Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Insurance Agents suffer from Bipolar Disorder

If you are a financial planner, or an insurance agent and you sell life, health or disability insurance, chances are you suffer from mania and or depression.  This is what bipolar disorder looks like.  You make several sales and you are all hyped up and then you crash and weeks go by without a sale.  All your income is based on commissions that you may or may not earn and you suffer from boughts of heartache.  You suffer from sleepless night wondering if your mortgage payments will be made for the month.  You wonder if you can afford the utility bills and food for your family. 
You become psychotic because you value life and have to - you are forced to view life as a number and you suffer from knowing that if you don't get people to see how you look at their own situation without life insurance and the need they have for it, then you suffer along with them.  You die a death with that customer and suffer from the backlash of buyer's remorse and have to pay back a commission that was forwarded to you ahead of time.  You realize that life is precious and that all peoples, all your friends and family needs this insurance and so you try your hardest to sell it to them and nothing works.  You may have sold a few annuities or a few rollovers from a 401k, but the hard part is selling the life and disability insurances because people don't think they will get hurt or die.  They are the ones you target, and if they don't buy you suffer from major depression because you worry about their lives....and the lives that make up your contract to survive in the insurance field.  You certifications and long hours of studying didn't prepare you for the feelings that go along with becoming a financial planner.  You suffer tremendous guilt and apprehension when it comes to selling and you have to sometimes beg for a income check from your manager that you may have already earned but they control your income flow because you may be a new agent and you got put into a financing program that is supposed to help you survive the battle of being a successful insurance agent.

If you or someone like you is experiencing these symptoms of being a life insurance agent, then perhaps they too suffer from bipolar disorder and don't know it.  This happened to me, and after thinking I have bipolar disorder II, the lesser of the two forms, I was diagnosed with the worse form bipolar I disorder in 2004, two years after I thought it went away and that I was just experiencing what I called the "sales cycle", the up and down feelings that accompany a new agent in the field.  Don't be alarmed.  There is help out there.  Let's review in an upcoming blog how to deal with your disease and recognize how to survive once you have been diagnosed with it and you must decide to stay or forgoe your dreams of becoming an certified financial planner, like I had to do for my health and well being.  Next we will discuss the social program of social security and how it helped me to survive in this world of danger and intrigue.
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Posted by Copper Woods at 3/23/2010 10:05:00 AM
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2 comments:

  1. Forrest, you are a trip.

    I am the guy you described, expect that I excelled further to the point of obtaining my CFP and then actually leaving NML to open up my own fee-only planning practice.

    However, I had many cycles along the way. Many divorces. Much spending and impulsiveness too. Eventually I realized that this thing was leading me and I was really not aware of it...the whole time. So, I went out on my large individual disability policies and sold my firm.

    The truth is that someone with bipolar should not be a fiduciary. Maybe they could still sell insurance, but that is not what I was doing anymore. I was an actual fiduciary. And this disorder really does create irrational decionmaking along with the rest of it. As much as I loved my 19 year career, as much as I poured my heart into my education, and as much as I believe in fee-only financial planning, the truth was that I had Bipolar Im just like my dad, and that I had to come to terms with all the problems this condition was causing in my life along with the risk it posed to my clients.

    So, keep blogging. I for one enjoy reading about your situation as it is very relevant, obviously, to my own.
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  2. Hello BipolarPorch - thank you for sharing your story with me. I am glad that I am not alone in this situation. It seems that if I wasn't led into this career path that I wouldn't have purchased disability myself and I am glad that I did. It's unfortunate that it only lasted 2 years though, those laws should change because this is a lifelong struggle. However I agree with you that for the most part, one with this disease cannot be a fiduciary, at least for clients...it does become quiet a mess sometimes, like it did for me in the end, it was a struggle to juggle everyone and the customer service you should be able to provide to your clients. I just loved insurance and felt good about what I was involved in. Congrats on getting your CFP....that's a feat, I am surprised I even passed the series 7, barely with this condition (on the first try) - I could never do that again. Anyway, thanks again for sharing!
    Forrest
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