.
Laws have been put in place to prevent this flawed business scheme from taking advantage of people. The FTC Koscot decision in which Koscot Interplanetary, Inc. was told to cease and desist as an illegal chain marketing system, found two criteria for a direct selling association to be unlawful: 1) participants must pay the company for the right to sell a product, and 2) participants have the right to receive in rewards in return for recruiting other participants into the program, which is unrelated to the sale of the product to ultimate users.
These laws have targeted WFG in the past. In 1999, they paid fines of $100,000 for not supervising sales agents properly. In 2000, they paid $125,000 for not reporting customer complaints. Just a simple Google search reveals the unreliable, untrustworthy history of the company.
Because anticipating the infinite number of loopholes and technicalities MLM founders might come up with is impossible, laws are “drafted and interpreted very broadly”. Legal decisions are based on “whether features of the MLM compensation structure incentivize or encourage participants to purchase product for reasons other than satisfying genuine demand” “information bearing on whether purchases were in fact made to satisfy personal demand to consume the product” (FTC).
However, this could also make pinpointing and taking legal action against MLMs even more confusing. In the case of WFG, despite litigation, the company is still functioning and considered a legitimate business operation.
MLM salespeople hide the questionable legal history and the unsustainability of the company’s pyramid structure extremely well behind the facade of targeting serious entrepreneurs and promising success. A former MLM World Financial Group (WFG) agent comments on a public forum that they make promises of wealth and a luxurious lifestyle, “recruiting on the premise of being a millionaire”. “For anyone who still has a dream, Start Here,” the WFG website says. MLMs take advantage of gullible high school, college, and working people, and are like “cults,” “recruit[ing] people based on relationships” and “target[ing] people who are at vulnerable places in their lives” Professor Jennifer Chatman at the Haas School of Business explains.
In Las Vegas for a long weekend in August, WFG held its 2019 Convention, WFG C19, as people in the industry affectionately call it. As third party observers, we wonder how these people justify to their clients why their financial adviser was at a huge party in Las Vegas. In any case, the event was broadcasted live and WFG agents themselves posted videos of the conference.
One such video shows Guillermo Haro, a WFG Senior Executive Vice Chairman (SEVC), on stage roleplaying common scenarios that agents encounter while recruiting. Here’s Haro’s answer to “Is this Multi-Level Marketing?”
Haro is a convincing character in person. In writing, his logical errors are easier to spot. He goes from admitting that “Everything…is multi-level marketing,” including WFG, to explaining how multi-level things are common. The definition of multi-level marketing isn’t that it has multiple levels. The definition of multi-level marketing is that salespeople sell to the levels below them. In that case, WFG is an MLM but not everything is multi-level marketing.
In 2010, the SEC barred Haro “from association with any broker or dealer with the right to reapply for association in the capacity as a registered representative after (1) year and as a supervisor after four (4) years.”
The SEC came to this decision after Haro advised his clients to refinance the equity in their home with subprime mortgages and reinvest the proceeds into the stock market. This all while collecting a huge commission on the transaction.
On BrokerCheck, Haro is still barred by the SEC “from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities to the public.”
As crazy as this all sounds, none of this is new information. Online forums and other sources have warned of the fraudulent activity and misleading characters that have floated around MLMs and specifically WFG for years now.
Rather, our story—our firsthand experience of getting recruited into an MLM—begins at a Berkeley-Haas event where a WFG agent, who was not even a Berkeley-Haas alumni, handed us his business card.
Peddling Hopes to the People Closest to You
Our WFG recruiter introduced himself as a financial adviser. That’s not entirely true because financial advisers are bound by a Fiduciary Standard; whereas， broker-dealers only have to abide by a Suitability Standard. Legal and functional differences aside, the logo on their business card intrigued us because we had gotten a similar business card with that logo from an uber driver just the semester before.
After exchanging contact information, we began talking with our WFG recruiter over Facebook messenger. He invited us to visit him in their office. We accepted.
At several points before we left Berkeley and before sitting down with our recruiter, we reminded him that the reason we agreed to meet was to learn more about financial advisory, more specifically, how WFG operates as a business by distributing financial products.
We told our recruiter that we were both students and part of Business Review at Berkeley covering a story on how financial products are distributed. Both times we sought to clarify the reason for our meeting, the agent emphasized that he was excited to evaluate us as business partners. The recruiter escorted us into a small conference room where we interviewed each other for two hours.
Our recruiter set his arms on the table and appeared to examine each of us intently.
Our recruiter also emphasized this to us in our private messages before the meeting.
This is a common tactic that WFG agents employ. They create a facade of exclusivity and prestige to lure gullible greenhorns to the office. They insist on only sharing details about the business opportunity in person because their selling techniques are more persuasive in person.
One source worked at a WFG office and sent us a training presentation that recruiters give to new recruits.
The fact that WFG agents are explicitly taught “multiple methods to sell to your recruit” shows the emphasis the company places on recruiting and selling product to recruits.
We found a WFG Transamerica Compensation & Promotion Guidelines brochure that has a helpful diagram showing the four different ways agents can earn income.
Notice that Personal Income is the only way agents earn money by actually selling insurance to WFG clients. The other three ways (Training, Expansion, and Bonus Income) come from selling products to new recruits, i.e. WFG agents, themselves.
Our recruiter explained the situation much more cogently than we could hope to:
According to our recruiter, the Senior Managing Director (SMD) of this branch earned $890,000 last year. Only $200,000 of that came from actually selling insurance, most of which probably came from personally selling to new recruits, though our recruiter didn’t make the distinction.
What is clear from his testimony is the majority, the other $690,000, was from the recruited agents below him. Commissions from associates this SMD recruited (Training Income) as well as Bonus Income from putting people below them on the generational ladder made up more than 75% of his salary.
The diagram above shows how producing your own sales will barely get you above $100K in gross income a year. Moreover, these WFG-provided calculations assume that the SMD sells five personal sales per month, which is one sale every week. Our recruiter hadn’t made a sale in two weeks.
When we asked our recruiter how much an agent could theoretically make if they just sold the product and didn’t recruit business“You won’t break $100K a year,” he replied.
The dream WFG sells is one about putting people below you in the pyramid. So, what exactly do recruiters sell to new agents?
Starting Off Thousands of Dollars in the Hole
The first thing our recruiter tried to sell us was access to their Wednesday night training programs, which are offered through a wholly-owned subsidiary of WFG called World System Builder (WSB). Training programs are another way WFG tries to give off the image of legitimacy.
Lifetime membership to WSB, which gives you access to these training programs, costs $100. Every recruit has to pay for membership in order to move on in the recruiting process.
Agents are incentivized to sell potential recruits these $100 lifetime memberships to attend business classes for two reasons.
First, when recruits sign up to join the class, they are asked to put their recruiter’s name. This gives the recruiter base points. If an agent racks up enough base points, they qualify to go on expenses-paid trips to different places. The current contest period offers agents the opportunity to go to Xi’an, China.
Second, training programs are a marketing funnel for recruiters to gauge or stoke a recruit’s interest in becoming an agent themselves. We told our recruiter that we would think about paying for the training program until after we heard the rest of the business opportunity.
Our recruiter then told us about licenses. He said life and long-term care (LTC) insurance is about 80% of their business. Testimonies online confirm that the most common product these agents sell is Transamerica’s Financial Foundation indexed Universal Life (FFIUL) policy.
Indexed universal life insurance policies are the most complex and expensive policies brokers sell, which means they pay the highest commission.
The license our recruiter told us we needed is called Life and Health License.
Moreover, our recruiter told us that agents have to pay a $60/month Errors and Omissions insurance premium “so that if the branch were to be sued, you don’t have to show up in court.”
At the end of the meeting, we asked the recruiter to requote us how much it would cost to get started. He said it would cost $1,000 to get started. On the bright side, however, our recruiter told us that, because agents are business owners, they are allowed to take annual business losses of up to $10,000 to $20,000.
Our recruiter benefits from all of these costs new recruits pay WFC and FINRA by racking up base points; however, most of the cash is made once the recruit is up and running.Our recruiter told us about the “Exchange Principle,” a policy of their branch where the first three appointments that new recruits find are given to their recruiter.
After the meeting, we told our recruiter that we thought WFG is a multi-level marketing scheme because it appears that the majority of product sales come from sales to new recruits and asked him for comments. Without any prompting, he said, “WFG isn’t a pyramid scheme because recruits can theoretically supersede their recruiters.”
After everything our recruiter told us during the meeting, it was difficult to not see the irony. Surpassing your recruiter is impossible if your recruiter gets half of all the business you do.
Moreover, everything our recruiter told us during the meeting was around respecting the structure of the branch, rather than breaking away from it. We asked our agent whether we could just break off from the SMD’s branch, cut him out of our future business, and start our own branch. Our recruiter’s response exemplified the success WFG has had on convincing its agents to trust that WFG is the answer to their lives.
Conflicts of Interest Everywhere You Look
Selling financial products is wrought with potential conflicts of interests. One way the financial industry has tried to combat conflicts of interest is to establish standards that financial actors must follow. Agents working as broker-dealers are sworn by a Suitability Standard to find the right product for their clients’ needs. This standard is lower than the Fiduciary Standard, which investment advisers working directly with clients must follow.
Transamerica, one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S., owns WFG. The agents at WFG are sworn by the Suitability Standard to recommend the best product for their clients’ needs.
However,
Our recruiter confirmed this apparent conflict of interest. “Transamerica pays us more. The commission is about 25% higher for Transamerica products.”
Moreover, WFG does not necessarily have the best interest of their agents in mind. WFG agents aren’t employees of WFG. They’re independent agents associated with WFG. WFG agents are taught to recruit on this premise as well by telling recruits that this isn’t a job but rather a business opportunity. WFG doesn’t pay its associates benefits or salaries. In this system, WFG is merely a branding and cult organization that ostensibly connects all these independent agents together. Advertisements on the company website promote the many, many WFG training events that, unfortunately for agents, end up costing quite a bit. One event called Project Titan teaches associates how to “Unleash the Big Baseshop.”
Selling gimmicks, like training tools and event tickets, is one way WFG, the corporate entity, leeches money from its associates.
Take Home Points
Disguised as once-in-a-lifetime business opportunities, Multi-Level Marketing schemes have a pyramid structure that is doomed to fail. Although laws have been passed in hopes of preventing them from taking advantage of vulnerable, hopeful people, they continue to operate, difficult to pin down. Our experience provides an inside look on the process an MLM agent undergoes in order to recruit new agents and expand the pyramid as well as the core problems of the business’ internal workings.
Finally, always be wary! Despite the plethora of warnings, people are still roped in by cunning agents, believing every single word. In fact, our own MLM agent did not believe that he was working for a multi-level marketing, pyramid scheme. So, when handed a flashy business card for an opportunity that is just too good to be true, look for the signs that have been broken down by this article!
Thank you for conducting extensive research and publishing this report. It’s surprising that Guillermo Haro, Ed Mylett, Hadi Kusumo and the likes haven’t been locked up in prison yet for robbing people their entire life savings by deceiving their customers to purchase the IUL. Please let me know if you would like to submit a part 2.0 regarding this matter as I would be more than happy to share you some insider information anonymously.
This was an extremely helpful article. I’ve shared and cited your paper to help others stay away from this practice. Thank you so much for your hard work.
I’ve literally paid nothing to be trained by WFG SMD. Whoever wrote this was conned by someone else doing dirty work. I literally have only invested in myself by getting my license through the state and FDIC, I grew up with my best friend who’s in WFG. And they don’t let everyone in, they don’t recruit anyone and everyone. We share the great benefit of IUL and not everyone is accepted for it, you have to have good health and a clean background. Also we share the information for free to all clients, all anyone has ever paid was what they could afford to put into it, if it was a scam, ppl wouldn’t be able to roll over their 401k into this. Idk where this clown got his info but it’s incorrect. Ppl are being paid on my team. And again sharing the info for FREE! The companies themselves pay us commission.
I completely share your viewpoint that the author of this piece must have had experience with an unreliable individual. From my knowledge, all the advisors associated with WFG who possess a license are excelling in their professional duties.
If this was a scam or pyramid scheme industry, why would banks and financial institutions do business with them? WFG does marketing for TD, Manulife, Desjardins, BMO, etc in Canada.
You fail to mention that in your piece.
Look at Walmart, Starbucks… McDonalds. The CEO is at the top, followed by the VPs, directors, hundreds of managers, thousands of department managers and then staff. Managers make more money than regular staff because they have more experience and help train the staff. VPs make even more money because they do the same with the directors and so on and so forth. Is that not a “pyramid”? There are lawsuits for all these major companies too… people do unlawful things. And it’s too bad the company gets a bad reputation for it.
If you want to open a business, you’ll need to recruit/hire people. They will likely get paid much less than you do. Say you open a restaurant and net $500k/year… and your hardest working waitress is making $45,000. Wait, is that a pyramid scheme? Shut it down!
Does one need all these recruits? Well McDonalds isn’t McDonalds because of just 1 franchise location, is it? So the more agents in this highly regulated industry, the more persons can be helped. Not everyone cares about making millions a year in this business. Some people are content making an extra income on the side, a side-hustle. This dream of hustling and making millions is not for everyone.
One last thing, a recruiter CAN supersede it’s recruiter. We’ve witnessed it. If you don’t close business yourself on a personal level, you won’t hit the next promotion level, fair and square. So your facts are wrong.
The bottomline is, the company has helped MANY North Americans get into better financial shape. Cheques are written to beneficiaries daily. And the cost of insurance are the least we have seen, at least in Canada.
Lastly, I urge you to get real facts and testimonials from more people working the industry before you write a misleading article.
Yes by scamming others they are making money it’s that simple !!! The whole article literally just explained how they found loopholes to not even attend to court if push comes to show ,
Error and Omissions insurance is not a get out of court card as the article (and possibly the misinformed WFG agent told) It is insurance that you pay for that covers you in case you as an agent make a mistake. If you make a mistake which hurts the client, say by putting in the incorrect information and thus qualifying an uninsurable individual, they can and will sue to for the amount they were promised. E&O Insurance insures that the client is paid and that your mistake does not harm them. It is not for the agent, but is required since most agents couldn’t pay out a million dollar policy if they made a mistake.
Most businesses have business insurances which cover for things that may put you in court… this is basic business knowledge… is this seriously UC Berkley??
No reputable company will make you pay them to work for them lol
You must be a paid spokes woman for this scheming ass scam company, If it walks like a duck talks like a duck…I’m pretty sure it’s a DUCK!
If you got this from one agent, you didn’t do a very good job. You don’t have all the facts.
Fantastic written Mate!
Thank you for the article. I was part of this pyramid scheme. I lost a lot money and the brainwashing was affecting me emotionally. I can’t believe how this company can continue to lie to the public. If you get approached by WFG salesperson run away , you will lose a lot money and time
Other than investing In becoming licensed, I haven’t paid a dime. So I have no idea how you lost thousands of dollars?
Hello, its nice article about mеdia print, we all be aware of media is a wonderful source of infoｒmation.
This scheme looks like need incredibles work hard
Its like you read my mind! You appear to know a lot about this, like you
wrote the book in it or something. I think that you could do with a few
pics to drive the message home a little bit,
but instead of that, this is great blog. An excellent read.
I will definitely be back.
I totally disagree with your writing.
If you want a true and realistic understanding of WFG and Transamerica I suggest you read The Truth about World Financial Group: Unauthorized – by Steve Siebold, then make your conclusions.
I suggest you spent at least 3- months or a year researching, like author Steven Siebold who spent over a year following and interviewing multiple people and affiliates of WFG and the Provider Companies.
Actually it is rather disappointing that you brag about doing researching when you spent only a few days with the company, and that you based your conclusions off the explanations from ONE individual of the company is rather biased and misleading.
It’s also pitiful that you use being a student from ‘Berkeley’ as your credential for creditability and doing your due diligence.
The information you presented are full of your personal interpretations or rather, misinterpretations. What you provided here is neither
Just or accurate. Your writings come off both biased and judgmental.
Ive been with this company almost 3 years. No job ever helped me grow to this huge degree. No job ever let an employee
rise financially to over 6 figures in 1 year, from being a 50k a year earner, and go beyond into the millions by doing the same thing–helping families!!. Absolutely absolutely so much of this is NOT AT ALL TRUE. The worst aspect of all is that articles like these are preventing really great people from ending up in a phenomenal business working with hundreds of leaders and work colleagues who are there to help you succeed–AND preventing hundreds to thousands of people from receiving help with their finances im a very simple and comprehensive way! WE HAVE GROWN 68% THIS YEAR SO FAR!! We are PANDEMIC-PROOF AND RECESSION-PROOF!! You cannot even imagine how grateful every person is for leading them here. Including ME!!
ABSOLUTELY!!! All of this article I was pointing out how much of this stuff is not true and flawed. Pretty much silly. I’m not in WFG, but I know people who are. I live in Silicon Valley and unless you can barely afford rent- Then you either work for WFG or for Apple/Google. I used to wonder what people did to make money here.. now I know it’s WFG all the way. My experience, Most people who are skeptical, can, just afford rent, because they’re not in a populated area. YOUR TEST WILL BE YOUR TESTIMONY. THE ONLY WAY TO REMAIN AVERAGE AND ORDINARY IS TO AVOID CONTROVERSY.
Have you noticed that every time there is an article showing WFG in a negative light, there are always comments trying to disprove it by saying “none of this is true.”
You aren’t fooling anyone and I feel bad for you all trying to convince the general public otherwise.
Lol. And everytime there’s an article like this where someone says it’s not true, there’s someone like you telling the person actually doing the business successfully that he’s obviously lying and the college student who wrote the article on a one-time meeting with a single person from a multi-billion company is a much better source of information and credibility.
You come across as one of those scammers who use and abuse gullible people to take their money. I recommend that you read the article again and try to understand how WFG works the source is not the issue here ! It’s people like you that have a hard time accepting the reality of the situation
Read all articles. Join them and actually see instead of thinking you’re right, because more than likely you’re wrong.
Also, why would I think a college kid knows anything about anything? That’s why they’re in college, if they were smart they’d be blogging about important stuff.
Disappointing article. WFG isn’t a pyramid and clearly does not operate that way otherwise they would be shut down. Its really a good opportunity, so long as you understand business principles, ownership and hard work. But what a bad article for trying to making something look bad. I agree that some divisions have lame practices (like give 1st 3 clients to recruiter), but find a different team then.
Are you joking? Do you think that every “pyramid scheme” that exists today is not a “pyramid scheme”, simply because it still exists?
“No one could ever figure out how to keep a multimillion dollar pyramid scheme alive and compliant.”
I don’t want to shock you, but have you heard of Amway, Metabolife, ACN, Vector/Cutco, the list goes on…
Every corporation or large company is a pyramid scheme! There’s very few at the top and multitudes at the bottom. The difference with WFG is that it’s NOT a geometrical system. It is actually the very same as the vast majority of organization that operate in the industry! But of course, you don’t recognize that (because you’re either biased, uninformed, uneducated or just an idiot?)?
Many surpass those who started as their mentors. While even more DO NOT! Just like you’ll never outpace your superior in the corporate world. The reason most do not succeed…THEY DO NOT WANT TO WORK HARD!
But at least in this industry you are given a chance to succeed rather than work your entire life to make someone else wealthy.
If you don’t want to work hard, you won’t succeed at anything! Stop trying to extend conspiracies and try actually being objective and learn so you can make an informed decision.
Oh….and if the federal trade commission said what you quoted….that would be criminal and liable! So get your sources strait and stop trying to fear-monger….or is that all the US is good for nowadays?
people should have the opportunity to explain their position should they not? This is why we have debate. Especially true when one is looking from the outside in. Their understanding and perception might be flawed. If people are to be censored or ridiculed just for defending their position then what is your understanding of freedom of speech?
If you want to get the real skinny about wfg then talk to someone that knows from an insider perspective. Would be good to brush up on brokerage business model too.
We don’t need to prove anything to anyone, we became an agent by choice not putting up with living pay cheque to pay cheque, getting orders from our boss and making other companies rich. WFG doesn’t work for anyone, you need to work for yourself with WFG model, and people who can not work and put in the hours won’t be successful no matter where they go, and as a result become bitter and start blaming others.
you can choose what you want to be in life, we chose to be here and we are grateful for this opportunity.
Hi Elizabeth, could I ask you how this work? I’ve heard Guillermo and wanted to look in to this I don’t have facebook nor social media.
I have 3 young adults that are so disciplined when it comes to finances and before I take them to a Schwab or Fidelity office.
You company might be a better way to go.
Thank you for this reply. I do find it weird that so much time is being taken up by blogers on WFG.
Thank you for sharing.
Hey, You’ve done an excellent job. I will definitely digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I’m confident they will be benefited from this website. all is going well here and ofcourse every one is sharing facts, that’s truly fine, keep up writing. danke
I made a comment on this article. It was fair and honest. The only thing I mentioned was that the author of the article makes Berkeley a school I wouldn’t want my children to attend of the product of their business school is people who do a hack job on researching this company. Harvard is doing a phenomenal job on our business model. I started as a Training Associate. Made it to SMD in 15months. Became a six figure earner in my 2nd year and my agents are following suit. The drop out rate is high. Just as in any industry. If people don’t have credibility, integrity, and are not coach-able or teachable. They will not make it.
“coach-able or teachable” you say… More like easy to brainwash. Bottom line is that WFG preys on people who are having a tough time making ends meet and who are not financially savvy. WFG uses manipulation tactics to sympathize with people who are having any kind of financial or personal problems in their lives.
People who are not financially savvy? You make me laugh. Try and research before you spew ignorance all over. We have a ton of Registered nurses, Nurse Practitioners, Pharmacists, Medical doctors, lawyers in WFG. “And we are having a tough time making ends meet you say? And all these people are easily brainwashed to the fact that they went to higher institutions to become what they are today or they saw a great opportunity and took it?
Actually, we have business people and millionaires come to us to get access to the tens of companies we provide access to. And unfortunately, only the wealthy who have business knowledge can see the value right away, and can see right through the faulty information online.
Read your article and good read but not well researched. You can easily find people who don’t like Mcdonald’s just as you have found people who failed in the business. A great researcher will provide both sides to allow the reader an opportunity to make their own decisions rather than delivering a one sided perspective. During Covid, millions have applied for unemployment or have lost thousands in their 401k, let’s interview those people who WFG has helped?
I totally agree with this. It’s a one-sided blog post with false accusations. It’s sad that people such as Mr. Aaron Chow are steering people away from an amazing opportunity with misleading and uneducated information.
This is a great blog.
This is a great blog.
You probably one of the past agents in WFG. Only unsuccessful agents write this kind of articles, because they couldn’t succeed there themselves and envy those who have success with it.
Great news once again!
This article is about 95% completely false information. As an finance major in university I worked for 5 years at a firm before discovering this amazing company. If your considering doing this business, at least go sit down with a wfg agent and see the business for yourself. Don’t listen to people posting free advice on the internet like this article. Remeber folks, talk is cheap, thats why broke people love to talk.
Purely on your name alone you sound like you are one of the WFG cronies who go around and comment on every negative article to stop the truth from getting out. I have been there and seen it first hand.
Get a life! This article is ridiculous and very funny.. The hate is real which means WFG must be doing something Great.. nobody hates on a losing Team!! Way to go WFG!!
You probably couldn’t make it there that’s why you’re bitter
https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/ca/news/breaking-news/canadian-insurance-agent-slapped-with-penalties-406601.aspx
WHATEVER he said in the blog is completely wrong!!! If you’re a person who knows how to make money you’ll know how million dollars this company is!!! STOP PUBLISHING WRONG CONTENT!!!
I read this paragraph completely on the topic of the
comparison of latest and earlier technologies, it’s awesome article.
This explanations confuses me …
I would love to write a rebuttal to this article if you would be open to a real analysis of this article.
There are so many half truths and and misinformation in the article it’s ridiculous. Your experience with one agent doesn’t exemplify the entire company. The way money is made, is not even close to the truth of what you wrote in this article. If it wasn’t sustainable, and you need to recruit the world to keep it going, why has the company been around since 1991. Never shut down. ALL companies have compliance issues and legal issues. No companies are perfect. This article is comedy and I’ll be doing a YouTube or live video to discredit this ENTIRE article with FACTS and PROOF.
This arrival is comical. There are so many mistruths and biased statements. I’m literally going to take this article, do a live video reading it and showing the FACTS and PROOF that this article is a joke. I can’t speak for the agent you say with, but I can guarantee my agency doesn’t do this crap. Nor is the company set up and operates the way you explain. There are so many hypocritical statements made and contradicting statements it’s hilarious. I can’t wait to rip this thing to shreds. Your story is ruining people’s opportunities because you went to school and became indoctrinated to do so and get a job. Don’t take your anger out on others by writing puff pieces about a business/company you don’t fully understand. If you wanted to know the ins and outs of the NBA would you ask the bench warmer rookie, google it, or ask Michael Jordan?? Michael Jordan! So why are you basing your experience off of someone who in your words hasn’t helped a family in 2 weeks?! Get out of here with this biased opinionated story. Look out for my live. I’ll see if I can find you and tag you in it so you can watch it.
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Hi. I’ve been with WFG for 10 years. I started writing a long reply about what is true or misunderstood but… what’s the point? Everyone already has a preconceived notion about WFG. This article would only validate your existing opinion. A lot of the raw data is correct but the interpretation is misunderstood. Too bad the authors couldn’t write a more objective unbiased article. Like what I learned from sales, not everything is for everyone.
VERY well said! could’t have worded it better.
This is why no self-respecting professional would be caught dead working for WFG. The best in the business are at major investment banks or insurance companies – too smart to be roped into a pyramid scheme. I just think it’s wrong that uneducated people are being targeted and innocent people are being sold products that don’t suit them.
Elaborate on what you mean by no person with self respect would work here? Last time i checked, the ones in major investments are crooks and only focus on the 1% to keep them that way. While “pyramid schemes” focus on helping up the other 99. Your comment is bias and subject for deletion.
Hey Joe, Have you ever heard of Ed Mylett? Look him up and see his credibility. He has been in WFG for YEARS and would claim it to be the greatest business because there is nothing else like it. I’d say he’s pretty self-respecting look for yourself
Mylett couldnt hack it in baseball, and is clearly a steroid user. He doesn’t inspire me one bit.
Yeah, quit fooling yourself. Many agents in banks are only allowed to spend 15 minutes with low investors. If they go above that, it goes on their yearly evaluations. Some firms require $250,000 to walk in the door. WFG will spend whatever time you need with them. Bar none. And we don’t recruit out of high school. More fake news. Christ.
Wow! I had no clue this was the case, thank you for this info.
I am a client with Transamerica/ WFG
I have two Indexed life insurances. I never loosen money in these plans. I bought them after taxes. I never Ever. Have to pay taxes on principal or interest!!! Amazing! Products..
I am 49 and I retired with the money I accumulated in those two policies.
I worked in Corporate America 25 years in Comcast, but my 401 k lost so much money in 2008 and then again in 2011. So. My 401k become 201k and is tax deferred so… that means penalties if you use it before 59 and 1/2. And it’s variable/ risky so you are always Rosen the wave as the walls street call it!
Corporate America is the biggest pyramid scheme. They pay you just enough so you don’t quit, you have no more pension ans in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic! 40 million Americans lost their job! Employees are the new version of slaves!!!
Please fellow Americans reclaim your power become free and open your eyes!
WFG is the uncapped side of Transamerica. They are leaving the dream and sharing The dream no family left behind. Teaching what the Rockefeller’s did to become reach! The million $$baby! Teaching to change your last name forever!!! And to leave a legacy not a liability.
You think what you want!
I’m retired and in my own terms! Thank you! WFG/ transamy
You have two life insurance index’s, humor me. Try and cancel one, see how much you get back.
Why would Ana do that??? She’s retiring on the money from that! Cancelling would be detrimental to her retirement and to her beneficiaries once she passes on! Anonymous, you need to learn about how money and finance works, clearly!
I love your reply. Well articulated! Its like killing the duck or hen that lays the golden egg for you, why would you do that? Some people need to learn about finance.
Wow, you know how to write for sure! Great writing. However, after I read the small print with your signature I wonder who is the big boss behind this article?! The competitors of WFG? ” If you have a short thesis or an article you’d like to pitch, you can either find him at GBC stocking up for the coming winter or in Doe…hibernating (we’re pretty sure he is a bear).” Great advertisement, writing to be paid Ads!
The competitors of WFG?
Amway, Herbalife, Scentsy, NuSkin, Avon, Tupperware………
After paying $1,040 per annum for almost 24 years, I’ve been “lapsed” out of my wife’s life insurance policy with three ever increasing payments returned to my bank. I’ve never missed the qurterly payment. My wife first purchased the policy out of a desire to provide something to our children in event of our demise so I went along with her wishes, not investigating Transamerica sufficiently. It is clear now that this was my error. Apparently, to reinstate this policy, I’ve been asked to resume payments triple what we were paying quarterly. Transamerica, I’ve concluded, must be a fraudulent scheme. Rather than throwing good money after bad, I’m looking at class action and I’ve asked my legal people to look into this as well. Obviously, I’ll realistically never see any return from this debacle but I’d love to put an end to this fishy business activity.
Life or Term?
If it was term insurance tour term was likely up and your agent should have mentioned that to you. I’m sure he mentioned that your premium, after a term of 30 years would rise considerably. However after 30 years memories aren’t what they used to be. This would happen in ANY insurance firm.
You probably had term life, which has its advantages and disadvantages. They’re cheap (advantage?) and temporary (10 years, 15, 20, 30 etc). Now after you’ve paid for so long and you lapse or coverage expires, you are now older and probably have a new diagnosis/health issues. Your premiums will not be cheap. This is a general rule and not WFG’s doing. If you’re an insurance company covering a brand new car, you wont expect much issues as the car is new and has probably 3 year warranty. Now if you’re to cover a car that has 450,000 miles you may not want to waste your time and money on it or you can charge a high premium.
All I know is that if WFG was a scam, they would have been shut down.
What a joke. Please don’t believe this article at all. You are very much mixing true information with a lot of false narrative to make your writing sound truthful.
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This guy took time to write something he can’t compete in this environment and He is probably happy to have a boss to tell him what to do!
I wrote a very long rebuttal to this article and it was deleted. Goes to show that not all comments are kept. This article is filled with misinformation. Do your own research and own homework – don’t rely on someone else’s research (homework).
Biggest flaw in this article which is important to note: you CAN surpass the person who brought you in business and actually make more money than them, contrary to what many believe. WFG is not an MLM for that exact reason.
Is that really true? they deleted the rebuttal? what kind of university is this?….
Wow, Great article I have ever read, After read your article I thought I should write my first comment here. I don’t know what to say but I really enjoy to read your blog.
I can write about my bad experiences as a corporate employee and the college system. The truth is that not everyone is successful at a job or school. I worked for a large government contractor and graduated with my bachelor’s degree. I’m no dummy when it comes to seeing great things. I LOVE WFG!!! I RETIRED from my corporate job and I’m financially independent at the age of 36 THANKS to WFG! Why don’t you do research and write about how many lives WFG has changed? WFG ROCKS! I’m so glad I didn’t listen to skeptical people.
This article is very bias. Your entire narrative is to make them sound like a scam. Makes me question if you tried it failed and full off resentment.
I see a lot of good this company does in the way they help families understand their financial situation.
They are scammers and that is the reality of it
what a horrible and misleading article you made, my wife is a associate for wfg and prudly I can say in my 18 yeras in this country this Firm is the most honest I have known of, all of her clients,including friends and family, the classes they provide are free, the $100 dolars goes more for administrative cost of starting, the licenses cost goes to the state, they dont ge points or get paid by recruiting, no quotas, they provide information and is up to the people to take a desicion, all the companies they work are rated A+ so no way the state and all those companies would do business with wfg if it was a scam, our family lives its been changed and blessed by being in business with this Firm! there has to be bad apples too, but not because 1 employee at starbucks gave me my order wrong im going to say starbucks is the worst business and scam…shame on you and the supervisors who allowed this to still be up with out any official and accurate information!!
You write incredibly but I don’t think it’s well-researched.
I personally have been working with wfg/Transamerica for about 3 years now. I started at the age 21 while I was in college and I can tell it has been the experience of a life time. not just the income but also the mentorship, education and the relationship you get to build. I remember coming to my first meeting and getting introduced to people that were professional in their field, I was so impressed and at the same time sad seeing how corporate America and the dream that is sold to us in school is not at all true, I remember seeing someone that had graduated with the same degree that I was studying for and thinking I don’t wanna wait until I’m at that point to start something I’m passionate about. That’s when I decide to come on board and I can tell you I fell in love with it, I fell in love with the people we helped, the products we offer, but most importantly the opportunity. Now I’m 24 just crossed over 6 figures ( which at one point I thought impossible with the career I chose to study) 100K may not seem like a lot but I’m so grateful I preserved through it all, the people that told me to stop and that this was a scam and told me to go back to school. Anyways I just wanted to share my experience but again this is not about convincing everyone is about giving you a different perspective. At the end you should make your own decision and go with what is best for you and your family!
The writers that wrote this article I would love to sit down with you and have an interview. I would love it to be live and streamed.
I must admit that what I was told has turned out to be true.
Very well written and to the point!
Love it.
Sure, money can be made in pyramid schemes, by the few predators at the top of the pyramid. Otherwise there would be no pyramid schemes. That money however, is extracted from the many losers on the bottom the scheme.
Seeing as how there are hundreds of millionaires in WFG now, I guess it really isnt a pyramid scheme, and people can actually make good income. Also today, people have access to internet and knowledge, so chances of them being scammed is very little… I guess there is some value in what they offer, because even against the odds created by these online comments, a lot of people choose their advisors with them.
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Great article! WFG is truly a flawed pyramid scheme. Couldn’t have explained this better as someone who lost a lot of money I must say these people do not have any good conscience and continue to find ways to promote and scam others.
Can you elaborate on how you were scammed exactly? Unfortunately we can’t believe people making claims online these days
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sounds like a “confirmation bias”. look it up!
Couldn’t agree more
People still falling for this stuff in 2022. Have a friend who got tired of working the rigs/construction and he got roped in to a ‘platinum diamond vip’ seminar. Guess he was tired and broken from manual labor that he didn’t hesitate to jump at this first sign of ‘6 figures without a college degree in less than a year’. I want to tell him how it’s all a big scam, but people that have bought in to the hope of a better life will not let go, and will only get aggressively defensive even when you point out how things don’t add up.
People still falling for this stuff in 2022. Have a friend who got tired of working the rigs/construction and he got roped in to a ‘platinum diamond vip’ seminar. Guess he was tired and broken from manual labor that he didn’t hesitate to jump at this first sign of ‘6 figures without a college degree in less than a year’. I want to tell him how it’s all a big scam, but people that have bought in to the hope of a better life will not let go, and will only get aggressively defensive even when you point out how things don’t add up.
Okay, but what about the hundreds of others making really good income? I’m not sure which side to believe, hundreds of testimonies on how well its worked for them, or these comments from people who don’t seem to understand how business works. Going from manual labour to having a business seems quite a leap with a logically low success rate. Possible, but requires a lot of work and mental toughness in the business industry
I want to tell him how it’s all a big scam, but people that have bought in to the hope of a better life will not let go, and will only get aggressively defensive even when you point out how things don’t add up.
What a biased review from a student who has never worked from WFG and based it on one single person whom you talked to out of 55,000 agents.
We have multiple divisions and people are different in every way.
I have been with WFG for almost 9 years and never looked back. I was a corporate admissions director for a healthcare company prior to WFG.
WFG only works for people who understands it and who are willing to give it a shot.
It’s people’s loss if they’ll base their opinion based on articles like this instead of having the experience themselves. Not every experience will be great because you’ll run into new agents, and/or experienced financial professionals; agents who are more money hungry than doing the right thing for their clients.
In every industry, there are good and bad apples, and too bad you didn’t have a good experience. But I did that’s why I’ve been here for almost a decade.
It would’ve been more credible if you’ve been with us and at least did everything you can to make it work, and then give a fair review.
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