First off, I am a recent grad and have been given an offer from Mass Mutual and one visit away from an offer at Northwestern as a new Rep. Both of which are located in fairly wealthy areas. I really don't know which one to go with. Either way I will be completely committed to my work, ideally in a few years I want to work with investments, estate/retirement/college planning, in addition to life insurance. I have little startup money to invest in myself (but understand the importance of this), NWM is offering a draw of 4k, with potential for more if i meet with 15 clients or so a week(I think this would be difficult), and a laptop. Mass is offering nothing. Both offer free training and licencing reimbursement.
These are my assumptions please, confirm, comment, or disagree.
NWM maybe be a slightly easier name to sell especially to wealthier clients.
NWM will push Whole Life as the end all investment for all clients. (Drink the Kool-Aid)
NWM I will be captive, making it very costly for me to leave in lets say 5-15 years because I will need to build a new book.
NWM No one else can sell NW products giving them a competitive advantage.
Both will want me to push to my Natural Market/ Warm Market, which I honestly don't see many sales coming from.
Both offer no salary.
Mass offers a wider variety of investment vehicles as well as competitive life from an AAA rated company.
Mass I will have the freedom to run my business my way, while still gaining comparable support and training from the company behind me.
Mass I will be vested meaning I can leave with my book after a few years.(It seems there is some debate, but I was assured this is the case)
Also consider these other things, both managers I had spoke with had made significant incomes had used cold calling to start off or by buying leads and calling them, no matter what marketing plan the company had them make.
I know the first year may be tough so the 4K I will have to pay back in 18 months or so may help but should not be a deal breaker either way.
I would appreciate any advice, and remember I am committed and in if for the long hall, and I am prepared to cold call, join community groups, whatever, but I am not thrilled about soliciting my friends, (many of which def don't need life at this time.{age 20-23} Unmarried with low incomes) I also realize the particular branch, office, General Agent, and co-workers make a huge difference. All thing being equal, you honest input is appreciated.
First off, I am a recent grad and have been given an offer from Mass Mutual and one visit away from an offer at Northwestern as a new Rep. Both of which are located in fairly wealthy areas. I really don't know which one to go with. Either way I will be completely committed to my work, ideally in a few years I want to work with investments, estate/retirement/college planning, in addition to life insurance. I have little startup money to invest in myself (but understand the importance of this), NWM is offering a draw of 4k, with potential for more if i meet with 15 clients or so a week(I think this would be difficult), and a laptop. Mass is offering nothing. Both offer free training and licencing reimbursement.
These are my assumptions please, confirm, comment, or disagree.
NWM maybe be a slightly easier name to sell especially to wealthier clients.
NWM will push Whole Life as the end all investment for all clients. (Drink the Kool-Aid)
NWM I will be captive, making it very costly for me to leave in lets say 5-15 years because I will need to build a new book.
NWM No one else can sell NW products giving them a competitive advantage.
Both will want me to push to my Natural Market/ Warm Market, which I honestly don't see many sales coming from.
Both offer no salary.
Mass offers a wider variety of investment vehicles as well as competitive life from an AAA rated company.
Mass I will have the freedom to run my business my way, while still gaining comparable support and training from the company behind me.
Mass I will be vested meaning I can leave with my book after a few years.(It seems there is some debate, but I was assured this is the case)
Also consider these other things, both managers I had spoke with had made significant incomes had used cold calling to start off or by buying leads and calling them, no matter what marketing plan the company had them make.
I know the first year may be tough so the 4K I will have to pay back in 18 months or so may help but should not be a deal breaker either way.
I would appreciate any advice, and remember I am committed and in if for the long hall, and I am prepared to cold call, join community groups, whatever, but I am not thrilled about soliciting my friends, (many of which def don't need life at this time.{age 20-23} Unmarried with low incomes) I also realize the particular branch, office, General Agent, and co-workers make a huge difference. All thing being equal, you honest input is appreciated.
I think I can give you a better idea being over 3 years with Northwestern. You seem like you've already answered your question by the pros of each.
You will push whole life for Northwestern and Mass, but especially in your first 5 years. It is not the end all be all of investing. It is not an investment, but serves it's purpose in conjunction with one. There is a difference between long term high interest savings and an investment.
Northwestern is not captive. There are many agents at Northwestern that sell for a multitude of companies. You just have to make Northwestern minimums to keep your contract.
Northwestern is AAA from each of the four major independent rating agencies..Mass is not on one and I'm not sure which one.
You can run your business your way at Northwestern as well. There are Northwestern agents that make much more from investments than insurance.
You are vested at Northwestern after 5 years.
PM me the GA, and I'll see what I know about them.
Perhaps, if you are a top producer. The GA might give you one to get you over to him. Since you are a new guy, nope.
All the big carrier shops offer some sort of training salary/subsidy. And if you dig down, they all are going to pay you roughly the same for the same type of production. NYL and NWM will expect and reward you the most for whole life. MM will want life and DI from you. It appears MetLife is pushing term and variable annuities right now. See which product you believe in the most, and you will have the easiest time selling to your natural market and their referrals.
More importantly, find the place where you will be the best supported and most comfortable. The manager will play a big role in your success. There is nothing wrong with NWM, but you are doing yourself a disservice if you do not at least talk to NYL, MM, MetLife, and/or Guardian.
Perhaps, if you are a top producer. The GA might give you one to get you over to him. Since you are a new guy, nope.
All the big carrier shops offer some sort of training salary/subsidy. And if you dig down, they all are going to pay you roughly the same for the same type of production. NYL and NWM will expect and reward you the most for whole life. MM will want life and DI from you. It appears MetLife is pushing term and variable annuities right now. See which product you believe in the most, and you will have the easiest time selling to your natural market and their referrals.
More importantly, find the place where you will be the best supported and most comfortable. The manager will play a big role in your success. There is nothing wrong with NWM, but you are doing yourself a disservice if you do not at least talk to NYL, MM, MetLife, and/or Guardian.
System will not let me return PM until completing at least 20 post.
I'm at the Ft. Laduerdale, FL location. Which location are you in and how long have you been at MM? I hear nothing but good things from the staff there.
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Originally Posted by Chazm
Who are some of the companies you write for?
Right now I just have MM for Life and Investments.
Last edited by WiLd-WiLLy : 10-17-2009 at 05:31 PM.
Reason: Posts merged
For Someone who wants to be in this business long-term, there is no better training ground than Northwestern Mutual. I'm still in my twenties and after spending five years with NML it was time for me to leave the nest. Without the knowledge, business sense, & marketing training that I received there, I would never be able to work within the markets I currently do or have the skill set or a system to be able to produce 300k+ a year in life premium.
With that said, once you have reached that five year mark or so and have attained all the above mentioned invaluable skills, there is no logical mathmatical reason to remain in the NML system. Long-term, Northwestern's system is management focused not producer focused. It is designed to make management weathly rather than the producers, who are out there doing all the heavy-lifting and impacting peoples lives.
After year three you are at a basic 50% commission level. You are then responsable for all your office rent, staff expense, all computers and office equipment expense. Right before I left one year ago, these items for me totaled about $70,000 a year. I was writing around 250k of premium, which resulted in 125,000 of first year commission and had renewals of about 45k a year. So overall, I had a total of 170k a year of income but was only netting 100k without factoring in taxes. Especially when you are responsable for 100% of your referrals or new business generation this math just does not make sense.
So the best advice new people to the industry can ever receive is "learn the business as career, then grow your business and make money independent".
Have you ever worked there? Or are you spewing stuff you heard through the grapevine? From what I've heard, they're a great company if you know you'll stay there for 20+ years. Problem is, most people don't know where they'll be next year, let alone 20 years from now.
For Someone who wants to be in this business long-term, there is no better training ground than Northwestern Mutual. I'm still in my twenties and after spending five years with NML it was time for me to leave the nest. Without the knowledge, business sense, & marketing training that I received there, I would never be able to work within the markets I currently do or have the skill set or a system to be able to produce 300k+ a year in life premium.
With that said, once you have reached that five year mark or so and have attained all the above mentioned invaluable skills, there is no logical mathmatical reason to remain in the NML system. Long-term, Northwestern's system is management focused not producer focused. It is designed to make management weathly rather than the producers, who are out there doing all the heavy-lifting and impacting peoples lives.
After year three you are at a basic 50% commission level. You are then responsable for all your office rent, staff expense, all computers and office equipment expense. Right before I left one year ago, these items for me totaled about $70,000 a year. I was writing around 250k of premium, which resulted in 125,000 of first year commission and had renewals of about 45k a year. So overall, I had a total of 170k a year of income but was only netting 100k without factoring in taxes. Especially when you are responsable for 100% of your referrals or new business generation this math just does not make sense.
So the best advice new people to the industry can ever receive is "learn the business as career, then grow your business and make money independent".
How many companies did you train with to determine that their is "no better training ground than NWM"?
With only getting 50% comm. after 3 years, Im thinking I would be gone after 1
How many companies did you train with to determine that their is "no better training ground than NWM"?
With only getting 50% comm. after 3 years, Im thinking I would be gone after 1
Chazm~
There are plenty of great career companies that provide awesome training..and there may be one or two companies that are as good as NML. My comment was based on what the rating agencies as well as industry journals and magazines say year in and year out. NML throws ALL it's resources into training new people. Their internship has been ranked in the top ten internships, which looks at all industries, for the past ten years.
So with that, like I said, I'm having the time of my life being independent....but am very grateful for the time I spent at NML. Having spent time talking with all the "major mutual's local GA's" I'm convinced there was no better place for me to to begin my career.
^Ok I see. Do you feel now that you could have left earlier than 3 years to go indy or do you think that was a good amount of time
I was there for a total of about five years. In hindsight I believe I could have went indy around year 3, being that I had qualified for MDRT in year two and three, and by that time had acquired the "science" of client-building. However, in years four and five of my career I started to get really involved in the advanced planning marketplace's....ie NQDC, SERPS, Buy-sells, and estate planning cases. If it wasn't for the ability to pull in more experienced reps on these cases and work jointly with them on these cases I would have never learned the advanced planning side of the business this quickly.
So yes I could have went on my own around year three, which would have resulted in me making more in fyc in years four and five of my career as an independent. But, there's no way that I would be writing some of the cases that I am currently writing now if it wasn't for the mentoring and knowledge I got from experienced NML advisors.
In giving advice to others who are currently with career agency's like NML, Mass, NYL, & Guardian and are thinking of going indy, I would always urge them to when in doubt wait a little longer rather than leave to soon. Yeah you'll be making less fyc every year you stay in a career system, but over the course of your career I feel that you will make up that difference 40 times over from the knowledge you will be armed with. This is all assuming however that you have experienced, successful, veterans to learn from in the agency.
College Grad, Mass Vs Northwestern
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