Thanks for the great forum, wish I would have found it before I started this journey.
Here is my situation:
Past stockbroker for 7 years (owned firm), worked at a bank for a while, have been a mortgage loan officer for the last 5 years.
Decided I wanted to go back into financial services, never did insurance before, wanted to do it this time due to some eye opening experiences with my parent's circumstances. Very motivated on insurance now ( almost feels crusade like).
I have my Life and health, E&O, just passed my P&C test, did all of this as I had the time and opportunity, unfortunaly I did not do enough due diligence....
I have found that I may only be able to get a job paying 30k ( used to making 75-150+ my whole life) or less working for an existing P&C agent to learn the trade...I have an appt to interview at Nationwide next week for the agent program ( they say they have the lowest capital requirement to get started out of all of the big companies, 10k ( I'm in Georgia by the way).
My dream was to open my own agency offering many companies to my clients so I could offer unbiased best suited solutions....as a brand spanking new agent , this does not seem possible.
My opportunities seem to be:
1) Go for the Nationwide gig, make the best of it ( more research needed).
2)goto work with an existing agent ( i have a referral partner I could work with but low income will cause great pain...thinking I could work a deal ,I have scheduled an appt to pursue that option)
3) Just go ahead and do my own agency, hook up with a co like insurancenoodle or the like. continue doing mortgages and step up the health and life activity.
I have a a decent following as I help people with finances and such and have a following of customers/clients that are ready to use me, I work with great attorney who gives me leads and and have great contacts in the local mortgage market as well.
I have spent a lot of time getting my licenses and I'm ready to work now. I have been an independent self starter for a long time but am very flexible and can adjust to about any circumstance.
Based on this post, I really am looking for advice form someone who has been there, done that.
Thanks again for such a wealth of info and a great forum.
Welcome to the forum. You have your work cut out for you. It is awful hard to start and agency from scratch with no experience. I would look at your first two options at least until I gain experience. If you go the P&C route it will probably take 2-5 years to generate the income you are use to.
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I think life insurance is a faster means of generating that type of income. Have you looked at NYL, MM, Guardian, NWML, or Metlife? They are the big names. Metlife pays a starting salary for the first 17 weeks. I think they pay up to $1,000 or so.
Last edited by xrac : 08-05-2009 at 08:45 AM.
Reason: Posts merged
I'm bias, but I would think LIfe/Health would be better then P and C starting off.
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Had /have life and health for around a year now, people are asking for other lines, mostly P&C...seems many on the forums is dead set against anyone being a P&C agent and to try offer customers a choice is for the foolhearty...unless it's for life and health....everytime I go into to business and talk to anyone in the feild that I am pursuing I have always been told "it's a bad business to get in" for p&c it's so bad that it seems to be impossible to get in ( if you want to be independent)...the very business seems to be a closed door. I am being asked to provide service in this area and I will continue to persue it, just looking for advice on how to offer what my clients are asking for....telling me to sell life and health is great but it wasn't the question. Not looking to offend anyone , just looking for advice
Had /have life and health for around a year now, people are asking for other lines, mostly P&C...seems many on the forums is dead set against anyone being a P&C agent and to try offer customers a choice is for the foolhearty...unless it's for life and health....everytime I go into to business and talk to anyone in the feild that I am pursuing I have always been told "it's a bad business to get in" for p&c it's so bad that it seems to be impossible to get in ( if you want to be independent)...the very business seems to be a closed door. I am being asked to provide service in this area and I will continue to persue it, just looking for advice on how to offer what my clients are asking for....telling me to sell life and health is great but it wasn't the question. Not looking to offend anyone , just looking for advice
It boils down to this. It typically takes longer to build a P&C book and get the renewals coming then it does with other products. With P&C renewals is where the money is at. When you say that Nationwide has the lowest initial investment it seems to infer that you may not have a lot of liquidity. Since you want to pursue P&C only you can determine which option is truly best for you. The most critical thing will be to survive financially while you build a book of business.
It boils down to this. It typically takes longer to build a P&C book and get the renewals coming then it does with other products. With P&C renewals is where the money is at. When you say that Nationwide has the lowest initial investment it seems to infer that you may not have a lot of liquidity. Since you want to pursue P&C only you can determine which option is truly best for you. The most critical thing will be to survive financially while you build a book of business.
You are quite right here, I have cut down my expenses to an all time low and do not have a lot of cash at the moment, 401k is very low, but I am still doing home loans ( very few) and and selling some other hard assets , selling some life and health and an annuity here and there....I have a few other sources for leads for p&c and a possible position at a small firm to be the p&c agent...I went the state farm interview route but pulled out because of the high $$ requirement and there now seems to be an agent in every strip mall. Haven't heard bad or good about nationwide. I am also very interested in selling business lines ( workmans comp, setting up plans, group deals, commercial buildings, etc.) ...I have a good many irons in the fire ( as you can see from this post and the others in this thread ) and many appts set for the on coming weeks....still would rather do my own thing , I'm just thinking I need to be able to have p&c lines and at this point only something like insurancenoodle may be my best choice....I will continue to carry on add lines and look at growing my situation..but with an open mind and I'm not far enough in that I can't change direction should any of these options fill the bill.
you are quite right here, I have cut down my expenses to an all time low and do not have a lot of cash at the moment, 401k is very low, but I am still doing home loans ( very few) and and selling some other hard assets , selling some life and health and an annuity here and there....I have a few other sources for leads for p&c and a possible position at a small firm to be the p&c agent...I went the state farm interview route but pulled out because of the high $$ requirement and there now seems to be an agent in every strip mall. Haven't heard bad or good about nationwide. I am also very interested in selling business lines ( workmans comp, setting up plans, group deals, commercial buildings, etc.) ...I have a good many irons in the fire ( as you can see from this post and the others in this thread ) and many appts set for the on coming weeks....still would rather do my own thing , I'm just thinking I need to be able to have p&c lines and at this point only something like insurancenoodle may be my best choice....I will continue to carry on add lines and look at growing my situation..but with an open mind and I'm not far enough in that I can't change direction should any of these options fill the bill.
Thanks for all of the comments so far
welcome...theres alot a good input here for you. i came from a military background then got licensed in many things but was captive. I decided like you to pursue an independant status without any out of pocket money that allowed me to sell health, life, LTC, medd supps, P&C, anuuities and much more. A PERFECT FIT contact me at rhbenefits@live.com and i can explain further
If your looking to get started soon and with low overhead we may be able to help, if we are not the right fit for you I may have other options for you.
Thanks for the great forum, wish I would have found it before I started this journey.
Here is my situation:
Past stockbroker for 7 years (owned firm), worked at a bank for a while, have been a mortgage loan officer for the last 5 years.
Decided I wanted to go back into financial services, never did insurance before, wanted to do it this time due to some eye opening experiences with my parent's circumstances. Very motivated on insurance now ( almost feels crusade like).
I have my Life and health, E&O, just passed my P&C test, did all of this as I had the time and opportunity, unfortunaly I did not do enough due diligence....
I have found that I may only be able to get a job paying 30k ( used to making 75-150+ my whole life) or less working for an existing P&C agent to learn the trade...I have an appt to interview at Nationwide next week for the agent program ( they say they have the lowest capital requirement to get started out of all of the big companies, 10k ( I'm in Georgia by the way).
My dream was to open my own agency offering many companies to my clients so I could offer unbiased best suited solutions....as a brand spanking new agent , this does not seem possible.
My opportunities seem to be:
1) Go for the Nationwide gig, make the best of it ( more research needed).
2)goto work with an existing agent ( i have a referral partner I could work with but low income will cause great pain...thinking I could work a deal ,I have scheduled an appt to pursue that option)
3) Just go ahead and do my own agency, hook up with a co like insurancenoodle or the like. continue doing mortgages and step up the health and life activity.
I have a a decent following as I help people with finances and such and have a following of customers/clients that are ready to use me, I work with great attorney who gives me leads and and have great contacts in the local mortgage market as well.
I have spent a lot of time getting my licenses and I'm ready to work now. I have been an independent self starter for a long time but am very flexible and can adjust to about any circumstance.
Based on this post, I really am looking for advice form someone who has been there, done that.
Thanks again for such a wealth of info and a great forum.
Grickie,
I have been working for a State Farm agent for almost 3 years now. I have to admit that the pay is probably not going to be what you are use to. You will probable have a salary in the 30K or 40K range and might have the option of making some commish/bonus. However, this is probably the best way you can learn the insurance basics on a day to day basis (and you probably won't be under the gun to hit a specific number of sales). Depending on how patient you are, this may be a good way to start out.
In California, Nationwide/ALLIED home and auto insurance is one of the lowest premiums, highest value. That being said, thay are not that strong in commercial. You have really (2) options. Forget the captive agent side- seriously. Option A. Find a brokerage that will teach you and have all the appointments in place so you can compete. They will typically give you a 50/50 split and proably 20% on renewal. The great thing is that they already have the best programs and inhouse underwriting/administative service. Option B- do like me and get your E&O, get onboard with a GA and get every possible person to buy something from you. In a year of the grind start looking to get your own appointments. That way you can truly service your customer (real time quotes with instant binding authority) Best of luck.
1st Post , Newbie Advice Needed
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