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What You Should Know
- Popular life insurance companies that work directly with agents include Allstate, State Farm, and Northwestern Mutual
- The best insurance companies for independent agents will differ from captive life insurance companies
- To find the best life insurance company to work for, you'll want to consider employee reviews, market share, and policy options
There are a lot of life insurance companies to choose between for employment as an agent. Many life insurance articles emphasize which company is best overall, but they don't talk about the best life insurance companies that work directly with agents.
A life insurance agent can make or break a person's life insurance experience. This article will break down which life insurance company is best to be an agent for, whether you are an independent agent or directly employed by the company.
Keep scrolling to learn more about life insurance companies that work directly with agents or enter your ZIP above to get free quotes from competing life insurance companies in your area.
What are the best life insurance companies that work directly with agents?
If you've recently acquired your life insurance agent license or are just looking for the best company to work for, you might want to consider companies that work directly with agents.
When you're looking to find which insurance company is best to work with as an agent, you'll need to consider whether you want to be independent or if you want to represent just one company.
There are some pros and cons in each scenario. As an independent agent, you might be able to offer prospective policyholders an assortment of policy options with various price ranges.
On the contrary, if you work directly for one life insurance company, you'll be limited with policy options. However, you'll have the benefit of a popular brand attached to your name, helping to draw sales.
What is the best life insurance company to work for as an agent?
If you've worked hard to earn your insurance agent's license, it only makes sense that you want to work with a great insurance company. So, what is the best life insurance company to work for as an agent?
As mentioned above, this will partially depend on the direction you want to go in with your insurance career. The best life insurance companies for independent agents will differ from those agents that depend on one company.
What is the best individual life insurance company to work for?
For starters, it's important to know which life insurance companies use captive life insurance agents. This simply means that agents can only sell insurance for their brand.
Some of the top captive life insurance companies include:
- Allstate
- State Farm
- Farmers
- Northwestern Mutual
- New York Life
Each of the life insurance companies listed above is well-known and is a big name in the insurance industry. If you become affiliated with any of these companies, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding new clients.
Which of these companies is best to work for? That depends on a few things such as salary, work-life balance, resources, leads, workplace environment, and more.
| Rating Category | State Farm | Farmers | Allstate | Northwestern Mutual | New York Life |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glassdoor | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 3.8 |
| Indeed | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Market Share | #6 | N/A | N/A | #1 | #2 |
Overall, the life insurance companies above are fairly competitive with one another. The employee reviews aren't perfect for any insurance agency.
Northwestern Mutual and New York Life appear to be consistently ahead of the other life insurance providers for both employee satisfaction and market share.
This means that you could potentially have a better work environment while selling more policies and earning more money. Allstate falls short in this department for life insurance.
What are the best life insurance companies for independent agents?
Removing the companies as life insurance companies that don't work directly with agents on an independent basis still leaves a lot of choices. There are plenty of reasons to choose to work as an independent life insurance agent.
The most popular life insurance companies that allow independent agents include Liberty Mutual and Nationwide. Of course, there are many other smaller life insurance providers out there that will allow policies to be sold through an independent agent.
| Rating Category | Liberty Mutual | Nationwide |
|---|---|---|
| Glassdoor | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Indeed | 3.6 | 3.8 |
| Market Share | N/A | N/A |
While you may not be directly employed with either, it could be helpful to know what type of workplace your insurance carrier offers. Yet again, Liberty Mutual and Nationwide have similar ratings as employers.
In this case, neither of these companies ranks within the top 10 in market share for life insurance. However, they do appear highly-rated for other forms of insurance according to the Insurance Information Institute.
As an independent agent, it could be worthwhile to have licenses for multiple forms of insurance for this reason.
Searching for life insurance carriers for independent agents takes some time and can be an important step in establishing a profitable business. Creating life insurance carrier appointments can help you learn more about different companies and what they have to offer.
How do I know which life insurance company is the best to work for?
Choosing the best life insurance company to represent isn't a clear-cut answer because there are many considerations. First, it depends whether you want to be independent or work for another company.
Then, you'll need to remember that the best insurance companies for new independent agents won't necessarily be the same for those who have been in the industry a long time.
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New insurance agents could easily benefit from representing name brands, while an agent with a large clientele could get away with using smaller companies that might be more profitable.
As an insurance agent, it's also important to consider policy options. For example, State Farm offers term life insurance and whole life insurance, while Nationwide also offers universal life insurance. There are some key differences between whole vs. universal life insurance that could push sales.
Each policy has something different to offer and could help you make sales as an insurance agent. Finding the best life insurance company to work for will depend on your experience, location, and desire as a life insurance agent.
Life Insurance Companies That Work Directly With Agents: The Bottom Line
Captive life insurance companies offer great resources to help establish a strong and lucrative career as an insurance agent. You'll want to consider employee reviews, market share, and even the policy options an insurer offers.
By now, you should know how to choose between different life insurance companies that work directly with agents. Before you go, enter your ZIP code below to get free quotes from top life insurance companies near you.
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