This report is not meant to shock you, but to clear up some misconceptions that most life and health insurance agents are living out a life of apps and money. These are our personal calculated figures being presented to you. Absolutely NO ONE, (outside of the IRS) knows exactly what agents actually earn. We will try to be as accurate as possible. If you asked a person what a professional salesperson earns, you would consider life insurance salespeople to be in this category. Hint - a non-insurance personal sales person tends to earns enough more, to put him/her in a more upscale neighborhood.

An income survey of insurance agents is without exception, entirely worthless. The experienced and wealthy pros will understate their earnings, while those in the lower income echelon might very well add an extra zero to their figures. What is certain, is that there is a broad spread between the proven professional insurance agent and the rookie. Plentiful articles have wrongly stated how much income agents obtain from their insurance sales efforts.
By analyzing thousands and thousands of agent records (over 750,000), we are able to calculate with some accuracy their income levels. For you to agree with our findings you must accept our assumptions... mainly that agents tend to live and work around their personal geographic location. Based upon realms of census data, we put a value figure of household income, plus home value to each and every zip code in the United States. Overwhelmingly, the high majority of insurance agents earn close to what their neighbors and counterparts earn. Therefore with some reservations, we must assume an insurance agent's net income will closely mirror that of others in their zip code area.

OUR DEFINITION OF INCOME: Total household income, after business expenses, and before taxes.

WHY INCOME IS LOW Non-insurance outsiders, when asked how much an insurance agent earns, would typically respond with an answer in the range of $40,000 to $70,000. A highly regarded insurance trade magazine reported a study determining the average agent obtained an income of $50,000 a year. Dream on. Our intensive study shows that currently only about 7% are at this level. Here's some understanding why: (1) There are just too darn many licensed insurance agents hoping to become to become professionals. (2) Recruiters are not initially selective enough when bringing a new agent into the insurance career. (3) New agents have no idea how much money that they will actually net, and how hard it will be to survive the first two crucial years.
MORE ON THIS SUBJECT For agents licensed under 18 months, they collectively post an outrageous agent turnover rate of close to 85%, stunning, but true. It might upset you enough to question the validity of "expert" career agent recruiters writing articles and giving verbal accounts of their strenuous and successful pre-qualifying process. While we believe that SOME accounts are true, we feel these exceptionally talented individuals are few and far between. After all, was it not a former insurance recruiter who proclaimed, "If you throw enough ___ (your word choice), against the ceiling, some will stick." This lethal rate of turnover causes the average agent longevity to amount to only 4.3 years of insurance experience. This figure has hardly inched upward during the last 3 years.

TOO MANY AGENTS Yes, it is true that licensed records show over a million life and health agents in the United States, possessing an "active insurance license." Maybe we are too harsh in saying the following. If half the agents (lowest income), were fired today, the insurance industry would not be devastated. Currently the center median income for licensed insurance agents is $31,700. The average income pumps this up just a slight notch to $34,800. Fortunately this figure is starting to increase, thanks primarily to Continuing Education Requirements.

THE TOP 20% The top fifth of insurance agents average an income of $18,700 higher than the average agent. This equates to $53,500, but remember we are talking average here. Mixing a $200,000 insurance superstar with 9 median income agents of $31,700 results in an average of $51,700, yet note that only ONE agent actually earned that amount. After 15 years of helping agent marketers become more successful, it is still amazing how much money is spent by the insurance companies and recruiters chasing down the wannabees. Please don't preach the 80/20 rule to agents, unless you in turn follow it in your recruiting efforts.

THE STARVING Nearly 280,000 agents earn less than $25,000 annually selling life and health insurance. Furthermore, this income is actually pumped up, as it includes tens of thousands of rookie agents who have their incomes subsidized by career companies, and will leave the business when they could no longer match the requirements for the subsidy to continue. Ever wonder why insurance companies have thousands of low cash value orphan policyholder "LEADS" to help when the rookie desperately runs out of family and friends. Unfortunately these lead minnows become the rookie's food instead of bait, as he was never taught properly how to reel in the big ones.

THE AFFLUENT Only 3% of agents earn a net income exceeding $75,000! And of these, very few reached the mark within their lst 5 years of entering the insurance profession. For the hard working, ambitious, and determined agent, here is our piece of advice. Don't follow the rules! If you follow all the rules, you are guaranteed to evolve into the average agent... starving on an income under $40,000. Dare to be different, find your niche, then you will be proud to call yourself an insurance professional.

FOR RECRUITERS ONLY Concentrate your time on proven, experienced agents and quit trying to solicit the rookies. Sure rookies will reply to your mailing, just like they will reply to all your competitors. There are plenty of quality 3 to 10 year agents looking for an opportunity to meet the challenge of you helping then earn a better living. If you are looking for brokers, remember that 60% of agents have no surplus business to give. Contact us, we will be glad to help you target the "happy discontent" agents, especially those receptive agents searching to better their career and their income.

Don Yerke is an expert in the field of marketing and recruiting on insurance brokers. Over 25 years ago he founded Agents Insurance Marketing USA, Inc. The website at http://www.agentsinsurancemarketing,com contains over 150 pages of reports, charts, analysis, and figures for those recruiting or marketing to insurance agents. dyadvisor@gmail.com puts you in touch with our expert advisor.