Posted On: May 4, 2005, 7:35 pm CDT

Posted By: Jacqueline Homan

Hi CA Joe: The point I was trying to make was the sheer utter hypocrisy of ANY insurer touting itself as "blue" in promoting workers' rights, etc when no matter WHOM you are selling for, you do NOT get the benefit of any of FDR's New Deal programs that protect workers such as a minimum wage or overtime pay which virutally every other worker gets in this country - even if they have little to no education or do not have to get costly licenses in order to qualify for their careers. My point is that the so-called "blue" companies ought to set the example by putting their money where their big fat mouths are - by paying agents and brokers a base pay for their time, responsibilities and knowledge, and we all put in far more than 40 hours a week working to sell their products. As to the advice regarding getting into P&C as opposed to starving in the L,A&H end - I am doing that now - but I had to sneak in under the radar as an independent agent & broker starting out with one direct appointment from a sub-standard auto & home insurance carrier and the other P&C stuff as a sub-broker (where I own the book of business but get shafted on the compensation), because hardly anyone wanted to be the first to give me a chance and appoint me as a newbie, so I am in the "paying my dues" phase right now. When I got my P&C license (passed on first try) back in January, captive agent opportunities in my region with ANY company were being denied to anyone who wasn't a rich or upper middle-class young, white male. Administrative Assistant/secretary positions in established agencies were also not forthcoming for me because agents prefer to hire pretty, thin young Barbie Dolls over plump middle-aged women so that opportunity was also not available to me. State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Allstate and Nationwide are the captive insurance firms in my region and they all deny agent opportunities to those who are not well-to-do, young, white males which is why I despise the total hypocrisy of the whole "red/blue" categorization of insurers because even the "bluest" of the so-called "blue" companies discriminate against hiring/appointing middle-aged women as agents and anyone else who isn't well-off but who has the ambition, drive and brains to succeed - if only given a chance to do so. Thus, I offer the insurance I have access to markets for, and of those, I select what company's product will be a good fit for the insured based on their needs - not whether the carrier is a "red" or "blue" company.