Life insurance, albeit in a fairly primitive format, has been around for centuries, where the first policies were believed to have been written by the Chinese. In the mid nineteenth century, life insurance policies began to emerge in the United States, along the East Coast. Gradually the practice began to spread across Europe and eventually reached South Africa towards the last quarter of the nineteen hundreds.

In the early days of the insurance industry in South Africa, there were so few people that were interested in taking out life insurance that the insurance companies dealt with them directly. However as word spread of the benefits of life insurance, more and more people became interested in the idea and wanted to take out insurance on their lives as they wanted to protect their loved ones in the event of their passing, prematurely or not.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, more and more people were looking to insure themselves against a variety of eventualities. The insurance company’ head office began to be awash with people, some of whom had travelled considerable distances to discuss their insurance requirements. Eventually the insurance companies decided to appoint brokers who would handle their business for them across the country.

This piece of forward thinking saw insurance brokers begin to spring up in every small town. The public were happy to welcome them as their presence made the whole insurance concept a hands on affair. Pretty soon insurance brokers became focal parts of the community, alongside the family doctor, the lawyer’s office, the post office and the local bar.

The easy accessibility of insurance brokers proved to be a windfall for the insurance companies and their sales rose considerably over the years. Customers and insurance companies alike were comfortable to deal through a broker. When the time came to discuss life insurance, a potential policy holder would pop in to their favourite insurance broker for a chat.

In fact any insurance broker worth their salt would never pass up on the opportunity to remind a client whom they knew had yet to take out a policy, of the advantages as well as the obligations of life insurance.

As well as being business people, insurance brokers will have received some form of formal training as well as being extremely well versed in the world of life insurance. They will be able to provide you with objective advice on the best policy make up for you that will ideally suit your profile and financial situation.

There are many people who have handled their insurance affairs with same insurance broker for years, and turn to them only. There are an increasing band of people whose loyalty is only to their bank manager. They are looking to reduce prices for their life insurance without sacrificing service or value.

This way of thinking lends itself to the internet age. Nowadays it is possible to go on line and compare quotes from several companies for life insurance. Online insurance brokers have overheads that are a fraction of their land based competitors, and can afford to pass on these savings to their customers. By dealing online, you should be able to save between ten to fifteen percent of your annual insurance premiums.