Aries79
New Member
Good Morning! I have be perusing the forum for a few days now, and I have a question regarding 'reasonable expectations of annual income" in the FE business. I know this will vary greatly depending upon many factors, so I will give a little bit of background about myself.
Several years ago I dabbled in P&C as a licensed CSR who wrote occasional home and auto policies. That fizzled out as the Agency I was working for decided they only wanted "commission only" field agents, who would then rotate CSR/office duties. At the time, I was unable to make that transition due to the time frame I would have to go without income before my first commission payments would come in. Shortly thereafter, a close friend of mine suggested I try to get into Life & A/H with the company she was working for as a new career agent (Monumental). Since I have always been a people person, who truly likes to help others, and to top it off, I could sell salt to a slug (though I never would as it wouldn't be in the slugs best interest..LOL), I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, I became ill just shy of my 1 yr with them and had to resign as I didn't quite qualify for STD or FMLA. I was successful with them during my short time there. The book of business I was given was in shoddy shape to say the least, and I turned it around and then some. Every week and every month I placed in the top 3-4 agents out of our office (give or take with the high turnover there was on average 16 agents there).
Since I was ill, and then recovering, I let my license go due to not doing my C.E. I am intending on taking my Life and Health exam late next week and was originally looking to get back into Life as a captive career agent, and hoping to get on with AGLA as they do offer some pay guarantee during training, however, the appeal to be independent (which I know is not realistic for me right now financially), is growing on me.
Since I have been reading through the forums, I am starting to lean greatly toward FE. However, if that is the route I choose to take, I will need to be able to afford to obtain and retain my own health insurance for my family and myself.
Any tips, opinions or suggestions? If I could start out in FE it is a lot easier (I am gathering) to switch to captive life than it would be vs the other way around (with non competes, etc). Thanks for your your previous postings which have helped tremendously and also for what I know will be insightful responses!
Several years ago I dabbled in P&C as a licensed CSR who wrote occasional home and auto policies. That fizzled out as the Agency I was working for decided they only wanted "commission only" field agents, who would then rotate CSR/office duties. At the time, I was unable to make that transition due to the time frame I would have to go without income before my first commission payments would come in. Shortly thereafter, a close friend of mine suggested I try to get into Life & A/H with the company she was working for as a new career agent (Monumental). Since I have always been a people person, who truly likes to help others, and to top it off, I could sell salt to a slug (though I never would as it wouldn't be in the slugs best interest..LOL), I decided to give it a shot. Unfortunately, I became ill just shy of my 1 yr with them and had to resign as I didn't quite qualify for STD or FMLA. I was successful with them during my short time there. The book of business I was given was in shoddy shape to say the least, and I turned it around and then some. Every week and every month I placed in the top 3-4 agents out of our office (give or take with the high turnover there was on average 16 agents there).
Since I was ill, and then recovering, I let my license go due to not doing my C.E. I am intending on taking my Life and Health exam late next week and was originally looking to get back into Life as a captive career agent, and hoping to get on with AGLA as they do offer some pay guarantee during training, however, the appeal to be independent (which I know is not realistic for me right now financially), is growing on me.
Since I have been reading through the forums, I am starting to lean greatly toward FE. However, if that is the route I choose to take, I will need to be able to afford to obtain and retain my own health insurance for my family and myself.
Any tips, opinions or suggestions? If I could start out in FE it is a lot easier (I am gathering) to switch to captive life than it would be vs the other way around (with non competes, etc). Thanks for your your previous postings which have helped tremendously and also for what I know will be insightful responses!
