2024 0329 – Always Marco – PROOF Every MLM Is A Scam

  • Documents
  • 2004 0114 – Letter – FTC to DSA (Direct Selling Association), Federal Trade Commission – 3p
  • 2024 0214 – TINA – Truth in Advertising –  Note: Below are copies of all 95 letters sent to MLM companies (in alphabetical order) alerting them of TINA.org’s 2023 income claims investigation findings. – 191p
  • 2024 0229 (Updated) – TINA – Truth in Advertising – MLMs Continue to Recruit with Deceptive Earnings Claims: TINA.org investigation finds 98% of MLMs using misleading income claims. – [link]
  • 2024 0315 – Letter – FTC to Direct Selling Association (DSA), Federal Trade Commission – 3p
  • 2024 0315 – Letter – FTC to Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council (DSSRC), Federal Trade Commission – 3p
  • 2024 0318 – kelleydrye.com – FTC Staff Doubles Down on Rejected Koscot Standard for Pyramiding Claims, Challenges DSSRC IDS Guidance – [link]
  • 41 – Pampered Chef – Warren Buffet
    • [Bonk: 2022 0819 – [2013] – Warren Buffett: Pampered Chef is not a pyramid scheme – [VIDEO-YouTube-03:19]
      • Warren Buffett – Pampered Chef is based on selling to the end user.  If I was a regulator … selling millions and millions of people on a dream that was not fulfilled. 
      • Charlie Munger – I think there is more likely to be more flim-flam and selling magic potions than pots and pans.
  • 53 – Companies not tracking sales
  • 57 – 1984 – Doublesthink, Doublespeak
    • Recruiting your own competition
    • Brainwashing vs Washing your brain 
    • Defending the indefensible
    • Military examples
  • 01:00:00 – 
  • 01:14:00 + – resources – institutional level – training – throw under the bus – bad apples – modeling behaviors
  • 01:19:00 – scam, definition – fraud – lying – deception
  • ————-
  • 02:17:00 – Modest or Supplemental  – $25 per week

2023 1124 – LIFE180 / Chris Kirkpatrick – Indexed Universal Life (IUL) 101 Reaction – [FFL]

  • Ethos
  • 4 – cash flow – coi – 1 premiums – 2 buckets
    • Chris – art – term insurance – 50s-60s-70s- coi skyrockets
    • 7 – As long as you pay you premium
  • 8 – Whole vs IUL – IUL is not a Whole Life Product
  • 8 – cash value bucket – 1)
  • 9 – FFL – most iuls are being purchased as an investment
  • 10 – Chris / FFL – Minimum Premium, Minimum Funding, Target, Guideline Level Premium, Expectations – Target = Agent Commissions, Overfunding the Target Premium, Annuities vs IUL, same / different, Policy Performance, Levers, company’s obligations to policyholders / shareholders [Bonk: Dinallo], Underperformance, Illustrations, You can’t lose money in the IUL. Yes, you can. not compliant, caps, uncapped, 
  • 11 – IUL vs Indexed Annuity
  • 12 – Obligations of company – Mutual vs Stock
    • [Bonk: Dinallo]
  • 13 – You can’t Lose Money in an IUL
  • 15 – Chris – [Bonk: P1P2] – How IUl’s Work – 
  • Caps, Options
  • 19 – Chris – People aren’t going to know that they have a problem until it’s too late.
  • 20 – Can’t lose money on down years – Ex. 
  • Loans – 
  • 21 – Chris – Need to add in all the fees, cois
  • 15 – Chris – How IUL’s Work.
    • 19 – Chris – the challenge for people / retirees will come in 20-25 years.
  • 20 – can’t lose. no gain, no loss. just even.
    • Chris – loans are the problem
  • 23 – locking in gains
  • 24 – Chris – Performance, Long-term, doesn’t know what she doesn’t know. I used think how she thinks, I used to believe what she believes. Representing a lie. representing big IUL company.  
  • 25 – Chris – These guys know nothing about Whole Life Insurance.
  • 26 – Guy – Can’t lose money. Tax-free Retirement. Confuse clients. tax bill. taxes.
  • 26 – FFL – most IUl’s are sold for retirement.
  • 27  – Chris – Wheels fall of using for retirement.
  • 28 – FFL – Loophole = Policy Loan
  • 28 – Chris – it’s not a loophole, it’s the tax code, mislead people
  • 30 – FFL – Policy loan arbitrage, 
  • 30 – Chris – Ethos – Express Issue Policy – Ameritas, car to win, higher coi,
  • 32 – ffl – iuls built to self sustain
  • 32 – Chris – ag49 – multipliers, PacLife, lawsuits, illustration warfare,FBI, Vapone, actuaries poke holes in regulation,  realistic, unrealistic illustrations, history of iul, sad to see,
    • fold like origami – [Bonk: walker vs lsw – defects], too simplistic, [Bonk: Tom Sutton, Pacific Life] – gov
  • 35 – don’t pay back loans / death – arbitrage
  • 36 – language – too simple – 
  • 37 – LIRP Example – 
  • 38 – Chris – age 75 –  loans / taxes /  “properly structured” – are they dumb, naive, intentionally selling it, borderline criminal, 
  • 40 – ffl – cash value pays for the death benefit – don’t get cash value – [Bonk: SIV / CIV]
  • 41 – Simple – College Funding – screaming home run, 
  • 43 – Chris – sold as simplistic, marketing of IUL, replacing 401ks, the blind leading the blind, 

2023 0421 – Family First Life – IUL 101 – [Bridget Reimer – FFL – AMS – SRS – FFLAMS.com]

  • 1- Bridget Intro
  • 2 – Bridget – How to explain to new advisors
    • 1 premium = 2 benefits / buckets – 1) Death Benefits 2) Cash Value
  • 3 – IUL – set up improperly – minimum funding – eventually the policy will lapse, hopefully stop paying premium at some point, even if you continue to pay the premium, cost of insurance. maybe better off doing a term. “Whole Life” – IUL. 
  • SRS – Simple Retirement Solution – using 2nd bucket (Cash Value)
  • Bridget – Living Benefits – Most people are using IUL’s for Retirement.
    • Example- $250 per month – $100 to pay for COI, $250 to Cash Value
    • Cash Account same for IUL and Annuities
  • 7 – Caps, uncapped, now – Best Cap right now is 12%
  • 8 – Guy – Dad lost money.  Worst case scenario in IUL is 0. Index products are going to outperform the market.
  • Bridget – Can’t lose money, Lock in the gains every year. 
  • Guy – ⇒ Story – Can’t lose money, Never gonna lose a penny. I’m not licensed to lose you money.
  • 11 – Cases – Tax-Free Retirement Concept (LIRP) – 
  • 12 – Bridget – Majority of our focus is for the Cash Accumulation. How does that actually work? Very specific method. Very specific Loophole – Policy Loans. Not a withdraw, on an Annuity it is a Withdrawal. Policy Loans = Living Expenses. Low Rate for loans. Policy was built to self-sustain. Not taxable. You are never going to pay back the loan. 
  • 14 – Guy – Car Loan Example
  • 14 – Guy – Do I ever have to pay it back?
    • Retirement Example – Illustration
    • What happens when I die?
  • 15 – Bridget – Lapse Example – Poorly Build Policy – Cash Value Disappears – implodes – cancels –
    • 16 – First and foremost IUL is a Life Insurance Policy
    • Don’t get cash value and death benefit, just death benefit.
  • Guy – Worst thing is the policy lapses. You don’t owe the loans in the end,
  • Bridget – Don’t owe the company anything, using your cash value for the loans, Cash out policy 
  • Guy – Premium – to 1) COI and 2) Cash Value – IUL = Screaming Home Run for a product.
  • Guy – How do people reach out to you?
  • 20 – Bridget – Agent job is to identify need. Our job is to help them structure the policy. – Ask A Specialist – on website – Transfer info to Bridget – Our job is to keep up to date about products, regulations, etc. I send you back the one. I help you with understanding the product. Therefore, agents don’t need to know everything. Firelight Portal. We underwrite it so it gets approved faster at the underwriters. 

FTC – Congress – Life Insurance

  • 1986 0121 0122 – GOV (House) – The Liability InsuranceCrisis – [PDF-553p-GoogIePIay VIDEO-?]
    • NICO – J. Robert Hunter, president, National Insurance Consumer Organization – p279-299
    • WHAT SHOULD CONGRESS DO?
    • First, it should subject the insurance industry to the anti-trust laws, thus preventing insurers from acting in concert to raise prices.
      • Since 1944, the McCarran-Ferguson Act has allowed insurance companies to fix prices  while price-fixing in other industries is punishable by three years in jail.
      • We specifically propose a two- year sunset provision during which time the insurers, the states and the federal government can prepare for the change.
    • Second, it should create a federal office of insurance to monitor the industry and establish standards for state regulators to follow
      • . Although insurance is a national, $310 billion business, accounting for 12% of our gross national product — more than any other item except food and housing — only the states regulate the insurance industry.
      • Because state insurance commissions are often under-staffed (half the states have no actuaries to analyze rate filings) and have a “revolving door” relationship with the industry (state insurance commissioners typically come from and return to the industry), state regulation has not always protected the public.
    • Third, Congress should repeal the insurance industry’s exemption from Federal Trade Commission jurisdiction.
      • In 1979, after the FTC published a study critical of the life insurance industry , Congress prohibited the FTC from ever again studying — let alone prosecuting — any sector of the industry.
      • There is no principled justification for this exemption .
  • 1987 0421, 0428, and 0429 – GOV (House) – Current State of the Liability Insurance Crisis
    • [PDF- 313p-GooglePlay, VIDEO-?]
    • Testimony – FTC – Daniel Oliver, Chairman of the FTC – p242-260
    • Letter – FTC to GOV – p290-291
      • Chairman La Falce has requested information on the circumstances that led to enactment of the 1980 amendment to the Federal Trade Commission Act that prohibits the Commission from studying the business of insurance .
    • (p288) – Chairman LAFALCE. All right, fine. I would also like you to supply for the record, a statement as to why the FTC believes it lost its authority in 1980, that is, what was the FTC doing in that era?
      • Mr. OLIVER. I am told that it resulted from a study that the Commission did on how good an investment life insurance was, the staff study.
        • I understand that it was a staff study that concluded that buying life insurance was not a good investment.
      • Chairman LAFALCE. The insurance industry did not like that, and therefore they got enough Members of Congress to support their position.
      • Mr. OLIVER. I think that is correct.
    • House – Committee on Small Business

Americo

  • Americo Life
  • americo.com/ac_docs/CompanyNamesLogos.pdf
    • F.K.A. The College Life Insurance Company of America)
  • Financial Holding Corp.
  • Philip Polkinghorn
    • 2013-Current (as of 2024) – President 
  • Kansas City, MO
  • Americo Life, Inc. Affiliates
    • Great Southern Life Insurance Company
    • United Fidelity Life Insurance Company
    • National Farmers Union Life Insurance Company
    • Investors Life Insurance Company of North America

TINA – Truth in Advertising

  • 2017 1218 – Letter – TINA.org to Primerica – re: Deceptive Marketing for Primerica Business Opportunity, Truth In Advertising – 1p
  • 2020 0506 – Letter – TINA.org to DSSRC – Re: Illegal Income Claims by Primerica, Truth in Advertising, Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council – 11p
  • 2021 – BBB National Programs – Primerica – Case #31-2021 – NGO Inquiry – [link]
  • 2021 – BBB National Programs – Primerica – Case #31-2021 – NGO Inquiry – 18p
    • Basis of Inquiry
      • In this instance, a non-profit, non-governmental advocacy group1 identified to DSSRC certain core income messages disseminated in certain communications by representatives of the Company, or, in some instances, by the Company, that the NGO believes overstated the Company’s business opportunity to potential representatives.
        • The NGO focused its inquiry on core express and implied messages of earnings and lifestyle benefits arising from participation in the Company’s business opportunity that were communicated by the Company or certain of its representatives.2
      • 1 Tina.org
      • 2 The NGO called DSSRC’s attention to approximately 150 examples of social media posts in its database.
  • 2021 0120 – BBB National Programs – DSSRC Recommends Primerica Discontinue or Modify Certain Business Opportunity Claims – [link]
  • 2024 0214 – TINA – Truth in Advertising –  Note: Below are copies of all 95 letters sent to MLM companies (in alphabetical order) alerting them of TINA.org’s 2023 income claims investigation findings. – 191p
  • 2024 0229 (Updated) – TINA – Truth in Advertising – MLMs Continue to Recruit with Deceptive Earnings Claims: TINA.org investigation finds 98% of MLMs using misleading income claims. – [link]

1994 06 - MG - Kiplinger's - Buying Life Insurance:  What the Numbers Don't Show - Future cash values may not be as big as they seem - (p49-52), by Kristin Davis

  • 1994 06 - MG - Kiplinger's - Buying Life Insurance:  What the Numbers Don't Show - Future cash values may not be as big as they seem - (p49-52), by Kristin Davis  ---  [BonkNote]  ---  [link-GooglePlay]
    • "When we first developed formats for vanishing premiums, no one stepped back and asked, 'What would  the average consumer think by looking at this illustration?'" says Judy Faucett, an actuary with the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand in New York City.  "We knew what we meant, but I'm not sure consumers knew what we meant."
      • 1994 08 - Kiplinger's Personal Finance - Reader Comment
        • Ray Silva, San Jose, Cal. - [Bonk: Guardian Life Insurance Company - Agent]

        • Life insurance illustrations - Insurance illustrations are useful to show consumers how a policy works ("Buying Life Insurance: What the Numbers Don't Show'" June).

        • But consumers must understand the difference between a policy's guaranteed and nonguaranteed elements.

          • Dividends are not presented as promises because they will vary depending on changes in mortality, expenses, interest rates and how long policyholders keep their policies. 

  • 1994 0727 - NP - Kiplinger's - Looks Can Be Deceiving: What The Numbers Don't Show About Life Insurance, by Kristin Davis  ---  [BonkNote]