Higher money earner Indy vs. Captive.

by Ed Hamilton Agency » Sun Oct 19, 2008 07:09 pm

I went to a charity event last night with Enterprise rent a car and I was the only indy among 8 other captives from various companies atour table. They all had many questions for me and we had a good time,( if that is possiable with borning agents like us) We were all pretty new to the business with my 4 years being the seasoned vet, They wanted to know about income.

Assuming average growth of 365 new policies a year and 70% renewal which agent would have produced the most gross income. I voted indy and could not really back it up as I know little about captive pay plans. Would there be 6 figures in 5 years with a captive?

Total Comments: 4

Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 07:49 pm Post Subject:

A lot depends on if the captive started with zero accounts or if they bought an existing book of business.

I bought an existing book - approximately 3.5 in premium per year. Even having to pay off loans, I'm making six figures.

I know a couple of agents who started "scratch" (zero accounts) - they both work hard and have grown substantially; but, they are no where near six figures.

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 09:20 am Post Subject:

Well, life, I think that success may largely depend upon the personal ability of the agent. A good and self motivated insurance agent can make good deal of money even for the first year I suppose whereas it may take longer period of time for a reluctant agent to reach upto that level.

The individual agent may have an edge over the captive since they can actually regulate their earning by shuffling the policies of different insurance companies. The captive agent is somehow stuck to the single company plans, which limits their earning prospects.

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 01:40 am Post Subject:

A lot of agents start off captive and learn the business and then go independent.

Once you learn the business, go independent and don't limit yourself. There is freedom in being independent. But it is not for everyone. Really depends on how much you know and which you like.

Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2008 10:19 am Post Subject:

The captive agent is somehow stuck to the single company plans, which limits their earning prospects.


I think it is the captive agents who have more chances of earning a static income under different economic scenarios. On the other hand, the independent agents would probably make the most of these economic patches through experimenting a variety of policy-packs.

Add your comment

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.