Looking to start career in insurance, looking for advice

[Matthew Campbell]

Hello everyone,
I posted the other day about looking to become a state farm agent but it seems as if most everyone on here recommends going indy. I am about to graduate college and have worked at State Farm for two years so I have not experienced the other side of things. I am still just curious about how the two options differ and if there is anything else I should consider? Thank you!

 

[Chazm]

My friend worked for SF for a few years and then 3.5 years ago he got his own office in Jacksonville. He has kicked ass with them.

 

[Markthebroker]

Your best bet is to go captive for a year or two as an employee (I prefer State Farm out of all of them) and get a feel for the industry, and figure out where you want to go from there. I worked for SF for 10 months, then went indi commercial.

 

[Dreamiekid]

Your best bet is to go captive for a year or two as an employee (I prefer State Farm out of all of them) and get a feel for the industry, and figure out where you want to go from there. I worked for SF for 10 months, then went indi commercial.

I agree,

Learn everything from State Farm then move to Indy so you can learn the other crazy things.

 

[BADTROUT]

Just sayin...

 

[Mike007]

The difference between captive and independent is very small. Independent Agents get paid higher commissions and renewals. They also need to know more underwriting as they have more companies to pick from. Independent Agents use a comparison rating system so they can quote all insurance companies at once vs doing it one by one. Beyond that, everything else is the same.

 

[goillini52]

The difference between captive and independent is very small. Independent Agents get paid higher commissions and renewals. They also need to know more underwriting as they have more companies to pick from. Independent Agents use a comparison rating system so they can quote all insurance companies at once vs doing it one by one. Beyond that, everything else is the same.

Sorry, but you're WAY off base, as far as there being a small difference between Independent and Captive..

 

[BADTROUT]

Sorry, but you're WAY off base, as far as there being a small difference between Independent and Captive..

I wouldnt say WAY off base... yes I agree commission varies and there is no clear advantage to indepent over captive save for getting to choose distribution channels.

The rest though is somewhat exactly on my area of expertise. Yesterday I talked to 3 separate Farmers agents, the three have 63.5 years combined experience. All of which are talking about what their company is going to do to them in June. Refigure the "Contract Value of their relationship" so everyone knows as a captive, you have certain advantages and marketing is so much easier, but your trade off is being a pawn at the whim of your leadership and in some cases stockholders. These guys stand to lose about 30% of what they were promised if they hang on past June. They arent alone, the State Farm, Farmers, AmFam, AllState etc etc agreements are all changing rapidly to the favor of the company. Mark my words, several of these are showing real signs of entirely changing their model to potentially open up distribution to centralized direct writing by the carrier, and even writing through indy agents.

That said, there is big money to be made by both, and in both you can find success... but there are signs you see in my world and having been captive myself that make it a clear choice.

Ask all of the captive agency owners, have they ever considered going independent or if they used to be. Then ask the same of indy agents if they consider going captive, or used to be. Its enlightening to find more indy agents used to be captive, and a micro speck in comparison of captives were once indy.

I take on indy agents at the same pace that I take on captives... only with captives it's more of a how and when convo than a why would I convo.

Great one viewpoint education on captive side, on the indy side it depends greatly on your mentorship and the contract you secure. Youll be learning in some cases excellent structure, some guided, and some plain bad. So no, it's not as simple as the picture I posted earlier, bit if you are going to make a mistake, Male a mistake where you have more opportunity to bounce back from.

I had three of my CSRs get taken in the same week in early 2018, they went to State Farm because there was more opportunity, it was a shot to my ego for sure. However we replaced them and my ego confidence healed because at about the 120 day mark, none of which worked at State Farm any longer. All back at independent agencies (not mine) with a clear understanding of the word opportunity.

@Matthew Campbell you seem like a smart guy just for seeking opinions. I think you'll be fine no matter where you land or where your career takes you after... be hungry and youll succeed.

 

[goillini52]

I wouldnt say WAY off base... yes I agree commission varies and there is no clear advantage to indepent over captive save for getting to choose distribution channels.

The rest though is somewhat exactly on my area of expertise. Yesterday I talked to 3 separate Farmers agents, the three have 63.5 years combined experience. All of which are talking about what their company is going to do to them in June. Refigure the "Contract Value of their relationship" so everyone knows as a captive, you have certain advantages and marketing is so much easier, but your trade off is being a pawn at the whim of your leadership and in some cases stockholders. These guys stand to lose about 30% of what they were promised if they hang on past June. They arent alone, the State Farm, Farmers, AmFam, AllState etc etc agreements are all changing rapidly to the favor of the company. Mark my words, several of these are showing real signs of entirely changing their model to potentially open up distribution to centralized direct writing by the carrier, and even writing through indy agents.

That said, there is big money to be made by both, and in both you can find success... but there are signs you see in my world and having been captive myself that make it a clear choice.

Ask all of the captive agency owners, have they ever considered going independent or if they used to be. Then ask the same of indy agents if they consider going captive, or used to be. Its enlightening to find more indy agents used to be captive, and a micro speck in comparison of captives were once indy.

I take on indy agents at the same pace that I take on captives... only with captives it's more of a how and when convo than a why would I convo.

Great one viewpoint education on captive side, on the indy side it depends greatly on your mentorship and the contract you secure. Youll be learning in some cases excellent structure, some guided, and some plain bad. So no, it's not as simple as the picture I posted earlier, bit if you are going to make a mistake, Male a mistake where you have more opportunity to bounce back from.

I had three of my CSRs get taken in the same week in early 2018, they went to State Farm because there was more opportunity, it was a shot to my ego for sure. However we replaced them and my ego confidence healed because at about the 120 day mark, none of which worked at State Farm any longer. All back at independent agencies (not mine) with a clear understanding of the word opportunity.

@Matthew Campbell you seem like a smart guy just for seeking opinions. I think you'll be fine no matter where you land or where your career takes you after... be hungry and youll succeed.

I don't know anything about PC, I don't know how much difference there is between Independent and Captive in the PC world..

As far as Life and Health, I've spent almost half of my career as a captive. 16 years with Globe Life/UA and 1 year with Physicians Mutual, and 20 years as an Independent.

I agree, there's great training with a captive, but once you're no longer green, the difference in commissions is ridiculous!!! As an Independent, my commissions increased 50% and my offerings improved greatly. I wish I would've gone Independent a lot sooner.

I value my freedom, and you have a lot more freedom when you're Independent. When you're captive you're under a manager, and if you don't get along with him/her you can either grin and bare it, or transfer to a different office...if the company will let you. As an Independent, nobody tells me what to do. If an FMO pisses me off or does something I don't like more than once...I fire their asses....which I've done several times. In the case of dishonesty they don't get a second chance(CW). I've had good luck getting releases when I fired them(including CW), but just in case, I'd never put all my eggs in one basket. I don't understand the need to be with either this FMO or that FMO. A lot of these FMO's are semi captive...no thanks.

To each his own, but I love the freedom that comes with being Independent.

 

[Rob Lion]

I was captive my first 2 months in the business (Life & Health) and i honestly think people over exaggerate the training these companies give, go indy get more commissions get under a good upline and they'll teach you and ask thousands of questions i still learn new things from every agent i encounter.