Northwestern Mutual Puns

Hi all,

I just graduated with a major in African Dance Theory, and minor in accounting from a prestigious CCTU (Community College Target University) and am proud to say that I just accepted a job from Northwestern Mutal (they're the jane street/2 sigma of insurance if you people on here haven't heard of them).

As happy as I am with NM (they're on par with Goldman and the boys, if I've not already mentioned) I want to end up at a L/S HF.

I'm planning on taking the trad route of NM -> HF but am a tad bit concerned. Do you think I easily secure a PM role at a L/S fund in the next couple of years? If not, what steps should I take?

Tx

So I recently applied to the NM financial advising internship to get some experience. They reached out very quickly and wanted to set up a time to talk over the phone. I did the over the phone interview and then was asked to go into their office for another meeting. The recruiter gave me a packet with a sample plan and a different packet that I would put down people that I know and could sell insurance to. This seems very off to me and not financial advising like advertised. I set up a third meeting for next Monday and I need to have the networking packet completed. What should I do?

Just wanted to know which one is a worse place to intern at because everyone complains about these two places as being scams.

I just got offered a job as a wealth manager for an independent firm. They offer financial planning and investments as well as sell life insurance. They will pay for all my testing and I even get paid a $2,750 bonus if I pass all of the test!

The first 6 months is the apprenticeship which I get paid for bonus’s as I complete certain things. ($1,000 for completion of the course, $500 to present my marketing plan, and then bonus for client commitments, referrals and appointments set). However after that I will only be paid $2,000 a month for the first 18 months and then I’ll be all commission.

I’ve met everyone in the office, it’s small with only around 10 employees and everyone seems super nice and happy. The horror stories about NW mutual and NYL have me worried about this job tho, has anyone had a good experience in this type of roll with a good company?

Northwestern Mutual (NWM) is a MLM scheme. Their ‘financial advisor’ role promises unlimited salary, but in reality is just another scam…

Recruiting: NWM recruiting process asks candidates to provide a list of 200 contacts. Candidates are expected to call 40 of their own contacts, and ask for 5 additional contacts each. Names are entered into NWM database for future use, whether candidate is hired or not.

Salary: NWM salary is based solely on commission. When an employee leaves the company, they are liable to pay NWM for any cancelled insurance plans. NWM employees can leave owing the company money.

Modified Pyramid Structure: NWM pairs new employees with managers to split commissions. The more employees a manager can bring in, the more commissions they will make.

Emotional: NWM incentives encourage selling predatory life insurance to friends and family. Make no doubt as an NWM employee you will lose friends and alienate family once they realize what you are selling

I’m conclusion, Northwestern Mutual is a MLM scheme that prays on vulnerable individuals looking to change their financial situation. Joining this scheme will only make things worse.

Over the last few years, the local IT/Programming industry has been getting sucked up by NML. Many of my former colleagues and friends whom I would have thought would move on appear to be absolutely enamored at working there. I've done some on-site freelancing myself, and know about the storied free lunches.

But I was curious. Free lunches can't be the only thing keeping otherwise flighty people at bay. What are some of the biggest benefits to working there?

Hello Everyone, I’ve got an opportunity to interview for a position at Northwestern Mutual. I am a little hesitant to move to a commission based pay from my current Banker job. Does anyone have any advice or past experience with NWM in the workforce?

Thank you!

Long story short, 3 years ago I was young and dumb and signed me and my wife up for the whole NWM scam a young kid package (whole life, long/short term disability, term life).

I want to cancel all of it except the term. I am having trouble finding out what kind of fee I may have to pay on the whole life policies. Can’t seem to find any info on surrendering or closing these policies on their website. Is my best bet just to call the 800 number. My rep is the biggest douche I’ve ever met.

Anybody with experience care to comment on what type of fee to expect?

Edit: Called the 800 number and canceled. It was a breeze. Thanks for all the feedback. I'm actually going to get quite a good amount of money back.

To those of you who suggested I keep whole life, I worked with 2 close friends/family members that I am not paying, who are financial gurus, along with reading Dave Ramsey's advice, it's not for me, or likely any of you. It's a vehicle for the wealthy to avoid estate taxes. I can get a far better return investing in the market or crypto.

As far as disability goes, I've got great coverage through my job and my wife is quitting her job to stay home and take care of our kids, so she no longer needs it.

I kept the term insurance for both of us, might be able to get it cheaper elsewhere, but I am currently in the process of moving from IL to TN, so not going to mess with it for now.

Thanks again!

I have an interview on Monday and I’ve heard pretty bad things about being a financial advisor for northwestern mutual but not much about being a recruiter. Can anyone provide some insight? Thanks

I've just ended a 5 year career at Northwestern Mutual, and boy, what a 5 years it has been....

There's a lot of hit pieces on NWM, and, admittedly, much of what is said is well deserved. I know they're bulldogs when it comes to recruiting on campuses, and, thought this might prove to be useful to somebody who's looking to work for a broker/dealer when comparing it to other options. So I'll walk through culture, compensation, training, and everything in between to guide those who are thinking about it. No career path is perfect, everything has perks and drawbacks. One must weigh the pros and cons and make their decision accordingly.

How it started/College Agent Program

I was in college studying accounting and wanted to go on the CPA path. I learned very quickly it wasn't for me and changed my major to finance, as, I always had in interest in financial planning and its path. Lo and behold, a recruiter and advisor came into my insurance class one day and I went through the interview process. I was offered the college representative contract and jumped through the licensing hoops to make it official. I ended up doing very well....I absolutely crushed sales numbers and ended up being in the top 10 in my region by hitting what's called "Impact 40". Selling a policy gives you what's called a "Life Credit" If you sell enough policies (lives) you'll basically be treated as a celebrity, so, I sold 40 lives in my intern contract. (Awards system is 10, 20, 30 and 40 lives as an intern) . I sold lots of term life and disability insurance to get there...yay me. I was offered to convert to a full time agent upon graduating and ended up getting a $6000 bonus to do so. Why did I continue with NWM and not anywhere else? To be honest, it's simply because I liked the office culture (at the time) and enjoyed being around the people there. I was 22, gullible, naive, and didn't possess any sophisticated financial knowledge.

Full Time Advisor contract and training:

I converted to a full time "advisor" when I completed school. I embarked on their 3 week financial advisor training course. Most of the training comprised of sales language training. What to say on the phone when calling your P200 (list of 200 people you know to reach out to) What to say in the approach, overcoming objections, closing language, and so it goes... Over that time, I think we spent 90% of the time on insurance training and terminology. Life insurance (whole life especially), term, disability, long t

Hello all,

Recently graduated medical professional here. Been working with a financial planner/fiduciary through Northwestern Mutual. Are they reputable?

I am current buying 2 million in life insurance for both me and my wife each. The financial advisor acknowledged that this was a bit high but that we would "grow into it" as I am buying a practice and home soon and both of us have 200k+ in student loans.

I also have a large amount of disability insurance through two different companies, he recommend that I do not use NWM due to the poor rating they gave me. Disability income is an absolute must in my field due to high student loans and high probability of disability in the dental field.

He is meeting with us frequently to discuss different investment strategies, student loan payment strategies, and overall has met with us for over 20 hrs just educating us about various investment vehicles.

We are currently putting $1500 per month into our NWM account. (Annual pre-tax income is 200k). We pay about $400 in various premiums for life and disability insurance and the remainder is to be investment money after $10,000 liquid has been saved aside as a secondary emergency fund. (We have 20k saved already.) 80% of my post-tax income is covered by disability insurance now.

Any thoughts about this set-up? I had a friend recently tell me NWM has a less-than-stellar reputation, but I feel that is more dependent on the advisor than the company.

Any help appreciated.

Just wanted to share my experience with NM’s Whole Life policies. A friend I used to work with in high school sold me on this life insurance policy through NM two years ago.

He told me that the money I put into the account goes towards retirement and also guarantees a death benefit of $50,000 and an annual dividend of $123. I’m 26, so I thought getting a retirement fund going was a great idea. I opted in to the $50k policy and agreed to pay $65/month.

It’s been two years, I’ve contributed $1,560 towards the fund. I decided to check on the account for the first time since opening yesterday, and my equity in the account is $300. It appears that I’ve collected the $123 dividend twice, and each month I pay the $65, but only $30 is added to my account. I also noticed that each month, my account balance depreciates about 8.3% in value (about $25).

For example, in September my account value begins at $275, and then $30 is deposited into my account, bringing me to $305. Then, over 30 days, the account value drops day by day, until it is down to $280 by the time the next $30 is deposited.

I’m sure most would agree that $35/month to pay for life insurance at age 26 is ludicrous. Not to mention, the financial advisor I briefly spoke to said they expect a 4-5% appreciation in value per year, yet my account actually depreciates in value approximately 76% over the course of the year including the annual dividend!

I have a video meeting with that same advisor on Thursday and I expect to review my options as far as getting my money back. I’m expecting him to instead show me a bunch of numbers and try to convince me that it’s worth my money. I’m guessing I have virtually no options as far as recuperating the $1,500.

It’s hard to see this as anything but a pyramid scheme. What do you guys think?

Longtime member first time poster, Looking for new jobs at the moment, interested in finance & financial advising, I’m contact with a recruiter for northwestern mutual, seems like this might be a “call your friends and family” type of insurance scheme, haven’t even done the first interview but is anyone familiar with this? Would love to make good money, however the pay they say the top performers make seems too good to be true.

I bought disability insurance through Northwestern Mutual after graduating from med school (2013). Finally bothering to learn more, and it seems like this may not be the best/right policy for me. Would love some advice on:

1. Do I need DI, particularly in an 80% research/20% clinical nonprocedural position (infectious diseases)?
2. If yes, should I keep this policy as is or see about increasing the benefit?
3. Do I ditch Northwestern and go with another insurer?

Details of Policy:

Max benefit period is age 70; definition of total disability is 'medical occupation'. The disability income per month is only ~$3,200. Currently monthly premium of $105, which is discounted to $47/month after the allocated dividend.

Thanks!

Don't want to go into a lot of detail but I need to access some of the money in my NWM IRA to pay for some unexpected expenses. I know that it is not sound financially but there have been just a clusterfuck string of back luck events that I have had to deal with. I am well aware of how bad this is, but it is my last resort and I have no choice, so please spare me the lecture.

That said, I can't figure out for the life of me how to sell funds and withdraw $ from the account. I have tried to transfer to Vanguard (who I have my Roth IRA with) but for some reason NWM didn't allow the transfer to go through for reasons I don't entirely understand. Anybody have experience doing this before?

I’ve read the stories about the financial internship at this company being a MLM scheme, and how everyone does not recommend it. However, I was wondering about the software engineering internship- is it the same where they rope you into selling their product, or is it a real SWE internship? Even if it’s legit for SWE, would it even be worth it if NWM has such a bad reputation?

So my friend reached out to me and said he's getting financial advice for free from someone at Northwestern Mutual. He asked if he could give this advisor my number, so they can "advise" me for free. I did some investigating, and it seems like their business model is to build a customer base for their life insurance policies (which are terrible deals) by advising people financially for free. I asked the advisor if she is a registered fiduciary, and she said yes. I even asked her if that's their business model, and she said yes. She works on commission for selling life insurance.

I'm a bit skeptical, I have absolutely no intention of ever buying life insurance from them, but if they give me good financial advice, I'm in. Is this some kind of elaborate scam? I don't see how they can profit off me in any way. And no, I'm not going to give them any personal information.

I’ve seen an incredible amount of information on Reddit regarding Northwestern Mutual, and the majority of the commentary on this company was negative. This subreddit has been extremely helpful just to be able to see the sheer number of people who’ve been screwed by these “financial advisors.”

I’m currently in the process of untangling myself from all of their bullshit investments and insurance policies. Yes, I said “policies,” as in plural.

I did read about people recounting terrible experiences, money that was lost, and all about how this company preys on young university grads to be “advisors,” while sinking their claws into these young people’s family and friends.

What I didn’t see a lot of was experiences of those who sought some sort of recourse. I’ve found some legal cases online related to Northwestern Mutual advisors. Some having to do with fraud. Some related to bad advice and a lack of suitability.

As I begin the process of terminating EVERYTHING and getting as far away as possible from these people, does anyone have any suggestions as to any type of additional action I could take? I’m currently reading all about fiduciary responsibility (this guy I worked with mentioned his fiduciary responsibility to me in writing), suitability of investments and insurance products, and there’s a very clear conflict between my stated financial objectives (in writing, and acknowledged by this “advisor”) and the advice he gave me (buy this additional state specific long-term care permanent life insurance policy at age 28 with no dependents, no financial obligations or debt, and as I’m quitting my job.) It’s pretty clear none of this was in my best interest.

Unfortunately for me and many others, the ambiguity, fine print, and convoluted nature of it all probably doesn’t leave me with many options to seek accountability. But I’d like any feedback anyway. Has anyone had any success in retrieving lost money in life insurance policies? Any success with Northwestern Mutual’s client advocate team? I’m supposed to speak with them in the next 24-48hrs.

I imagine none of this is simple or easy, BUT: Has anyone had any experience with either legal action, or complaints with the SEC, FINRA, or their state’s insurance commission?

Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well.
In July of 2019 I was sold a whole life insurance policy while I was in college by an intern from Northwestern Mutual that I went to school with and as more time goes on, the more uneasy I feel about this policy. The more I learn about investments the more I think I messed up. I feel like this is a complete waste of money and I really feel taken advantage of. I'm not entirely sure if my thoughts are correct, so that's a part of the reason why I'm posting here.
Stats:
24/m
Policy opened July of 2019
Premium --> $100/month, $2400 "invested" so far
Net death benefit: $89,169
Own my own house, no debt from college, no vehicle debt, 100% debt free
Zero dependents
Very active lifestyle, healthy diet, etc., etc.
Income: ~$150/week. <--- With this being my income, $100/month is kind of a lot of money to me. Especially now that I'm back in college and paying out of pocket for classes.

What are everyone's thoughts on whole life insurance policy? From everything that I've read so far, there seems to be a very negative sentiment and for the majority of people, this is not a good product.

If I cancel this policy, will I receive any of the $2400 that I paid in back? Should I consider cancelling this policy? My account says that it has a "Net Worth" of ~$500. Will this be the only amount of money I'm entitled to receive back?

Of course I can talk to my "advisor", but I wanted to hear some advice from a neutral third party before talking with them as I suspect they're going to fight tooth and nail to keep me on this plan. After all, they're a sales person and I truly don't believe they have my best interests in mind because I'm assuming they make commission on me.

Tl;dr: Did I mess up by getting involved with this policy? If I cancel, will I be able to get ANY money back?

Disclaimer: I am aware of the sunken cost fallacy and know that if this policy is garbage, I may as well eat my losses and move on.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate any help you're willing to give.

If you can comment your experience with Northwestern or with your answers to the survey questions that would be great.

Name:

Occupation:

Date:

1. What has been your experience with the insurance, investment, and financial planning industry?
2. Who do you primarily rely on for financial advice? How did you choose that person?
3. What are the chief financial planning issues facing successful professionals in your industry?
4. What has been your experience with the insurance, investment, and financial planning industry?
5. Who do you primarily rely on for financial advice? How did you choose that person?
6. What are the chief financial planning issues facing successful professionals in your industry?
7. Have you created a personal financial plan. If so how often do you review it?
8. How would you personally like to be introduced to a financial services professional?
9. If you were in my shoes and decided to join the financial services industry, how would you get introduced to professionals like you?
10. If I choose to go into the financial services industry, what advice or cautions would you give me?
11. If I do decide to join Northwestern Mutual, would you allow me to meet with you along with an experienced Northwestern Mutual Financial Representative/Advisor, to discuss your personal financial plan to see if we could add value?

So, I’ve read an overwhelming number of horror stories with this company. In fact, while I’m several steps in their on boarding process, I expect to withdraw once another opportunity opens up shortly.

That aside, I’ve gone into each interview with a lot of skepticism and analysis. Because I’m aware that they may not be straight with me, I’ve tried to use cutting, directed questions to get an actual feel for the job and what it takes. Overall, nobody has said sketchy things or asked me to provide a list of contacts etc as I’ve heard from others. No pressuring tactics yet.

I had another interview today, and directly asked how the commission structure worked and how many policies I’d have to pump out to make it my first few months. After all, I’m married with a 2 year old. If I don’t think I’ll survive the harshest months then no thanks.

I received very direct and specific percentages on what I’d receive based upon the policies annual premiums, and we calculated how many $1200 annual policies I’d have to sell to get by (this is assuming I’m doing joint work and splitting each one) Also, getting to $1200 annually is not unreasonable. Even Dave Ramsey advises people to get Disability Insurance and Term Life, this can easily land between $50-$150 a month based upon your income. (That will effect how much disability to get)

The number of clients I’d have to create didn’t actually seem impossible. This was assuming a reasonably priced set of policies that I wouldn’t feel dishonest recommending. On top of that, it assumed that I never took any of the clients on alone at all.

I wish that my meetings with NWM had turned me away as I saw into some grand scheme, but whether or not the opportunity is viable still seems up for consideration to me. I received a specific answer on what it takes to survive without providing any questionable options like whole life insurance (which shouldn’t be necessary for the vast majority of people).

Because my experience in this process seems super direct and honest, much unlike the other stories I’ve heard, I want to see some reactions to my situation that seem even-handed.

Thanks

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share my story of working at Northwestern Mutual with people who have worked at NWM or are thinking of working with them in the future.

I started working with NWM at the start of 2020 as a financial advisor. The position was presented to me as a challenging but rewarding career to help/teach people how to reach their financial goals. The managing partner said we could earn $80k+ as a first year rep and "Everyone will be nice and helpful. There aren't any surprises here." I decided to give it a shot. I received a warm welcome from my fellow coworkers and a nice office space so I was ready to put in hours and give this career my best.

Then the lockdowns started. They closed the office and we had to make calls/take meetings from home. It quickly dawned on me that this position wasn't about educating people on finances. It's a sales position where you get paid from commission and they don't provide you with any leads. My takeaway is that NWM mainly wants reps to buy their life insurance, then sell it to their friends/family (most if not all of them won't want it). I spoke with the managing partner and left the company after a few months to move on to a better career.

Then... surprise! They emailed me with an invoice for $400. I contacted their financial rep and they sent a breakdown of charges accrued from "meeting fees", office space and some other nonsense, all of which was never explained or presented to us upfront. I was shocked. I contacted some of my fellow reps and they had received invoices too.

Reps are getting charged for participating in their unhelpful, mandatory weekly meetings? Why should we be charged for office space when we weren't even allowed to go there during the pandemic?

Their financial rep never called me back to explain any of this, and I spoke with other reps who said this was all bs and we shouldn't have to pay the invoice. Their rep didn't follow up so I dropped the issue and moved on. Fast forward a few months and they emailed me a new invoice for $900! I'm still processing this and working though it, but this all just seems so sneaky and exploitative.

Has this happened to anyone else who's worked with NWM? How did you deal with it?

I hope this was helpful and to anyone thinking of working with Northwestern Mutual, I'd say beware. Do your research and think twice about signing on because their products/services are questionable, and you'll be heavily pressured to sell them. They won't help you,

Right, long story short, I am a junior business student at Pitt and am in the onboarding phase for the Northwestern Mutual internship pretty much because I didn't do my due diligence and research them up front (my fault). I spent a month getting LAH certified by the state essentially so I could be a glorified telemarketer. Now I need to produce a list of damn near 200 names of friends, family, and anyone else I may know and memorize all their sales language. I started to have an uneasy feeling about the internship and what they were having me do so I looked into it online and it only confirmed my suspicions that this internship was bad news. So hear I am, its early April and my shot of getting another internship at this point has sailed. I feel like a dumbass for not finding all this out earlier. I am faced with two options here and I wanted some input. I can either stick with the internship for my resume and just bullshit my way through it, or I can bail and try and find somewhere else to work this summer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TLDR: I'm fairly deep into an NM internship because I didn't research it. Should I stick it out, or should I look for another job for the summer?

So I started the NM Financial representative Internship last week, and I am already thinking about quitting. I have already seen a lot of the horror stories of people who were in this program themselves. Fundamentally I didn't want to quit this job unless I had another opportunity come along, and I have already begun to reach out to some people for other opportunities. However, I won't be able to keep up with the demands of the company due to the fact that they essentially want access to my network, and most of my network lives outside of the area I am currently living in, and in fact, they live outside of the country. So I am left thinking that if I quit now I could be caught with nothing to do over the summer, and it could potentially hurt me in the long term as I am graduating next year. While at the same time, I feel as if, this isn't at all what I want to do, and an opportunity may come a long and present itself that's far better than the one I have now.

Hey everyone, I hope you're all doing well.

In July of 2019 I was sold a whole life insurance policy while I was in college by an intern from Northwestern Mutual that I went to school with and as more time goes on, the more uneasy I feel about this policy. The more I learn about investments the more I think I messed up. I feel like this is a complete waste of money and I really feel taken advantage of. I'm not entirely sure if my thoughts are correct, so that's a part of the reason why I'm posting here.

Stats:
24/m
Policy opened July of 2019
Premium --> $100/month, $2400 "invested" so far
Net death benefit: $89,169
Own my own house, no debt from college, no vehicle debt, 100% debt free
Zero dependents
Very active lifestyle, healthy diet, etc., etc.
Income: ~$150/week. <--- With this being my income, $100/month is kind of a lot of money to me. Especially now that I'm back in college and paying out of pocket for classes.

What are everyone's thoughts on whole life insurance policy? From everything that I've read so far, there seems to be a very negative sentiment and for the majority of people, this is not a good product.

If I cancel this policy, will I receive any of the $2400 that I paid in back? Should I consider cancelling this policy? My account says that it has a "Net Worth" of ~$500. Will this be the only amount of money I'm entitled to receive back?

Of course I can talk to my "advisor", but I wanted to hear some advice from a neutral third party before talking with them as I suspect they're going to fight tooth and nail to keep me on this plan. After all, they're a sales person and I truly don't believe they have my best interests in mind because I'm assuming they make commission on me.

Tl;dr: Did I mess up by getting involved with this policy? If I cancel, will I be able to get ANY money back?

Disclaimer: I am aware of the sunken cost fallacy and know that if this policy is garbage, I may as well eat my losses and move on.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I appreciate any help you're willing to give.

Has anyone had any luck linking their Northwestern Mutual accounts (life insurance, etc) to Personal Capital?