Insurance Broking/Placement Career
I just scheduled an interview with an insurance brokerage in NYC that specializes in P&C. I know this isn't the competitive banking industry, but from what I hear you can make decent money at the right company and work decent hours?
Anyone have experience in insurance? Notably big casualty policies??
Comments (8)
Do you want a career in finance or insurance? If you want finance, wait for the right job in finance.
Some large brokerages, primarily Marsh and Aon have large international accounts, hours are not bad (usually out by 6) and you will be working on sorting and organizing data (tons of claims your first year, thankless stuff).... on a positive note, there is a lot of lunches and going out with underwriters schmoozing, hoping to work on the deal, being an alcoholic is a semi-job requirement.
As for money, you will make way more in finance in the LT
Thanks a lot for the feedback...you hit the nail on the head with one of those two companies. The MDs at these companies are pullin in ~ 500 K (one is a family friend), so maybe I was blinded by that. As for right now, I don't have many other options though except for Securities Lending Operations or compliance type gig. Alchoholic huh?...sounds great...
If I was truly great at sales I would do big corporate insurance sales over finance, a top sales guy at Marsh, Aon or any of the firms taken private in the last five years will make 500k-1 million but you have to take into account the lifestyle. An insurance sales guy once established is working 6 hours a day and taking fridays off. While if your good/lucky you can obviously make that in finance but I don't know anyone in finance working 30 hours a week making 500k or more per year. It's all about what you want, if you want to have $20 million in the bank one day (highly unlikely but possible) then don't do insurance, if you want to be rich and truly love your life it is an option.
$500k is really a rarity in those fields. I would say $225-350k is more common for the top achievers. At Mercer(sister company to Marsh), our Sales Professionals have a like $90-110k base and get something like 10-20% commission on what they bring in. The deals my office has finalized are around $100-150k, with each SP making like 2 a year (Not so hot).
The lifestyle is dead on from what lotsofquestions described. One of the guys that hired me was making like 300k a year and came in at 930 and left at 4 with golf every Friday. He let his bonus slip one day at lunch; he was getting 150k for the year. Not millions, but a nice living.
Let me know if you want to know anything about Marsh or Mercer
Insurance Broker (Originally Posted: 03/10/2009)
Hey all,
Does anybody know anybody who is an insurance broker? I'm looking for some insight on the field but the internet hasn't been much help and I don't have any connections in the industry.
I am primarily looking for information about brokerages specializing in commercial insurance. Stuff like salary, working conditions, etc. is difficult to find. I know it is primarily commission-based but it's hard to know what is a realistic salary to expect at different levels of experience.
I would really appreciate any info people can provide me about the industry. Thanks.
after leaving the Street was an insurance firm. My firm specialized in investment related insurance lines (annuities, business insurance, 2nd-to-die, things of that nature) One of my good buddies currently runs a commercial agency as well.
On the property and casualty side of the house, agents either work for a salary or full commission. If you took the salary, you generally made around $30,000 a year, plus a performance bonus that might have added another $3-4,000 annually.
My buddy's monthly payroll comes to around $17,000, and he's got 5 or 6 agents working for him. If you do the math, it works out to about the same as P&C.
As for the working conditions, I was absolutely miserable and I was the boss. I can't imagine what it was like for the poor bastards that wrote for me. After trading commodities, the insurance business was so fucking boring I was ready to kill myself after two months.
That said, the money was decent and the residual income lasted for almost 5 years after I sold the company.
Thanks for the info Edmundo. It was very helpful.
Just wondering, what are you doing now?
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