How to Find a Life Insurance Agent
Life insurance is a type of insurance product that helps protect consumers and their families against financial risk when a loved one dies. Life insurance agents are trained, licensed sellers of life insurance policies and investments. They can represent a single life insurance company or sell a broad selection of products from different companies. Finding a life insurance agent can involve four types of resources.
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Instructions
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Rely on professional associations. Professional organizations that represent the needs of life insurance agents or regulate life insurance agents can assist in your search. Groups like the American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI), the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors (NAIFA) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) all provide tips, lists and directories of life insurance agents and companies.
NAIFA publishes a tool on its website that allows you to perform a ZIP code search for a nearby life insurance agent. The ACLI offers an educational portal about life insurance that includes links to find brokers and agents. FINRA provides a searchable database of life insurance agents and brokers and also publishes a directory of investment advisers and professional designations so you can understand what types of training your life insurance agent has undergone.
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Contact life insurance companies directly. Life insurance companies maintain directories of brokers and agents who sell their products. You can search these directories to find a nearby life insurance agent. Companies also publish lists and contact information for their local and regional offices, staffed by life insurance agents. Although most life insurance company directories feature agents who specialize in that company's products, they can still help you find nearby life insurance agents.
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Tap into your personal and professional networks. Asking your colleagues, friends and family members for recommendations for life insurance agents is very similar to asking for suggestions for doctors or dentists. A Twitter tweet, Facebook post or LinkedIn update can produce a list of nearby life insurance agents whom your network prefers. You will also get feedback on the agent's customer service, knowledge and expertise with life insurance.
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Talk to your employer's human resources staff. Your employer's benefits manager works with all types of insurance agents to help put together the company's benefits package, so she is probably familiar with the life insurance agents working in your community. Asking her for advice could yield a list of local agents whom you can contact about purchasing life insurance.
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