When you ask children what they want to be when they grow up, it’s almost a given you’ll hear answers like police officer, firefighter, doctor, or even Iron Man or Wonder Woman. One answer you probably will not hear is, “I want to sell insurance!” Most young people aren’t introduced to insurance until they learn to drive, and even then, it still may not register as career option. Most adults don’t think of insurance sales as a career option either.
But they should. There are several reasons being an insurance agent may be your dream job.
WHY PEOPLE CHOOSE INSURANCE AS A CAREER
No College Degree Needed
According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, the median pay for an insurance sales agent in 2018 was $50,600 per year.1 When you consider that no special education beyond a high school diploma and passing your state’s licensing exam is necessary, an insurance career can put you ahead of the game since you aren’t entering the job market with the burden of student debt. Some insurance companies may prefer new agents that have no prior experience and would rather train agents according to the company’s systems and processes than have to retrain an agent from another company.
Life Insurance is an Essential Product
Most people get health insurance (major medical) and some life insurance through their employer. The amount of life insurance is typically modest, and some employer provided benefits may end if a job is lost or changed. This makes it all the more important for people to obtain additional life insurance coverage that is not tied to their employment.
Help Protect Families
Life insurance exists to help meet the four basic needs a family must address upon the death of a breadwinner. The first of these needs the family is likely to confront are the final expenses of the deceased, including funeral costs, lingering medical expenses, and other outstanding debts. While this need may be the most immediate, it will be followed in short order by the need for income replacement and mortgage protection. Finally, though the need may not be as immediate, at some point, the family will have to deal with funding the children’s education.
Work with Purpose
Although insurance agents aren’t your stereotypical comic book heroes, they can certainly save the day financially for families experiencing a loss of income due to the death of a loved one. Helping people meet these needs during some of the worst times of their lives is the aspect of an insurance career that can be the most satisfying.
Earn What You’re Worth
Compensation for insurance agents takes several forms; typically, it’s 100% commission-based. This means their income is based on their own efforts. As empowering as this is in the short term, it has the potential to pay off in the long term in the form of renewals. Simply stated, renewals are residual income from sales generated in the past as long as premiums continue to be paid on those sales. Based on the company’s vesting requirements, the agent continues to be paid in addition to receiving commissions for any new sales that agent makes.
Opportunity for Great Fun
Still another attractive aspect of insurance sales is the incentives. Companies often hold sales contests with various prizes at stake. In addition to earning company and peer recognition, agents have an opportunity to earn trips to exciting destinations in the United States and sometimes abroad.
Insurance sales may not be the first thing that comes to mind when weighing one’s career options, but it should be. Considering that opportunities for insurance agents are projected to grow 10 percent from 2018 to 2028, faster than the average for all occupations,1 a career in the insurance industry might just be a dream job for highly motivated, driven individuals.
Learn more about agent opportunities at American Income Division
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Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, March 26, 2020
Categories: Career Opportunities, Careers in Insurance