Specialist, LTCi, DI, Annuities, Life, Designs In Life, LLC, Utah
Perhaps this question is best answered by the statistical averages gathered over the years by LIMRA (Life Insurance and Market Research Association):- Only about 7% of agents that sign on with a single insurance company remain with that company past the first five years.- The percentage that remains in the business after departing from their first insurance carrier is around 20% and each year that percentage declines.- About 3% of all individual sales representatives that enter the insurance business remain in the business for 20 years or more.- The average age of a life insurance agent today is about 57 years old.It has been said that if you can sell life insurance, you can sell anything. As a career, being a life insurance agent can be very rewarding, but it is highly unlikely that life insurance will be the only line of insurance you sell unless you become highly specialized and work with other advising financial professionals as a team in the high-net worth market. Otherwise, you will find it necessary to sell other lines of insurance, notably health, DI, Annuities, LTCi, or property-casualty insurance (auto, home, liability, etc.) to pay the bills.Sometimes, insurance agents become securities-licensed and obtain various professional designations that allow them to practice financial advisory services and sales of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. This is a fairly recent trend and usually results in the sale of life insurance being a rare occurrence due to all of the other responsibilities of being a financial advisor.Perhaps the most rewarding thing about being a life insurance agent (or being licensed to sell life insruance, among other things) is being the person that "delivers the check" to the survivors of someone that died prematurely and on whom there was a high level of financial dependence.
For most of us who have been around for 25 years or more, the answer is yes. The life insurance industry is a great vocation. You never really understand your career until you deliver your first death claim to beneficiaries. The power of handing over a check to a widow when every other creditor is hovering over her is one of the greatest experiences you’ll ever have as an agent.
Life & Health Insurance Agent, The Tooker Agency, Riverhead NY
For the right person selling life insurance can make for a great career. The key is figuring out if you're the right person. Short of second or third generation insurance families, you won't find anyone who dreamed of being a life insurance agent as a child. As William wrote above, the statistics for success in life insurance sales are terrifyingly bad. However the ever increasing age of the average life insurance agent along with so few new agents entering the industry will present some great opportunities for young people who want to build a business.
The demographics of the average life insurance agent are male, pale and stale. In other words, old white men. If the industry is to survive, and there is little doubt the industry will survive, those demographics have to change.
There are two primary facets of a life insurance career. You need to be good at sales, and you need to know insurance. My experience is that the few people who do succeed in this business had a solid foundation in one of those camps starting out.
A good salesperson has the ability to switch industries. If you have had some success selling cars or real estate or electronics, you will be able to sell life insurance. You will be able to learn the products and the industry as you go along and build a good career.
If you have solid insurance industry experience but have never sold anything, you also have a better chance at success. Even if your experience is as a CSR in a P & C agency, you will pick up the life insurance side of the business quickly. You already speak insurance, now you just need to learn how to sell.
But people who "try out" selling life insurance who have no sales experience and no insurance experience rarely succeed. It is just too difficult to learn the skill of selling at the same time you are trying to learn about insurance itself.
So yes, life insurance sales is potentially a good career if you have sales experience. It is also potentially a good career if you have experience in some other facet of the insurance industry. If you don't have either of those things, you will probably not find success in life insurance sales.
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The demographics of the average life insurance agent are male, pale and stale. In other words, old white men. If the industry is to survive, and there is little doubt the industry will survive, those demographics have to change.
There are two primary facets of a life insurance career. You need to be good at sales, and you need to know insurance. My experience is that the few people who do succeed in this business had a solid foundation in one of those camps starting out.
A good salesperson has the ability to switch industries. If you have had some success selling cars or real estate or electronics, you will be able to sell life insurance. You will be able to learn the products and the industry as you go along and build a good career.
If you have solid insurance industry experience but have never sold anything, you also have a better chance at success. Even if your experience is as a CSR in a P & C agency, you will pick up the life insurance side of the business quickly. You already speak insurance, now you just need to learn how to sell.
But people who "try out" selling life insurance who have no sales experience and no insurance experience rarely succeed. It is just too difficult to learn the skill of selling at the same time you are trying to learn about insurance itself.
So yes, life insurance sales is potentially a good career if you have sales experience. It is also potentially a good career if you have experience in some other facet of the insurance industry. If you don't have either of those things, you will probably not find success in life insurance sales.
Best of luck in your career!