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Insurance Licensing for Wirehouses

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Aug 4, 2011 8:18 pm

I'm looking to obtain whatever relevant licensing I can (e.g. have passed the Series 63/65/3) before applying to the various wirehouse FA trainee programs, and I'm curious as to whether Property/Casualty/Auto licensing would be of any value.  Obviously Life/Health would be the big ticket item at a brokerage, but plenty of HNW individuals are also interested in Umbrella Liability policies, and I assume one would need P/C/A licensing to sell those.  So would pursuing P/C/A licensing (in addition to Life/Health) be worthwhile, or is selling Umbrella Liability policies at a wirehouse unheard of?

Aug 5, 2011 3:30 am

[quote=charterme]

I'm looking to obtain whatever relevant licensing I can (e.g. have passed the Series 63/65/3) before applying to the various wirehouse FA trainee programs, and I'm curious as to whether Property/Casualty/Auto licensing would be of any value.  Obviously Life/Health would be the big ticket item at a brokerage, but plenty of HNW individuals are also interested in Umbrella Liability policies, and I assume one would need P/C/A licensing to sell those.  So would pursuing P/C/A licensing (in addition to Life/Health) be worthwhile, or is selling Umbrella Liability policies at a wirehouse unheard of?

[/quote]

In my experience ML couldn't care less about FA's having a P&C license. In fact, it could be viewed as a negative because it brings increased liability.

IMO, the fact that an FA applicant has life/health or P&C or 63 or whatever means next to nothing. They make their decision based on whether or not they think you are capable of bringing in assets at a fast enough clip. Period.

Aug 5, 2011 6:22 am

Thanks ZwingDing.  I hear you re: hr priorities, and I appreciate your candor in other posts in terms of what really matters in your experience (PCs and AUM, more or less in that order) and what doesn't (financial acumen, sterling personality, etc.).

Basically I have good but widely dispersed networking/prospecting opportunities (i.e. I'd be working at least three time zones), so my success would be somewhat dependent on hitting both the phones and the friendly skies hard, early, and often.  And I think it would be optimal to basically be licensed to sell anything I'd be looking to sell from day one, so I could devote the vast majority of my time to prospecting (and closing).

Which brings me to my question about P/C/A licensing, insofar as I think the odds of my getting it once employed would be slim to none, unless there were a specific reason to.  But I do know that a lot of HNW individuals have or are interested in Umbrella Liability coverage, and I figure the more products/services you are able to sell, the higher the probability of qualifying and closing each prospect becomes.

If that licensing would be seen as a liability, though, then obviously my efforts could be better spent with other pursuits.  Although I'm not entirely sure I follow how it would bring "increased liability" to the firm, since the risk would be assumed by the underwriter--and I assume that someone, somewhere in e.g. the BoA universe underwrites such policies--rather than the brokerage.  But if you or others think that P/C/A licensing would be looked on as a negative by hr, then I would certainly like to hear more about that...