Working at APFinancial (American Premier Financial) — Reviews by Employees

AP has really come a long ways apparently. After reading all the reviews on here, you can tell they are all from a select few individuals and before AP must have made some very good changes. My experience has been a very positive one. AP told me up front I needed to basically bring 5 clients to them and what products they focus on. Then I found people who had those needs. I think that's the premise in any client related business. Your product is not for everyone, you just have to find the people that the products are right for. I have never seen anyone at AP try and sell a product to someone it was not suitable for.

I have made very good income in my short time w/ AP and I love the people who I work with and for. I was eligible for the health insurance program they offer from day 1 and they also just made a 401k available to all their employees. Job security is good as long as you are doing your job. This economy and stock market has actually benefited me because of the guarantees the products I offer provide. I do work quite a bit from Monday - Thursday, probably about 40 hours, in the office and seeing my clients. But what my boss has taught me is that if I do that, then I'm out early and Friday and do NOT work on the weekends w/ the exception of a couple phone calls here and there. I expect to work 50 - 60 hours getting into this business. I am more than willing to put the time in now to get the opportunity to move up so quickly with AP.

I have worked for AP Financial since January 2008 and understand why some people who were brought on by AP in the past are not happy. When I was brought on board it was not very clear that clients had to be added from the training appointments and that none of those client bonuses would be paid to me. Once it was explained to me that I legally could not get paid any of these client bonuses because I was not licensed, that made sense to me. AP could have made this clearer, though.

Sine I was hired AP has made some very good changes in their presentation to potential new hires so that it is very clear what is expected of anyone they would bring on board. I’m sure they did this to not cause any more misunderstandings. Now it is clearly listed on their power point presentation that in order for AP to pay for someone’s licensing and training costs and to get registered with FINRA, they must add at least 5 clients and bring at least $6,000 in GDC to the company. The training appointments must also turn into a minimum of 35 referrals for the trainee. AP makes it very clear that they do not want to sponsor just anybody to be affiliated with FINRA and someone has to show their understanding of AP’s target market and niche products first as well as their commitment to becoming a part of the growing organization. Especially when most the people they hire are not proven producers and do not have any industry experience. When someone then does show this commitment and completes training, AP is now also even paying them a training bonus of $1,000 where $500 gets paid when the 1st half is complete and the other $500 is paid when training is completely done.

I do agree with AP’s philosophy that the best way to learn to actually see it being done and shadow a mentor. And the only way to do that was to set up appointments through my natural market as my mentor’s clients would not want me to tag along on their appointments and see their financial information. I feel my training appointments were a very fair trade off for me. I was trained exceptionally well on the core products AP offers through shadowing as well as role playing, they paid for all of my licensing and registration fees (which were very expensive), and I got 54 referrals from my training appointments. My mentor was great and I was prepared very well to hit the field.

Here are my rankings:

Pay – Yes it is difficult getting started in the financial services industry, so initial pay is low. However you have great potential after the 1st six months or so.
Respect – I have always had good respect. They are more excited for me when I am adding clients, of course. When I am not adding client they want to work with me and help me schedule appointments, close, get referrals, etc. better.
Benefits – I use the ones offered through the Broker/Dealer. They are cheaper than the BCBS plan and just as good. My health insurance plan costs me $45/month.
Job Security – Poor if you are not doing what is asked of you and if you are unwilling to do things that make you uncomfortable, like closing a client or asking for referrals. Good if you are a hard worker, trainable and willing to step outside your comfort zone.
Work/Life Balance – Same as pay. First six months are going to be a lot of hours if you want to succeed. Get past that and it seems very good.
Career Potential/Growth – I have already been promoted to Senior and now to Manager. I have begun to mentor others and am looking forward to ultimately running my own branch.
Location – Awesome
Co-Worker Competence – Very good on variable products, our niche. Pretty good on mutual funds and only ok on other products. AP definitely has core products that they focus on. If you want to be a jack of all trades or a stock jockey, AP is not the right fit.
Work Environment – The best I have ever been a part of. Everyone wants me to succeed and is very encouraging. There is a benefit called Team Revenue Sharing that really creates a very positive and awesome work environment.

I've been working for ApFinancial for a couple of years now and I can assure you that AP Financial provides an opportunity for rapid advancement based upon hard work, continued learning and a positive attitude. If any of those are lacking, then so is the opportunity. They have grown tremendously from a small to a mid sized company, and as such have evolved and improved. ApFinancial is a good company with good, hardworking people.
Regards,
Kelly

I have never been a fan of anonymity. Being anonymous holds you accountable to nothing or nobody. Being anonymous allows you to say what you feel, about whoever you want without proving to be credible or knowledgeable and without regard to the other person’s feelings. You don’t need to be responsible for your actions or your words if you’re anonymous. You’re able to deny any personal wrong doing. My name is Jeff Junior, Senior Partner and Executive Director of the Phoenix office. I am not claiming to be above anyone or without flaw. I have just as many personal dilemmas and problems as everyone else, and lord knows I have made many mistakes and will continue to learn from those as I grow as a person. This is an attempt to show contempt for the problem and concern for the people who feel wronged. This is something I ask of a few of you. I hope the few of you, who slander, defame character, judge others, call names and attempt to destroy anything good, especially the good peoples reputations within our organization, give this thought.
We realize the industry is a competitive industry and can be hard at times to break into. We do not condone calling anyone losers or wimps or that they are lazy or that they can’t hack it because they are no longer with us. I will personally apologize for our over zealous employee who posted that. It is a demanding career and sometimes it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. When I started my career almost 13 years ago, I questioned this business and my abilities too, as did my wife and family. I do understand the market, mental fortitude, financial ability and many other personal struggles and variables that can play into the longevity of this career. I can say with great pride, we have many successful representatives who are grateful for the opportunity they have been given. Not only are many of our representatives making a great income that may not have been possible with other companies, but they are truly passionate about what they are doing and enjoy coming to work every day. I believe it was all possible because of our program.
I consider myself reasonable and I consider myself fair. I know it is easy to judge without the risk of being judged, and to hurt without the risk of being hurt. It is not what happens that determines our future. What happens, happens to us all. It is what we do about what happens that counts- I didn’t get one call or email about a problem before it was posted. However, I can guarantee changes have been made and your valid points are noted.
We are not all bad. The company has grown by an average of 60% each year since opening in 2002. We are opening another office in San Diego, CA. and hopefully another in GA. With the help of our committed employees we hope the trend continues. We will continue to be very active with philanthropic activities and give back to the community whenever possible. We have a compliance conference in Tampa where we are bringing our top 30 reps. In January we have a trip planned for qualifiers for an all expense paid trip to Maui and a $1000 a month vehicle allowance incentive. I am not naive enough to think we are perfect or without challenges or problems though. I do realize there are improvements that can be made now and into the future. We are addressing those issues, and I will give you an update as a response to your posts. I can be reached directly at (623) 328-9029 or jjunior@isimail.com, jeffbjunior@hotmail.com, or fax (623) 328-9967.

AP Financial provides an opportunity for rapid advancement based upon hard work, continued learning and a positive attitude. If any of those are lacking, then so is the opportunity. They have grown tremendously from a small to a mid sized company, and as such have evolved and improved. In my short tenure (14 months) I have advanced to the point of taking my Principals License. There is NO other company where you will have that type of opportunity. I started and have completely built my business on referrals and networking, and not on training appointments nor cold calling.
I read some of the reviews on here and have to wonder why it is alright to only have a negative opinion. Those with a contrary experience and opinion get lambasted. It is unfortunate that some on here have had a bad experience or developed a poor opinion, and I wish I could change that. However, my experience has been completely the opposite and for that I am thankful. My MENTOR has worked with me and helped me to develop not only my sales skills, but my appreciation for running a business and dealing with multitudes of people. My MENTOR has encouraged me and helped me to get involved in the community; we volunteer at the local homeless shelter and work with the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure for Breast Cancer. My MENTOR is available to me day or night, week day or weekend.
Also, my colleagues are the BEST. They support me and help me as much as I help them. We all encourage each other, and spend time together in and out of work. We do continuing education every Wednesday to learn more about different products and different aspects to our main product line. All companies (big or small) have a preferred product line. Ours happens to be with WRL, but we do provide others. We have access to lots, and are trained on them as well... however, we do have preferred vendors. Also, I see some complain they make no money but want to sell Mutual Funds because they are best for the client. That is a blanket statement and completely false. There are lots that go into making a recommendation for a client. Also, training with Mutual Funds is pretty simple. If you can pass the Series 6, you are pretty well versed in what a Mutual Fund is and the share classes available. The website has a listing of approved Mutual Funds where you can download information. Seems pretty simple to me.
Do we deal with Life Insurance. Yes. Do we deal with Investments. Yes. Is any one perfect for everyone? No. Do we teach that? Yes. We have a Niche we focus on, as do most companies out there.
Can we improve as a company, I certainly hope so. If you are not getting better, you are getting worse right? I believe "constructive criticism" is best for improvement, dont you? And blindly criticizing everyone one you have worked with is not helpful. Am I to believe there was not one person that was competent in the entire office? Surely not. And you do know what they say, "if you cannot get along with anyone maybe it isn't them".
So, to justify my ratings: Pay a 4 because it is based upon your own hard work, but it is not easy. Respect a 5 because you get what you give and I have received nothing but respect. Benefits a 4 because they do not offer a 401K but they have Health Insurance and pay a portion of it, not bad for a small to mid-sized company. Plus the health is through BCBS, maybe you have heard of them before? Job Security a 4 because they do not layoff unlike some of the other larger firms in this Industry (Merrill/Schwab/etc. just read the paper for yourself or google it) and they give you a chance to advance to a Principal and OSJ in short fashion. Work/Life balance is a 2 because a lot is required so there are sacrifices (at least I am honest). Career Potential a 5 because they do not have a 6 or higher. Again, read what I wrote above. Location a 5 because this one makes no sense for jobvent to ask, yet others put a -5 so I am balancing it out. :) Co-worker competence a 5 because as I mentioned earlier my colleagues are great and have gone head to head with other companies and won out. Plus they continue to push me to become better and to continue to learn more. Work environment a 5 because I go in BEFORE I need to as does our entire staff. We truly enjoy where we work and whom we work with.

I would like to give an unbiased opinion of the company I worked for for over a year. I worked in the Denver office and had success and struggles with the company. My name is Noah, the people who work(ed) in Denver are sure to know who I am. I was just informed of this website and was shocked to see the amount of reaction for such a small company. Anyways, here are my thoughts.

As far as pay is concerned it depends on where you lie with the company. Rated it a negative two only because how it is structured at the very beginning. It takes a long time to get to the compensation level of other industry players. Generally if you are working as an employee (instead of as an independent) you are looking at a 50% cut of your commissions (independents are usually 75-90, but pay for all expenses and taxes). You eventually will get in the 50% neighborhood at AP, but it just takes time.

There are advantages to the pay structure after you get to Senior (first promotion). There is a base salary, which is generally referred to as a draw in the industry. This does afford stability, and allowed me to qualify for a home purchase. You do receive monthly bonuses of the office revenue which is uncommon as an advisor, and is possible due to the compensation structure.

Bottom line is, no matter what company you are with as an advisor it is going to be difficult to make money in your first few years. This is no different at Merril Lynch, AP, Northwest Mutual or as an Independent Advisor.

Job security is a negative 5 simply because it is the industry as an advisor. It is difficult to be successful no matter where you are and there is no security in any commission based industry. There is even less in the financial services.

Work life balance is also negative, at least until you have been in the industry a long time. This is because you are a salesperson who has to travel. Not because AP is a horrible place. Being a financial advisor is HARD and will always be HARD and to be successful there will be compromise that people with 9-5 jobs don't have to make.

Career Potential is huge at AP. I never got to the point where I opened my own office, but that doesn't mean I didn't grow professionaly from my tenure there. I now have a job that is much more of a fit for me, working with separtely managed accounts at Curian Capital, but I would NEVER have gotten here if it weren't for AP. If you do decided to continue a career with AP, there is a lot of growth within the company. I saw several offices open in my year, and knew of plans of several more when I left. I didn't give it a 5 because it has a limited focus in the industry. Series 6, Life Insurance (series 63 in some states) are great licenses to have, but don't afford a full range of investment tools and thus one is limited to Life Insurance, Annuities and Mutual Funds. If Series 7 and 66 were available I would give a 5.

Locations are all great, maybe with the exception of Orlando.

Co-Worker competence is an issue. This is because the company is young and has turnover. The majority of management hasn't been in the industry for more than a couple of years. However, there are competent people in the office. There were two people that I relied on for industry knowledge the Executive Director and a Principal that had been around the block in the industry and had years of experience.

Also, by in large the management knows its products well (albeit limited amount of product consiting largely of VUL and Annuity), but it doesn't know its competitors as well is it should. Again this is an experience issue.

The work environment is one of the best I have ever been in. The executive director has an open door policy, there is a lot of support from the management, and a genuine desire to see everyone succeed. Just because it is difficult to be successful doesn't mean it isn't a great group of people to work with. I personally was taken to Florida only a few months into my career there (all expenses paid) and it was one of the most fun, informative business trips I have been on.

Conclusion, AP is difficult. It might be more difficult than some competitors to be successful at. I think the difficulties include name recognition (easier to sell New York Life than Western Reserve Life or Merril Lynch compared to AP Financial), limited products, and a completely commission based pay structure (with perks!) in an industry environment shifting towards fee based platforms (my opinion and why I left). However, there is a great deal of opportunity in the Annuity and VUL industry industry, a great group of people to work with and if nothing else, a great place to start in the industry if you can hack it.

The training process is detailed and one of the best in the industry. The oppertunity to get involved with a fairly new, but fast growing company like this is priceless. Hard work is rewarded.....as it should be.....when did the times change to where people feel they should get so much for free, or gain so much for a lack of hard work....I beleive it is those kinds of people who SIMPLY CAN'T HACK a hard days work, and they feel the need to degrade and slander a great company like AP Financial. When one realizes they are a failure in everything they do in life, the only thing left to do is blame everyone but them, make false accusations about a company, and get on the defensive to the point where they make up facts as they were true and seriously slander a positive company.........It is a fully independant financial investment firm, that trains reps, on fidelity mutual funds, just as much as the VUL...Rep's at AP have hundreds of different companies products and funds to choose from to put the client in a taylor made investment that is perfect for them....If anyone actually did the research or work at other financial investment firms...they would know that the VUL is a great product, especialy in times when the economy is down, and the one AP has hand picked to use, is one of the best on the market. I put AP's VUL up against any other comapny...and make no mistake all of the other comapnies offer a VUL. Comapre them and AP's will have the best performance in the seperate accounts, with the lowest cost of insurance and the lowest charges, if any. But that is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the vast spectrum of products and investmetns AP offers. The rep's have 3 different licenses, only one of which is an insurance license...the other 2 are NASD (FINRA) securities licenses. AP offers a great work atmosphere, great oppertunity for advancement, the ability to work with over 100 different mutual fund companies, including all of the top ones in the world...the ability to set up 401ks for comapnies, SEP's, IRA's, ROTH's, ESA's. 529's, VA's, Mutual Funds, Insurance, all of which are managed by some of the top money managers in the world.......ALSO ONE OF THE MAIN THINGS THAT PEOPLE HAVE THEIR FACTS WRONG ABOUT needs to be corrected...AEGON DOES NOT OWN AP FINANCIAL!!!!I repeat...AEGON does not own AP Financial.......AP works with Aegon, but is owned privately and is headed in a great direction with a lot of big advancements taking place over the next several years.
Please don't listen to all of the negative hype...When people are failures in life, they fail at everything not just their career, and they have to whine about it all...they can;t hack it, they cna;t hack anything worth doing. Of course I am not saying AP is the perfect comapny with no flaws.....of course not...but name me one company that is.....there are not any, because companies are established aand ran by people, and people aren't perfect..it is human nature.........AP has great things to offer if you stick with it, and I feel everyone will be hearing a lot of great things about AP in the future.

I worked in the San Antonio office for 5 months and am no longer employed there. Therefore, I believe this post to be a little less biased than others. I was tested and trained on products taht I truly believe helped my clients. We did not sell stock, but we were never told we would. I do not believe stock brokers are the only qualified individuals to help clients with their finances. I do know that the higher up in "the chain" you were, the more you made. However, is that not how it is supposed to be in any company?
AP Financial clearly states they are a new and growing company. If they are "barely cutting their teeth" , I am not sure taht is a bad thing. The potential to become an OSJ is not available in numerous companies you mentioned, I know I interviewed at a few of them. I was given time at AP Financial to spend time with my family and to see my clientele. If I had an emergency or needed time off during the day for a few personal reasons, I was given that opportunity without recourse.
I do think calling people names such as "clowns" is inappropriate though, but egging on future comments with "WAWAWA" is also exceedingly immature. I am trying to offer an unbiased view for anyone looking for one. I can only speak for the San Antonio office, but if you are loking for peers who are more than willing to lend a helping hand and offer support in a difficult industry, I think AP Financial does that. If you are looking to become a Fully Licensed Financial Advisor and deal with stock in a cut throat environment, then do not look to them but look at the companies mentioned by the previous poster.

It takes hard work to achieve great success, and if you believe in yourself and are willing to invest the time in yourself, AP Financial will be committed to you 110%. My colleagues and clients respect what I do, and I love the people I work with and families achieve their goals, dreams, and create generational wealth.