- 4,567
Thank you very much. Yes, we are intimately aware of various types of policies, etc. You better believe I know the uses and benefits of policies. I've studied this stuff in and out every day of my career.
Agents can play a very important role to the general population, no doubt about it. A vast majority of the population knows next to nothing about insurance in general, whether it's life, health, etc.
I'm not opposed to anyone having an agent in the least - I've obtained my own term policies through both Zander and Local Agents. There is also nothing wrong with jumping on a website and getting pricing/quotes, doing a little research and then using a local agent. Do I need help with all the things you mentioned? Absolutely not, but you are correct in that most people do.
What sickens me in my 24 hours on this site is that people think I have no knowledge of insurance when that's what I do for a living, every day, all day. Agents know the product (or should), but I know the products nearly as well as the agents and provide ratings, know laws and regulations and such. I have a wide array of knowledge on life insurance, whether it's Term or Perm.
I also have a background in math/finance and no one will never be able to convince me that anything other than Term is acceptable in 99.99% of circumstances from a mathematical stand point. Most true financial advisors (not agents selling it) agree with me on that. Now, I'm not telling anyone what to do - agents on here should do whatever it is they want and make their clients happy. As the saying goes, you do you. But don't tell me I don't know about life insurance or products.
Sincerely,
I believe you are very educated. However, I think where this appears to have went sideways is when you went on to an agent forum & began to instruct agents to go a direct to consumer site. you also then added that most agents don't know what they are selling and you see it. That is likely why some of these passionate agents are going off on you & being a bit hostile.
Keep in mind, the piles of surplus sitting in the current carrier you represent and the 4 previous ones was not built up because consumers came looking for life insurance. you may or may not realize this, but most consumers sat back & waited for an agent to approach them about life insurance 150 or 10 years ago. That is where the billions in surplus has been built so that you as an Underwriter, and myself as a home office employee have a job.
Lastly, while you may not appreciate captives, many are indeed competitive on some or all of their products & their market share in the industry dwarfs many of the non-captives. There is room for both without looking down you nose at one. those captives many times financed the entire industry when they paid inexperienced people to start in the industry as agents. those agents that made it then either became great agents for the captives or became independent. That is how you & I even have a job in the industry. if that cycled never started, neither you nor I would be on this forum. that is a fact that cant be disputed. captives financed it, agents found consumers & agents help clients to keep policies in force.
That is where I believe you incorrectly took a wrong turn in the conversation. Either way, it shouldn't take away from your education of products, but it may take away from your self awareness of the audience you are speaking to