General insurance Are Insurance Agents Self Employed?

kayode10

VIP Contributor
Majority of the insurance companies have agents. The one thing that is not clear to me is that are they on salary or they are self-employed.

The reason why I asked about this is that I have a friend who is also a marketer for insurance company.

Anytime we are discussing especially about finance, he always tell me that he is working for commission.

He said that he will get paid anytime if client sign up with an insurance package of the company he is working with.

This got me confused more because those clients the company already are paying premium every month.

I think the company should be able to pay salary out of those premiums. He said no, things are not done that way.

This prompts me to ask you guys that are Insurance Agents self-employed.
 
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Wisdom01

Valued Contributor
I don't really know how things works in the person insurance company he or she is working with , but there are some insurance companies that have staffs Working and they are paying them well since insurance company also makes profit , that's the goal of every business,they might be agent too
 

Mandy96

Valued Contributor
To me, insurance policy agent can be considered as a self-employed because since the difference between an agent and a broker is the fact that a broker can be questioned if anything goes wrong with the client. An agent is not employed by the insurance company so I think it will be right to classify an agent as a self-employed
 

Good luck

Verified member
Yes,we can say they are self employed.since they are not fully staffed,they only work to get customers for the insurance company and also get some stipend from the premium paid by customers.they leverage on what they get from customers that patronize the company they act as agents to.So they decide on the time they want to work at every point in time.
 

Jamoflondon

Verified member
I do not believe agents can be classified as a self-employed because they are actually employed by the clients to advice and make decisions for them. I think I can still consider them as a contractor worker because their job is based on contract job but I don’t agree that they are self employed because they get paid by the clients they work for
 

Alexandoy

VIP Contributor
We had a neighbor who had an insurance agency. He is affiliated with a big insurance company. His agents are his employees. That is the system here. The insurance broker has its agency while the insurance company deals with the broker only. But I think the broker has a sort of retainer fee from the insurance company for giving it the business.
 

Jasmine

VIP Contributor
Insurance agents can be self employed as well as employed by the insurance company. This depends on how you re connected with the insurance company. If you are on the payroll of the company, you are a broker directly employed by the company, and if you earn only commission, you are freelance insurance broker.
 

Wisdom01

Valued Contributor
Insurance agents can be self employed as well as employed by the insurance company. This depends on how you re connected with the insurance company. If you are on the payroll of the company, you are a broker directly employed by the company, and if you earn only commission, you are freelance insurance broker.
I still think there is a big difference between a broker and the agent ,the insurance agents are not employed to the company they are only just bringing in client and they could work for many insurance company too , while the brokers is employed in the insurance company, that's the difference I know
 

sincerem

VIP Contributor
I think their reward is based on the commissions per person or insured brought to the insurance company whom he or she is serving as an agent. I don't think they are placed into salary like other employees of the insurance are placed. Their salary aren't fixed, it's based on commissions.
 
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