First Command Financial Services reviews about "training"

In order to be successful you have to eat and breathe the process, so much so that you can occasionally feel like a desperate used car salesman. Thats probably just me. But I didn’t believe in pressuring people to pursue a wise plan once I expressed the sound reason and future outlook of following it. Often people would rather wallow in their present state just to avoid doing the hard but best thing for them.

- like any financial advising job, tough to get started - training program still could improve, has come a long way in the last 2 years - behind in the tech capabilities - sometimes short-staffed at home office,

They are crooks when it comes to paying you. They will lie about how much commissions are paid to them from the companies and then give you a portion of that money. You are expected to run your business by paying for help, rent, your own taxes for about 33% of the commissions paid out plus any bonuses. You also have to pay a monthly fee to First Command for their home office support. After you leave them, they will hold any commissions that came in for the next year and then release them to you but can charge you for up to 2-5 years for any charge backs that come. I'm not sure how that is legal since they don't continue to pay after a year. You might be surprised after you thought you moved on a few years later to get charges from them. They will push whole life insurance sales because of the larger commission pay out.

To start with First command holds its self out to pay "you" the advisor the most commission possible. Now that I have worked at another firm and have several friends at other top firms in the industry I have discovered that their pay out multiples are the same in some cases and lower in most cases. The kicker to this is that on top of paying you a lower or average rate for the work you do virtually all other firms cover you technology, office, travel, benefits and education costs. This shows a huge flaw in the payment system alone. While the First Command Leadership promotes a narrative of empowering families their commission packages, sales competitions and leadership are all geared to selling the highest commission product to clients. The only way to survive in this company is to continually sell insurance products. This model creates a glaring conflict of interest and when it is address you are told "its just the way it is" In my experience District advisors where either absent or only mildly interested when trying to create a sustainable practice. I was even told I was take bread off of my DA's table after he swept the majority of clients out of my office and into his book so he could get paid more. Despite have a strong base of clients in the area First command leadership chose to actively not service existing clients and instead promote only new accounts. The scars of this practice where evident when I met with several legacy clients who had been passed from advisor to advisor with little to no notification, service or real planning. After talking with several other current and training advisors at other firms I discovered First command actually has the shortest training and mentorship period in the industry. where most firms will pay you while you get licensed first command has you do this on your own time. The difference is dramatic when you consider the 6 months you have to "go independent" vs. the 1-5 years most firms use to teach you how to build a sustainable practice. The culture is very used car sales in fact I even I was even pitched life insurance in my interview. so choose wisely when considering this a career option.

If you are not selling life insurance, specifically whole life insurance, then you will not make it with this company.

It's been over a year since I left so I have had time to gain some perspective and let the dust settle. This was the first job I have ever quit. Here is what I feel an prospective "employee" of FC needs to know: For the first year (they push for sooner than that) you are an employee of the First Command corporation. Then once you "go independent" you are now an independent who works with First Command, gets support and software (both are excellent by the way) from First Command, does things the First Command way, sells to who First Command wants you to sell to, gets money from First Command etc. But....you do not work FOR First Command so your paycheck does not have any taxes taken out, you have to provide your own benefits package, pay your own office rent, supplies, etc. (minus a small stipend based off of performance and the whim of your District Advisor-who interestingly is also an independent contractor even though the company expects them to fly up to home office constantly to conduct training, etc.), pay for your own office assistant, advertising (although it has to be within strict rules), attended mandatory training events, etc. I point this out because asking around to friends in other firms you are an employee of that firm with all that carries. FC saves itself endless expense although in their defense they claim this allows them to pass the maximum amount of compensation on to you. Here is the challenge with all of that. With normal firms, if you start a client, you keep that client unless there is some reason for them to decide to change advisors. You build up a stable of clients and wealth under management and all those years of struggling pay off in the long run. With First Command, they want their clients to always have someone face to face (which to be fair, is an excellent model for taking care of their clients). That means you start the client and when they move (and their clientele is military so they almost ALWAYS move) you lose that client. Gone. With the assets you brought in. If you are by a large base, you have enough clients moving in to make up for the ones moving out. If you work at a small base or a base with high turnover (like a training base without many permanent personnel), you will start a ton of clients, get great praise heaped on you by the home office for your New Clients Created, and make other advisors down the road rich when the client moves on, meanwhile you struggle to keep up with your goals that First Command directs towards you which are always going up. If you are not a sales person, do not hire on (this is true of most Financial Advisors I would bet). 90% of your job is convincing people to buy what FC has to offer. The 10% that is actual financial management you will pick up quickly and the vast array of software and home office expertise and eight layers of Compliance will make sure you do a good job at it.

People in supervisor roles who have no business being a supervisor or manager. Lack of training. Too many cliques like in high school.

Low pay during training high minimum income.