Life Insurers Hiring Thousands of Agents, Including Lawyers

Some lawyers facing a difficult job market are among the professionals trying out a new profession: life-insurance agent.

Some life insurers are taking advantage of the bad economy by hiring thousands of job-hunting professionals, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. Besides lawyers, the new hires include former real-estate agents, mortgage brokers and bankers.

Whole life insurance declined in popularity in the 1980s, when many consumers decided to buy cheaper term life and invested the difference in mutual funds and stocks. But when stocks declined, investors lost out while those who bought whole life found their money was still there, the story says.

One of the new agents at Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America is 45-year-old lawyer Steven Flanders, who formerly founded and sold a marketing firm. “In a sign of success, Mr. Flanders has moved up to an office from a cubicle," the Wall Street Journal says.

Still, Flanders reports the job is “very hard,” an observation confirmed by the statistics.

Industry research firm Limra reports that 70 percent of agents earn less than $35,000 in their second year, the story says. After four years, more than 80 percent of new agents have left the job.