How stressful is the insurance business?

Is the pay generally good? Is it worth going into?

I once worked a claim for wind damage to an old farm house in the middle of an enormous field. The farmer rented it out each year to migrant workers. I arrived to find a house with most of the roof scattered across the field. This house was already in dilapidated condition. My dog's house is in better condition.

As I walked through the house, I saw how this family (husband and wife with 2 children) had tried to make a home here. There were no doors in the house but they had pinned sheets to the door openings to give privacy. One of their daughters had posters of Latino pop stars on the walls of her room. They still had most of their clothes and such packed - in garbage bags. They had just arrived for the season.

It was cold and windy that day. The whole family was gathered in the yard, they had nowhere else to go, silently awaiting their fate. They spoke not a word of English but their piercing, hollow eyes appeared to me as though they knew I was there to make a decision that would affect them. The house was not worth the cost to put a roof back on it. I wrote a check, had the farmer sign some paperwork and got back in my car. With a stroke of my pen, I bulldozed that house. I don't know what happened to that family. Like I said, they had nowhere else to go. I insured the farmer, not the migrant family. They were looking to anyone who could help them and no help was coming.

So you want to know if this is a stressful business? Yeah, it's a mountain of paperwork. Something is always going wrong in someone's life and someone always wants me to pay a claim for that disaster. It's interpretation of technical and legal jargon, negotiation with contractors and lawyers, evaluating things that have no price, like permanent disability, and it's a continual tightrope to walk between the demands of insureds and claimants who have lost something valuable, and the demands of good business practices and the requirements of the law.

I have a marquee screensaver on my laptop that reminds of why I do what I do, aside from the monetary compensation and benefits. "The last line of defense between personal catastrophe and financial responsibility is your friendly claims adjuster."

Being an agent is stressful, but also a lot of fun. I love helping people and my best days are the ones where I go home knowing I've made a significant differnce in someone's life. The worst days are the ones where a claim is denied and there is really nothing you can do to change it. Overall, I love it and it gives me the freedom to spend time with my family.

Stress is all relative

A lot of different areas top the insurance business. If you are referring to insurance and investment planning and selling life and other types of insurance I can tell you that it is very difficult in the first few years, while it gets easier, it is never easy.

I have been doing it for 14 years and I am happy because the pros outweigh the cons. you make a very good living and have flexibility

My dad was in the insurance business for 15 years...he says the pay was good however he said he hated working for corporate america...all they were were snakes treating him like he was sub-human and then he was fired because one of his bosses were trying to save her own *** so she blamed a problem on him and he got fired

i don't think you should settle for this evil industry...but w/e you choose i hope it's one your happy with...good luck

What state are you in... alot depends on what you sell and where you are at. I am in Colorado and I love it. If you are in Colorado or Michigan get in touch with me via www.rmwi.net and I would be happy to discuss the business in detail with you.

Depends on what part of the business you go into, and in what capacity. IMHO, claims adjusting is the WORST part, and you could never pay me enough to do it. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the management end of it - I'm currently on leave, but was a Sr. Account Manager, soup-to-nuts commercial lines, and it's always fun, always exciting, and only occasionally stressful . .

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