Pros
You will learn all about the seedy side of selling whole life insurance and other types of insurance products. You will learn what not to expect from an employer and how not to be treated Having participated in a scam, you will be able to better spot a scam.
Cons
I stumbled into this organization while looking for opportunities on Craigslist. Against my better judgment, I got my life insurance license and joined. Throughout my time at American Income, I was asked to travel hundreds of miles to visit potential customers and attend workshops (drove up and down the State of Maryland and into Pennsylvania). None of the travel was compensated. I worked unreasonably long hours without compensation (Monday to Sunday from 8am – 12am). AIG literally took my last monies, and I lived hand to mouth for months. My upline didn’t care. My landlord didn’t care. My entire life became a mad and desperate search for gas and food money. Along the way, I was treated so poorly and spoken to with no respect. There was a constant pressure to SELL and unending lies. I would have to go into people’s home on false pretenses that I was providing a free service for child safety kits. Yet, my presentation was a pitch to sell whole-life insurance (which is a terrible financial product). I did all of this in the hopes of making a lot of money. But of course, that was a lie as well. I found out later that the same staff that was being publicly celebrated for selling a lot, were professional liars. Many of them never cashed in the profits they claimed to have obtained. The entire thing was a bed of lies. - Working unreasonably long hours with no compensation All of the work was 100% commission. I ended up making literally no money and came out of the experience, poorer than when I started. When I first came into American Income, I was really desperate for a job and a way to make money. I worked incredibly hard. On a regular basis, (Monday to Sunday), I would leave the house before 8 am and not get home till after midnight. I lived an hour away from the office. And we were expected to come to the office at 8 am. So, I left every morning bright and early, spent the day making cold calls to set up appointments in the evenings or attending lectures from staff and go out every evening to visit potential clients. Drive late at night to dingy and dangerous parts of Baltimore, Hagerstown, and other places with the state. Go into people’s home on false pretense, tell them that I was there to provide free child safety kits and then proceed to give an hour-long lecture about the benefits of whole life insurance. I went home to home, appointment to appointment, trying to make sales. At one point my upline took sales that we had made together for himself. I never saw the funds that we were supposed to be credited with jointly. In a short time, I had to do it all on my own. Rinse and Repeat. Day after day. Making little to no money. Having money for gas became a major problem due to excessive driving. There were times when I didn’t have money for gas and barely enough for food. I was driving home on the highway after midnight with no rest stops in sight and the empty gas light came on. I had no money and was freaking out. Only then did I learn that even when the gas light comes on, you still have some miles before the car actually stops. AIG literally took my last monies, which I had to use to pay for the exam fees. And I lived hand to mouth for months. My upline didn’t care. My landlord didn’t care. My entire life became a mad and desperate search for gas and food money.
