A high school friend unexpectedly reached out to me recently, announcing his newfound passion for personal finance after joining Northwestern Mutual. As a dedicated follower of Boglehead principles and Dave Ramsey’s advice, with four years of experience in indexing and term life insurance, I knew better than to purchase anything from him. When he asked for the contact details of five people, I firmly declined.
Another mutual friend contacted me, mentioning that he had approached her to sell insurance (which she wisely declined) and asked for ten names, which she provided. I advised her to reach out to each of those contacts and warn them to ignore his calls and avoid getting roped into buying insurance or giving further referrals.
Now, I’m in a dilemma. I want to follow up with him to explain the poor reputation of Northwestern Mutual and highlight that what he’s doing doesn’t constitute genuine personal finance. However, I’m unsure how to approach this conversation, especially since we’re not particularly close anymore—though we did date in high school. My primary concern is preventing him from selling questionable products to people we both know.
Has anyone else experienced a similar situation and can share how they handled it?