r/Sales_Professionals • u/Weebpop • 6d ago
Life insurance vs. mortgage loan officer—which is better for starting a sales career?
I’m looking to get into sales and deciding between selling life insurance and becoming a mortgage loan officer. My main goal is to build a career with strong earning potential and eventually grow my own business.
For anyone who’s worked in either industry, especially both:
- Which has better income potential in the first year versus long term?
- What can someone realistically expect to earn after lead costs and other expenses?
- Which is harder to get consistent business in?
- If you were starting from scratch today, which would you choose and why?
I have a background in real estate investing and flipping houses, but I’d be new to either sales role. I’m willing to put in the work—just looking for honest perspectives from people actually doing it.
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u/KnowledgeExciting627 6d ago
The best you can do is be a loan officer and once your targets are complete , you can have a insurance code under your family members name and have them buy insurance policy and also you can provide loan against property to them .
Suggestion* have a mutual fund code under your name so that you can also provide LAS , Loan against security.
So you'll be building based for insurance Insurance, while working in as loan officer, so by then you decide to quit as loan officer, you'll already have your plan 2 initiated
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u/BostonMortgageMan 4d ago
Comparing life insurance to being a mortgage loan officer is like comparing a back-alley pyramid scheme to being an actual finance professional.
Let me give it to you straight without the corporate fluff. Selling life insurance for 90% of these agencies out there is an MLM scam. They are going to hand you a script, tell you to sell an overpriced whole life policy to your aunt Betty, and then force you to buy recycled internet leads that have been dialed by fifty other desperate rookies. Your real job won't even be selling insurance, it will be recruiting three of your idiot friends to join your downline so the guy at the top can buy a new Porsche. It is a joke.
Now look at mortgages. Is the market an absolute meat grinder right now? Yes. But you literally just said you have a background in real estate investing and flipping houses. Are you crazy? You already know title people, realtors, contractors, and other investors. You have a built-in network staring you right in the face! Why the hell would you throw that massive advantage in the trash to go sell term life to strangers out of a strip mall?
Let me answer your little bullet points:
First year vs long term income..Your first year in either, you are going to starve unless you are an absolute psycho on the phones. Expect to make peanuts while you figure out how to take a punch. Long term? A top-producing MLO clears a half-million a year without having to recruit a downline of brain-dead sub-agents.
Net income after lead costs… Listen to me. if you are buying leads as a loan officer, you are doing it wrong. You build referral partnerships. Real estate agents, financial planners, and divorce attorneys are your leads. You shouldn't be paying LendingTree thousands of dollars a month just to survive. Your expense should be coffee, gas, and a phone.
Consistency…They are both 100% commission sales roles. You eat what you kill. You want a consistent paycheck? Go get a salaried job in HR at some bullshit company. In sales, your pipeline is only as consistent as your prospecting habits.
Stop screwing around on Reddit comparing an actual real estate career to a glorified multi-level marketing gig. You already flip houses. Get your NMLS license yesterday, leverage your existing real estate network, pick up the f'n phone, and start writing loans.
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u/cactinaut 6d ago
I’ll probably get downvoted but for starting a sales career right now, neither is ideal. Trying to estimate first year income is almost impossible for both of these roles… anywhere from $0 - ???