Life Insurance Agent

The following job responsibilities are common for individuals in life insurance agent roles:

• Market services and cold-call individuals to expand leads for potential buyers
• Negotiate the enrollment of one or more individuals into life and/or health insurance plans
• Meet with potential buyers to determine needs and budget
• Review a variety of life insurance plans to find those that provide the best coverage at a price the buyer can afford
• Assist buyers with the application process for securing new life insurance coverage

A Day in the Life

Unless they work directly for a life insurance provider, few life insurance agents specialize solely in selling life insurance plans. The process of becoming licensed to sell life insurance is the same as the process of becoming licensed to sell health insurance, so many life insurance agents specialize in selling life, health, and supplementary insurance plans. Additionally, some specialize in financial planning, selling life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) plans, and annuities.

Annuities are a specialized product sold by life insurance companies that offers incremental payments to buyers who’ve invested a lump-sum up front. Annuities can begin paying out payments as soon as they’re purchased, or they can payout after a certain number of years or upon death. Annuities are often purchased as an investment, as retirement plans, or as life insurance at times when an individual is still supporting children. For this reason, many life insurance agents also specialize in financial planning.

Life insurance agents earn the bulk of their income—if not all of their income—off of sales of policies, so a huge part of their job is recruiting new buyers and convincing buyers to purchase and/or renew their benefits. When working with a new buyer, the life insurance agent works to understand the budget and needs of the client, and then recommends appropriate plans from one or multiple insurance companies. The agent also helps the buyer apply for and enroll in coverage, or to purchase annuities.

Typical Work Schedule

Most life insurance agents work full-time schedules, and most choose their own schedules rather than working any set hours each week. They may need to be available to work with clients during both normal business hours and on evenings/weekends.

Projected Job Growth

In order to remain profitable, insurance providers must have a constant influx of new customers. For this reason, demand for life insurance agents is expected to increase in the coming decade as more insurance providers seek to expand their coverage to new markets and customers.

Typical Employers

Life insurance agents may work for insurance agencies as salespeople, for financial planning businesses, as self-employed sellers, or directly for one of the major U.S. life insurance providers: MetLife, Northwestern Mutual, New York Life, Prudential, or Lincoln National.