9 Benefits of Becoming an Insurance Agent

In the next ten years, India’s insurance market is expected to quadruple in size from its current state of $60 billion. However, despite being the second most populous nation, India’s insurance penetration rate is 3.42% far below the global average rate, which is 6.2% (Source: Insurance Report ‘Transformative Agenda for The Indian Insurance Industry and its Policy Framework’). As a result, the Indian insurance sector still has large untapped potential. As someone who’s looking to ride this money wave through employment, one of the simplest jobs you can consider is that of an insurance agent.

Insurance agents act as the final connecting link between the insurance company and the individual investor as a representative of the insurer. As an agent for life or general insurance company, you can enjoy a lot of benefits; monetary, social & personal.

Here’s a list of 9 unique benefits available to insurance agents:

1. Start Earning at the Age of 18

One advantage of becoming an insurance agent is the ease of entry; most agents need to have completed only senior secondary school. Right after completing your 12th, you can become an insurance agent. All you need is love for the thrill of the hunt, the rush of a sale.

2. Be Your Own Boss

If you have entrepreneurial inclinations and a passion for building your own business, perhaps you should try and become an insurance agent. When you work for yourself, you can work as per your schedule and also develop your own system for attracting and developing clients. The more you invest your time and resources, the more returns you can expect to get. You only need to have the right mindset to sell insurance in a rightful manner.

3. Build a Stable Income and Control the Growth

The industry offers huge untapped earning potential, and once you become an agent, your income is only limited by your desire. Because of under-served insurance markets, there is always this opportunity of earning more with a little more effort.

The best part is your one-time effort can build a long stream of cash flows, which can be maintained with minimal service efforts. Once you sell the policy, the earning doesn’t restrict to the first year only. You will earn on the policy renewal as well, which can easily go up to 30 years. Thus, over a period, your regular income stabilizes, and every additional effort only increases your income further.

4. Zero Investment Required

The only investment that you need to do is your time and effort. There is no upper cap on the income that you can generate.

5. Flexible Work Timings

Most office jobs require their employees to be at their desks at 9 am in the morning and must sit through the day till 6 pm. However, insurance agents have flexible working timings. As an insurance agent, you can choose to work as per your convenience or also establish your own office away from home.

If you are a homemaker, you can use the opportunity to become financially independent and contribute to your household income. Similarly, retired people too can create an additional income stream as an insurance agent by helping people understand and buy insurance plans. This also works as a great source of part-time income, for people who are already occupied with other jobs.

Once you become an agent for life or general insurer, you can choose the time and place you’d like to work.

6. Make a Difference in People's Lives

Do you think that only professions like doctors and teachers can positively impact people's lives? Insurance agents are equally rewarded as their work helps people to build assets, take care of child education, transfer wealth from one generation to the next, plan for retirement and much more.

The insurance industry offers you a golden opportunity to make a difference in people’s lives and society. Insurance is that economic instrument that saves families and businesses from falling into the vicious cycle of poverty.

As an insurance agent, you can change lives, and this feeling itself is greatly satisfying and should keep you in high spirits.

7. Learn from Industry Experts

Once you become an agent of a reputed insurance company, you get a lot of opportunities to develop your personal and professional skills through expert-led training programs. The training may include classroom instruction, field exposure, and one-on-one coaching.

The industry is keen on imparting training and development support to their agents, and thus, they provide additional training, organize seminars/workshops to help them learn more and network with other people. Once again as an insurance agent, you have a choice to learn from the best in the industry and keep yourself updated with the latest events.

8. Say Good-Bye to Paper Workin the Digital World

Gone are those days when agents used to carry loads of brochures and policy documents to meet clients. Nowadays, you have all brochures and application forms available at your fingertips. As a modern insurance agent, you can simply carry a laptop or a tablet to present your insurance plans to your prospects and complete the formalities for customers.

Even there is no need for a fat scheduler as you can use tablets (and even your smartphone) to manage leads, schedule appointments and explain products to the customer.

9. Rewards & Recognition

You get an opportunity to experience various national & international recognition forums as an insurance agent. For example, Asia’s Trusted Life Insurance Agents and Advisors, and Million Dollar Round Table(MDRT) memberships are a few big recognition forums for life insurance agents. Qualifying for these awards could be rigorous but, can also project the agent on the international stage. For instance, Asia Trusted Life Insurance Agents and Advisors witness participation from six Asian countries— China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, Taiwan, and Singapore (Source: Asia Trusted Life Insurance Agents and Advisors).

While your commission earnings are always there, these awards and recognitions are a cherry on the cake.

In a nutshell, if you are looking for careers where you can be your own boss, define your income by yourself, and help people build a financially stable future, becoming an insurance agent could be the thing for you.

ARN:- Jul21/BG/19