Texans Daina and Bill Sarafin first heard about Primerica years ago from a Primerica representative who was just beginning his business.
Daina remembers, “I was managing a store and doing executive training and he (Bill) was a supervisor at a chemical plant. And, here, this young man was just out of college and he sat us down and told us … we really needed more to put our finances together.”
The Sarafins had life insurance, 401(k)s and pensions through their workplaces. “But we needed to have our own program in place,” says Daina, remembering that day with the young man at the kitchen table. “To have our own life insurance – so we would have control over our own retirement savings outside of that. Quit saving our money in CDs. Start using mutual funds. Get out of debt. Pay off our credit cards.
“And he put us on a program,” smiles Daina, “and that program led us to be financially independent.”
Fast forward several years and the Sarafins’ daughter, Alisa, met her husband, Todd Greer, while both were in the Air Force. As their tour of duty ended, Todd began looking for a career and was interested in Primerica.
“We were all in favor of it,” say Daina. “We thought they would really be able to help them not only with their finances but also be able to help him with a great career. We knew it was a great company. … We knew some people who were working with Primerica who were making a great living.”
Daina and Bill both wanted Todd and Alisa to move to Houston to so they could build a Primerica business with together. “I kept telling him. I’ll work with you if you come to Houston,” remembers Daina. “Bill was all excited about working with him…” says Daina.
“People were shocked that I left a six-figure income, company car, stock options – but I knew I had to do something different with my life. So I started working with Primerica. I wanted freedom and I was tired of being controlled. I was approaching 50 at that point and I thought when am I going to control my life? When am I going to control my time? If not now, when?”
Life Can Change In an Instant
Bill and Daina’s plan was for her to run the couple’s Primerica Business until Bill retired in September 2010 at the age of 55 when he would take over. Daina would then spend the majority of her time taking care of the grandchildren.
But that was not to be. On January 16, 2010, Daina received a phone call. Bill had collapsed at work and Daina was instructed to get to the hospital right away. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that she wouldn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to her husband of more three decades.
When Daina arrived at the hospital, the doctors told her that Bill had died of a massive heart attack. Daina couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“He had all these plans,” sobs Diane. “We had been together for over 35 years – ever since we were teenagers and thought we were going to be together forever.
“I was very blessed to have our finances in order and my Primerica career and didn’t have to worry about money. But there are so many families out there that don’t have anything other than what they have at work and they don’t understand the importance. And they never think it can happen to them.
“Life can change in an instant,” says Daina. “I know my life got totally turned upside down with a phone call.
“And there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Bill. I miss him every day. But thank God for Primerica. You know, I don’t have to worry about the financial end of it. I can remember him for being the great man that he was. You know, taking care of our family — taking care of our finances. We can celebrate his life and not have to go through a financial crisis that we would have gone through had it not been for Primerica.”
Note: Todd and Alisa have progressed to the Senior Vice President level with Primerica with an extensive business. Daina is a Regional Vice President and has her own team and a highly successful business as well.
When he was in college, John Bandy had authority issues. He was rebellious and considered himself “anti-military.” But, as he put it, time can change your perspective. And, so it was that seven years ago, Bandy became a soldier. A peacekeeper. A member of the U.S. Naval Reserve. When that commitment took him into a war zone, he became a patriot.
There was no one thing that made this Primerica Operations Support Manager join the Reserves, but his decision was tempered by familial influences and tragedy. His father worked for global security company Lockheed Martin. He had family in both the Army and the Air Force. His brother-in-law was on active duty in the Army. And then there was 9/11. The terror that befell New York on September 11, 2001, made Bandy – like so many other Americans – take a second look at what he could do to help his country.
Married and the father of three children, Bandy knew when he enlisted that there was a possibility that he’d be deployed. They all knew. But when political tensions escalated in Afghanistan, the possibility became a matter of when – not if. “When you’re in intelligence, like I am,” Bandy said, “you’re going to get deployed.” So, in 2006, when he received his orders, the first thing he did was call his wife.
Over There
Bandy began training in November 2006, and by March 2007 he was assigned to Kandahar, the second largest city in Afghanistan. He was only there for a week before he experienced his first rocket attack. Other than a short leave after seven months, he lived in Kandahar until he came home in March of 2008.
As oppressive as the weather, the language barriers and what Bandy calls “typical combat stuff” were, being away from his family during the holidays was just as bad. He spent Thanksgivings in Afghanistan and missed the birthdays of each of his children. “We went to another base for Christmas lunch,” he remembers, “but the rest of the day was like any other. You just worked through the holidays, because the war doesn’t stop.”
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Coming Home
Bandy’s bags were packed a full month ahead of time to go home. “I remember looking out that airplane window and thinking, I’ll never miss this place.” He muses, “Getting back home was the best thing! I landed in Baltimore and took a flight to Jacksonville, FL, and back to Atlanta. You can’t imagine what it feels like knowing your family is at the end of that escalator.”
What’s Changed?
His deployment gave him an intense appreciation of his co-workers back home, too. “One of my highlights was receiving a care package from my Primerica family. It included a calendar, a DVD greeting from my co-workers and snack food, including beef jerky – which was always a big hit over there! It meant a lot to me to see those familiar faces and know that they cared enough to create it for me and that they were rooting for me all along.”
His time there also gave him a very low tolerance for complaining. “When people complain about the weather, I think put on 60 pounds of gear, go out in 100 degree weather and stand for eight hours on a medical mission. If they complain of being hungry, I think, go out and survive on MREs (meals ready to eat). I know the complainers didn’t share my experience, but having lived it changed my tolerance for people who complain about the simple things.”
He says his war zone experience taught him a lesson he uses every day now: “When your life depends on someone else, and theirs on you, you learn a lot about yourself. People put artificial limits on themselves. When you push yourself to your limits, you realize you can go further than you ever thought.”
Bandy’s enlistment is up in March of 2011, and this intelligence specialist will become U.S. Naval Reserve Petty Officer, First Class (ret.) John Bandy. Until then, he will continue to drill one weekend a month and two weeks a year with his joint intelligence command. They continue to prepare for the next mission that may or may not come. Either way, they’ll be ready to keep the peace and protect the freedoms that make this country the United States of America.
In early 1999 I found myself in a very frustrating situation. I was 29 years old. I was working extremely hard as a fiber optics salesman… and I was broke. My wife and I had been married for over six years. We’d just had our first child, whom we were thrilled about, however, when it came to work, money and time, we were struggling. We started praying for a better way.
My wife received a phone call one evening from a lady she had met recently. She said that she was in training with a company that was expanding, and that we should take a look at it. She said this company, Primerica, might be able to help us. We decided to meet up with her and see what this company was all about.
Neither of us had ever even heard of Primerica and I admit we were skeptical. After about 30 minutes into our meeting with the Primerica reps, I began to realize that what they were saying actually made sense. They spoke about developing “a written program to monitor and eliminate debt, term life insurance being the foundation to your financial house, and the basics of successful investing.”
At 29, I’d never been taught these principles before. I never finished college and I had no experience with “financial stuff.” He assured me that they could help educate us about our finances. The first step would be to fill out a Financial Needs Analysis (FNA) and based on where we stood financially and what our goals were, we would see what could be done.
We met again two weeks later and went through the results. It was simple: Follow a plan to pay off credit card debts, put some term insurance in place to protect my young family (we had no insurance at that time) and find a way to make more money. They said that Primerica would teach us how to do all of the above. They would even offer us an opportunity to start part-time and show us how to build a business by teaching other people what they taught us.
I guess we were just so eager to change our lives we believed them. We paid a small start-up fee, started the training process, and moved forward in faith.
Now it’s 10 years later and I’m 40 years old. I can’t help but think about how different my life could’ve turned out.
What if I hadn’t agreed to that appointment? What if I trusted my initial skeptical feelings? What if I’d listened to several friends who insisted Primerica had to be a scam? What if I believed Internet chat rooms, unregulated Web sites, and less than credible sources?
Well, my family’s life would be a lot different. See, what’s happened in the past 10 years is that we have grown tremendously — as people and as leaders. We have built amazing friendships. We’ve helped thousands of families get back on track financially. We are financially independent and have been able to give away more money each year than we used to earn before Primerica. The opportunity turned out to be a bigger blessing that we could have ever imagined.
Primerica helps Royce enjoy the riches of family, relationships and people. Watch the video to find out how Primerica helps him “have it all.”
We now have seven offices across upstate New York and many great people working with us. We love what Primerica does for families and we love the freedom we now have. We don’t punch a time clock. Each day is our own. I’ve spent countless mornings with my children. When my son turned one, I took each Friday off and we spent the day together. We did that for four years until he went to kindergarten.
We’ve traveled together as a family to so many amazing places all over the world, and created lifelong memories. My children are so much more confident because of the “family” business. We just returned from a trip to Montreal together where we spoke to over 500 people about changing their lives through this great opportunity.
The most amazing part about that is that my 11-year old daughter spoke in that meeting about how the business has impacted her personally. Imagine an 11-year old speaking to 500 people with confidence and grace so she could impact their lives. The list of benefits of winning in Primerica is extensive.
I have found tremendous success with Primerica and so have countless others. But that is not to say that Primerica is easy. It is not a “get rich quick” scheme. It would be ridiculous to think so. But to say it is a scam, or a pyramid, is far more ridiculous. My life is proof that it is real, and there are thousands of other people around the world who would laugh just as hard at the thought of Primerica being called a scam.
The Federal Trade Commission doesn’t call Primerica a scam. Neither does the Better Business Bureau, FINRA or any of the other regulatory agencies in this country. I encourage you to check the facts and to get your information from these credible sources.
I am living proof that Primerica is real. I was a skeptic who is now a successful businessman with the freedom to live the life of his dreams. There are a lot of scams out there you should be aware of. Primerica is not, and has never been, one of them.
I think we have to create our own experience in life, and we have to move forward in faith. When we do that, put forth an honest effort, and do the right things long enough — only then can we look back and really see the “real picture.”
