Life Insurance Agents and Brokers

Certification or Licensing

For full professional status, many companies recommend that their agents become chartered life underwriters (CLU) and/or chartered financial consultants (ChFC). To earn these designations, agents must successfully complete at least three years of work in the field and course work offered through The American College of Financial Services. This work will demonstrate the agents' ability to apply their knowledge of life insurance fundamentals, economics, business law, taxation, trusts, and finance to common insurance problems. Only a small percentage of life insurance agents are CLUs and/or ChFCs.

The National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors offers the life underwriter training council fellow credential to applicants who complete three courses (Advising Process, Risk Management, and Life Insurance; Investment and Protection Products; and Wealth Management, Retirement Planning, and Estate Planning) and pass an examination.

Life insurance agents must obtain a license in each state in which they sell insurance. Agents are often sponsored for this license by the company they represent, which usually pays the licensing fee.

In most states, before a license is issued, the agent must pass a written test on insurance fundamentals and state insurance laws. Companies usually provide training programs to help prepare for these examinations. Often, the new agent may sell on a temporary certificate while preparing for the written examination. Information on state life insurance licensing requirements can be easily obtained from your state's commissioner of insurance. Agents who sell securities, such as mutual funds, must obtain a separate securities license.