Anybody out there work for New York Life?Go to Top
After recieving feedback and advice I have decided not to go with Bankers Life and Casualty and am now looking into New York Life. Is there anybody out there currently working for them, or who worked for them in the past? I am interested in all information, training, commissions, length of time agents work with them, how many hours should I expect to put in (daily) etc. Thanks in advance.
NY Life is a good company. Top ratings, and it is said that their training is the best. Their managers are solely responsible for training and recruiting and do not sell personally, so they are invested in your success. Generally they have been known to focus on more higher income clients, but I don't know if that's as much the case now as then. I think they expect you to have your Series 6 by the end of the first year. I have interviewed with them several times and have been impressed every time with their professionalism. I have noticed that they have begun to do some more advertising lately, mostly focused on annuities from what I've seen and heard.
You could get a lot of those questions answered by contacting the closest NYL agency.
I've been with NYL for almost 6 yrs now. Feel free to PM me or ask any questions. I really enjoy having a great company behind me.
You can pretty much contract with the carriers that you like (a few restrictions during the first 3 yrs and if you are securities licensed you have to obviously use the products that are available with thier B/D.). They don't allow you to sell equity indexed annuities, but I don't have a problem with this. As for the hours, I think it really depends on the office you are working with. I have never had any set hours. It is my office/agency. If I don't work, I don't make money, so I put in a lot of hours, but so should every new business owner. They do require a minimum annual production requirement to keep a contract with them, but it is minimal (I believe 18K). Their main focus is life, investments (mainly annuities) and LTCi.
I posted a response, but i don't see it here so I will post again. I have been with NYL for about 6 yrs now. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have specifically. One thing I like about NYL is that I can still write with any company I want (they don't allow you to write equity indexed annuities, but I'm fine with it).
All the securities industry scrutiny whether they should be considered securities or fixed products and all the B/D issues involved like supervision, suitability and compliance. Other B/D have also said that their reps can't sell EIAs. They thought about selecting a few EIAs (NYL never had one), but decided it wasn't something they wanted to do. Probably a bit of them not wanted to get involved and potentially taking away from fixed and variable annuity sales.
Not sure if the old NYL threads are still here but try a search as NYL and Metlife have been discussed a few times.
Real quick-
Your success with NYL with greatly depend on Manager and training. The whole reason to be captive is for the training. As such make sure the following-
How long has the manager been there?
How many of current agents have they hired?
Whats the average tenure of the agents in office?
On and on....
Basically you need to find out if manager is a success?
Metlife- get prepared to sell before your hired and let them terrorize your friends and family...
I just currently had my 2nd interview today with one of their "Partners", which I believe is a recruiter/mentor/manager of 6 agents at this point. (There are more Partners and agents at this office). The 2 people that I have currently met appear to be well qualified with many credentials but have only been with NY Life for 6 months to 1 1/2 years. Naturally their main product is Life Insurance but I did find out today that they are NOT captive. Sure NY Life products come first, but they also told me they work with other companies to offer clients some other options. ie. Health Ins. with Assurant, Aetna etc.
Being new they stress NY Life University, part of their extensive training, which is the best in the industry.Training is never ending, with an expectation to get your Series 6 Lic. within 6 months. They are flexible in that they will allow me to continue my Physical Therapist job and work with me when it is convenient (after hours, wkends). They urged me to not quit my job, reinforced that if NY Life makes it seem "easy" to be a success, that it is NOT easy, but takes hard work. (Did not concentrate on the potential to make 75K-250K your first year.) I felt like they were sincere in wanting me to be a success and not turn my life upside down in making a poor decision for myself and family about a career change.
Advice: Talk to a NY Life Rep, and any others-John Hancock, AXA, Norwest, Metlife.
They strongly discourage you form selling other products/companies the first few years as all bonus's are based on NYL production.
From what I remember you do not own your book till 3-5 years out. So if that's still the case then Yes you are captive.
Captive to me = not owning your book.
Mikespine, I would ask following questions (if you haven't already)-
"I understand Mr./Ms. NYL that you have been here for around a year, what did you do before this?
What were your annual sales figures?
How did you hit those number?
Did you build and manage a sales team before this?
How many agents have you hired are on the staff at this time and may I speak with them one on one? When you speak to an agent ask things like
"Does the manager go on apts. with you without begging?"
"How is the training"
On and on....
Remember do not be in awe of the name or the gold cap building. Your putting your butt on the line and you had best interview them as they are you.
Perhaps it was a challage years ago to get into NYL but as of now they will take any one with a warm market. I get letters from a new branch manager here in MI like every 9-12 months.
Basically to any looking at a company like NYL - make sure the management team is top flight and going to be there to train/surport you.
Last edited by MIBizInsurance : 04-04-2007 at 05:55 PM.
However if your going to work for one of em you better get some basic questions answered and know what your dealing with. The Metlife office here in SE, MI is known as a joke due to recruiting manager there. The NYL office is no better as constant changing of managers.
For a new person a good/great manager can and often will make all the difference.
Company name means little if the person mentoring a new person is not top notch. Hell, really don't think company name means much any more. Folks are so jaded towards any financial co. that they are really buying you any ways.
Last edited by MIBizInsurance : 04-04-2007 at 06:19 PM.
I've been an independent agent for years. Only once did I consider going "career company", and I looked ONLY at NYL. They are top notch in my opinion. If I were starting over I would start at NYL, would I stay forever? Don't know, but I dang sure would start there!
My whole point in all this is for any new person to investigate and ask questions. Not all NYL offices are the same and as such you want to make sure that the manager who is going to help build your career is "top notch"
Don't be in awe and go blindly foward. Ask questions!
Thanks for all of the great information. I have my first interview with NYL tomorrow a.m. I definitely agree, with any company, you are only as good as your training and your manager - I definitely will ask these questions.
The 2 people that I have currently met appear to be well qualified with many credentials but have only been with NY Life for 6 months to 1 1/2 years. Naturally their main product is Life Insurance but I did find out today that they are NOT captive. Sure NY Life products come first, but they also told me they work with other companies to offer clients some other options. ie. Health Ins. with Assurant, Aetna etc.
During your first few months, you'll have to get permission to contract with those companies, as they want you focused on NYL products. At that point, you can write with other companies that they have agreements with. After three years, when your training allowance subsidy ends, you can write with almost any other company.
For experienced agents, they can elect to give you a contract with no training allowance at all, but no real restrictions. It's for the type of agent with some success that walks in and says "Look, I'm interesting in representing your products, but I'm not giving up anything I've been doing".
They are flexible in that they will allow me to continue my Physical Therapist job and work with me when it is convenient (after hours, wkends).
If you are offered a TAS contract with training allowance, you MUST turn full-time within 180 of contract approval and you cannot have any other employment at that time. Basically, they want a significant commitment if they're investing in the training for you. Perhaps you could work in a different field if they would offer you the same contract as an experienced agent (no training allowance or much in the way of restrictions) but I'm not aware of such a situation because it's really meant for indies and people from other companies that want to add NYL to the mix.
Anybody out there work for New York Life?
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