For those who do not know what WFG (World Financial Group) is, It is an institution in North America under which a network of financial advisors work to give investment and Life insurance services. Different people who have not actually worked with WFG, give different opinions about this group.
To my surprise, when I started to work, there was no review explaining the full process on the internet. So, I decided to write this article to give my personal reviews, going through both positive and negative experiences and will let everyone know why I stopped working as a WFG agent.
How WFG (World Financial Group) works?
Basically, It is a multi-level marketing(MLM) system. You can succeed if you love meeting people, have a good network and can consistently bear rejection. The more people you know who will invest through you, the more you will grow.
Fast start.
When you are hired, you are supposed to get life insurance through the agent who hired you (sugar-coated as getting protection). After that, you have to get 3 people to get life insurance through that agent until you yourself get a Financial Advisor’s license(a provincial and fully legal license). The agent who hired you will get a certain share of money whenever you close a deal.
Becoming licensed.
After you get a license, you have to literally find people who can invest through you. You have to meet people, hire them and convince them to invest, buy saving plans or insurance plans. WFG keeps you motivated through bi-weekly meetings, monthly meetings and yearly conventions. By the way, you get a handsome commission when someone gets life insurance through you.
Grow the network
As you hire more and more people under you, you earn more commission-based income and you get bigger and bigger titles in the company. You have to keep people under you interested in the business by bringing them to meetings, monthly meetings, keeping them in your company as much as you can and getting more deals from them.
If I start to count, negative points will outweigh the positive ones. I carried on for about 6 months as an agent before I finally quit.
My positive experiences with World Financial Group
It changed my relationship with money
I learned how important it is to start saving money very early in life. In order to save money, I needed to make more money. I knew I wanted to go this way, but I did not know how. WFG taught me different ways through which I can invest and save my money.
I earned money
After getting my license, I made some money which appeared to be easy money as compared to my salary. This money came from selling life insurances to my close bubble contacts. But, after I depleted my contact list, I was supposed to grow my network and hire more and more people who were out of my bubble. I realized along the way that it appeared easy because it is easy to convince your sister or best friend to buy than other people.
I learned some tactics in sales.
People in the business shared many techniques about how to convince clients to buy products, how our style and appearance should be, how and what should we talk about in front of our clients. All these techniques made me more aware of my day-to-day life. In simple language, I started recognizing all the tactics that companies use to allure potential customers towards them.
I realized that people actually need help to manage their money
After I joined as an agent, I started talking about money. Many people were uncomfortable talking about it. Even my closest people who had previously told me that they had a hard time managing their money, did not show any interest when I offered help. As per an article in Global Mail, About half of the Canadians are just $200 away from going broke, and they can be saved if they start investing and saving early, but they feel pressure when a WFG agent wants to show them a way to invest or save.
My negative experiences with World Financial Group
Aggressive hiring
WFG agents aggressively hire new associates. There are 2 ways to do this. I will tell you how. First way is that new agents are taught to call their contacts for meeting about a new ‘business opportunity’, which they can start ‘part-time’ and make a lot of money from. Who will turn it down unless they already know about WFG?
In the first meeting, superiors show the first-timers how Canadians are on the verge of going broke and how financially illiterate people are. They are sold a dream to make a six-figure income without revealing the true nature of the business. New contacts are impressed by a financial advisor in an expensive suit talking and acting very smart, who is supposedly making a six-figure income.
At this point, they know nothing about how money is actually made in WFG. Impressed by the bustling environment of cheerful and pumped up associates around them, they agree to join.
If still new contact is not impressed and resists to join, new associates is supposed to follow up with that contact again and again until they are convinced.
Inexperienced associates sell investment plans for world financial group
WFG is a lot about the ‘fake it till you make it’ attitude. As a new associate, superiors teach you how to handle the technical questions related to finances. You attend the meetings and learn the basics. But you can learn everything when you study for the license and gain some experience. The trick is to impress people to come into business by showing off the knowledge.
High pressure to hire associates
Once you join WFG, your superiors bug you to hire new people, because they will earn when you earn. They call every day tirelessly to follow up if you have called someone to set up a meeting. If you have not done it yet, you have to do it soon. Otherwise, you will miss a monthly target, and have to start all over again in the new month. This whole WFG system creates urgency because of which you run every month to just set up meetings.
Socially outcast due to the bad reputation of the company
I was pushed back by the closest of my friends and family. No one wants to sit and have a meeting with a WFG agent because they are known for forcing people into joining WFG. It is absolutely true that people are forced sometimes. But genuine agents who want to do something for the client’s own good are also treated the same.
Obsessive mindset
People often go on missions. Their whole life is dedicated towards one objective only. I felt WFG has such a system that you have to put everything aside and work towards making network, talk to people about money and make deals. People often reach at a stage where they feel that everything else other than WFG is a waste of time. People who do not want to work under them are useless. I have been there, done that!!
Busting the myths about world financial group
“WFG sells its own products”
WFG does not have its own products. The company works with real companies who sell their own products, be it insurance plans or any investment plans.
“WFG is a hoax”
It is not a scam. As I already said, as a customer you do not have to worry about the legitimacy of the products.
“People just join the company and get rich”
You do not make money overnight working with WFG. On the contrary, You have to go beyond your comfort level to work in the company and make money. The truth is, Once you deplete your close friends and family to sell insurance to, your real struggle starts. People work their ass off to make those big bucks.
My reason behind quitting World Financial Group
All my negative experiences led me to quit. Something that hit me really hard has a little story. A tour and travel company called my husband and me to grab a gift voucher for a free trip to an Indian state. Travel junkies that we are, we were really excited about it. We went to the restaurant and found out that it was a trap to fix a meeting. We were supposed to enroll ourselves in a scheme to pay monthly fees for the trips. It felt deceiving.
That incident opened my eyes. I related the incident to how new WFG agents call prospects to the office without revealing much about the business, mostly making them join while they do not know what they are getting into. I decided to quit that day.
In addition to it, my conscience did not allow me to raise someone’s hopes by giving false promises when actually they have to work out of their comfort zone to make money in the business. Not that working out of comfort zone is bad, but every person wants to do it when they want, not when they are continuously pushed to do it. I can go on and on about it but my article is getting too long.
I am sure many people have had someone approach them to join WFG, I hope this article can guide them. Please do share your experiences about WFG if you have any. I would love to hear more.