How to Become an Insurance Agent

Series Summary

Insurance is a form of risk management that is often overlooked until it is needed due to an accident or unfortunate incident. There are many different types of insurance, including health insurance, life insurance, car insurance and long- and short-term disability. While paying the monthly or semi-annual premiums is a pain and a financial burden for many people, the piece of mind and potential benefits are extremely necessary for anyone who can afford insurance. In this free video series on insurance information, an experienced insurance agent answers a variety of common insurance questions. Learn how to get health insurance, how to pick a health insurance plan and how to reduce car insurance payments. Get tips on temporary health insurance, car insurance liability limits and getting car insurance after a DWI. Insurance is often seen as an expensive hassle, but in the event of an emergency or accident, it is extremely beneficial.

Video Transcript

"I'm Seann McWhorter, Agency Principal of Insure Right Insurance Agency, located in Lehi, Utah. We're here to talk about the ins and outs of insurance. Today, we're going to talk about, how to become an insurance agency. Just a little background that you may want. Most companies that are looking for insurance agencies, or agents, don't necessarily require a college degree, but it is highly recommended that you do have at least a bachelor's degree. It really doesn't matter what that degree is in, but a bachelor's degree is helpful. Some of the personality traits that may help you in this profession, is you need to be willing to go out and meet and talk to people, because in all reality, you are a professional, but you're also a salesman, and you need to have the ability to talk with people, and interact well with people. In becoming an insurance agent, there are several different tracks that you can take. One of the easiest and most common tracks people take, is to apply to be an agent, with what is called in the industry, a direct writer company, or an exclusive company, or a captive agency, such as State Farm Insurance, or Allstate Insurance, or Farmers, and there are many other companies, that do that. The benefits to starting your career as an insurance agent,with one of these types of companies, is they provide a great deal of training. They do offer subsidized compensation packages, in your early years. The way an insurance agent gets paid, is a commission, based on the premiums that are gathered on the insurance policies, that are sold,and as your book of clientele increases, then obviously, your income level will increase, so in the early years, it can be difficult to get established as an insurance agent, because you don't make a tremendous amount of money, off of each individual policy, up front. Over time though, however, you will accumulate a large clientele, and your incomes will increase. Working with a captive company, you do get usually really good training, the enhanced compensation plans in the early years, but there are some drawbacks to working as a captive agent, because you are tied to just that one company, and you're limited to what that company is able to do. One of the other avenues that you can take to become an insurance agent, is to go to work for an independent insurance agent. An independent insurance agent, is someone who does not necessarily represent just one carrier, but represents multiple carriers, and multiple types of insurance. Some of the advantages of working with an independent insurance agent, is that you are not tied into any one company. You can actually match the company, or go out and look for a company, that matches the clients that you have. Some of the downsides to it, is that there are not usually any subsidy available to you, to help you get started, and so you really have to know what you're doing. There's not as much training provided. It's more of a hands on learning experience."