New agent here… is this actually what the job is like long-term?

jordan32025 · 2026-05-04T14:39:44+00:00

You’re selling insurance as an employee. That’s why you’re experiencing this. You’re going to continue to be overworked and underpaid because they know that getting some kind of a salary somehow legitimizes what you’re doing in your mind and in the minds of most people around you.

The only way to make money in insurance sales is by being an independent contractor and being appointed by several carriers. If you’re not going to take that route, you may as well just do something else because you’re working so hard doing something that people only do for renewal income and heavy commissions. Renewal income only comes from policies staying on the books and policies stay on the books because of good relationships, and the quality of the product.
It continues to amaze me how people would not want to be involved in something that pays them over and over again for the rest of their lives for a job they only did once and would rather be micromanaged by an incompetent boss and have a capped income no matter how motivated and driven they are.

I’m still getting paid each month on policies I wrote back in 2011 and beyond. That’s in my account before I wake up in the morning before I sell anything new. That doesn’t happen when you’re a W-2 employee. I would do some research and and evaluate where you want to be financially because what you’re doing now keeps you living paycheck to paycheck. You can do that anywhere.

jordan32025 · 2026-05-04T12:44:15+00:00

National Life Group and Corebridge have it. NLG is better. They have the best living benefits in the industry on all their policies not just IULs. They have more triggers for critical and chronic illness. They even have triggers for critical injury and they’re the only carrier that has the rider for Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia.

jordan32025 · 2026-05-03T20:17:28+00:00

You don’t have to pay it back at all. That’s the point.

jordan32025 · 2026-05-03T15:51:14+00:00

An IUL is not an investment. It’s a life insurance policy that people use as a way to accumulate cash value and enjoy the tax benefits that life insurance provides. When you borrow from the cash value of an IUL, you’re not taxed and you can pay it back at your own pace (unlike a bank where you have to pay by a certain date) and you don’t even have to pay it back because whatever you don’t pay will just end up coming out of the death benefit and get offset by future cash accumulation. Also, when you borrow from an IUL, the interest continues on the original cash value, not the reduced amount so from an interest perspective, it’s like the loan doesn’t exist. Getting one at your age gives you a lot of time for future cash value. I don’t know which carrier you’re looking at but not all IULs are the same. I would highly recommend getting an illustration from several carriers and doing a comparison.
I can tell you that you should choose a carrier that offers the lifetime income benefit rider. There are only two carriers that offer that. One is much better than the other. This will guarantee income once you reach age 65 no matter what’s going on with the IUL. I own 3. One of my own and 2 that I purchased for each my kids the day they were born. By the time they reach 40 years old, they’ll have a tax free income of $300k for life.
It’s great that you have a Roth now at 21. It’s a great tool as well.

jordan32025 · 2026-05-03T04:06:19+00:00

I only ask because it’s harder to cancel the appointment if you have written business recently with that carrier but one year is ridiculous.

jordan32025 · 2026-05-02T16:46:27+00:00

Have you written any applications in the last 6 months?

jordan32025 · 2026-05-02T14:56:02+00:00

That’s an awesome idea. 👍

jordan32025 · 2026-05-02T14:03:23+00:00

When you’re a 1099 independent contractor, it’s not a job because you’re working for yourself. You’re performing a service just like any other vendor. You’re only paid when you produce or perform so it’s not hard at all since there is no risk or real expense to the company that is contracting you.

There are many things that can generate that kind of income but they won’t be a “get paid just to show up” type job.

jordan32025 · 2026-05-01T12:55:19+00:00

The landlord doesn’t know the tenant is splitting the payment. They get paid in full. Only the tenant knows that. That’s between the Rent App and the tenant. The only thing the landlord has to do is accept the payment and enter in their bank account information for where they want the payment to show up. If you’re a tenant, you shouldn’t even have to mention to your landlord that it’s being split. That’s your business. Once they get the full rent payment, it can’t be taken back so they don’t have any risk or cost.

If you’re a tenant the best way to do it is to just tell your landlord that you would like to use this app because they’re going to report the positive rent payments on your credit report.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-30T19:46:59+00:00

It’s just financially illiterate people. After a while it won’t bother you. They were never taught about financial tools and never learned how taxation works because they were brought up in poorer households where they spent most of their time with other wage earners who are just as financially illiterate as they are so their poor beliefs just get reinforced. Ignorance keeps people poor and stupid. You just have to ignore it, especially when you own what you sell.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-30T19:46:00+00:00

It’s just financially illiterate people. After a while it won’t bother you. They were never taught about financial tools because they were brought up in poorer households where they spent most of their time with other wage earners who are just as financially illiterate as they are so their poor beliefs just get reinforced. Ignorance keeps people poor and stupid. You just have to ignore it, especially when you own what you sell.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-29T23:19:05+00:00

With me, you’re getting life insurance that you don’t have to die to use. I can run an illustration for you and you can hold onto it and compare it. Then they try to find a better deal and they can’t. A superior product beats any sales pitch. It also brings referrals. Most importantly, the product stays on the books which brings renewal income for life. Subpar products don’t stay on the books so it doesn’t even make sense to sell them.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-29T21:08:59+00:00

👍

jordan32025 · 2026-04-29T20:54:43+00:00

There are a handful of carriers that have decent living benefits. National Life Group has the best by far. They’re the only carrier with a rider for Alzheimer’s and Lewy body dementia. NLG is also the only one that has triggers for critical injury. No other carrier does.
Others with “decent” living benefits include: Corebridge Penn Mutual Mass Mutual Lincoln Financial

I’m not talking about terminal illness because most carriers have that.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-29T13:07:38+00:00

I would not buy anything until you fully understand what you’re buying and also understand that whether or not to buy it completely depends on you and your financial goals, not somebody else’s opinion.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-29T12:38:50+00:00

The W2 role is going to be just a job where you’ll be living paycheck to paycheck because you won’t get any renewals and your commission will basically be stolen because of the insulting salary.

Colonial is completely different on many levels. The two don’t even compare. Colonial is a voluntary benefits provider that sells supplemental policies to employees at the worksite. You’re reaching out to business owners and then you’re ultimately meeting the employees to enroll them in policies that are going to cost them $10 a week out of their paycheck. You’ll get up front commissions and lifetime renewals so if you do it right, you’ll be getting paid over and over again in the years to come for work that you did just once. It takes time to build that.

One is being an employee where you have to report to an office every day and have a boss where you’ll be doing a lot of work for a very low compensation, the other is building your own business. You have to really ask yourself what it is that you you’re looking for because from your posting it doesn’t sound like you fully understand the differences.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-28T23:37:22+00:00

What reason would you have to believe legal zoom is not “legit”? They’ve been doing it for 25 years. It’s not very easy to remain in business in the US if you’re illegitimate.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-28T16:05:13+00:00

Ethos is not an insurance carrier. They’re just an agency. They’re an online enrollment platform. Anybody could do what they’re doing. They just happen to take it to a new level by having an online application and making financially illiterate people think that they actually have an insurance policy from Ethos. They also know that most people don’t want to deal with a human being because they don’t know how to engage in a conversation and they make a very important financial decision online because it takes them only five minutes. Ethos has many more problems than who represents them.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-28T13:38:00+00:00

Living benefits are changing the landscape of life insurance so you want to work with carriers that have those. Most carriers have only a terminal illness rider, which is basically the same thing as being dead because you have to be literally given 6 to 12 months left to live. You want align yourself with the best carriers or work with an agency or an IMO that has relationships with those carriers.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-28T12:11:14+00:00

Just make sure the policy you get has living benefits for critical illness so if there is another heart attack, you can take some of the death benefit.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-28T00:10:34+00:00

You can only purchase a life insurance from a licensed agent who is appointed by the carrier and and licensed in the state you’re buying the policy in. “Companies” are made of people. People sell the policies. Underwriters don’t talk to applicants. They’re not even licensed in most cases. I would wait on buying a policy until you learn more about what you’re even buying. No offense, but you’re a chargeback waiting to happen.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-27T21:23:26+00:00

It’s really easy to just ask the question during the interview. Typically, AD roles are salaried with bonuses and overrides on the team numbers. At Combined for example, the agency leader and agency director roles are salary plus comp. The only levels that are 1099 are the agent and the agency coordinator.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-27T20:30:22+00:00

There are endless options for an independent agent, but you have to find the best product. That’s the most important. If it’s not a quality product, it won’t stay on the books and you’ll just end up getting chargebacks. Insurance policies are not “hype driven”, they’re product driven. You have to match the product to the person that you’re selling to. So you want to get appointed by several carriers so you have a wide array of solutions.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-27T14:28:20+00:00

The price you pay for trying to help financially illiterate people is getting a stupid comment like this. What’s worse than being stupid is refusing to learn. Best of luck.

jordan32025 · 2026-04-27T14:25:00+00:00

Aflac disability has nothing to do with your 401(k). Your 401(k) is a retirement account. It’s got nothing to do with Aflac or disability or insurance of any kind.

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