The Appropriate Insurance Agent CE

By Olive Pate


An intermediary who is selling, soliciting, or negotiating for insurance products is required to undertake the continuing education (CE) in his or her area of specialization. The main areas in which the training is required include annuity, long-term care policies, individual life settlement, and the flood insurance. The insurance agent CE credits have to be completed before the application for the license renewal can be submitted.

The agents that meet certain requirements can be exempted from some or all CEs depending on the state there are renewing their licenses. The good example is those who hold the limited liability licenses as they qualify for exemptions. In the same way, the agents who have completed the credit required in their home states and are non-residents also get the exemptions just like those that have the inactive status as granted by the relevant State Director of Insurance.

In regards to annuity training, the CEs usually focus in the areas such as the identification of the annuity parties, the way the consumers are affected by the fixed, variable and the indexed annuity, and the methods of applying the income taxation of qualified as well as the non-qualified annuities. In addition to this, it may also include the primary use of the annuities, appropriate sale practices, and replacements as well as disclosures. These are just a few of examples of the areas covered in annuity training.

In the case of the long-term care training, most states specify the initial training as well as the continued training to be completed every two years in most cases. The training covers the areas such as the long-term care and federal regulations, the available services and service providers, inflation effects, the insurance suitability standards and guidelines, and the alternatives to purchasing a private long-term care product. In addition to these topics, there are many other areas that may be covered.

For the life settlement agents, the expected training should focus on the legal structure of life settlement topics, the disclosure and privacy requirement topics, and the life settlement parties and the existing legal relationships. In addition to these, the agents need to be trained on the ethics when it comes to selling, negotiating, soliciting, and advertising their products as well as the remedies and the contract requirements.

In the case of those in the line of life settlement policies, the agents should focus more on the legal structure of life settlement, the requirements for the privacy and disclosures, the parties involve in life settlement, and the legal relationships in existence. The ethical training are also required with the focus in soliciting, negotiating, selling, and even advertising for the products. The other topics include the requirements for the contract and the remedies available.

From the above and most other examples, it is clear that the continuing education must relate to the technical aspects of life policy or other general policies the agent is specialized in. As such, there are other training that aim at improving the sales techniques as well as production of the agents; these cannot form part of the required CE.

Several organizations are now offering these training and most can be reached through the internet, however, you must confirm that the said organization is authorized by the relevant authorities to offer the training before signing for their courses.




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