For many people, a career where you can be in control of your own future seems very appealing. Even more, having a career where you are viewed as a professional with knowledge that can be beneficial to others seems even more appealing.

For anyone who has ever considered becoming a life insurance agent, this may seem like the perfect career, except for one thing: the actual logistics of selling life insurance. From how to be an independent insurance agent to working directly for a major company, and let’s not forget how to become affiliated with individual companies to sell their products, all of this can seem very confusing.

Even more, it seems difficult to know where to look for these answers. Unless you want to enter the business and learn through a “trial by fire” method, or you know someone in the business to give you the real story about the insurance industry, it is difficult to truly learn about working as an insurance agent.

The information presented in this article should provide a very basic explanation of the process of entering the insurance business, as well as working as an insurance agent. In addition, links to other sites and companies will be provided to get you started on a potentially new career.

Getting the License

The first thing you need to sell insurance is a license. In the insurance industry, there are many types of licenses for various types of products. For most people entering the business, there are two important licenses: life & health and property & casualty.

A life & health license is required to sell all types of life insurance, such as whole life, term, certain universal life products, and health insurance. The property & casualty license is needed in order to sell auto insurance, boat insurance, homeowners insurance, and other insurance to cover property. The licenses for life insurance and property insurance are different because the vast information and products that come under each heading truly require their own knowledge.

In order to get each license, a test must be passed which is administered through each State Department of Insurance. In some states, in order to take the licensing exam, a pre-licensing course must be completed. The pre-licensing course, which is usually around 40 hours, provides basic instruction on insurance products, state insurance laws, and insurance ethics.

For each state in which to intend to sell insurance, you must have the appropriate license. However, once you have successfully obtained a license in one state, passing a license test in another state is not required. You simply have to show that you have a license in your home state, and pay the license fee for the state in which you wish to obtain the additional license.