- 2,758
Amen to that.
All of you people bad-mouthing the father ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Amen to that.
All of you people bad-mouthing the father ought to be ashamed of yourself.
- 25,900
There are many many agencies out there. I doubt there are many, if any, agents here that are with the same agency they started out with. At least on the Independent Life side. .
- 10,687
Send him to this site. Its a plethora of information. There is a "getting started selling insurance" thread on here that is a very good starting point for new agents.
Your son needs his comp agreement in writing. If its not (many shady GAs dont) then its a shady situation for him to be in and there will be zero recourse if he is screwed over.
Working with an agency should mean the agent is given support. Training, leads, office/overhead, etc. These days, the office/overhead is not nearly as important as it used to be. So a good question to ask is "what is the agency giving him that is beneficial"??
Now, his exact situaiton would be helpful here. Is he just a life agent? Is he a life agent at a life focused agency? Is he a life agent at a Property & Casualty focused agency (that sells home/auto)?
His current comp setup and contracting setup puts him at serious risk of being taken advantage of.
He is being paid by the agency... not the carrier... which means he has assigned his comp to the agency. Most agents are paid directly by the carrier, the agency never sees or touches the funds. There are VERY FEW good reasons to assign comp to an agency.... the ONLY reason a new agent should do that is if they are getting tons of support, and have a comp agreement in writing.
If he is getting training, leads, and overhead.... then maybe its worth assigning comp. But that means he is getting a haircut on his comp to pay for that overhead/leads/training. He is getting $500 on a $1k policy when he could be getting $900-$1,100 on that $1k policy.
A contract to sell life insurance is something he can get with 1000s of agencies and IMOs around the country.... without assigning his comp or taking a haircut. If he has a license, they will contract him with whatever carriers they offer.
So he needs to evaluate what he is being given, and what he is giving up. Training is the main thing he should be receiving in his current setup. These days, overhead is not nearly as important as it was 10-20 years ago. I operate with a phone and laptop... anywhere in the world I have an internet connection.
Your son needs his comp agreement in writing. If its not (many shady GAs dont) then its a shady situation for him to be in and there will be zero recourse if he is screwed over.
Working with an agency should mean the agent is given support. Training, leads, office/overhead, etc. These days, the office/overhead is not nearly as important as it used to be. So a good question to ask is "what is the agency giving him that is beneficial"??
Now, his exact situaiton would be helpful here. Is he just a life agent? Is he a life agent at a life focused agency? Is he a life agent at a Property & Casualty focused agency (that sells home/auto)?
His current comp setup and contracting setup puts him at serious risk of being taken advantage of.
He is being paid by the agency... not the carrier... which means he has assigned his comp to the agency. Most agents are paid directly by the carrier, the agency never sees or touches the funds. There are VERY FEW good reasons to assign comp to an agency.... the ONLY reason a new agent should do that is if they are getting tons of support, and have a comp agreement in writing.
If he is getting training, leads, and overhead.... then maybe its worth assigning comp. But that means he is getting a haircut on his comp to pay for that overhead/leads/training. He is getting $500 on a $1k policy when he could be getting $900-$1,100 on that $1k policy.
A contract to sell life insurance is something he can get with 1000s of agencies and IMOs around the country.... without assigning his comp or taking a haircut. If he has a license, they will contract him with whatever carriers they offer.
So he needs to evaluate what he is being given, and what he is giving up. Training is the main thing he should be receiving in his current setup. These days, overhead is not nearly as important as it was 10-20 years ago. I operate with a phone and laptop... anywhere in the world I have an internet connection.
- 4,082
I’m in maryland and happy to give him another place to work.
- 17,038
You could read this thread that explains more about him working as an independent agent. My agency specializes more in the Senior market. But much of this applies no matter what market he wants to go into.
He doesn’t have to work for anyone. Most experienced agents don’t.
Getting Started with FE Sales
Whst product is he selling? If umiversal life, then he is paid on tsrget premium. If he were max funding it. It would not be uncommon to be paid on just $700 of $1000 sale.
- Thread starter
- #18
Most all of you should pat yourselves on the back. Not only is there a plethora of good advice here but the thoughtfulness and compassion just screams that you guys(all) are good people. I can't thank you enough. I'll update you when warranted.
He sells whole life insurance and that's it. As I was cleaning our garage the other day, I found notebooks of his completely filled, front and back of every page with insurance information, what to know, pitches, technical information and so on. This was all his doing. He wasn't getting any help with this. He obviously doesn't know a fraction of what most of you understand but he'll get there. He pushes himself very hard and learns quickly. He's certainly much quicker and smarter than me but he doesn't have experience which is critical.
On last thing. I question my son as to his success or lack of to make sure he's not embellishing his accomplishments. He pays his rent, pays for his car, gas, food etc. One thing I can't understand is motive. Why would an owner or someone high up in the company want to thwart anyone's success.......This is why I've asked my son time and time again about how well he's doing. By the way, my son is a 1099 and signed a contract that has 15 months left on it. He also had to sign an NDA and I believe a non-compete agreement.
He sells whole life insurance and that's it. As I was cleaning our garage the other day, I found notebooks of his completely filled, front and back of every page with insurance information, what to know, pitches, technical information and so on. This was all his doing. He wasn't getting any help with this. He obviously doesn't know a fraction of what most of you understand but he'll get there. He pushes himself very hard and learns quickly. He's certainly much quicker and smarter than me but he doesn't have experience which is critical.
On last thing. I question my son as to his success or lack of to make sure he's not embellishing his accomplishments. He pays his rent, pays for his car, gas, food etc. One thing I can't understand is motive. Why would an owner or someone high up in the company want to thwart anyone's success.......This is why I've asked my son time and time again about how well he's doing. By the way, my son is a 1099 and signed a contract that has 15 months left on it. He also had to sign an NDA and I believe a non-compete agreement.
- 2,348
Since he is 1099'd, and therefore not an "employee", I don't think the non-compete would be enforceable. I'm not even sure the contract he signed is enforceable. However, I'm not an attorney and I would advise him to ask an attorney before GETTING THE HELL OUT OF THERE!
In your first post, you have a link in there that says "Quote". If one clicks on that link, even though it doesn't work, you can still see where it was supposed to go to a place called n.a.a.i.p. That organization is a HUGE red flag around here. If that is who he is with, then he is with a terrible and, as far as we can see, a crooked organization.
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