Is WFG a Pyramid Scheme?

How much money can you make at WFG?

The average World Financial Group employee salary ranges from $50,000 to just under $100,000. However, the most controversial thing about World Financial Group is getting to that higher level of salary. Lets see how its done.

Recruiting new agents

One of the most significant issues for many WFG employees is the company's relentless push for its associates to recruit new agents. The company offers substantial benefits to those who do so through higher commissions. New agents start at the Training Associate level, with a 25% commission share. After a Training Associate gets three people underneath them, they move up to an Associate level and a 35% commission split. Next up is the Marketing Director position, achieved when an agent has 25 people working under them. It comes with a 50% commission split. The next level is a Senior Marketing Director, with a 65% commission split after a Marketing Director recruits 100 people to work under them. WFG also gives agents a piece of commissions generated by people working under them through the override system. This percentage gets higher at each level. Critics argue WFG places too high an emphasis on recruiting new agents and not enough on selling suitable financial products to consumers. They allege this multi-level-marketing method of promotion is heavy on promises and leads to a culture where WFG agents will do anything to get a mass of people working under them -- including misleading them about the potential benefits and the downfalls of such an arrangement.

Problems with the product offering

Even though World Financial Group Insurance Agency and World Group Securities offer insurance and mutual funds from dozens of providers, agents are pressured to use internal options. Such options generally pay the most commission. These products aren't necessarily the right fit for clients. Critics also argue a universal life product isn't right for most of WFG's clients. These folks should use more conventional retirement strategies of investing in exchange-traded funds or cheap mutual funds, not in an insurance product with a high-fee investment portion attached. Those looking for insurance protection would be better off buying term life insurance. Many people who want to leave a financial legacy behind after passing away would be better off looking at options other than universal life insurance.