World Financial Group - coming soon to a friend near you

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by 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.

WFG was around in Calgary 10 years ago. He is going to lose all his money if he wants to 'expand' into Calgary now.

A few of my friends are in this new mlm called Global Information network. hahaha Self improvement cds..... at least they are getting in early so i'm sure they can sucker out a few people and make some money.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Slava

I just think its frustrating because as a financial advisor who is educated, licensed and has worked in the field for a number of years. It gives the whole industry a bad name and recruiting people who are butchers by day and financial advisors by night (with apologies to any butchers out there), just irritates me and makes it seem as though anyone is capable of doing this job with little in the way of training or education.

Funny that you mention butchers specifically. Reminds me of when I was working for Safeway while I was in University. In the break room a few employees and I would talk and the subject of my studies came up and I talked about how I was looking for summer employment in Finance. One of the guys in the Meat department (a middle aged dude) then started talking about how he was working as a financial planner and that meat cutting was just something to tide him over until he made the 'big bucks' working for World Financial Group.

[Bobblehead]

WFG was in the same building as my office. They lasted 3 or 4 years in that location before shutting down about a year ago.

[red sky]

Originally Posted by surferguy

I had to laugh as a lot of my friends are like the average CPer 100K+ bread winners and great with the ladies.

Kind words. I didn't know you considered me a friend though. Haha.

[CarlW]

I think the worst part is that companies like Primerica and WFG give the Financial/Insurance Advisor/Industry a bad rep and continue the stereotype of snakeoil Salesman or something.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by red sky

Kind words. I didn't know you considered me a friend though. Haha.

Stop bumping this thread Red Sky, I've got stuff to build!

[The Yen Man]

I remember being suckered into one of these "open houses" back when I first graduated from university, and was looking at monster.ca for jobs. The young and naive me thought it was some sort of job interview. Right when I got there I knew something was fishy. We watched a video of a bunch of "self made" $100K+ earners recount how Primerica changed their lives, and then they all went googly eyed when the Primerica president or whoever got up to talk. Afterwards, the guys giving the session stood up and started clapping while chanting the president's name. It was so creepy and surreal at the same time. It felt like a cult gathering. Needless to say, I GTFO pretty quick after the presentation.

[topfiverecords]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPGHjf2GqMQ&t=1m10s

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Funny that you mention butchers specifically. Reminds me of when I was working for Safeway while I was in University. In the break room a few employees and I would talk and the subject of my studies came up and I talked about how I was looking for summer employment in Finance. One of the guys in the Meat department (a middle aged dude) then started talking about how he was working as a financial planner and that meat cutting was just something to tide him over until he made the 'big bucks' working for World Financial Group.

I just picked butchers randomly. I knew a guy years ago who was also working full-time until he was able to make ends meet with WFG. He was in IT though. I also have a friend who is a painter and was approached to "just get an insurance license and refer all your friends."

There are probably some decent advisors with WFG, but just the idea that they let people operate in a part-time capacity and press for recruits is concerning. Frankly this role is a large responsibility. I would feel terrible if I had someone re-mortgage their home and invest it all only to see them have to work an extra decade to pay it all off.

[Northendzone]

but the OP is flushing away $1,500 per month - that is like $50 per day, or $18,000 per year........

i am going to the session as i am not afraid to be rich - i hope they accept nigerian bank drafts

[jar_e]

Originally Posted by 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.

This proves two theories of mine...firstly, nothing good ever comes from northern Alberta, and secondly, another reason not to pick up my phone with numbers I don't recognize.

[Matata]

Do yourself a favour and attend one of their 'award' nights, be witness to grown ass adults loosing their minds over chocolate bars and hand clapping.

[troutman]

http://www.mlmwatch.org/

http://www.skepdic.com/mlm.html

[Champion]

I know a lot of people who got involved. Most annoying people ever. Nobody is in it anymore.

[troutman]

The MLM world is ripe for a satirical movie by Sacha Baron Cohen. Or Morgan Spurlock.

[CaptainCrunch]

If a hot chick tries to recruit me, she'd better be willing to honk on bobo to make her commission.

[Northendzone]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

If a hot chick tries to recruit me, she'd better be willing to honk on bobo to make her commission.

awesome.......i am going to use this....

[Locke]

I see this all the time. I couldnt tell you how many 'Financial Advisors' I do the taxes for. While Slava chose butchers as an example, I can actually tell you that out of the two dozen or so that are clients of mine, a good two thirds of them are housewives/stay at home moms.

They gave up their jobs to be moms so this is their way of 'continuing to work.' Lets just say that these are not the people you want to be trusting with your money.

The rest do it part time and are convinced that their big payday is just around the corner.

Look for letters after their names for reputable Advisors.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Locke

I see this all the time. I couldnt tell you how many 'Financial Advisors' I do the taxes for. While Slava chose butchers as an example, I can actually tell you that out of the two dozen or so that are clients of mine, a good two thirds of them are housewives/stay at home moms.

They gave up their jobs to be moms so this is their way of 'continuing to work.' Lets just say that these are not the people you want to be trusting with your money.

The rest do it part time and are convinced that their big payday is just around the corner.

Look for letters after their names for reputable Advisors.

Honestly when I read posts like this (and totally agree, but just realize how prevalent it is), it makes me want to change my title to something different. I just hate being lumped in with that kind of crowd.

[sketchyt]

Oh man, I had one of those phone calls. Some acquaintance wanted to meet up for lunch so I went.

Showed up and he brought his 'business partner' from World Financial Group. Your typical skeezy slimy salesguy bragging about how much money he has. When I gave them the soft 'no' that I wasn't interested, they then asked for a list of people who would be either interested in buying or selling their services.

Their basic strategy was for you to take all of your money and buy universal life insurance policies.

When I got back to the office, I found this thread on RedFlagDeals: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/world...-group-578783/

And then I promptly deleted that guy off all my contact lists.