How to Become a Life Insurance Agent, Plus Selling Annuities and Securities

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Selling life insurance can be a long rewarding career. It is one of the few careers where you may know the same clients for decades and you may end up serving entire families of people.

Life Insurance Requires Education

More so then any other type of insurance agent, life insurance agents typically are required to have a bachelors degree. Mostly, this is because of the extensive coursework and licensing that Is associated with agents who want to sell the broadest lines of insurance products possible. Good majors to consider for becoming a life insurance agent would be:

• Finance
• Marketing
• Economics
• Statistics
• Accounting
• Business Administration

In some states is may not be required that you have a college degree in order to sell basic life insurance. However, to get your Series 6 and/or Series 7 accreditations, many states require a college degree.

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Understand what Selling Life Insurance Means

Life insurance is a product designed to help families with the associated costs of losing a loved one. The death benefit that is paid out after the insured passes away can be used to any purpose. It is typically used by the family to cover lost income, business losses, and to cover ongoing expenses the insured was responsible for such as mortgages, personal debt, etc…

As a life insurance agent you will most likely be licensed to sell a wide range of products. These will most likely include annuities and possibly mutual funds if you get a Series 6 license. An annuity is a long-term retirement plan designed so that as you get older you wont outlive your monetary sources. Basically, it’s a retirement plan designed so that if you are on a fixed income or run into medical troubles later on in life, you won’t have to exhaust your savings to pay debts. The annuity is paid back to you after a certain term or beginning after a certain date. Normally an annuity is a tax-deferred growth investment.

Since most life insurance agents sell a wide variety of products, you will most likely be able to find a product tom serve each and every client that approaches you. This is one of the unique aspects of being an insurance agent.

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Getting Licensed to Sell Life insurance and Associated Products

You will have to jump through quite a few hoops to get your license to sell life insurance. First off you will need to attend around 40+ hours of pre-licensing courses. These courses will cover your state’s insurance laws and regulations, ethics issues associated with life insurance, and instruction on how to sell life insurance properly.

After your coursework you will need to pick which lines of life insurance related products you want to sell. Depending on what products you choose, you may need additional licensing and accreditation. To sell basic life insurance products like universal, whole, and term life insurance, you will need a Health and Life License. If you would like to sell annuities and investments, you will need a Series 6 or 7 in addition to your Health and Life License.

To acquire a Series 6 or 7 license you will need to contact the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (previously known as the National Association of Securities Dealers). Having a Series 6 license allows you to sell mutual funds and variable annuities to your clients. Having a Series 7 will allow you to sell everything the Series 6 does, plus you will be licensed to sell a wide range other investments like commercial securities. However, you will not be able to sell commodities and futures.

The main decision you need to make when entering the life insurance industry is: Do I want to only sell life insurance or do I want to sell securities and investments to my clients as well? If you decide that you want to offer annuities and securities, then I recommend going for the Series 7 as it will give you the most broad range of options possible.

To get started becoming a life insurance agent, contact your Department of Insurance and you may also want to contact the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for more information as well.

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