The way around the fees is for the company to pay them. My brother works as a wealth advisor for a top swiss bank and all of his licenses were paid for up front. He also got a starting salary of ~50k while training. Of course that's nothing once he hits his sales numbers which he's on target to do. There's a reason why the avg salary for financial advisors is 130k.

Primerica is pretty much the bottom rung of the financial services ladder. Most of what they sell is variable annuities, proprietary mutual funds, and life insurance. By doing the Multi-level stuff they recruit people w/ little financial knowledge who call on their friends/family to put money into underperforming/overpriced products and rake in the fees. Combined w/ the high dropout rate of associates who have already pulled in their friends money...it's hugely profitable for Citi despite having such a negative rep. Ameriprise is pretty much the same way.

I was up in NYC interviewing w/ a couple banks for a Wall St. IT position and I got a call from Primerica. They started off telling me they were Citibank...then it progressed to them being a subsidiary. I thought it was something my headhunter got me but it was just their standard pitch where the essential qualifications are the ability to read/speak english, and have plenty of friends to hit up for money.

If you're highly skilled at sales, going w/o salary may be reasonable but if you're that good it's much more likely a top company will pay up front for your training and expenses. I on the otherhand prefer to stick w/ software since I'm on target for six figures within a year.