As a professional network marketer, with almost a decade of experience in financial services, I often get approached by reps from World Financial Group, also known as WFG, to take a look at their opportunity. While I never joined WFG, I did take a good hard look at what they are about and how their business model works. If you’re looking into the World Financial Group business opportunity, don’t join… at least, not until you read this review. In this review, I’ll go into the background of the company, the different products they offer, their compensation plan and whether or not they provide an opportunity that someone can actually succeed at.

World Financial Group, formerly known as World Marketing Alliance (WMA), is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia and was originally founded by Hubert Humphrey in 1991. Before starting WMA, Humphrey was the #1 Producer for A.L. Williams, now known as Primerica. After Art Williams sold his company to Sandy Weill and The Travelers Group, Humphrey decided it was time to start his own company.

Today, Hubert Humphrey is no longer part of the company and WFG is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Aegon, one of the world’s largest life insurance and pension groups, and a strong provider of investment products. WFG markets various financial services, including life insurance, investments and mortgage products though a multilevel marketing model. Some of WFG’s strategic partners include some big names in the financial services arena: Western Reserve Life, Pacific Life, Allianz, TransAmerica, Nationwide, John Hancock, Hartford Life and Investment Advisors International.

Currently, the company has close to 85,000 licensed reps in it’s sales force, and is operating in the US and Canada. It’s rumored that the company recruits close to 10,000 new associates every single month, which is pretty impressive for a financial services-based direct sales company.

To join the company, there is a start-up cost of $100 ($125 in Canada) plus any licensing costs that the state in which you live charges. Give or take, it will probably total anywhere between $500-$1,000 for all your licenses, and about 20-40 hours of licensing time. Unlike other network marketing companies that allow you to make money the minute you join, WFG requires it’s reps to get licensed before they can get paid. And, while this might look like a negative point to some people, keep in mind that because you’re dealing with financial products, you must be licensed. The good thing is that you can make some pretty nice commissions, to the tune of $500-$1,000 for one sale, as soon as your able to write business.

Another aspect of WFG’s compensation plan is that while there is a licensing requirement, and it will take a little longer to train people because you’re dealing with financial products that may get complicated, you only need a handful of producers to make a good income. In fact, upon reviewing the compensation plan, it impressed me that you only need around 15-25 active producers to make $150,000-$250,000 a year. Now, obviously you will need to recruit a lot more than 25 people to get 25 producers, especially since only a few will actually get licensed, and of those who actually get licensed, only a few will produce. But still… building 25 leaders, who each get 2-3 clients a month, over the course of 2-3 years is a lot more “do-able” than building a team of 15,000-20,000 reps.

One last note, there are a ton of incentives in the compensation plan including various trips, a Mercedes Benz, a Rolex, Superbowl Rings you get for going over $100,000 a year in income and various bonuses you can earn.

With that said, you do have to be aware of all the fees you can incur for building your WFG business. Besides the licensing costs I mentioned earlier, there are costs to do other lines of business, especially if that line of business requires a state license. There’s also E&O Insurance (Malpractice insurance for financial representatives) that will run you close to $100 a month. Also, may be some fee to do business in other states, depending on what products you plan on selling in those states. If you’re serious about building a financial services organization with WFG, then don’t get too caught up with these fees. After all, if you were to start a traditional financial services firm, you would easily pay much, much more than this.

In closing, World Financial Group (WFG) is definitely not a scam. It may not be your cup of tea, but it is absolutely not a scam. If you put in the time and effort, you can actually build a very lucrative business and make a multiple six-figure income a year. However, simply joining WFG doesn’t mean you will easily succeed. All WFG provides is an opportunity for you to build your own financial business. Ultimately, your success will rely on your ability to brand yourself, market and generate more leads than you can get to. It’s extremely vital, if you’re serious, to obtain the knowledge and skills that will allow you to personally sponsor 10-20 reps a month. Without this marketing knowledge, even though World Financial Group (WFG) is a solid business, you will struggle and, most likely, be dead in the water.