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[adjunctatlas]

Recently I met a young woman who invited me to join World Financial Group, an investment company whose agents offer to poor people, at no cost, some of the same financial advice and services that only wealthy people can ordinarily afford:  the agents create a financial plan for their clients, research possibilities for them, and then it is up to the client to decide whether to save money in this way or that, etc.  If the client does, then the agent is paid by the company the client chooses, and continues to receive residual income.  They train newcomers like myself, again at no cost, so that one can get licenses to sell insurance and securities. 

I've attended only one introductory session, and the people were impressive, and I was impressed by their insistence on the fact that people without business experience or any understanding of high finance can do this. I read the Wikipedia article on the company, which detailed some regulatory violations and frauds which agents in some of its branches committed, but since these all seem cases of unscrupulous agents preying on clients, and not a reflection of company policies, and the failure of the company to make sure its representatives complied with NASD's continuing education requirements, which got them a $15,000 fine, doesn't seem all that serious, I don't see any evidence that Ponzi schemes or predatory practices are the essence of the business.

But still, the very idea that one builds a client base by approaching relatives, friends, and acquaintances, and not only preparing a financial plan for them but inviting them to join so that, eventually, they, too, can have their own business, makes me uneasy. I would find it personally distasteful in any circumstances, but since I've been unable to find more work than my one adjunct position, and it pays so little that even during the school year I don't have enough to keep body and soul together under a roof, so that the few people I know who are still talking to me are helping to support me, the very idea of my approaching them to propose helping them work out a financial plan seems to me both ludicrous and monstrous, like a leper telling a beautiful woman that she should use L'Oréal because, if she does, L'Oréal will pay him.  WFG agents say, of course, that they will provide the same service for me, for free--they will work out a plan for me, and I am under no obligation whatever to follow it, I don't have to join.  I rather like that idea but, since I have no money to save, the offer is really meaningless to me.

I'm nearly out of my mind with despair and grief, and several times over the last three years I have tried to enter marketing, only to fail--I just don't have the personality for a lot of these things--and so I feel so much shame that really my one desire is to do something right, on my own, so that I don't make a fool of myself.  I don't have anyone to talk to without really risking another blow to my pride--I don't mind wounded pride, but it is hell when you have to ask the person who inflicts the wound for money.

It's been a long time since I've had even a glimmer of hope, and I confess that what attracted me is not just the idea of not selling anything, and instead teaching hard-working working-class people how to be smart about their money, how to use the system, but also the idea of residual income--I came away from the overview thinking that this is something I could do part-time, so that I could earn enough money and save enough to live on in my old age all the while that I continued teaching.  It isn't a get rich scheme, but I am so profoundly tired of struggling, and so overburdened, that I really would like this to work out, it seems like a sort of salvation, because right now my future looks unrelievedly bleak.   

So I want to know whether any forumites have heard about WFG, have used their services, or have become agents, and whether anyone has had the same scruples and the same hopes.  Am I being foolish in even thinking about this? 

Thanks for any replies.

[lizardmom1]

I hear your desperation. I think you should stop and hear it, too. Please rest for a little bit of time and then re-read your post.  Ask yourself what you are really asking for.

Then, ask yourself if you weren't in your position, would you (for even one minute) entertain the thought of acting as a predator with your family and friends for what sounds for all the world like some type of a pyramid scheme..

[hegemony]

I'm so sorry, but WFG relies on people who are at the end of their rope and hoping against hope that the scheme is legitimate and a money-maker.  I haven't been following your story, but it sounds to me as if you could benefit from personal therapy and job counseling, because it sounds as if you've had a lot of hard luck, and we all need direction at times like that.  From what I have read about WFG (and it was a while ago, so I don't have the links to hand), it would lead to more difficulty rather than less.  It is about sales, and hard selling at that; it's a pyramid scheme; and it's the last thing you need at a difficult juncture.

If someone new posts on here about WFG and how legitimate it is and how it's helped them and countless others, I would take that as even further evidence of their shadiness.

[adjunctatlas]

I put WFG in the search engines of Forbes and the WSJ, but nothing at all came up,  which I found quite strange; couldn't find a search engine for Left Business Observer.  I've come across sites in which people talk about the "WFG scam," but they're very uninformative.  So, hegemony, if you do have links, I'd really like to see them.

Lizardmom, you're right--it does sound like a pyramid scheme; but since, as I say, in principle no money changes hands as a condition for participating, and one is paid only if someone decides to invest, it doesn't seem quite to be one (though I must say that so far the details of how it's supposed to work are vague to me); but then, on the other hand, I'd never ask my family or friends, it's just that--well, no need to explain more.

Thanks for replying.  After school ends and I get my last check, I go crazy, and was just desperate to reach out to somebody.  I'll go back to the local government job assistance program and keep exploring possibilities.

[lizardmom1]

Adjunctatlas, are you completely place-bound? Can you say in what area/discipline you have your degree? The reason I am asking is that the testing companies (from what I have heard) are always interested in hiring item writers with expertise in various subjects; moreover, I think you can do this (completely legitimate) work from home.

[hegemony]

I'm afraid I read about WFG some time ago, and I have no memory of where exactly.  It might not even have been WFG, but some other outfit that operates like it.  But ... if it quacks like a duck...

I second the suggestion of writing for the testing outfits.  I do that myself.  They desperately need qualified people, from what I've seen.  It doesn't pay a huge ton, but I believe it's better paid than freelance copy editing, and it has the similar advantage that you can do it on your own time in your pajamas.  (This is my particular definition of the ideal job.)

[lizardmom1]

Also, is there any possibility at all of getting temp jobs?

[eddyman]

Here is an article that was originally in Money Magazine on the earlier incarnation of WFG: WMA.

My advice is to run, not walk, away from the "opportunity"

http://www.amyfeldman.com/articles/00may_money_hubertthegreat.html

I couldn't find the original article on Money.

[lizardmom1]

The sad thing is that these con artists find ways to appeal to those who are really desperate and who feel that they have nowhere else to turn. They prey on those who are most vulnerable. They will do anything they can to earn your trust.  Once they have sold you on their "wonderful opportunity," they will fleece you, your friends, and your relatives. Then, they will do everything they can to turn you, yourself, into a con artist.

[gekko]

I have no affiliation although I do know people who have mentioned using them to "park" their licenses in the past. (Securities licenses expire if not registered with a firm for 2 years.) I don't know if this person actually went to WFG to do this (hopefully not since illegal to register just to park) although even if he did there was no way in hell this person would actually recommend the products offered at WFG. The solution to nearly every issue is Variable Universal Life, a product that is appropriate for few people and in any case including heavy fees in the incarnation available at WFG. They have tons of FINRA violations and are actually no longer allowed to engage in some types of business such as mortgage refi for the purpose of funding annuities and other products. There was a Bloomberg Markets story called "Aegon Calling" (Aegon is WFGs parent company, hence a play on the Avon sale model of multi level marketing.) that ripped them fairly significantly.

If you want to get into that business, fine. That's great. Just do it elsewhere.