[surferguy]

So last night I get this phone call from a northern Alberta number and it turns out that it is a random old friend from high school.

We chatted small talk for about 15 mins before he dove into the meat and potatoes of why he was contacting me. Turns out he is a financial planner who "took control" of his work and life and went out on his own.

I said great good for you, as I generally repect those who build something of their own, but then he continued on...

He mentioned that he works with lots of guys who pull in over 100K a year, a few infact are in the 250K club. He also stated that he now wants to expand into the Calgary area and set up a branch, as he has branches in Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg and Ottawa.

At this point I was getting suspicious of his phone call. He went on to say that he currently has 60 people attending an "Open House" in his front office that are interested in what World Financial Group can do for them.

"It is like this every night, it is very exciting"

This is when I knew the phone call was sunk - he was basically looking to expand into Calgary via me attending an "Open House" on what WFG can do for me to help me attain hidden money ("$1500 a month in his case") that I don't know I have!

A few points from my view:

1. I felt completly ripped off that I had recieved a phone call from and old friend who was generally looking to BS, say hi and catch up. Nope, chuck testa

2. I felt even more ripped off that he felt I was a strong candidate for Financial Planning with WFG. For those that know me, I am on the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to Insurance, investing and mortgage knowledge. For him to think that I would even be a viable candidtate for this position is laughable. Which shows me that he didn't do his research on me other than - oh he lives in Calgary now and probably knows a lot of people.

3. I did some research on these guys last night and and from what I found is that WFG is a Multi Level Marketing (MLM) scam that basically pays its Financial Planners on recruitment. Bear in mind i did very little research so I don't know if this is exactly true.

4. I feel a bit choked that he called me and offered me this "great opportunity to become a buisness owner". Some of you already know this but I will mention it again that I ALREADY am a hard working self employed buisness owner. I manufacter a product AND deliver a tangible service. I have a hard time respecting him now as I do not really feel that a person in a chain of MLM is a buisness owner. Maybe I just don't get it.

This really got under my skin that he felt he was doing me great service with this phone call. I've been busting my balls to for 3 years to get where I am and if he took all of three seconds to check out my page on the Facebook he would know exactly what I am up to, but he didn't and instead he just choose to exploit an old friendship to dig deep into his recruitment pool.

Long and short, I hate it when people get tied up into this #### and feel obligated to "help you too."

Be on the lookout for WFG - coming soon to a friend near you.