Show Lately we’ve been reviewing tools agents use to help them close more leads, from Quoting Tools to CRMs and Dialers. But along the way to selling insurance, sooner or later you’ll need to take continuing education classes. It’s the one thing that links beginners and established agents. Though specific requirements vary by state, most states require insurance agents to complete about 24 hours of continuing education every 2 years. Completing your CE requirements not only keeps your insurance license active; it also keeps you updated on the latest rules, regulations, and products to keep you competitive. You may have been able to skip classes in college, but without the CE credits you need, your insurance career (and income) may be in jeopardy. CE is a big deal for agents, but still, we constantly see threads popping up on the forums throughout the year with agents asking who’s the best CE provider. So, we decided to look at all the continuing education providers out there and rank the best (and worst) ones for agents, to help take some of the educational burden off your back. Why Not Initial Pre-Licensing?This post will focus only on continuing education, not initial pre-licensing, because there are tons of local online college options for initial licensing that don’t cater to all states. However, we did note whether each CE provider we reviewed offers initial licensing education. Old-School In-Person or Online Classes?If you’re one of those old-school agents who enjoyed going to a local education provider for classes, you’re not going to like this article. Since 1990, all U.S. states have allowed continuing education for insurance agents to take place online. In fact, ALL education is moving online, not just professional insurance licensing. Take these stats, for example, from Babson Survey Research Group’s 13th annual survey of online education, released last year: “The number of students taking online courses grew to 5.8 million nationally, continuing a growth trend that has been consistent for 13 years. More than a quarter of higher education students (28 percent) are enrolled in least one online course.” But if you happen to be one of those agents who prefers an actual classroom setting, check out your state Department of Insurance (DOI) website, where you can find information on state-approved licensing providers near you, and see if they might offer local continuing education classes. But why not try a class online? You might learn something. How We Determined Winners & LosersIn determining the criteria for the best and worst CE providers for agents, we came up with a few variables:
If you look at the top 3, middle 3, and bottom 3 providers, you’ll see a clear pattern behind the average number of classes offered:
When it came to pricing, we noticed two major patterns with the providers – they either priced the classes in an all-inclusive annual packaged price or they priced classes individually. At first glance, many agents would opt for the all-inclusive package, but beware – there are hidden filing fees for each test taken and passed. These fees can add up if you’re a bookworm who likes to learn, or if you’re crunching all your CE credits in the weekend before they’re due. So, if you like the all-inclusive packages, make sure you check out the extra fees involved so you’re not caught with your pants down. The final variable we looked at was the number of topics offered by each provider; if they were missing common topics, then we took that into consideration, too. The top 3 missing topics we noticed among providers were:
Hopefully CE providers will read this article and decide to beef up their offerings. But until then, at least you know now which providers are lacking in key insurance topics. 16 Insurance Topics CoveredBefore getting to the 3 winners and 3 losers, let’s cover the most common topics taught by CE providers. 1. Property & Casualty 2. Disaster Insurance 3. Commercial Insurance 4. Business Insurance 5. Annuity 6. Medicare 7. Social Security Strategies 8. Retirement Planning 9. Estate Planning 10. Financial Planning 11. Long Term Care Insurance (LTCi) 12. Health Insurance 13. Life Insurance 14. Disability Insurance 15. Ethics 16. LIMRA Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Top 3 LosersAs is tradition with our Agents’ Review Corner articles, we are revealing the biggest losers of this comparison before we announce the winners. Our hope is maybe these vendors will see how they stack up against the competition and that will spur them to be more competitive – because that’s the American way! The first loser is Cape School. They were tied with 360 Training, except the difference, and the reason we decided to place Cape School in the loser section and not 360 Training, was that 360 Training offered pre-licensing courses and Cape School did not. Cape also failed to offer LIMRA AML classes, which are vital to selling life insurance. Another unfortunate vendor to make the losers’ list was NobleCE. Noble, together with the last provider on the list, StateCE (the provider we recommend the least) were both missing classes on 5 common topic areas, including the vital AML mentioned above. I will say this about Noble and StateCE: Their prices per class are the lowest amongst their peers. Hopefully they can build on the price and fill out their course offerings. What are Florida's continuing education requirements?Reminder of Florida's 4-Hour CE Update Course Requirement
Each licensee must complete a 4-hour course specific to their license type. When two or more licenses are held, the licensee must complete a 4-hour course specific to at least one license type held.
How many CE hours do I need for Texas insurance license?Continuing Education Requirements by License Type
24 hours of continuing education is required for each license period.
How do you get a 215 license in Florida?If you are seeking a Florida 2-15 Health & Life (Including Annuities & Variable Contracts) Agent License you will need to take a 60-hour pre-license course with a Study Manual. Visit the MyFloridaCFO website Education Information for Licensees to review more information about Exam Study Manuals.
How many hours of continuing education do you need to be an insurance adjuster in Texas?Continuing education credits
To keep your license in good standing, you must take 24 hours of continuing education every two years. Three hours must be in ethics / consumer protection (if your license expired on or before August 31, 2022, you need only two hours of ethics).
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