Primerica: The Real Picture

In early 1999 I found myself in a very frustrating situation. I was 29 years old. I was working extremely hard as a fiber optics salesman… and I was broke. My wife and I had been married for over six years. We’d just had our first child, whom we were thrilled about, however, when it came to work, money and time, we were struggling. We started praying for a better way.

My wife received a phone call one evening from a lady she had met recently. She said that she was in training with a company that was expanding, and that we should take a look at it. She said this company, Primerica, might be able to help us. We decided to meet up with her and see what this company was all about.

Neither of us had ever even heard of Primerica and I admit we were skeptical. After about 30 minutes into our meeting with the Primerica reps, I began to realize that what they were saying actually made sense. They spoke about developing “a written program to monitor and eliminate debt, term life insurance being the foundation to your financial house, and the basics of successful investing.”

At 29, I’d never been taught these principles before. I never finished college and I had no experience with “financial stuff.” He assured me that they could help educate us about our finances. The first step would be to fill out a Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) and based on where we stood financially and what our goals were, we would see what could be done.

We met again two weeks later and went through the results. It was simple: Follow a plan to pay off credit card debts, put some term insurance in place to protect my young family (we had no insurance at that time) and find a way to make more money. They said that Primerica would teach us how to do all of the above. They would even offer us an opportunity to start part-time and show us how to build a business by teaching other people what they taught us.

I guess we were just so eager to change our lives we believed them. We paid a small start-up fee, started the training process, and moved forward in faith.

Now it’s 10 years later and I’m 40 years old. I can’t help but think about how different my life could’ve turned out.

What if I hadn’t agreed to that appointment? What if I trusted my initial skeptical feelings? What if I’d listened to several friends who doubted Primerica? What if I believed Internet chat rooms, unregulated Web sites, and less than credible sources?

Well, my family’s life would be a lot different. See, what’s happened in the past 10 years is that we have grown tremendously — as people and as leaders. We have built amazing friendships. We’ve helped thousands of families get back on track financially. We are financially independent and have been able to give away more money each year than we used to earn before Primerica. The opportunity turned out to be a bigger blessing that we could have ever imagined.

We now have seven offices across upstate New York and many great people working with us. We love what Primerica does for families and we love the freedom we now have. We don’t punch a time clock. Each day is our own. I’ve spent countless mornings with my children. When my son turned one, I took each Friday off and we spent the day together. We did that for four years until he went to kindergarten.

We’ve traveled together as a family to so many amazing places all over the world, and created lifelong memories. My children are so much more confident because of the “family” business. We just returned from a trip to Montreal together where we spoke to over 500 people about changing their lives through this great opportunity.

The most amazing part about that is that my 11-year old daughter spoke in that meeting about how the business has impacted her personally. Imagine an 11-year old speaking to 500 people with confidence and grace so she could impact their lives. The list of benefits of winning in Primerica is extensive.

I have found tremendous success with Primerica and so have countless others. But that is not to say that Primerica is easy. It is not a “get rich quick” scheme. It would be ridiculous to think so. My life is proof that it is real, and there are thousands of other people around the world who would agree.

The Federal Trade Commission doesn’t doubt that Primerica is real. Neither does the Better Business Bureau, FINRA or any of the other regulatory agencies in this country. I encourage you to check the facts and to get your information from these credible sources.

I am living proof that Primerica is real. I was a skeptic who is now a successful businessman with the freedom to live the life of his dreams. There are a lot of businesses out there you should beware of. Primerica is not, and has never been, one of them.

I think we have to create our own experience in life, and we have to move forward in faith. When we do that, put forth an honest effort, and do the right things long enough — only then can we look back and really see the “real picture.”