Bonnie & Ivan Jardee
Gillette, WY
Former Occupation: Paralegal

Building the Future
Bonnie and Ivan Jardee love living and building their Primerica business in the tiny mining town of Gillette, located in northeastern Wyoming. With a population of just over 30,000 people, it’s the kind of place where people still know their neighbors and the sense of community is woven into the very fabric of the land.

Finding Primerica helped them transform their lives – and their marriage – while they built a new future serving their friends and neighbors. But they weren’t always on the right track.

Change Starts at Home
A little more than a decade ago, Bonnie worked full-time as a paralegal in a local law office and then served part-time as a notary, while Ivan worked at the coal mine. With two young daughters at home, every penny counted – and like many middle-income families, the stress caused by too much month left at the end of the money created a lot of tension between the couple.

When a motorcycle accident knocked them both out of work for three months, finances that were already tight got even tighter and the young family’s future seemed very uncertain. “Our credit score was terrible, we had surmounting medical debt, were on the verge of divorce and the kids were used to hearing us fight about money all the time,” Bonnie recalls. “One morning, our youngest caught me taking money from her piggy bank to put gas in Ivan’s truck to get to work and I lost it. That was a turning point for me. I knew I needed to figure out how to make more money and I prayed in desperation for God to save our marriage.”

A New Hope
One day, Bonnie found herself performing notary services in the Primerica office of Nick and Bea Jay Simque. After the signing, they got to talking about what Nick did for families. “I felt like the gates of heaven opened and the answer shone down on me,” Bonnie laughs. “I told Ivan we had to meet with him about Primerica’s business opportunity.”¹

What they were most impressed with was the financial education. “Nick was halfway through explaining The Rule of 72 – which is a simple mathematical calculation that allows you to determine how long it will take an investment to double, based on time and the rate of return – and Ivan suddenly sat up and asked, ‘You mean you’re going to help us learn all of these HOW MONEY WORKS™ concepts and we don’t have to pay you anything?’”² Bonnie smiles. “That’s when he was in. I really wanted to do this, and Ivan was on board.”

The Right Solutions
Bonnie says it was the freedom Primerica offered that really got her excited. “At the law office, I could do a really great job preparing a brief for the attorney and then he would get all of the accolades and credit for it,” she reflects. “On the other hand, I loved the notary work because I felt like I was offering a service that was hard to find in our rural community. Primerica gave us the chance to plug in to a positive environment and be recognized for our hard work, while helping people just like us learn to live better lives.”

Although the Jardees offer their clients a complete solution for their needs, Bonnie says the investments side of Primerica’s “Buy Term and Invest the Difference” principle resonates with her the most.^3,4

“One of the concepts we teach is to ‘pay yourself first,’” Bonnie explains. “This is a strategy where we help you develop a consistent investment strategy that makes saving automatic. This way, that money can grow to help you achieve your long-term goals. We never knew any of that. We always paid our bills first and then saved whatever we had left over. But that’s not the best way to get ahead.”

Solutions for Freedom
Since they started their Primerica business in 2010, Bonnie and Ivan find fulfillment in the impact they’ve made on their community. “Nothing can equal the exhilaration I felt when a good friend of mine was able to retire earlier than she thought because she put the principles we taught her into practice,” Bonnie smiles. “We’re proud to have many great relationships with the families we serve.”

“Everybody has financial issues in one way or another, whether it’s no savings, too much debt, or a lack of life insurance,” Bonnie reflects. “So many families feel like they’re pressed up against a wall – just like we did. And Primerica has the solutions if they’ll let us show them. It really is possible to achieve financial security and we love being able to be part of that.”