Our last
Insurance Business poll asked brokers when they were looking to retire – and the results could have a few people scratching their heads.
We offered five possible scenarios: a year from now, two years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, and ‘Never – I’ll die selling insurance!’
Our winner by a nose was the last, ‘Never!’ with seven votes, just nudging out ‘Five years from now’ that garnered six votes.
Coming third was ’10 years from now,’ with the two and one year selections only receiving one vote apiece.
The numbers do reflect the current state of the industry, with Baby Boomers in that five-year sweet spot, ready to retire – along with the trend of many boomers choosing to remain in the industry, preferring to work into their late 60s and 70s, unwilling to give up what has become a passion for them.
And that might be a good thing for the industry, given the difficulty in attracting fresh, young blood to sell insurance.
“Brokers are having a tough time attracting young people,” said Paul Martin, president and chief operating officer of RRJ Insurance in Toronto, Ont.. “I don’t believe brokerages as a whole are a great training ground for people. Brokers generally want people who are up to speed on sales or knowledge and have some ability they are bringing to the table. I don’t think we have the resources to do that like (insurance) companies do.”
Martin was citing a recent demographic study by the Insurance Institute of Canada, comparing the Baby Boomer category of 2013 to five years ago.
In 2008, 49 per cent of Canadian brokers were in the ‘Baby Boomer’ age category (roughly between the ages of 46 and 64), indicating that large number of brokers were due to retire before 2017.
The Institute released a follow-up study in February 2013, showing that a large number of brokers (are) older, they retire on par with the rest of the industry at 61... “so there is some concern about whether we’re bringing in enough (brokers) at the right (age) level.”
“As a broker, I am seeing older people (recruited) who have experience in areas I am trying to target,” said Martin. “It could be sales experience, real estate, accounting, life insurance guys who all want to expand their income by getting into other lines of business. That’s what I am seeing.”
Our next poll looks at the Nationwide Insurance ad that drew a lot of thumbs-down from viewers during the Super Bowl, due to its sombre message.
What do you think? How should insurance be promoted? Take our poll, and let us know.
