Pros and Cons of Working as an Underwriter

You think about being an underwriter but want to get additional information about job security, work-life balance, job satisfaction, career prospects, educational requirements and much more before making your final decision in this regard?

Great! Stick with me since I will show you the pros and cons of being an underwriter in the following article.

Underwriter Job Profile

Advantages of Being an Underwriter

1. Underwriters don’t have to work many extra hours
2. Underwriters don’t have to work on weekends or holidays
3. Underwriters have pretty decent work-life balance
4. You will have enough time to spend with your loved ones
5. You can maintain your social contacts
6. Underwriters don’t have to deal with lots of stress at work
7. You often work in a back-office environment
8. Underwriters can work indoors
9. Underwriters can make decent money
10. You can save enough money for retirement
11. You have decent job security as an underwriter
12. Underwriters will be in high demand for many years to come
13. Underwriters have decent exit options
14. Underwriters can often work remotely
15. Underwriters are not at great risk of burnout
16. Becoming an underwriter can make sense if you want to have a family
17. Underwriters have a rather easy time in the dating market
18. You work in a pretty safe environment as an underwriter

Underwriters don’t have to work many extra hours

One advantage of being an underwriter is that you don’t have to work much overtime.

Instead, you will work in a classical 9 to 5 environment and will have more than enough time to meet up with your favorite people after work.

Underwriters don’t have to work on weekends or holidays

Since underwriters don’t have to work on holidays or weekends, they are also able to make nice weekend trips with their families while baristas or train drivers often don’t have this luxury.

Underwriters have pretty decent work-life balance

In general, since you don’t have to work many extra hours and will mostly have free weekends, you will also have pretty decent work-life balance and will also have enough energy left to spend many nice hours with your loved ones after work.

You will have enough time to spend with your loved ones

Working as an underwriter can also be great for your private life since you will come home from work relatively early most of the time and will therefore have the opportunity to see your kids grow up while you can still provide for your family in a decent manner.

You can maintain your social contacts

Not only will you have enough time for your family, but you will also be able to spend lots of time with your friends and other social contacts while people working in investment banking and in many other jobs where you have to work long hours on a regular basis often lose their social contacts sooner or later and just live to work instead of work to live.

Underwriters don’t have to deal with lots of stress at work

Another upside to working as an underwriter is that you will also have a rather relaxed time at work in most cases.

Sure, there will be busy periods where you have to get lots of work done in time.

Yet, for the majority of the year, you will not have to deal with much stress at work and will therefore have enough energy left after work to do nice things with your favorite people.

You often work in a back-office environment

Since you will work in a back-office environment and don’t have to deal with many clients as an underwriter most of the time, you will also not have to deal with difficult and demanding clients on a regular basis and can rather spend your workday without having to deal with these bad vibes.

Underwriters can work indoors

While fallers and many other people have to work outdoors during times of bad weather, you as an underwriter can work indoors in a rather cozy environment and can even enjoy a nice tea or coffee to make your time at work much better.

Underwriters can make decent money

Another benefit of becoming an underwriter is that you can also make pretty good money from what you are doing.

In fact, there are many underwriters who make a six-figure income sooner or later while butchers and many other people can just dream about making this kind of money and will secretly envy you.

You can save enough money for retirement

Since you can make decent money from your underwriter career, you will also be able to save and invest enough money for retirement so you will not have to deal with old-age poverty once you quit your active career and retire.

You have decent job security as an underwriter

Underwriters also have pretty good job security since they are in high demand right now and even in case you lose your job for some reason, chances are that you will find a new job in your industry pretty soon and don’t have to worry about long-term unemployment.

Underwriters will be in high demand for many years to come

Not only will you have decent job security as an underwriter right now, but good underwriters will also be in high demand for many years or even decades and you will therefore have almost freedom of choice regarding whom you want to work for.

Underwriters have decent exit options

If you don’t want to work in the underwriting industry forever, you will still have many decent exit options since you will be a real expert in risk management and related fields and you will also learn many skills that will be valuable in the job market for many years to come.

Underwriters can often work remotely

Since you will do classical office work, you will also be able to work from home most of the time and this can be great since it enables you to manage your private and professional life in a much more flexible manner.

Underwriters are not at great risk of burnout

Since underwriters don’t have to deal with lots of stress at work, they are also not at great risk of burnout or other mental problems while people working in private equity and other stressful jobs often have to deal with those unpleasant things.

Becoming an underwriter can make sense if you want to have a family

Since you have decent work-life balance while you can also make pretty good money and can also provide for your loved ones in a decent manner, an underwriting career can also make sense for you if you search for a job where you can see your kids grow up and still want to make enough money to afford a decent lifestyle.

Underwriters have a rather easy time in the dating market

Since underwriters can make decent money and also have a good social standing, they also have a rather easy time in the dating market when it comes to finding someone for a long-term relationship since underwriters are just considered good providers.

You work in a pretty safe environment as an underwriter

Since you will work from home or in a classical office environment, you will work in a pretty safe job as an underwriter andy our risk of suffering from serious accidents at work will be rather low.

Now that you know the reasons for becoming an underwriter, we also have to talk about the drawbacks of an underwriting career so you will get a more realistic picture of reality and can better decide whether you still want to become an underwriter or rather want to work in a different field instead.

Disadvantages of Working as an Underwriter

1. Hard to start your own business as an underwriter
2. Underwriters do many repetitive tasks
3. You will often not see tangible results of your work
4. Hard to make a real positive social impact as an underwriter
5. You have to work in a classical office environment
6. The underwriting industry is pretty conservative
7. You have to get a college degree for working as an underwriter
8. Student loan debt may become an issue
9. Not everyone has the talent to succeed as an underwriter
10. You will not have much social interaction at work
11. You may get bored with your underwriting job in the long run
12. Many underwriters don’t stay fit at work
13. You may have to go to the gym after work

Hard to start your own business as an underwriter

One problem with being an underwriter is that you will have a hard time starting your own underwriting business since underwriting services are often done internally and the underwriting industry is also pretty competitive so you will almost have zero chance to establish yourself as a real authority.

Thus, if you want to work self-employed, you will be far better off becoming a digital marketer or work in another field where your goal of having your own business is achievable in a much easier manner.

Underwriters do many repetitive tasks

You should also know that many of your tasks will be pretty repetitive as an underwriter and there will just not be much room for creativity at work.

Hence, if you are a creative person who wants to do new things every day, becoming an artist may be better for you.

You will often not see tangible results of your work

Since you will work in a classical office job where you will often just prepare presentations and other digital things, you will also not produce tangible assets and results and this may become really frustrating and demotivating in the long run.

Hard to make a real positive social impact as an underwriter

Another downside to working as an underwriter is that you will also have a rather limited positive impact on society.

While you will do an important job for the company you work for, you will just not do good for many people out there compared to teachers or professors who can change the lives of many people on a daily basis.

You have to work in a classical office environment

Since you will work in a classical office job, you will also not get lots of fresh air as an underwriter and if you don’t like working in those office environments, you may just not get happy as an underwriter or in other office jobs in the long run.

The underwriting industry is pretty conservative

You should also know that underwriting is still a pretty conservative industry and you will therefore have many pretty formal conversations and may also not feel comfortable in meetings.

You have to get a college degree for working as an underwriter

Another disadvantage of becoming an underwriter is that you also need a college degree before you are able to work in this field and this means that you will have to spend lots of time and money while roofers and many other people who work in craftsman jobs don’t have to worry in this regard.

Student loan debt may become an issue

Since you will have to spend many years in college before you can become an underwriter, you will also have to finance your degree somehow and many people who don’t make enough from student jobs have to take on significant amounts of student loan debt which they have to pay back later on.

Not everyone has the talent to succeed as an underwriter

While you don’t need to be a genius for becoming an underwriter, you should still be smart enough to deal with complex problems and should also have a certain talent for working with numbers since you would most likely not get happy with your job in the long run otherwise.

You will not have much social interaction at work

Underwriters also work on their own for an extended period of time and if you need more social interaction to stay happy at work, you may be better off working as a DJ or in other jobs where you can meet and talk to more people.

You may get bored with your underwriting job in the long run

Since many things you will do as an underwriter are pretty repetitive and you will also not produce many tangible results, you may also get demotivated with what you are doing sooner or later and may get bored with your underwriting job in the long run.

Many underwriters don’t stay fit at work

Since underwriters do classical office work, many of them also don’t get enough exercise at work and become overweight or even obese in the long run.

You may have to go to the gym after work

Since you will not get lots of exercise at work, you may have to go to the gym after work to stay fit and this may cost you lots of precious time that you will not be able to spend on your hobbies or with your favorite people.

Top 10 Being an Underwriter Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become An Underwriter?

While becoming an underwriter can make quite a lot of sense since you will have good work-life balance and can still make decent money at the same time, you should also know that you will have to do many repetitive tasks and you may just get bored with your underwriting career in the long run.

In the end, it is on you to have a look at all the advantages and disadvantages of working as an underwriter carefully so you will be better able to decide whether you still want to aspire to an underwriter career or rather want to work in a different field instead.

If you don’t want to become an underwriter anymore, you may also want to have a look at the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of being a dietician

Advantages and disadvantages of working for a hedge fund

Advantages and disadvantages of being a bartender

Sources

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1271999/underwriters-of-largest-ipos-global/

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world.

In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of what a fulfilling career could look like.

I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics.

However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

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