Show fiort ii ort P wh what shall shail it IL do be au P LIFE INSURANCE AGENT A calling tha holds forth op port unity for comparatively early large financial rewards how your boy may become an agent for a general agent and then a general agent himself with a staff of solicitors under him the schooling required soliciting his first business tho the monetary returns from bottom to top of the ladders by C W JENNINGS JENNING 9 i HEN you have been approached pro ached cornered and perhaps talked into doing business by a life insurance solicitor or when you ou have received notice from rom a alifi insurance company that a premium payment on your policy Is about due have you ever thou thought glit of 0 your own boy as a life insurance man an agent for energy expended the financial returns are probably greater tor for the life insurance agent than ho he could get in any other business there are many general agents for example who earn over a year a greater salary than the president of the united states receives in most occupations of large financial returns such a reward usually comes only after almost a lifetime of toll and besides few get there ono one may be a successful general agent however before he is forty and with still greater emoluments awaiting only his further efforts besides instead of working night and day to get to the top even to hold his job the life insurance agent that works five hours out of the twenty four is quite a hustler and this work la Is not drudgery in any sense there are two methods that ml might be suggested forty boy jo tomake make his start one is IB to begin as boy to a general agent of an insurance company the other is to learn stenography and get a job as stenographer ogra pher in the office of the general agent with the determination to become that agents secretary we shall say that your boy prefers to begin at the very bottom as office boy ile he should bo be fifteen or so and have as much schooling as the boy of that age generally has acquired his pay will be only about five dollars a week and his work will do nothing further for him than to familiarize him with the run of the office and let him absorb such insurance conversation and argument as he apkens to overhear during this formative period he be should be keeping his eyes and ears cars open to receive everything he possibly can about the business and either in night school or at home he should bo be studying stenography so as to get as close to his employer as aa possible as the batters lat fers secretary HO he will wall probably go through two or three intermediate ter clerkships clerk ships before reaching this position but they will be the usual run of clerical work making entries in books keeping track of policies payment of premiums etc and sending out notices and advertising literature his pay will be that of the usual clerk running from about 8 a week in the beginning up to 12 or 15 and then up to as high as perhaps 25 as ao secretary to the agent As soon as your boy becomes stenographer however ho he will be thrown into direct contact with the inner methods of getting and keeping busi ness and become familiar with all details of 0 the soliciting end after awhile he will occasionally bo be told to take care of callers that come into the office to inquire about policies and then it Is up tip to him to demonstrate that he has been an office student and an observer and can put into practise what ho he has learned if ho he can convince the caller that the company has just the policy that he should tako take and at the same time do it without misrepresentation as an might be tempted to do your boy has made good and may find that his gratified employer has allowed him the regular 30 per cent to 40 per cent commission on the first years premium it if this was an ordinary straight life policy of say the young agent might find himself richer to the extent of 40 to 60 50 not a bad pickup pick up for a youngster that one success will in all likelihood settle your boys determination to become a sure enough agent at tho the earliest possible moment ila ho will be assisted in this ambition by his employer for the batters lat earnings and standings in the insurance world depend upon the amount of business hla his office gets and ho he can find clerks and stenographers far moro more easily than be can good agents after proving himself for awhile in looking after people that come to the office your boy will probably bo be told to go up and see mr so and so who has displayed symptoms of desiring a policy then ho he will be sent to another man and still another the experienced perien ced general agent giving him the character of assignments best suited to develop a new agent then one day the boss will call your boy into tho the office and talk to him something of this fashion john its about time you began to get out of this office rut and go and do things tor for yourself so you are fired from your job as stenographer and appointed agent you go out and write policies then the boss will promise to look after your boy for awhile till he gets thoroughly into the run of things so that he FO wont t have to worry over finances and your boy will be launched as a full fledged life insurance agent what will he earn well it will depend entirely upon himself every man with a fanelly or relative or r anybody depending upon him is a potential customer and also the developments of the bust business dess have been so widely spread thas thai various policies contain investment features besides the insurance such as endowment policies annuities and the like there Is about every possible variety of insurance to fit every need and at such a wide range of premiums as to suit anybody from a 10 a week clerk or laboring man to a millionaire on the general run of policies your boy will get about 40 per cent commission on the first years premium and by the time he has got under full headway in his early twenties he should write without expecting anything big at all somewhere around say worth of business in a year this insurance would cost the policy holders say a year of which the agent would from 2000 to 2500 or nearly 50 a week this figure Is 18 conservative and la Is being exceeded by hundreds of neonta throughout the country wo will say that your boy makes mahos good only farly fairly and in tho the courso of five to toil ten years shows that he can earn in commma elona on now business it a pretty steady average of anywhere from to or a year ills his income will bo be still further increased by the receipt of 5 per cent on oil all renewals of policies lie he secured in tho the first place this renewal commission la is paid for tho the first ten years acara of the life of the policy meanwhile ho has proved his steadiness and reliability and the first thing ho be knows will bo ba told to organize or of reorganize a district that has not received much attention then ho he Is a general agent and ana organizes ills hla office and ong engages solicitors districts are arbitrarily formed by different companies according to the needs of 0 their business and may include a largo large region such as one or two thinly settled states or such buell a 11 city an aa new york may havo have halt half a dozen districts on manhattan island alone when a now new general agent Is started out ho he la Is generally given a comparatively unimportant locality that he might bo be tried out with the least possible danger to the company and all the capital that he requires la 13 enough to pay office rent furnish hla his offices and buy postage stamps all necessary literature will be supplied him by the company as a rule in case a bond Is required he would havo have no difficulty in getting it from a surety company with the backing of his own company of course what money ho he needs to become a general agent on ho he will havo saved from time to tl ti irom ills his earnings as an ail agent As general agent he Is paid a commission of 1 7 per cent to 10 per cent on all business secured in ills his territory no matter by whom and 2 per cent on renewals for ten years succeeding here he Is sent to a more important locality where there Is still greater business when ills his earnings grow proportionately until in such districts as now new york to he will be getting from a year up and he ha Is still under forty the writer has in mind one unknown insurance man who went to new york from tho the west ten years ago representing a company that was not particularly prominent in the east and now his ls commissions from renewals alone amount to a year there Is no particularly definite promotion from here on tor for your boys financial ambition Is pretty apt td to have been realized he may however aspire to the of a state or group of states and ul ty y become head manager of agencies and fl finally nally president of the company anyhow he has achieved financial success and his bis social standing and influence in the community will depend entirely upon himself copyright 1910 by the associated ut arary press |