Everybody Needs Insurance
Find me an adult, a business or a household that doesn’t have at least one insurance product? Don’t worry, I’ll wait :). People and businesses purchase insurance, and it’s been happening for centuries.
Choosing and Finding Your Path
Speaking high level for a moment, there are two general paths you can go down. I call this the “carrier side” -or- the “broker side”.
Carrier side means the insurance company. If we are talking health insurance think Blue Cross Blue Shield, CIGNA, AETNA etc. These are the companies that take the risk and hold the paper.
Broker side means insurance agencies, brokers and other entities usually involved in selling and servicing insurance to clients. Brokers and agencies (generally speaking) assume no financial risk as it relates to insurance claims.
When choosing a path, it’s important to think about your skill set, personality, and long-term goals. I went full steam ahead down the broker route in 2012. This fit my personality and aligned with my goals as I am entrepreneurial minded and wanted to grow my own business. I established my first insurance agency focusing on employee benefits in 2015. I haven’t looked back since and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Side note, I can probably count on both hands how many times I’ve worked on a Friday since June of 2015.
Insurance Industry Caters to All Kinds of Skill Sets
Over the years I’ve met tons of people in “insurance”. My next question is “What do you do insurance?” The answers never cease to amaze me. The insurance industry in the United States employs roughly 3 Million people in fields like; Data Analytics, Underwriting, Investment Managers, Financial, Legal, Sales, Customer Service / Account Manager, Claims Adjuster, Claims Examiner. There are jobs that keep you in the field, at an office, work from home and more.
Stability, Exciting, Changing With the Times
Times Are Changing –> Eye Opening Read
Insurance has been called by many a “recession proof industry”. There are numerous and fascinating stories about the origins of insurance. None the less, insurance has been around for centuries and isn’t going anywhere. Everywhere you look you can find insurance. Most people you meet, businesses you interact with, cars you ride in, airplanes you fly in PAY AN INSURANCE PREMIUM AND OWN AT LEAST ONE INSURANCE POLICY. Ask yourself, how many insurance policies do you have? Health Insurance? Life Insurance? Car Insurance? Homeowners Insurance? Business Insurance?
I think these are exciting times in the insurance industry. As business models change, so does insurance. How do you think car insurance companies are going to price our monthly premiums when self-driving cars start becoming a real thing? Will business insurance change if some, most, or all employees are working from home?
Insurance companies and the industry in general is forever evolving. As an example, with my agencies, I do not sell insurance in 2022 the same way I sold insurance in 2015. The pandemic and new technology created a fundamental shift in my thinking and 10 year outlook.
