Don't Just Get CE, Get CE That Educates!

Many licensed insurance professionals are required to continually education themselves in the insurance field as a requirement to keep their licenses in force.  Certain licensees are NOT required to take continuing education (CE) such as a credit insurance licensee working at a car dealership or a title insurance licensee or a bail bond licensee.  All producer licensees ARE required to take 24 hours of CE every two year renewal period.  Licensed independent adjusters are also required to take 24 hours of CE every renewal period.  

​There are several ways a licensee can meet the CE requirements of the Alaska Division of Insurance (DOI): 1) take a live class, 2) attend a webinar or other internet based format or 3) self-study and pass an exam.  All continuing education classes in Alaska must now be pre-approved for credit by the DOI and all CE providers must be licensed as CE providers by the DOI. 

​All licensees that are required to take CE within their renewal cycle must be sure that 3 of those 24 credits be in an Ethics class.  The Ethics class MUST be taken inside the two year renewal cycle, the Ethics credits cannot be carried over from a previous renewal cycle.  For any other approved credits, 8 of them can be carried over to the new renewal cycle, but only 8.  For those that teach CE, only 8 hours can be obtained from any classes they teach.  

​The intent of this regulation is to have licensees constantly be working to educate themselves in the ever-changing insurance market.  For those of us who take that seriously, we are looking to learn and expand our knowledge with the idea of becoming a better professional so we can better serve our clients and meet their insurance needs by presenting the best coverages for their risk exposures.

​Regardless of the intent of the regulation, there will be times when the goal of the licensee is to just meet the letter of the regulation so they can remained licensed.  There are places you can go and get your 24 hours of CE for a very low price, and quite possibly, you will be done in a couple of hours!  These folks meet the requirement and they get their license renewed, but did they get any REAL education?  Maybe, maybe not.  I am not saying these folks are not competent, in fact, many are very competent, but I am saying that they are not getting any real education value by doing it this way.

​I recommend folks take classes that will expand their insurance knowledge so they can serve their clients better by having more knowledge of the insurance products available (whether they sell them or not, knowledge is power and giving good advice to clients is key).  Try to learn each and every day you work in the insurance industry.  The more you know, the better it gets and this is often reflected in your salary!

​So, get educated.  Keep educating yourself every day, don't just meet the minimum standard of the CE regulation, use that minimum standard to rise above and excel.  Clients don't want to have a claim, but they do want value for their premium dollar.  There is great value in educating your clients so when a claim does arise, they do not carry misconceptions about their coverage into the claim handling process.