Recent College Grad, Should I Work for New York Life?

[xrac]

That's your pure assumption. That simply isn't the case in real life. JMO

I have never had one person ever say to me that they were looking for a CFP. None of the best financial people that I know are CFPs. CFP might have been the designation to pursue a few years ago but now I would personally much rather be a ChFC. However, the first designation anyone who sells insurance should pursue is the LUTCF in my humble opinion. The number of people taking the CFP exam peaked in 2006 and has declined since. 9,284 took the CFP exam in 2006 but only 6,059 in 2009.

 

[jdmiii]

You should also take a look at monumental. They have a career agent program that will give you a base salary while you get your feet wet. You will have to work your ass off, but at least you will get some type of compensation.

 

[xrac]

You should also take a look at monumental. They have a career agent program that will give you a base salary while you get your feet wet. You will have to work your ass off, but at least you will get some type of compensation.

Metlife, AGLA and Western Southern also offer an initial salary.

 

[Josh]

Where do you get your leads at liberty mutual? Is it company leads or is it self generated leads?

Some of their agents buy lists from me, but from what I understand the agent themselves is mostly (if not wholly) responsible for generating their own business.

 

[Bob Klee]

I agree with xrac on this.

"However, the first designation anyone who sells insurance should pursue is the LUTCF in my humble opinion. "

LUTCF is excellent because you can leave class, almost every week, with new ideas/skills to help you sell more life insurance. I encourage anyone who has earned the designation to volunteer to give back by teaching a class. You won't regret it.

 

[billberry12]

What about Mutual of Omaha as a career agent. Anyone have knowledge of new agents success with them?

 

[jdmiii]

Some of their agents buy lists from me, but from what I understand the agent themselves is mostly (if not wholly) responsible for generating their own business.

Medicare,

Do you have any list for life? I need some leads.

 

[Josh]

Medicare,

Do you have any list for life? I need some leads.

I can absolutely compile a list for that. If you want to send me an e-mail with your number (her or on affordablemarketinglists.com) I can give you a call and go over what I can help you with.

 

[Norwayguy]

Talk to 10 LM agents and then talk to 10 NYL agents. The problem with NYL is that you're odds of developing any type of a steady income are fantastically low. The model of sell your family and friends insurance, then sell their family and friends insurance must have worked in the past, but in order to be truly successful at that you need to have multiple ways of marketing yourself and NYL has a less then stellar track record if you take a look at the number of agents that fail on their system. The ones that succeed do quite well for themselves, but they are the exception and not the rule. Most of the folks at LM aren't going to retire millionaires, but they have a steady situation and most of them probably make more than most NYL agents.

As a point of reference, NYL cuts your commissions too. As a true independent you can get better products and better commissions. NYL has a great training program, but they're not going to take care of you the way that LM will.

If you go with NYL I think you're regret it as much as 94/100 people do after 13 months. That's a fantastically high failure rate when you consider the amount of time and energy you'll put into most likely not making any money.

This is oversimplifying the issue, but as an agent that as done life as well as p&c, it's a hell of a lot easier to ask your friends/family/acquaintances/anyone if they want to save money on their insurance then it is to prospect with a life portfolio that is not competitive against any indy life agent.

About the NYL cuts your commission part. You have to remember NYL is a NY Company and like all NYL companies is restricted by NY Law to no more than 50 percent commission. However it can be may up with agent expense allowance and new agents are typically put on a TAS (Training Assistance Agreeement).

 

[Kenno]

What about Mutual of Omaha as a career agent. Anyone have knowledge of new agents success with them?


MofO's Career Agent program is very solid, but like any company your success depends upon how good your manager is and how willing you are to talk to pretty much anyone about their insurance needs. Success rate (unofficially, and in my backyard, so to speak) is about 1/3 of all new agents get contracted, and 4-year retention is industry standard, about 12%.

A recent college grad who is living at home is in a better financial situation IMHO to make this career work as opposed to a career-changer in their 40s due to the lack of pressure to produce right now in order to pay bills.

My advice - don't concern yourself with becoming a financial planner right out of the gate - there's plenty of time for that later. Learn how to prospect, how to sell, how to fact-find, how different demographics have different insurance needs, and always, always, always sell to the need.

As an aside, I listened to a DSM who spoke at GAMA a couple of years ago who specialized in hiring only recent grads, and the criteria for hiring was they (the grad) had to have at least 1,000 fans on Facebook. They then marketed almost exclusively to that base, and this DSM was doing very well in getting his agents to MDRT using this strategy.

Just because you're relatively young has no bearing on your success. I wish I had started this career at your age!