From: BreadWithSpam@fractious.net
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Is First Investors an MLM company?
Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 10:18:42 -0500
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"Rarebird Nine"  writes:

> Is anyone here familiar with a financial services company called First
> Investors? I've received phone calls from two different First Investors
> offices inviting me to job interviews next week. For some reason, this

They are regular mutual funds sold with loads.  Go to

to see a list of their funds and lots of information about
the individual funds.  They also sell insurance and annuities.
And at a glance at one of the prospectuses for one of their
annuity products, they come with surrender charges and fees
which aren't cheap.  That's often good for the salesman
and not necessarily so good for the customer.

I don't know about MLM aspects of sales, but they are *sold*
funds - and the person who sells you them gets a big chunk
of your investment either as a front end load (sales commission)
of more than 5%, or as an ongoing very high 12b-1 fees.
A lot of folks make a lot of money selling these things to
other people.  Some of those folks actually earn those fees
by providing valuable services (helping folks figure out
what to buy and how to fit it into their investment plans) -
and some folks do not.

If you need our help figuring out this much about these
mutual funds, I don't think I'm prepared to believe that
you are ready to be selling these things responsibly.

At a glance at First Investors web page, they do sound a
whole lot like Primerica:

|  At First Investors, we are unique in how we serve our clients. We
|  Main Street to Wall through a network of registered representatives
|  located in offices coast-to-coast. Our representatives make house
|  calls just like old-fashioned doctors, meeting with each client
|  face-to-face and taking the time to learn about his or her current
|  financial situation, risk tolerance and future goals. Working
|  closely with clients, our representatives recommend investment and
|  insurance products that can help people prepare for their
|  retirements, fund their children's education expenses, reduce their
|  tax liabilities, and secure their families' financial futures. Our
|  high level of personalized service is what distinguishes First
|  Investors from other firms.



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