Working at APFinancial (American Premier Financial) — Reviews by Employees

I have my series 7/66 and have worked in this industry. However, I was looking for something else but my red flag went up when I got the email from AP. I decided to go anyway.

Sure enough, they were very interested in my natural market. In fact, I had to write down ten names right away. Okay, no big deal but I am in a room with about 10 people. There was no one in the office over 30, first clue. The person who is the top dog is about 24. He went on about how fast we would be promoted and how much the licensing cost. Look at what we are investing in YOU! That kind of dribble.

So we broke off into individual interviews that lasted about 2 minutes. The huge question about the warm market was asked. The deal is you need 5 people and 35 referrals. I can see how if a person is not licensed this works very well for the team leaders. However, I am licensed. I was asked back for a 2nd interview the next day.

I went back online and found the ripoff report on this company. I read all the rebuttals (some are just mud slinging). So I went in on the 2nd interview and the other few who were asked back were there and wow, did the talk come out! CONGRATULATIONS! You are the cream of the crop! That kind of horse hockey. My red flags are really coming out now. He said how much he made, and how much a guy in another office made and thats about it for me. People who talk about their paychecks are scam artists and sorry everyone, thats the best indicator right there.

Another thing is while we were waiting for our personal interviews another lady was asking personal questions from the group. Where we live, about our families, that kind of stuff. Very close to illegal. I was waiting for one How old are you? But they were smart and let us talk, but the seed was planted to let us tell them the stuff that will get us cut from the pack. Single parent, etc. (Cant have those children get in the way of performance!)


So my personal interview came up and I asked how I was paid – you know, to make him squirm. So I asked if this was an MLM. Nope. But the commission structure was never spoken about. That 2nd interview lasted about 5 minutes. I was asked if I was all ready to get going and I said sure, I have a few things to do but can get on it in a week. I was told to be by the phone between 5:30 -6:30 that evening. No call. I did not expect one.

I turned up the heat. So I emailed. No answer. I called and the guy (young and inexperienced) that answered left his hand off the phone and asked him if he wanted to talk to (Insert my name here.) I could hear his tone; I was that guy that asked the wrong (right!) questions. He told him to tell me he was busy and he would call me but he never did.

What they are doing is not illegal but should be and my guess is in todays current situation with our economy in the tank it would not be that hard to get this kind of business model outlawed. The pressure to sell blinds people to whats best for their customers, and this business model is the worst one for that.

Folks, if they do not bring you in for a PERSONAL interview. Look out. If they talk how much $$ they make, look out. If you are hired in a 24 hour time span look out.

I hope this person reads this because at least have the courtesy to call me and say you are not hired. If you were a true leader, thats what you would do. But you know that I know and thats every reason to stay away from me.

If you like taking advantage of the very people you are leading then this is the place for you. They may be growing but that means nothing when trust is a huge issue and the big fish are going under.

Well this site has finally given me the opportunity to vent about this crooked company that calls itself american premier financial. Pay is horrible, advertised as a salary job, when it is strickly a draw/comission. Why do they have to be sneaky about this? I dont understand! Respect, i gave a -5 because they will hire almost anyone who wears a suit and answers about a dozen questions right. You dont even need a degree to be an Executive Director? sounds crazy to me. Benefits are Ok but very expensive, you could find the same on your own for a much discounted price. Job security is horrible, unless you go out and drink with the ED or senior partner your an outcast in the office. They say you will strive to be in your own office in 2+ years, why are there two people in that office that have been there nearly 3 years? They have shut down 2 offices and had one ED resign on his own. Work life balance was horrible, they expect you to work weekends and nights. you cant leave the office til after 1 so your personal life is shot. career potential is good soley for the reason you can get your licences and leave. Location was ok. Co-worker competence was horrible, even the ED and Senior partners dont understand the financial services industry, just the insurance and annuity business. This is not a full service business but they claim they are. the bad thing is there are some great people who work there but have been brain washed so much that they actually believe what they do is right. Have a client try and get money out of there investments because of a dire emergency and in a VUL they cant. great investment guys, lets put 100% of your money in a non liquid investment. real good dilagence, also the key compliance officer has been let go. who knows about this one, im sure they will say he was fired but he probably left too. work environment is fun if you can stomach selling life insurance to people as a sole investment. Stick to the big companys, start here but dont sell your family. respect yourself and stand up to this corrupt company. I hope I saved someone from doing what so many other people have done. Dont take a job with this company!

In March of 2008, I went to one of these cattle call interviews at the Dallas office. I was very unimpressed. I was supposed to be interviewed for a manager position. I would assume that the other 15 people in the conference room were there for the same reason.

Now, I have a degree in management and have over 15 years of experience in different level of management. I am aware of what it takes to be a successful manager. I am also aware of what a company looks for when they interview prospective managers. I saw none of that during this circus. But, I stuck around because of shear, morbid curiosity.

The head man made his pitch and it became clear that this was a sales job, and a poor one at that. I have seen several sales companies use the manager trainee ad to lure in victims. Sales people are not manager trainees. And this is the main problem with the way AP Financial does business.

AP Financial IS NOT looking for managers OR financial professionals. They are looking for sales people, plain and simple. It is true that this company has no negative BBB reports against them. But that does not mean that this is a good company. By advertising for manager trainees they are at best being misleading and at worst, lying.

I actually went to the second interview and was hired. But when I asked serious questions about pay, benefits, responsibilities, etc., etc., I was told that all of that stuff would be revealed as the training progressed. Training consisted of sitting in a conference room listening to this kid rattle on about annuities and variable life policies. I learned more about this stuff in college!

Well, I brought my wife in to buy a variable life policy. And that is where the truth came out. They insisted that we pay with a check and then have a monthly debit set up. We refused. I told them that we would pay with a money order ONLY. They refused to accept the money order. We left. Two days later, I received a phone call from the office director. He told me that they had decided that I was not a good fit for the company.

In short, AP Financial just might be a decent company to buy annuities from. But, they are very misleading in how they hire people. As I said before, sales people are not managers. Companies like AP and most other sales companies really need to understand what a manager is and what they do.

The pay is absolutely terrible. In fact, you do not get paid at all. Whats up with that? They advertise a salary online as high as 80k. Do not be fooled people, you will not receive a dime.
No one respects anybody at APFinancial. You may get a pat on the back for selling someone a VUL, but thats it. They do not care about you at all.
I have heard that they now offer a 401k. All I can say is that its about time. What kind of financial advising company does not offer their employees a retirement plan?
There really is no job security at APFinancial. They do not pay you a salary so as long as you are putting forth an effort, your job is safe.
You will have no personal life if you work for APFinancial. You are in the office usual hours, but then most of the time your appointments are at night when people are at home. Then they expect you in the office every weekend to make calls.
There is very little potential with this company. You are hired to provide APFinancial with a list of your friends and family that they can attempt to sell life insurance to, period. They do not hire you to run your own office. You are used for clients then forgotten about.
The location of my office was a long ways for me to drive, and add traffic to that, yuck!
The workers in the office are clueless when it comes to financial advising. They know everything about VULs and VAs and thats about it. Ask about anything else and you will get some answer that seems to come back around to the VUL. They are just a very uneducated group of people.
The office environment starts off fun when you are new, but after you have been there a couple of months, you will see the turn and burn they do when they hire on a weekly basis. It really makes you feel uneasy when you see people get hired and quit weekly.
With all of that said, they are opening a new office in San Diego. Why would they do that when they have closed down a couple of offices this year? Yeah, they have closed down Washington and Miami. I think this website is having the effect we were hoping for. And have you seen their new website? What a facelift. Do not be deceived by this fancy web page, it is just make up covering up all their flaws. Hey, you can paint a turd gold, but underneath it all, you still have a piece of poop. Each individual office has their own page too, with pictures to go along with it. These are the same pictures that were on the old website, but they have taken alot of the ones of the drunk employees out. One of the office sites shows a picture that says Client Appreciation Dinner, yet the only people they show a picture of are the senior partners. Where are the clients? I doubt that it was a client appreciation dinner. Nice try APfinancial. Final words, just stay away from this company. You would be better off working at a fast food restaurant. You will get paid more plus you will have a personal life as well as respect.

What a scam this company is! For those of you reading this doing research before applying at APFinancial, do not waste your time with them. You will be very disappointed and let down if you choose to work for APFinancial. This company says they are expanding very rapidly, but take a look at their history. Just by reading some of the comments on here you will see that they have closed down a couple of offices in this year alone. Sounds like real progress, right? The only way APFinancial stays in business is by hiring new people every week and selling them and their families expensive life insurance policies. Period. And it is life insurance for everyone, regardless of thier financial situation. And they think thier life insurance is a one size fits all type thing. Do not let them deceive you and make you think that this is a legit business, because it is not.
Regardless of what they advertise as their base pay, remember this, there is no base pay. You are a contracted employee for APF working for commission only. Beware.
Apparently, they have started a 401k. I can not imagine that it will last. With the economy in the shape it is in, no one is going to be investing with this no name company. Therefor, they will not have the funds to match your contribution.
You will have a job there as long as you want. What do they have to lose, they are not paying you anything.
Once hired, you are expected to work seven days a week, and long days at that. Nuts to that!
There is no career potential. You are hired to provide your mentor or the E.D. with life insurance clients, who unfortunately are your friends and family.
Location was decent. I was not too far from the office.
Your co workers, at least the ones that are new, are as blinded by APFs lies as you are. The mentors on the other hand are a whole different story. Dirty, crooked, shady, unethical, uneducated are just a few words I would use to describe them.
The office is just a place you gather to talk about life insurance and practice phone calls. It is such a waste of time going to the office.

AP has really come a long ways apparently. After reading all the reviews on here, you can tell they are all from a select few individuals and before AP must have made some very good changes. My experience has been a very positive one. AP told me up front I needed to basically bring 5 clients to them and what products they focus on. Then I found people who had those needs. I think that's the premise in any client related business. Your product is not for everyone, you just have to find the people that the products are right for. I have never seen anyone at AP try and sell a product to someone it was not suitable for.

I have made very good income in my short time w/ AP and I love the people who I work with and for. I was eligible for the health insurance program they offer from day 1 and they also just made a 401k available to all their employees. Job security is good as long as you are doing your job. This economy and stock market has actually benefited me because of the guarantees the products I offer provide. I do work quite a bit from Monday - Thursday, probably about 40 hours, in the office and seeing my clients. But what my boss has taught me is that if I do that, then I'm out early and Friday and do NOT work on the weekends w/ the exception of a couple phone calls here and there. I expect to work 50 - 60 hours getting into this business. I am more than willing to put the time in now to get the opportunity to move up so quickly with AP.

Simply put, joining AP is a waste of time. I saw the signs from the very start but ignored my instincts because I really wanted to get into finance. They promise all this opportunity and growth that will never materialize. They say you can make $60,000 in the first year but you'll be lucky if you make enough to fill up your gas tank to get to work. They want you to get there at 8:15 every morning so you can all sit around and surf the web all day. Their commission percentage is so much lower than all the other companies in the industry...and the position is all commission!! You will have great job security because the company doesn't have to pay you until you make a sale, so they can keep you around as long as they want. Seriously, don't waste your time. Find a real company like Metlife or Prudential that will pay you a decent base+commision. Hopefully my bad experience will save 10 or 20 people from making the same mistake...work at McDonalds, at least you'll get benefits.

I had my Interview about 3 weeks ago and was asked back for a second which I showed up too but then realized as I was walking in so were many of the same people that I saw the first day. I relized that it was another group interview but I went anyway, I heard nothing but talk of good things to come and how this company was growing leaps and bounds and I thought to my self I am really lucky for getting this chance right? Not hardly, I had a 2 minute second interview and was called for a job later..I found this website before I went in and did my own research. I actually dug deeper and researched all the partners and the business model as well as the growth of the company..turns out that ex employees are very mad about this company and are willing to tell some great stories. Why dont they tell about all the people who turn over in their great stories and how other offices are actually losing top people and providing fillers to do the job. Didnt they close one office recently as well? I rated them a 0 because I didnt show up to be taken advantage of. I gave respect -5 because they lie by omissionn. The bad thing is that I think they actually believe the things they say and have a hand full of could be great employees (elsewhere of course) that are brainwashed enough to back them. Crooked, manipulative and under educated people are what lie between the lines of this organization. Good thing I didnt waste my time, VALUABLE reputation, or licences on this firm. Good luck to anyone who falls in the trap!

I too thought this was going to be a step in the right direction of learning to be a financial advisor. I went to the first interview and then the second, and then I got the job. But as I was waiting for the phone call, my wife decided to do a little research and came across this website. Everything everyone has said was true! This place is a scam and only wants your family and friend's phone numbers to sell them VUL's. Although the ED was very nice, the process was full of lies and misleadings! After I thought about it for a while I began to remember huge gaps of misinformation and things that just didn't add up. For instance, if they have all these new employees that "rise rapidly" through to the Executive Directors position, why is there only nine companies in eight years? And where was all of the workers?? I never saw more than three people at one time! I rated them a zero only because I never started my training and got out before I ruined my chances of a real career. Everything everyone says in all of the posts is true!!

Luckily for me, I only wasted about 1 month of my time at AP Financial. I was so excited when I got the job! I had recently graduated with a bachelor's degree and was waitressing while looking for a better job. AP Financial called about 2 months after I sent them my resume, which I now realize is because they continually hire new people, so they probably have a stack of resumes that they bring in on a daily basis. To my surprise, my 1st interview consisted of a briefing with 10 other hopefuls. They made everything sound so fantastic and the pay sound so amazing, that I was hooked. When they took me to the interview room, they had a 23-year-old guy in a suit ask me about 5 questions, 3 of which had to do with any criminal background (no to all of course). He asked me back for a second interview, which I thought was a little strange since he had just got his 1st promotion, so what kind of a judge was he? Anyway, my second interview, there were only 5 people in the briefing room, and the executive director said (this should have been a red flag) "So, you see? Now there's only 5 of you from what, 10 people yesterday?" ( so you start to feel good about yourself) and then he goes, " Yeah, the rest of the people had some problems in their background " So basically the only reason these people hadn't been asked back is b/c they were criminals? Is that the only requirement? Besides wearing a suit? After the info session, the second interview with the executive director lasted about 2 minutes. I thought I messed it up b/c it was so short. They called me and said I was the best person for the job. So naturally I thought I was the only one who got hired. I was so wrong.

In that office, ther was a person who had been studying for her series 6 for 5 mos. 5 mos! How do you live? Everyone was quick to tell me that is not the norm but it could happen, right? The other thing that got me suspicious is the fact that all the people who were not the higher ups seemed miserable. I tried starting a few conversations and everyone was really guarded with what they said. I was so happy to be there, I couldn't understand why they were not. After going to a few "training sessions" I started to get confused. They only lasted about an hour or maybe two and I didn't see how this was going to prepare me to be a financial advisor. I was ready to learn and all I got was information about life insurance and even then there seemed to be information missing. The misery of the underlings I think was my biggest clue. And my "mentor" never mentored me! He said he was going to be working closely with me "teaching me everything he knew" BS!!! He did not have time to teach me anything!

After I got my looong list of contacts together, I got my mother-in-law to agree to come to a sales pitch with the exec direcotr (my "mentor") The night before our meeting, my husband out of the blue asked me what my gut feeling about this company was. Without thinking, I said "Get out now" and then he went on jobvent (yes this very website), something I had never heard of. After reading the comments, everything negative thing rang true and made sense. I quit before getting any of my family and friends ripped off and I'm lucky as hell I didn't stay there very long because did I mention I was the breadwinner for my family of 3? This could have ruined us.