Captive - Then Agency - What is Next?

[masterofnone]

Hello all. First I want to say thank you to everybody who posts here. I've been reading for a few weeks and this site has been great!

About Me: Captive agent for 5 years, grew very tired of the system and of having financial services shoved down my throat. A couple of 20+ year vets in my district were forced (hounded) out because they were not selling enough life. I decided to go Indy and worked for a large agency in another town selling commercial pc.

I've taken these steps to get to this point, I'm tired of making other people money. I want to hang my shingle and go for it. My problem is I've sold a little of everything, personal lines, commercial, life, LTCi, health. After reading the board i'm really confused now on what my focus should be. I would like to start a p&c biz and sell life to pay the bills. Who knows.

My questions I can think of now.
1. Are you set up as an LLC?
2. What IMO's will help me in Illinois.
3. Do I need an office? Does anyone sell p&c out of your house?
4. If I do approach one of the small local p&c agencies what is the standard price to buy? Is it 2 X's commision?

Thanks and I apologize if this doesn't make any sense. It is late and i'm a little to far into the vodka!

 

[xrac]

Hello all. First I want to say thank you to everybody who posts here. I've been reading for a few weeks and this site has been great!

About Me: Captive agent for 5 years, grew very tired of the system and of having financial services shoved down my throat. A couple of 20+ year vets in my district were forced (hounded) out because they were not selling enough life. I decided to go Indy and worked for a large agency in another town selling commercial pc.

I've taken these steps to get to this point, I'm tired of making other people money. I want to hang my shingle and go for it. My problem is I've sold a little of everything, personal lines, commercial, life, LTCi, health. After reading the board i'm really confused now on what my focus should be. I would like to start a p&c biz and sell life to pay the bills. Who knows.

My questions I can think of now.
1. Are you set up as an LLC?
2. What IMO's will help me in Illinois.
3. Do I need an office? Does anyone sell p&c out of your house?
4. If I do approach one of the small local p&c agencies what is the standard price to buy? Is it 2 X's commision?

Thanks and I apologize if this doesn't make any sense. It is late and i'm a little to far into the vodka!

Welcome! I leave the answers for others but I will say that if you incorporate I think there are advantages to an S corp.

 

[DJM]

S corp if you are doing this by yourself, if you will have many partners, and/or land, you may want to look into an LLC

 

[insuranceexec]

What part of Illinois? I know of several IMO's in Illinois that can help get you started in the right direction.

 

[briko3]

LLC if you own the land, S corp if you rent. The reason why is that if you own the land and building, you can lease it to your business and use that rent payment as a paid out dividend that you don't have to pay FICA/FUTA on. Actually, you'll want the S corp for the business and the LLC for the land. Both make it work and it's pretty cheap to do.

Good luck.
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Oh, and make sure you're renting from yourself at market rates or you will be in big trouble.

 

[masterofnone]

What part of Illinois? I know of several IMO's in Illinois that can help get you started in the right direction.

I'm in the Champaign/Danville area which is the east-central part of Illinois.

 

[insuranceexec]

I'm in the Champaign/Danville area which is the east-central part of Illinois.

This gentleman is close to you. His name is Jim Discherts and his number is 309-530-4744. Tell him that insuranceexec sent you. I hope this helps.