Our company used to recruit for them before I was here.  It was an extremely tough sell.  It’s more of a niche than a full-service shop.

In my area, they are thought just above the rank of a slug.  Get teachers to sign up for 403b paying 3%.  Large hospital used to have their plan in the area.  Thankfully switched to Fidelity.  Employees find out after they leave that their retirement plan has a pretty heft surrender penalty for several years.

I was contacted by AIG VALIC about 2 years ago. For giggle si met with the brnahc manager. Basically an annuity shop that crams 403B TSA's on teachers, etc. They dress themselves up to be a financial planning firm, but in the end you are selling their proprietary variable annuity program. And Dogs is right, the contract have disgusitng surrender charges and the underlying fees are among the highest out there.. Basically, you would be an annuity salesman....

There are better options out there.

ditto what blarm said. i live in a college town and they are here pushing their sh!tty annuities on unsuspecting college profs and teachers.

Wow-

Strong responses…

Thank you all for the input…

 I don’t know if that was their only was of doing business or it still
is… As it was presented to me, yes I would be signing up teachers or
hospital workers for their valic annuity. That also gave me an
opportunity to consolidate their other assets. Those other assets could
go into a NFS(Fidelity) brokerage account and I could put them in any
load fund, bond or even stocks although they said that shouldn’t be my
focus- after all- VALIC is their “baby”…When not visiting schools or
hospitals I could prospect for business just like any other broker… So
they say…

after you sign them up for TSA’s, you will be able to consolidate their other assets into… another variable annuity…

Valic reps had long tenure and when AIG bought them changed the comp and alot of them left

Did that.  The business model is for you to hang around these assigned groups trying to sign people up in teachers lounges etc.  The brokerage arm is the red headed step child.  All paperwork is sent to houston and then a month later you may get paid the commision on time.  One thing they dont tell you is if an annuity client changes their mind you will be hit with a charge back. The problem is your brokerage efforts/commisions are comminged with the annuity sales and charge backs.  Many 403B money is heading into mutual fund platforms so the book you get might have hidden charge backs.  One major negative is the windshield time.  I would rather be sitting somewhere then working from my vehicle.

I have been a VALIC rep for 5 yrs and some is true and some is not. VALIC never claimed to be the originators of the Variable annuity, the were the originators of the 403b account. Right now second in 403b services (TIAA Cref 1) and yes the majority of the book you receive is in the Portfolio Director propriety product as each one has to be approved by the school under ERISA guidelines. The company is the sister to Sun America and the fund choices inside the VA are affordable and mostly 4/5 star SA funds. Reps can sell annuities from Jackson, Sun America etc along with any family mutual funds outside the 403b. Company’s focus right now is managed accounts with low fees using SA funds. Company has had a minimum guarantee of 3% in the fixed bucket of these plans which has put a pinch on the cash flow and trust me…they pass it down to the reps. They have made it almost impossible to make money as the payouts are low and the adviser who stated it takes forever to get paid on something is right…they will drag it out for months. My advice is to stay away as accounts are company property and while you can eek out a living selling advisory services to current assets and new clients (adding fee based service to existing accounts) the only one that is making money is the regional VPs and its not worth your time. I hate it that it has become this way as I really liked working with the teachers and professors.

[quote=bankrep1]

Valic reps had long tenure and when AIG bought them changed the comp and alot of them left

[quote=TOPBROKR]Wow-

Strong responses…

Thank you all for the input…

 I don’t know if that was their only was of doing business or it still
is… As it was presented to me, yes I would be signing up teachers or
hospital workers for their valic annuity. That also gave me an
opportunity to consolidate their other assets. Those other assets could
go into a NFS(Fidelity) brokerage account and I could put them in any
load fund, bond or even stocks although they said that shouldn’t be my
focus- after all- VALIC is their “baby”…When not visiting schools or
hospitals I could prospect for business just like any other broker… So
they say…
[/quote] this is true but its not like you are lurking in the hall ways in the dark. Typically you have the office send out memos that you are going to be on campus and the teachers will sign up to see you one by one. The company will allow you to sell whatever product you choose and they encourage you to use an excellent financial planning tool to uncover assets outside of valic and yes, you will have to consolidate some of the assets into current plans, but surrenders are usually over (5 yrs). I have worked for over 20yrs in the industry…the business model is not a bad deal…the bad deal is that the company doesnt pay on the business you do for a very long time and unless you enjoy working for nothing…rarely do you get paid within a month of doing business. All 403b companies are the same, dont give VALIC a bad rap for a crappy product…quite the contrary…the product is great for the clients…just not great for the adviser looking to feed his family. Mind you, the company is feeling the pinch too, and management does their very best to make sure everyone is happy…sometimes its just a bad deal with good people

You are right about Reps leaving. They had a lot of long term reps that the new management did not value. The managers are paid on how many reps make quota and the newer guys have low quotas. They lean on the fact they have a 1 year non compete when they push the older reps out. They are losing market share. The comp is a real problem too. 403 b is a relationship business folks and they don’t get that at all.