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What advice can you give on rescinding a life insurance policy?

So here's my situation: A friend of mine referred me to this insurance company called World Financial Group. So I went and the agent there told me a bit about the company, and I thought I liked it, so I decided to agree to join the company as well as become one of their clients. I also wanted a job where I would be able to work with my friend. Later, being more informed about the company, I learned that my friend had recruited me, by referring me, so I was technically his client and I also work under him. So what I regret doing was putting $2400 up front for a policy called the Indexed Universal Life policy. Basically, it's a whole life insurance policy but it also has a cash value, which grows in interest and helps pay for the cost of insurance. What I liked about it was it seemed like an appealing way to invest my money in, since I have some spare money sitting around in the Chase bank, with a meager .05% interest rate. Now I'm hearing that it's illegal to sell IUL as an investment plan. There are a lot that I don't know about this policy, though the agent did a lot of talking. I probably know more about how to sell the policy than I do on how the policy works. I was told that in order to work in this company, I needed to purchase an IUL policy, otherwise, my clients wouldn't trust me. Isn't that illegal business practice? To force an employee to buy something you sell in order to work for the company? So this IUL policy I have, I believe covers me 500k if I pass away. The premium is $150 a month. I don't remember what percentage of the premium goes into the cost of insurance, and what percentage goes into the cash value. The thing is I don't need such a huge policy because 1) I already have a 400k SGLI policy, which costs $27/mo, because I'm in the Army Reserves, 2) After the $2400 runs out, which will probably happen pretty soon, I still expect to be in College, which means I won't have a job and a stable income to continue paying the premiums. At first, I thought I would stay in this company, and make pretty good income, and use that income to pay for IUL. However, a lot of heavy recruiting goes into working here. There's no required quota, where you have to recruit so many people otherwise you're fired. There is, however, a quota for advancement. I have to recruit 3 new employees and find 3 clients in order to be promoted. I'm not the one who does the recruiting either, I'm supposed to bring friends, family members, acquaintances - anybody I knew - and have the Marketing Director do all the talking. Me, I just sit back and watch how an experienced agent does it, because that's how I will be expected to do it as well. Being so uncomfortable about what's required of me, the fact that I would have to get my friends, family, classmates from several years back, pretty much anyone I knew into this business that I hardly know a thing about, I simply stopped coming to their meetings. I don't want to be making money off of the people I just listed, and if I did, I'd rather it be a good service that I can feel I've actually helped someone. I have a feeling that this company targets less educated people. This companies promises to "educate people on how money works," and that it "focuses more on concepts rather than products." So far, I found it all to be quite hypocritical, because it seems to take advantage of people who don't know very much about finances, and get them to buy actual products, e.g. IUL. So long story short, I want my money back. I'm not sure if that option is still available because it was Dec 15ish of '09 that I signed all those contracts and had my $2400 withdrawn from my savings. I'm not sure if I'll be able to cancel the policy AND get my money back because of surrender charges. I also feel very uncomfortable talking to my agent about this because to be honest, I don't trust him. I think he's just going to keep pushing for me to keep this policy and get me to start recruiting people again. Even he says he's very biased when it comes to giving his opinion on the financial world simply because the company he works for, WFG, sorta brainwashes you and indoctrinates you with a certain belief system. For example, term life insurance is bad because you don't get anything out of it once the term is over and you don't die. That's why I am asking for advice here. I want someone whose income does not depend on me sticking with a policy to give me advice, preferably someone who knows about this stuff, a life agent perhaps, or a client who knows what IUL is. If worse comes to worse, I might have to rescind the policy, saying that I wasn't well informed when I decided to go ahead with it, and that the main reasons why I bought IUL was because I thought it was good to invest my money in and because I was required to get it because I wanted to work for this company - both of which are probably illegal business practices, correct? So if you know about fi

Public Comments

1. I attended a World Financial Group presentation. I am convinced that it is a pyramid scheme. The only way to make money is to find others who are willing to join. But each of them loses, at least initially, more than you make. The only way for them to break even is to find still more individuals to join, but then they have to invest. You get the picture. So some individuals may make some money, but the average person loses.
2. You were bamboozled! I'm not into "financial instruments" and if you don't believe it/understand it - you can't sell it! You should take what paper work you have and go to the District Attorney and try to get your money back. Insurance is never an "investment" Ok it's an investment in Peace of Mind - but not if you have to become a vampire. Stick to selling what you understand - at some point in life you may have to hire yourself as a "salesperson" but only if you can Keep it simple.
3. You should have a free look period and you should jump on that and get your money back. A $500k UL policy for someone going into college is not a smart move. I pay $150/month for a $100,000 (which is smarter because more goes to cash) - so yours is not set up right.
4. lifeinsurance.awardspace.info - try this one. I have their insurance and, as remember, they can provide such a service.
5. WOW!, I hate to see this happen, it sounds like to old primerica scheme. A couple of things, one when you leave the service your SIGLI will run out, and then what will you do for insurance if you need it. Are you married, or have anyone financially dependent on you? If so take this into consideration, if not you have no current need for life insurance. You may want to maintain the policy just because in the future you may have a need for life insurance, but will have to pay more for it or worse, something may happen that will make you uninsurable. As far as the reason you were sold the policy, most states have laws against this type of sales/recruitment. Contact you state insurance commissioner to discuss this and what your options are. If you do not get the satisfaction you need contact the attorney general. Texas has some pretty strong consumer laws. As far as the policy itself goes, you are past the "free look period" so you can't just cancel it and get your money back, sorry. There is a chance that at your age the amount of your premium going to insurance is pretty small, and if the index performs well enough, the policy could become self sustaining, but my experience is the people who sell indexed policies are not educated enough themselves to sell them, and should be regulated more. Yes, it is illegal to sell life insurance as a retirement product.....sort of. It can serve as a retirement vehicle, but first and foremost it should be sold as a life insurance policy. I hope this cleared some of the waters for you.