Review: Is American Income Life an Insurance Scam? Be Careful.

Is American Income Life an insurance scam? You might have been offered a job at American Income Life and you're wondering if it sounds a little too good to be true. As it turns out, American Income Life is not what it seems. There are some very important things you need to know about this company! 

What is American Income Life? 

American Income Life (AIL for short) is an insurance company based in Texas that has been operating since 1951. The company's main products are supplemental health and life insurance. On the surface, it looks like an ordinary insurance company. However, American Income Life Insurance is a multi-level marketing company which does not have a good reputation online. 

The main reason American Income Life has become popular is because of the earning opportunity. People can register as independent contractors to sell insurance plans, also called "AIL Agents". The opportunity is conveniently called "Opportunity Unlimited" and it follows the typical multi-level marketing compensation plan structure.

National Income Life Insurance is a subsidiary of American Income Life, except it's based on New York. To make matters more complicated, American Income Life is a subsidiary of Globe Life Inc (Previously Torchmark). If you hear about either of these companies, the information in our review still applies. 

Is American Income Life an Insurance Scam? 

American Income Life is not an insurance scam because they do provide some insurance plans. However, the quality of the insurance plans are questionable. Take a look at some of the many complaints to get an idea. 

American Income Life Insurance Products: 

Before we get into the compensation plan, let's cover some of the types of insurance covered by American Income Life. Bear in mind, these are the products you'll be pitching to people as an agent. 

1 - Life Insurance

A basic life insurance package designed to provide financial support for loved ones if something happens to you. The funds can cover expenses like funerals and other services. You can choose full or term life insurance plans. There are lots of life insurance plans and most of them can be customized depending on your needs. 

There are also supplement health insurance policies that cover a wide range of specific health problems, such as cardiovascular health, cancer, diseases, accidents, care, and many others. 

2 - Child Safe Kit (AIL's Child Safe Kit)

Child safe kits are offered by American Income Life and they're designed to keep your child safe. The plans provide a wide range of tools that can help you keep track of your children, as well as help authorities find them quicker. The idea is to have a kit with all your child's information ready in case something happens.

These kits are usually offered by American Income Life insurance for free, as an incentive to join the company. I think using these kits as an incentive is morally questionable, and I'll talk about that a little later. 

Earning Money with American Income Life:

American Income Life Life does it's best to keep the compensation plan "behind closed doors" because it's not made publicly available.

Speaking of things that are not available, American Income Life also does not provide an income disclosure statement. Besides that, I found some interesting information about their compensation plan. 

Onboarding Process: 

The onboarding process works like this: an agent comes to your home and convinces you to sign-up for paid training course. The paid training is supposed to help you not only become familiar with sales tactics but also help you get a license to operate in your state.

The training usually costs $149 one time and it can take a week to complete. American Income Life does not pay for the training. You can also choose to sign-up through their website, under the "Career" section. 

1 - Commissions

As you might have guessed, American Income Life Insurance is commission-based, it's not an hourly position. After you complete the initial requirements, you'll be given some leads, and it's up to you to follow up on those leads. In most cases, that means you'll be cold-calling and visiting people at their homes. 

While the company does advertise a 100% commission rate, the truth is the first 45 days you only earn a 40%. After that, you can  move to the 50% commission level, and slowly continue moving up the ladder. While you can make some money purely from sales, the best way to make money is by building a team as a manager. 

2 - Team Bonuses

The team bonuses are unlocked once you reach the Manager rank, which requires a specific number of insurance sales. At that level, you can add new members to your team, and earn residual commissions from their earnings. The idea is to add more people to your downline so you can earn a percentage from their earnings.

Sound familiar? 

Bear in mind, it takes a while to reach the manager level because on top of the sales requirements you also need to complete lots of training and exams. Most people don't reach this level. 

Can You Make Money with American Income Life?

Yes. You can make money as an agent for American Income Life insurance. But it's a high-stress job that requires long-hours of cold-calling and following up on leads, on your own time and expenses. Most agents experience burn-out in the first couple of weeks and the earnings are not worth it. 

American Income Life Insurance Cons: 

Here are some important American Income Life cons you need to know about: 

1 - Bait and Switch Tactics

These tactics are very common when it comes to the multi-level marketing industry and they're very shady. How it works is they offer one product and then lead you to something else entirely.

One example of how American Income Life does this is by using the No-Cost Child Kits. Parents sign-up to get a free kit and then the agent tries to get them to buy life insurance or buy more up-sells. You can request one of the kits online, but there's a 100% chance you'll be bombarded with calls as soon as you submit the request. 

Besides that, another common way American Income Life gets referrals is by posting job offers on various boards, such as Indeed, Linkedin, and whatnot. From there, they'll invite you to join a conference where they pitch more about how to be an American Income Life agent, making lots of promises of income.

During the process, they'll conveniently leave out the name of the company, and even the job description, unless you specifically request it. Overall, lots of shady sales tactics. When you consider all these factors, it's easy to assume American Income Life is an insurance scam. 

The Bottom Line: 

Selling insurance can be profitable if you're outgoing and good at sales. However, you should only work for insurance companies that offer a salary position and don't use sketchy sales tactics. I do not recommend become an agent for American Income Life insurance, there are far too many red-flags to list here. 

If you're looking to make a little money on the side, what I recommend is learning how to build a profitable website. There's an online training center called Wealthy Affiliate (read our Wealthy Affiliate review for more details) that walks you through all the steps involved in that process. It's my favorite training center and I've been a member for over 6 years (and yes I'm still active on the platform).