What is an Insurance Broker? A broker (or insurance broker) is a person who is licensed to sell insurance and typically works with multiple insurance companies offering a variety of products to a customer. As opposed to an insurance agent, who offers the products of only one company, an insurance broker is able to compare numerous products of the companies he/she works with and thus is often seen as a more consumer-friendly option.
Some insurance companies work with insurance agents only; their products are not available through the brokers (e.g. State Farm). A broker is typically rewarded through a commission from the sales.
When working with an insurance broker, it is important to understand how many different providers a broker works with as well as the insurance products he/she can offer.
Insurance Tip:
Insurance broker can often get better rates: How often would you cook something without a cooking book? Similar case with a life insurance broker. Home insurance and especially auto insurance are commodities and can be often got directly from the provider, life insurance has many underwater stones and little-known aspects. Life insurance broker can navigate through them and often get lower rate than you would get on your own (e.g. because brokers may have some air to offer discounts on insurance products due to the large insurance volumes they make).
Insurance Broker: Expert Opinion
An insurance broker is someone who works for the policy owner. He’s distributing the products of different insurance carriers and he is independent. What I mean by independent is that he or she finds the policy that is best for you.
After determining your needs, for example, a $350,000 term 25 policy, which would mean the premiums are level for 25 years, your broker would then search the market to find you the very best deal.
Now, he or she could also go a step further. If you have any health issues, he could determine which insurance company is best for that specific health issue by talking with the various underwriters.
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