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January 27, 1928.

WOMEN IN LIFE INSURANCE EDITION: 'INSURANCE ADVOCATE

OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN IN LIFE INSURANCE

By Alice E. Roche, of the Louis F. Paret Agency of the Provident Mutual Life Insurance
Company of Philadelphia.

As is true in practically every new line of endeavor, a woman entering the field of insurance naturally, and very wisely, begins with a point of contact, and, as a consequence, the first policies that are sold by the new woman agent are usually sold to women.

Now, what are the features of insurance which make its sale to and by woman attractive and profitable?

Life insurance has in the past been so little understood, and often so grossly misrepresented, that in order to give you a grasp of the possibilities of insurance, and the opportunities of the business, I shall direct my opening remarks to a few of the functions of a life insurance policy, and to some of its outstanding advantages.

Life insurance has been aptly de-fined as "a system devised to protect some one against the economic loss caused by the termination of a producing power." That "some one" may be your family at your death, or you in your old age. It is a science, the fundamental of which is the law of average. It is so scientifically planned and executed that over a period of years, it functions almost automatically.

Woman was the prime and fundamental reason for insurance, and yet, curiously enough, it frequently hap-pens that women need more educaing as to what insurance is and does than men. However, with women's present active participation in business, she is rapidly coming to share man's appreciation of insurance, and to realize that no one can engage in business, participate in business, or protect a business without leaning, in some measure, on insurance. The modern business man's attitude is aptly phrased by Mr. Barton Hepburn, former Comptroller of the Currency. Mr. Hepburn says: "The man who a generation ago carried life insurance of large amount was so exceptional as to excite inquiry as to his reasons and motives for so doing, while today it is the man who thinks he can afford to do without life insurance that is subjected to inquiry." And, again, Mr. Hepburn has said: "That attitude of mind which induces a man to reach out and grasp the ad-vantages of insurance is the attitude of mind which assures success in business."

Every self-supporting woman's first consideration is a competency for her unproductive years—in other words, a system of self-pensioning. Endowment insurance affords exactly this system—an insurance paid to you while you live—and convertible

into a dependable, monthly income for all the years of your life, regardless of their number. It is the system in insurance that counts. Other forms of saving exist, truly enough, but the fact remains, undeniable, that all too frequently we do not cling to other methods of saving as tenaciously as we do to an insurance policy.

One feature of insurance which is often questioned is the investment feature. Looking back over a period of five, ten, fifteen or twenty years, how few are the investments that have stood the test of time? And,, again, how few investments that you can make today, carry with them an absolute guarantee over a period of ten, twenty or thirty years. A life insurance policy is exactly this sort of investment. It is particularly adapted to women because it does not exact from them a constant and intimate touch with changing markets, or a scientific knowledge of finances and investments. Not that woman is incapable of reckoning with such facts—such an implication is far from my mind. But so often the time and means at a woman's disposal preclude the possibility of her knowing sufficiently the details that will prevent financial losses.

A life insurance policy can be put away and forgotten—forgotten, how-ever, with the absolute guarantee and assurance of a principal that is safe and an interest that is sure. Certainly, no further word is needed as to the safety of such an investment.

The next point I wish to touch is the availability of the investment. Every woman realizes that that in-vestment is most valuable to her which is available when she most needs it—when the contingencies of life occur, and the unforeseen emergencies confront her. The cash and loan values of a policy afford exactly the means for meeting these conditions. And bear in mind that your investment is available at 100%, not at 90, or 80 or 70, or at some other figure, dependent upon the market fluctuations of the time.

If some one comes to me and endeavors to interest me in an investment involving $20,000 or $25,000, I am not interested, because I do not have that amount to invest, but if some one comes to me with a proposition of a $20,000 or a $25,000 in-vestment which means setting aside $500 a year, I am interested, because I can see the way of setting aside that amount per year. The convenience of payment, therefore, makes possible the capitalization of an amount for old age which is not otherwise possible.

Again, your estate through other

investments attains that amount which you have actually put into it. Your estate, through an insurance policy, attains that amount which is your desire, regardless of the amount you have put in. In other words, you insure your intentions.

With this slight explanation, I hope I have opened up some of the reasons why insurance should be attractive to women, which brings me right to the subject of the meeting—present day opportunities for women in that field.

As I said at the beginning, woman's first work is usually among women. There is no reason, however, why she should confine her attentions to women. Life insurance is sold on its merits, and on the clearness and appropriateness of its presentation. It is not an easy business. It exacts a peculiar ability. It requires essential characteristics, prime among which is that attribute said to be so particularly woman's, tact. You must be alert, quick to think, quick to respond, sympathetic, understanding, sincere, convincing, enthusiastic. Selling life insurance is not a door-to-door canvass; it is the acid test of salesmanship. You are selling an in. tangible for future delivery.

Life insurance salesmanship is a service-giving occupation that reaches the very tendrils of society—the home, and the family. No social worker, in all her human contacts, comes into more intimate touch with family problems and their solution than does the life underwriter. Your service begins, not ends, when you de-liver a policy. From that moment, you are woven into the family fabric, and as the years roll by, your intimate touch with the family's successes and failures, joys and sorrows, make you at once, the friend, the confidente, the adviser.

The business is unique in that it gives an opportunity to apply all the knowledge and experience that a woman possesses. Regardless of your previous education, training, interests, experience, social and business contacts, you have, in insurance an opportunity to apply all that you have known, seen, heard or felt.

There is no field of business that affords greater financial opportunities than insurance salesmanship. It is one of the very few fields of work where a woman is paid the same compensation as a man for the same work. Your raise is not dependent on another's opinion of you—or a board's sanction of your stewardship. It is one occupation that is removed from the petty jealousies, rivalries and contentions which are so often the besetting sins of business offices,