World Financial Group - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Financial_Group

The Short Story
My sister is getting into this company. My sister told me about it on Friday, and last night some lady came over to talk to us and try to recruit me and my wife. Now I have to try and convince my sister to not do it and continue with her college education.


The Long Story
So, my sister tells me she's getting a new job. I'm like, "Great!". But then, she starts acting all weird. She tells us there is this lady that is going to come over and talk to us, her "family". At this point I think to myself, "Oh boy, what did my sister get herself into."

So this lady came over last night and talked to us about what my sister will be doing and the support she'll need to have from her "family" to succeed. She'll also need to get a "securities license" to be able to be her own boss. This is "her" company that she is supposedly starting and she needs to have recruits under her to get started. I nod my head like a bobble head through the whole conversation. In one ear and out the other.

After the lady left, my sister got VERY VERY defensive. She says, "It's not a scam guys! I wouldn't being doing it if it was! Do you think I'm that stupid?! I'm going to be rich, I'll show you guys!" I tried to reason with her, "I'm not trying to say it's a scam, but I do want you to make a good decision. I mean, you're trying to finish college still. I just want you to have your priorities right." And then she kind of stormed off.

After the meeting last night, I do a simple search on Google for "World Financial Group". It's definately a "pyramid scheme" scam. Of course there are successful people, but that's like 1 out of 1,000,000.

I'm not trying to bash these type of business models, but something smells fishy when a family member starts getting defensive and yelling at you for no reason. I've never seen my sister act this way before. She has been to one seminar and now she acts like she was just brainwashed into a cult. She's not the sister I used to know. She's young, 22 yrs. old, and I just don't want her to mess up her college education right now.

Questions for you guys:
1) Has anyone gotten into these "get rich quick" schemes before? Tell me more about them.
2) What kind of advice should I give my sister to help her make a smart decision?

10/3/2006 9:48:13 AM

Since I'm not familiar with this company what exactly is the business model?

What would she be selling?

Why does she need "recruits"? That has pyramid scheme written all over it.

10/3/2006 10:05:17 AM

"A dream is as personal and different as the individual dreaming it. What makes one person happy may not be what another person is seeking in life. A dream can be:

* Living a comfortable lifestyle.
* Retiring early.
* Traveling to exotic destinations.
* Owning a dream home
* Owning a luxury car
* Making a difference in you local community by supporting causes.
* Having financial security by building a recurring revenue stream.
* Building your own business.
* Spending more time with family and friends.
"
http://www.wfg-online.com/whatWeDo/

"Owning a luxury car" / "Making a difference in you local community"?

Their recruitment page looks very sketchy.

10/3/2006 10:08:04 AM

The business model is supposedly Multi-level Marketing... see link above.

She's selling insurance. But, can't do it until she is "trained" and "licensed". Which is probably gonna cost an arm and a leg.

Recruits to help her sell insurance or something. She needs "agents". They are trying to spread their "coverage".

10/3/2006 10:09:09 AM

You need to smack her.

That's reality.

10/3/2006 10:10:57 AM

she'll learn the hardway - it's just the way these things work

10/3/2006 10:13:02 AM

True. Hmmm... I gotta sit down and have a good big brother talk with her. Set her straight. If not, then I guess she'll just learn the hard way.

The worst part is, she's tried something like this before and I don't want her to waste her time: Car salesman = Unsuccessful



[Edited on October 3, 2006 at 10:16 AM. Reason : ]

10/3/2006 10:14:09 AM

it sounds like her mind can be molded pretty easily - i'd get someone outside of the family though to talk to her

10/3/2006 10:17:48 AM

Well, I understand where she's coming from.

However, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about direct, aggressive selling of insurance to people.

10/3/2006 10:18:05 AM

Google World Financial Group and terms like "MLM", "Scam", etc. and see what comes back. Take the ones that get the point across best and then repeat the same process in front of her.

I did something like that for a colleage that was looking at getting into the pre-paid legal sham and he finally got the point.

10/3/2006 11:54:26 AM

Is she hot?

10/3/2006 11:58:07 AM

did she get "recruited" at Barnes & Noble, or Best Buy?

10/3/2006 12:01:57 PM

She got recruited at Cracker Barrell. She works there. Some older lady came in and suckered her in.

I think she's very vunerable and gullible right now because she's desperate to get going in life. She got married young (at 18 yrs.), her husband was abusive (physically and mentally). He got into a lot of trouble and eventually put in prison for selling drugs and then she decided enough was enough and got a divorce.

She goes to school part time and works almost full time. She's trying to get her college education going, but is so far behind her peers. So she sees something like this that "promises" to give her unimaginable wealth... and she falls for it. Go figure.

10/3/2006 12:13:38 PM

yeah she's dumb.

10/3/2006 12:19:21 PM

Don't let her have kids.

10/3/2006 12:55:49 PM

You guys are dicks.

10/3/2006 12:57:20 PM

find someone who has gone through the scam and ask them nicely to email her to tell her what they end up doing...

if she sees the costs upfront, she should back out unless she is really meant to fail at life

10/3/2006 1:04:03 PM

Sounds to me like they might be trying to get your sister into a





scheme

10/3/2006 1:19:43 PM

What tipped you off to that?

The fact that the original poster said so?

10/3/2006 1:36:07 PM

No, he just wanted to post a picture to be cool. Congrats.

Every single male I know has been approached by an MLM/pyramid scheme, and my brother-in-law's buddy is deep in Quixstar shit right now. My dad looked at the pre-paid legal stuff after one of his co-workers at Nortel talked to him about it, but he recognized it as shady and stayed away. [As a side note, with job security the way it is, you wouldn't imagine the number of Nortel employees invovled in MLM.]

MLM is just pyramid scheme lite. Companies like WFG will tell you that yes, they are an MLM, but MLM is a good thing. In reality, it preys on people's hopes and leaves most people poorer than if they had just gotten a stable part time job. Often, you won't lose money in an MLM, you'll even make a little...but had you been working a normal part time job, you would have made more. So in effect, you're poorer for even trying an MLM.

Now, if you want to make some serious cash, go to India and start an MLM. You will make $texas * $alaska because those poor saps haven't figured out yet how not to get exploited.

Hopefully your sister will figure that out soon.

10/3/2006 2:11:26 PM

Tell her to get an interview at CK and Associates instead

10/3/2006 2:13:59 PM

This is interesting:

Quote :

"WFG used to be WMA. I joined WMA a few years back and kind of fizzled out. It's basically a multi-level business like amway but centered around selling their poster child product called variable life insurance. Basically a way to protect mutual funds etc. from taxes with the flexibility to borrow as necessary from the fund. The product itself isn't bad, and certainly if you get someone with experience setting you up it's no more of a scam than what you'd get from any other typical financial planner. You can actually make money, a lot in WMA, I've known some of the people in the top rungs. And I also know someone who's been in just a couple years who is far from getting rich on it, but I'd guess with a couple years effort he's made 20 or 30k. Ok so here's what I didn't like about it: 1) The product at the time, Western Reserve Life was WAY overpriced when compared to other variable life policies. Since you pass the life insurance test and series 6 broker test, you could sell other brands, but you'll be very much on your own to do it I'm sure. 2) The multilevel "Burn friends for business partners" mentality. What it comes down to is that you'll have a near impossible time making it as a rookie financial planner without your first kills being friends and family. We've all had a friend or family member join Amway and know that from that time forward, every lunch or fishing trip is a sales meeting. If you join WMA, you have to be willing to be that guy. 3) It's real work! That right there tells you it can't possibly be too much of a scam. But it's not for everyone either. Basically, if you are a very sales oriented people person and you're willing to hit your friends and family hard on this you might have a shot at it."

http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=7359

I personally think it would be a pretty shitty job if I have to get started by trying to sell overpriced services to my friends/family. The people that will actually make money probably don't actually sell any insurance...They just convince suckers to sign up that will. That's the main thing your sister needs to know. Is your sister going to be one of the suckers that pays this lady's bills or is she going to be recruiting suckers to work under her?

There is plenty of money to be made selling insurance if you're a good salesperson. I'd just recommend starting with a reputable company that will give her a salary while paying for the certifications and eventually starting her own company. I have a friend that was easily making six figures off of renewals working solo in a home office.

[Edited on October 3, 2006 at 2:20 PM. Reason : l]

10/3/2006 2:14:03 PM

Quote :

"Tell her to get an interview at CK and Associates instead"

Ahahahaha

That was the biggest waste of my time in at least the past 5 years. I wore a suit, walked in there, took a look around at their assembly line of interviewees, and walked right back out. I'm not even sure the door closed before I was back out in the hall

PS: While she's at it, she should definitely pursue a career at Bullet Sports Marketing, too.

10/3/2006 2:17:29 PM

sounds like the ole pyramid scheme to me

10/3/2006 2:18:36 PM

Pyramid scheme is what they used to call it. Now its more like a bubble scheme. Quikstar, Mellaluca (sp?) have great diagrams on their website. I don't see how it works, ordering shit from a catalog instead of going out and getting it yourself doesn't work for me.

10/3/2006 3:22:29 PM

Quote :

"her husband was abusive (physically and mentally). "

They love to prey on people like this, the more vulnerable and defeated, the better.

This site has some really good info and advice. It talks about cults, past user experiences, and how to get help. You're a lot better off helping your sister now, than in the future. Good Luck.

http://www.factnet.org/

10/3/2006 5:36:43 PM

I think there's been several threads on Quixtar. It sounds pretty similar. I like playing "spot the Quixtar IBO" whenever I go into a bookstore.

10/3/2006 8:29:23 PM

Quote :

"You need to smack her. That's reality. "

10/3/2006 8:35:50 PM

First, find some links about this job and consider sending them to her.

Then, advise her to contact people who have done it before. Some people do that for other jobs, just find employees, or best in this case, previous employees. If she hears about this from people who found the hard way, maybe she'll beleive them.

I doubt reason will work with her. You need to try to appeal to her emotional side, get her to feel that this might not be a good idea. Don't do the whole "you OUGHT to stay in college" bit. That's not a good way to go. Find a way to make her emotionally compelled to stay in college.

If she really has to take the insurance test, and especially a securities series 7 and 66, you can hope she fails. A lot of people have to take those tests more than once. Further, they cost up to a thousand dollars. You can tell her that you think paying up front for those tests is fishy, and that other companies pay for their future employees to take them. If she's still going for it, you can always (and this kinda bad, but up know....) sabotage her studying.

Also, if you can find a way to raise questions about how she was recruited, what made that lady think that someone working at Cracker Barrel would be good for this? The whole, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. (There is fantasy that a lot of girls live in, that they will try to get "accidentally discovered" like a few models. But the reality, is that most models are not accidentally discovered. You need to try to break this myth.)

Finally, if all else fails, try to get her to go part time in college, or take a semester off, while this job "is getting off the ground."

No matter what you do, do not make her feel stupid or rediculous about this. This will only polarize her against you. Find ways to reach her emotionally, be on her side.

Hope this helps!

10/4/2006 11:20:28 AM

Quote :

"Don't let her have kids."

10/4/2006 11:24:02 AM

They tried to get me last week and sometime last semester. I do not wish to play God and direct your path, but I will say from what I've researched, that it is most definitely not a good move to make. The company that tried to get me was Quixtar (formally known as Amway). If you do some research on that you will find a ton of information that basically points to---let's say...DON'T DO IT. They like to throw around the term "IBO" (independent business owner) and what you'll end up being is just an idiotic person that wanted to get rich quick. All this being said...

Please try to convince her not to do it...I really do not believe that this could be more valuable than her education.

Sincerely,

Mr. G

10/4/2006 12:50:14 PM

IT"S ALL A CONSPIRACY TO KEEP YOU FROM MAKING MONEY

10/4/2006 1:10:36 PM

update?

10/4/2006 7:09:16 PM