Insurance Career Questions (Part 1)

What type of insurance agent should I be?

It totally depends on what you are interested in. If you like dealing with investments, estate planning,

family continuation, or business continuation, that'll be Life insurance. Health insurance interests include Medicare Supplement and Long Term Care needs as well as helping people get the type of insurance they need to meet their medical requirements. Property and Casualty would be for the agent who likes to deal more with tangibles such as covering people's home, business, auto, or boats. It also covers liability issues to protect people against lawsuits that might come their way. Be the best agent you can be!

What are the advantages to selling life and health insurance over property and casualty insurance?

The advantages to selling any type of insurance lies within the indvidual agent. What are you comfortable with and what do you most believe in?

What type of insurance is best to sell when you are just starting out?

Again, that depends on where your interests lie. Often a new agent is well advised to start with a company that has a training program. It's good to have a mentor whom you respect and can learn the ropes from. There are both Property/Casualty and Life/Health companies that have such programs.

Some agencies also have training programs that encourage new agents to learn from more experienced agents. Often the new agent will share commissions with the experienced agent on these joint sales calls.

Does it make a difference (in terms of income and career expectations) what type of insurance I sell?

Yes. As far as income, larger first year commissions often come from Life or Health Insurance sales.

Selling auto or home insurance (Casualty and Property, respectively) yields lower first year commissions, but agents often sell more of these types of policies. Second year and other future commissions are generally higher with the Property and Casualty customers.

Career Expectations- It is generally considered that P & C (property and Casulaty) agencies require more maintenance, in that customers have more changes with buying and selling property and claims must be handled. For this reason agents find they need staff earlier on and on a consistent basis or the agent will get bogged down with the daily business and will be unable to maintain client relationships and build a bigger agency.

Life and Health agents do tend to narrow their focus, as well, as some will stay with the sale of individual policies, some will move into group sales, some will move into estate planniing, and some will gravitate into securities. Many Life agents will develop agencies in which they have specialists to help in the various areas their clients need help; the agent uncovers the need and then works with the agency specialists to bring more focus on the particulars.

If I want to be a life insurance agent, should I sell health insurance too?

You can sell Life insurance by itself, or along with Health insurance. Often agents will have both licenses because opportunities come up and you don't want to leave an opportunity staring you in the face. Even if you end up referring the Health business to another agent, you can still split commissions or get a referral fee if you also have a Health license.

 What insurance company should I work for?

You should work for an insurance company with which you feel comfortable- both in the types of policies sold as well as with the training, coaching, mentoring, and other assistance available  through the company. Also, does it have standards with which you can identify and fit in?

13 Types of Insurance a Small Business Owner Should Have

1. General Liability Insurance: Every business, even if home-based, needs to have liability insurance.  The policy provides both defense and damages if you, your employees or your products or services cause or are alleged to have caused Bodily Injury or Property Damage to a third party.

2. Property Insurance:  If you own your building or have business personal property, including office equipment, computers, inventory or tools you should consider purchasing a policy that will protect you if you have a fire, vandalism, theft, smoke damage etc.  You may also want to consider business interruption/loss of earning insurance as part of the policy to protect your earnings if the business is unable to operate.

3. Business owner’s policy (BOP): A business owner policy packages all required coverage a business owner would need. Often, BOP’s will include business interruption insurance, property insurance, vehicle coverage, liability insurance, and crime insurance . Based on your company’s specific needs, you can alter what is included in a BOP. Typically, a business owner will save money by choosing a BOP because the bundle of services often costs less than the total cost of all the individual coverage’s.


4. Commercial Auto Insurance: Commercial auto insurance protects a company’s vehicles. You can protect vehicles that carry employees, products or equipment. With commercial auto insurance you can insure your work cars, SUVs, vans and trucks from damage and collisions.  If you do not have company vehicles, but employees drive their own cars on company business you should have non-owned auto liability to protect the company in case the employee does not have insurance or has inadequate coverage.  Many times the non-owned can be added to the BOP policy.

5. Worker’s Compensation: Worker’s compensation provides insurance to employees who are injured on the job. This type of insurance provides wage replacement and medical benefits to those who are injured while working. In exchange for these benefits, the employee gives up his rights to sue his employer for the incident. As a business owner, it is very important to have worker’s compensation insurance because it protects yourself and your company from legal complications. State laws will vary, but all require you to have workers compensation if you have W2 employees.  Penalties for non-compliance can be very stiff.

6. Professional Liability Insurance: this type of insurance is also known as Errors and Omissions Insurance. The policy provides defense and damages for failure to or improperly rendering professional services.  Your general liability policy does not provide this protection, so it is important to understand the difference.   Professional liability insurance is applicable for any professional firm including lawyers, accountants, consultants, notaries, real estate agents, insurance agents, hair salons and technology providers to name a few..

7. Directors and Officers Insurance: this type of insurance protects the directors and officers of a company against their actions that affect the profitability or operations of the company. If a director or officer of your company, as a direct result of their actions on the job, finds him or herself in a legal situation, this type of insurance can cover costs or damages lost as a result of a lawsuit.

8. Data Breach:  If the business stores sensitive or non-public information about employees or clients on their computers, servers or in paper files they are responsible for protecting that information.  If a breach occurs either electronically or from a paper file a Data Breach policy will provide protection against the loss.
9. Homeowner’s Insurance: Homeowner’s insurance is one of the most important kinds of insurance you need. This type of insurance can protect against damage to the home and against damage to items inside the home. Additionally, this type of insurance may protect you from accidents that happen at home or may have occurred due to actions of your own.

10. Renter’s Insurance: Renter’s insurance is a sub-set of homeowner’s insurance which applies only to those whose who rent their home. The coverage is protects against damage to the physical property, contents of the property, and personal injury within the home.

11. Life Insurance: Life insurance protects an individual against death. If you have life insurance, the insurer pays a certain amount of money to a beneficiary upon your death. You pay a premium in exchange for the payment of benefits to the beneficiary. This type of insurance is very important because it allows for peace of mind. Having life insurance allows you to know that your loved ones will not be burdened financially upon your death.

12. Personal Automobile Insurance: Another very important type of insurance is auto insurance. Automobile insurance covers all road vehicles (trucks, cars, motorcycles, etc.). Auto insurance has a dual function, protecting against both physical damage and bodily injury resulting from a crash, and also any liability that might rise from the collision.

13. Personal Umbrella Insurance: You may want some additional coverage, on top of insurance policies you already have. This is where personal umbrella insurance comes into play. This type of insurance is an extension to an already existing insurance policy and covers beyond the regular policy. This insurance can cover different kinds of claims, including homeowner’s or auto insurance. Generally, it is sold in increments of $1 million and is used only when liability on other policies has been exhausted.