How To Become An Insurance Adviser: What It Is and Career Path

What is an insurance adviser and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Tom Faulconer JD, CPCU, CLU, ChFC, CASL,CFP(r)

If you've ever tried to buy insurance or paid attention to insurance commercials, you'll know that there are many kinds of insurance. Home, life, health, auto, etc., and within each category, there are many different companies with different policies. So how are you supposed to know which one to pick? That's a decision that requires an insurance adviser.

As an insurance adviser, you would work for an insurance company and help match customers to the right insurance plans for their needs. By providing excellent customer service and fitting plans to customers, you would help increase sales for your company and help customers plan for the future.

In order to be a great insurance adviser, you need to know a lot about different insurance policies and be an excellent communicator. You might need a bachelor's degree, but many insurance advisers don't have one. To work at some companies, you might even need a special certificate.

What general advice would you give to an insurance adviser?

Tom Faulconer JD, CPCU, CLU, ChFC, CASL,CFP(r)

Clinical Professor, Butler University

That depends on the type of agent the person is. Most of us deal with agents who sell personal lines, such as auto and home and life insurance. Their day is filled with prospecting for new clients, appointments to review current insurance with current clients, service work such as adding autos and changing addresses, and, helping take and resolve claims. Some agents specialize in commercial lines. They spend their days prospecting as well, but also work very closely with their clients on a regular basis to assure their insurance program is appropriate. This is because commercial clients usually have very large insurance policies, make frequent changes, and have lots of service work. Plus, the relationship is the key in commercial lines.

ScoreInsurance AdviserUS Average

Salary

5.2

Avg. Salary $66,816

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.15%

Asian 4.91%

Black or African American 9.40%

Hispanic or Latino 16.11%

Unknown 3.56%

White 65.87%

Gender

female 45.37%

male 54.63%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an insurance adviser

Explore insurance adviser education requirements

Most common insurance adviser degrees

Bachelor's

58.3 %

Associate

14.6 %

Master's

9.2 %

Start to develop specific insurance adviser skills

Skills	Percentages
Insurance Sales	54.08%
Insurance Options	6.06%
Annuities	5.96%
Insurance Solutions	5.72%
Insurance Coverage	3.23%

Complete relevant insurance adviser training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New insurance advisers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an insurance adviser based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real insurance adviser resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming an licensed insurance adviser usually doesn't require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed insurance adviser in most of states. 38 states require insurance advisers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Insurance Producer
Arkansas	Degree required	State exam required	Insurance Sales Producer (Agent)
Colorado	Specific course required	State exam required	Insurance Agent
Connecticut	Specific course required	State exam required	Producer License, Individual
Delaware	-	State exam required	Insurance Agent

Research insurance adviser duties and responsibilities

Manage civil litigation matters such as general and complex litigation.
Present appropriate annuities for clients to purchase that meet their specific needs, time frame, and risk tolerance
Direct the sale of life insurance policies, medical disability programs and annuities to military personnel and civilian members.
General resource to partnership on property and casualty matters, insurance policy contract review allowing partners to successfully negotiate litigation matters.

Prepare your insurance adviser resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your insurance adviser resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an insurance adviser resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable insurance adviser resume templates

Build a professional insurance adviser resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your insurance adviser resume.

Apply for insurance adviser jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an insurance adviser job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do insurance advisers rate their job?

-/5

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Insurance adviser reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019

Pros

It give me unforgettable memories and experience In additional generating life time skills and excellence of the knowledge of is involved

Cons

It very stressful and so much calculation with the work plus graphical representation of the work experience

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2019