Talk:World Financial Group/Archives/2019

Semi-protected edit request on 5 January 2019

Please change...

"World Financial Group (WFG) is a multi-level marketing company based in Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, which sells investment, insurance, and various other financial products through a network of distributors in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.[1][2][3] It is wholly owned by Transamerica, a subsidiary of Aegon.[4]"

To ...

"World Financial Group (WFG) is a financial services marketing company based in Johns Creek, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, which sells investment, insurance, and various other financial products through a network of distributors in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.[1][2][3] It is wholly owned by Transamerica, a subsidiary of Aegon.[4]

Because ...

World Financial Group is not a multi-level marketing company but rather a financial services marketing company. Below I will strategically break down the three references that have been highlighted & how they are flawed. Once I break down the flawed references, I will make a recommendation to use new references from much more reputable websites.

According to current Reference #1: Lubove, Seth (May 28, 2008). "Dutch Insurer's U.S. unit draws scrutiny from regulators" ...

We do not know who Seth Lubove is or, what his credentials are in reporting on World Financial Group. We do not know the sources of his article either and thus have found many false statements within the article itself. Although the New York Times is a reputable newspaper & website, we are not so sure about Seth Lubove.

For example: "One thing about the unit, based in Duluth, Georgia, that sets it apart from traditional sales forces is structure. As a pyramidlike, multilevel sales organization, World Financial produces the big compensation for its agents not from their sales of products so much as their recruitment of new agents, according to the company's marketing materials."

False statement #1: World Financial produces the big compensation for its agents not from their sales of products so much as their recruitment of new agents, according to the company's marketing materials.

Agents of World Financial Group do not get compensated by the recruitment of new agents. No where in the company's marketing materials does it state that. By law, compensation for recruitment is illegal in the United States.

According to current Reference #2: "Petition to Revoke License" (PDF). Securities.utah.gov. Archived from the original.

A petition to revoke license filed by Mr. Wayne Klein on October 12 2006 indicates in section 6 that "WFG is a multi-level marketing company." By which authority does Mr. Klein assert that World Financial Group is a multi-level marketing company? Multi-level marketing is a marketing strategy, not a company definition.

Reference #3 "Aegon in Missouri Provokes Regulators Finding Sales Deceptions". Bloomberg. May 28, 2008.

This reference is a dead link and can be removed.

My suggested change to the heading of World Financial Group's wikipedia page can be substantiated by the following references:

Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=6549822

Baltimore Business Journal https://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/prnewswire/press_releases/Maryland/2018/12/19/PH08053

According to these references, here is what it says about World Financial Group:

"World Financial Group, Inc., a financial services marketing company, provides life insurance, and financial products and services to individuals and families. The company offers insurance products, such as term and permanent life insurance; annuities, including fixed, variable, and equity indexed; and mutual funds. The company also provides college planning services, such as prepaid college tuition and college savings plans, education savings accounts, custodial accounts, and savings bonds; retirement strategies; and business client solutions. The Company offers its services through independent business associates in the United States and Canada." 47.28.116.80 (talk) 07:52, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

“We do not know who Seth Lubove is or, what his credentials are in reporting on World Financial Group. We do not know the sources of his article either…”

That’s not germane to WPs sourcing policy. The article was published in the NYT, which fully meets all WP requirements for source reliability, and that’s all we need to know (and FYI Lubove is a business/financial journalist).

“By which authority does Mr. Klein assert that World Financial Group is a multi-level marketing company?”

Um, by virtue of the fact that he is Director of the Division of Securities for the Utah Department of Commerce. Authoritative and, again, fully meets WP sourcing policy.

"Reference #3 'Aegon in Missouri Provokes Regulators Finding Sales Deceptions'. Bloomberg. May 28, 2008. This reference is a dead link and can be removed."

That’s not how WP handles dead links. The publication does not cease to exist, or be relevant, simply because it’s no longer available at the old link. Dead links are simply marked with a dead link tag, or in this case, updated with an archived link, which didn’t take much effort to find.[1]

That’s 3 swings and 3 whiffs. Given the apparent attempt at whitewashing, it seems pretty likely that you have a WP:COI with respect to the subject of this article, so I suggest you read over and comply with the dictates of that policy, and perhaps work on some other articles, or in the sandbox for a while, until you get a better grasp of how things work here on WP. Rhode Island Red (talk) 16:30, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

Just to put an exclamation point on things, the company’s own SEC filings describe WFG as an MLM:

“ACI’s...key channels of distribution are...World Financial Group/AEGON USA-owned or operated multi-level marketing group” (p. 36).[2]

They do so again here[3] as does the SEC.[4] It's always amazing when the minions for these MLM companies scurry around editing articles by trying to whitewash the fact that they are in fact MLMs. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Own it for crying out loud. And stop wasting time and resources with these lame protestations. Rhode Island Red (talk) 17:23, 5 January 2019 (UTC)

Marking as  Not done per the above. –Deacon Vorbis (carbon • videos) 19:22, 5 January 2019 (UTC)