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Life Insurance Secret 1 Agents do not Sell the Same Life Insurance

Written by Aaron Pinkston, Wed, Nov 04 2009

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A commonly held life insurance myth (even by some agents) is that all agents have the same life insurance plans to offer. I actually decided to write this in response to a post I saw by an online life insurance broker. He wrote that because all life insurance agents sell the same thing, the insurance shopper should really pick their agent based on their ability to explain things and friendliness.

The simple truth is, his premise was flat wrong. But rather than focusing just on his wrongness, I want to show you how you can use this information to your advantage. So now that you know the life insurance myth, pay attention to learn how you can wield your new-found knowledge while getting life insurance quotes.

The life insurance company you don’t see may hurt you

There are hundreds of life insurance companies in North America that do business everyday. According to some sources, there are over to 400 different companies doing business just in the US – that does not count life insurance companies exclusive to Canada. Some of these life insurance companies will not let their agents represent other insurance companies – so called “captive insurance agents”. Other life insurance companies control which companies agents may represent or the conditions they can even quote other life insurance companies – called “semi-captive agents”.

These semi-captive and captive agents represent some of the most recognizable life insurance companies in the world – many have strong financial reputations. I will not name names here, but I could easily list 10 of them off the top of my head you would recognize.

However, because captive insurance companies limit their distribution, it is unlikely that an agent who claims to be totally independent will be able to represent them. If you go to an independent agent (and that includes most other online brokers), you do not see these companies. If you submit yourself to phone calls from random agents who all bought your information, it is still doubtful you would see all these choices.

So when you contact that online insurance agent or independent local agent, do you get competitive quotes from these top life insurance companies along with the independent companies? Probably not. And that could be what is hurting you.

The way to take advantage of this knowledge is to get your life insurance quotes from a place that lets independent, semi-captive, and captive life insurance agents compete openly and fairly. By allowing agents from all perspectives compete for you, you are more likely of finding the best life insurance quote for you and your family. And that is what it is about – you and your family.


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