First Command Financial Services Reviews

- There is a BAD "Frat-Boy" mentality and favoritism among the District Advisors, which can make for an unhealthy work environment. - The District Advisor (DA) can make or break your career. If you end up having any type of personality conflict with them, they can disengage from your business which can make it very hard to succeed. - The pay & compensation structure while you are a W-2 employee (a 9 month observation period) is somewhat low for the industry, especially considering they will NOT pay you any commissions on products sold during this time, however, the bonuses can help. - Current restrictions to soliciting on military bases makes it very difficult to meet clients that fall within your target market while new minimum income restrictions to work with non-military eliminate many well qualified people that could use the expertise. - Much of the leadership is out of touch with the current demands on the military (again, target market) and they expect that the clients can just take off work to meet with you whenever. While this might have been true in the 90’s and early 2000’s, the reality is that our military men and women are taxed on their time already. - With your core market being military and having frequent moves, you end up losing the clients you've built strong relationships with due to overly strict territorial boundaries. To make matters worse, since you've already serviced most of their needs, there is not much incentive for their randomly assigned new advisor to take the time to give them the same service you gave them. This ends up to an inconsistent experience for many clients. - If you're fortunate enough to make it through the hourly/salary phase and become an Independent Contractor (IC), be prepared to spend several thousand dollars right out of the gate for overpriced laptops, home office support fees, office bills, and many other on-going "business expenses". - Their idea of work/life balance is allowing you to pick which 60 hours you work each week, even once you launch your own business as an IC.

I worked for this company for 5 years. Leaving them is like leaving a Mafia family. They will destroy your reputation and break you financially. Only join this company if you plan to make this your last employer. They use the word, loosely, Independent Contractor. You are nothing close to that. You are mandated to turn out their Whole Life planning tool, and are compensated handsomely for that. If you sell a client a term or UL, that is if you can get the plan approved you are paid a third of whole life. They prey on the military and take advantage of our armed forces. If you leave the company they hold your compensation for a year and after that time they refuse to pay you, saying you are in breach of your Advisory Agreement. Currently they have lawsuits pending from previous Advisors, they just lost a $1.8 million case and are about to lose another 3. They have little regard for the Advisors and want them to be indebted to the company. The District Advisor is also compensated on your production and he or she has full access to all clients. He or she can disperse those clients at will and also take them away at will. If a client moves out of the area you are forced to give them up to another Advisor to the area the client has moved. This stops you developing a relationship with the client. They talk about your book of business, don't be fooled, you Dont have one, they do.