To be an 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:insurance underwriter—that is, someone who evaluates insurance applications—you need to be thorough and decisive, with excellent analytical skills. If you have a background in finance and an eye for detail, you may want to cons🌃ider insurance un⭕derwriting as a career.
Key Takeaways
- Insurance underwriters determine risk, premiums, and the extent of coverage for insured parties.
- Most companies require insurance underwriters to have an undergraduate degree and some experience in the insurance industry. Others require underwriters to be certified.
- The four main career paths for insurance underwriters include life insurance, health insurance, mortgage insurance, and property/casualty insurance.
- In addition to their salaries, underwriters can expect to receive other benefits, retirement options, and great insurance coverage.
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Education
Most employers prefer candidates with a college degree in business or another related field, such as finance, economics, or 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:accounting.
While a bachelor's degree in almost any field may be sufficient to qualify a person to begin a career as an underwriter, it's also a good idea for candidates to also have some insurance-related experience.
Certifications
As with other careers, certifications can improve earning power for insurance underwriters and open up new opportunities for advancement. These special 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:designations require candidates to study and pass exams before they can be certified. Becoming certified and maintaining these credentials through recertification allows underwriters to stay on top of insurance trends and regulations.
Underwriters with experience and 澳洲幸运❀5官方开奖结果体彩网:additional designations may advance to senior underwriter and managerial positi𓄧ons, although some employers require a master's degree to achieve this level.
The AU and API designations both typically take at least a year to complete, while the CPCU designation requires three years of i🌱nsurance experience ওand candidates must pass eight exams.
Certifications for Insurance Underwriters | ||
---|---|---|
Field | Certification | Organization |
Life Insurance | Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) | The American College |
Health Insurance | Registered Health Underwriter (RHU) | The American College |
Personal Insurance | Associate in Personal Insurance (API) | Insurance Institute of America |
Business Policies | Associate in Commercial Underwriting (AU) | Insurance Institute of America |
Property/Casualty | Chartered Property/Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) | American Institute for Chartered Property/Casualty Underwriters |
Skills
Often, the most important underwriting skills are learned on the job. As such, many underwriters begin their careers as trainees or assistant underwriters. During this time, they help collect and evaluate information about clients but are supervised by an experienced underwriter in the firm. Some 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:large insurance companies offer their own comprehensive training programs, which typically include🌼 both study and the gradual assignment of more complex tasks.
Strong computer skills are essential for a career in underwriting. So, on-the-job computer training tends to continue throughout an underwriter's career as the programs that these professionals use are updated.
Job Duties
澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:To underwrite means to accept liability for clients' potential losses. As such, underwriters review new applications or renew existing ones for 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:insurance coverage for both individuals and companies. With the help of computer program💙s, underwriters determine the risk involved in insuring a particular person or company and calculate the appropriate premiums for the amount of coverage requested.
These are important decisions, as insurance companies assume billions of dollars of risk each year. If an underwriter is too conservative, an insurance company may lose business. If they are too generous, the company may need to pay excessive claims.
Underwriters work for insurance companies and generally work at corporate headquarters or a regional 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:branch office.
Working with computers and technology is a vital part of underwriting. Computer software systems are used to 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:analyze and rate i🌊nsurance applications, make recommendations based on risk, an☂d adjust premium rates according to this risk.
Job Opportunities
There are many lines of work for insurance underwriters. But there are generally four main career path🤪s that these professionals can follow:
- 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Life insurance
- Health insurance
- Mortgage insurance
- Property/澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:casualty insurance
The duties of an underwriter tend to differ with each type of insurance. This means that the duties of an underwriter for a life insurance policy are different than those of a home insurance policy underwriter. That's because both types of clients will vary as well as the risk.
Important
Insurance underwriter salaries may be impacted by a number of factors, including the person's education, experience, certifications, designations, the type of underwriting, and the company that an individual works for.
Compensation
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) categorizes the median annual sala🅰ry based on the top industries for insurance underwriters:
- Credit Intermediation: $89,700
- Direct Health and Medical Insurance: $78,530
- Insurance Agencies/Brokerages: $76,450
- Direct Insurance (except life, health, and medical): $77,680
- Other Insurance Activities: $80,090
Insurance companies may also provide above-average benefits such as retireme🥂nt plans and, of course, excellent group life and health insurance. They also may offer salary incentives and tuition reimbursement.
What Types of Insurance Underwriters Are There?
Insurance underwriters can focus on life insurance, health insurance, mortgage insurance, and property/casualty insurance.
How Stressful Is Being an Insurance Underwriter?
Insurance underwriters must manage tight deadlines, and it requirꦚes significant attention to detail. However, the hours are not long. Underwriting is typically a desk job with a standard 40-hour workweek, although overtime may be required as determined by each underwriting project. Evening and weekend hours are not uncommon.
Can Insurance Underwriters Make a Lot of Money?
The median annual salary for insurance underwriters was $76,390 in May 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The highest 10% earned as much as $126,380 while the lowest 10% in the field earned a maximum of $47,330.
The Bottom Line
Finding where you fit in the working world is often not a linear path. It is quite normal to try out a number of potential career opportunities. But if you're a detail-oriented, analytical person who likes to put the pieces together to solve a problem, then insurance underwriting could be a good career fit for you.
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