Insurance advisors assist both individuals and businesses in purchasing insurance policies. In most cases, an insurance advisor specializes in one type of product, such as health, life, or property insurance. Some advisors work full-time for insurance companies, while others work as independent agents for a variety of clients.
Advisors are responsible for ensuring that their clients are protected from future financial difficulties. These people meet with clients and talk about their assets and liabilities. If a client’s property is damaged, lost, or stolen, an insurance advisor must calculate how much insurance coverage is required to replace or repair it. Advisors use life insurance products to figure out how much money the insuree’s beneficiaries will need to pay off the insuree’s debts and replace the insuree’s income. Similarly, advisors provide clients with information about the types of healthcare costs that an individual or family unit may face over time.
An insurance advisor must find appropriate insurance policies to present after determining the client’s needs. A policy should, in theory, provide ample coverage for the insured, but the cost of the policy should be within the client’s budget. Independent agents can usually sell policies on behalf of many different insurance companies, whereas advisors employed a specific firm may only have a limited range of products to recommend. Because insurance companies compete aggressively for clients in many countries, an advisor’s sales skills are critical. Through employer-sponsored plans, an advisor can sell policies to individuals or groups of clients.
After persuading a client to purchase a policy, the advisor must fill out an application with the client’s information. In many cases, the insurance advisor must collect the initial upfront premium from the client and send it to the insurance provider along with the application. A high-risk individual or entity can have their application rejected an insurance company. Advisors may be required to communicate with the insurance underwriter and the applicant until a cost and coverage level compromise is reached.
Apart from soliciting new sales, most advisors meet with existing clients on a regular basis to see if their needs have changed. If the client and advisor agree that the coverage level on the older policy is no longer adequate, old contracts are sometimes replaced new policies. Advisors also advise clients on purchasing new types of policies as they progress through life stages, such as purchasing annuities to supplement retirement income.
An insurance advisor is typically compensated through commissions based on policy premiums. Many countries have laws in place to prevent advisors from encouraging clients to purchase unnecessary insurance in order to earn more commission. Insurance salespeople are usually licensed, and those who act unethically risk being fined or having their licenses revoked.