Starting with a bachelor's degree, is an annual salary of 400,000 yuan just the threshold? Insurance companies are competing for talent in "new life insurance," where expertise in finance, healthcare, and elderly care has become standard.

Everyday Economic News Reporter | Yuan Yuan   Everyday Economic News Editor | Liao Dan

As China’s population aging accelerates, residents’ needs for health management and eldercare planning are becoming increasingly diverse. The traditional agent model, which focuses solely on policy sales, can no longer meet market changes. Insurance companies are beginning to recruit and develop diversified insurance sales talent.

Recently, Ping An Life held the “Good Development with Ping An” Insurance and Elderly Care Advisor Anniversary and Talents Program Launch Conference in Shenzhen, officially announcing the full launch of the “Talents Program.” Through a professional and specialized talent development system, the goal is to build a top insurance and elderly care advisor team with the triple value of “financial advisor, family doctor, and eldercare manager.”

It is understood that the “Talents Program” focuses more on the role of “elderly care advisor” within the sales team. This also means that insurance agents in the program will no longer be limited to traditional marketing and management paths but will become stewards capable of providing comprehensive solutions for family wealth, eldercare, and medical needs.

This move is not an isolated case. As the era of longevity continues, the demand for eldercare and health management among the public keeps rising. Driven by this demand, insurance institutions are exploring deeper integration of “insurance” and “elderly care.” A review by the Daily Economic News found that Taikang Life’s “Health Wealth Planner (HWP),” China Pacific Life’s “S Plan,” and AIA’s “HEA (Elite Wealth Planner) Talent Recruitment Program” all focus on recruiting and developing versatile professionals. By reshaping the insurance agent workforce, they aim to meet the increasingly diverse health and wealth management needs of high-net-worth clients.

Role Shift: From Sales to Full Lifecycle Service

By 2025, Ping An Life will first launch the “Insurance Elderly Care Advisor” program, positioning agents as “financial advisor + family doctor + eldercare manager”—a hybrid talent capable of not only selling insurance but also connecting medical and eldercare resources. Recently, based on the “Insurance Elderly Care Advisor,” Ping An Life upgraded and launched the “Talents Program.”

As the top-level design of Ping An Life’s “Insurance Elderly Care Advisor” talent strategy, the “Talents Program” targets elites with a bachelor’s degree or higher, aged 28 to 55, with previous annual income exceeding 400,000 yuan. The aim is to build a top-tier team to serve high-net-worth clients in depth. Tao Ben, Deputy General Manager of the Human Resources Development Team at Ping An Life, stated that since pilot testing began in June 2025, over 800 high-caliber professionals from banking, financial management, and technology fields have joined, with more than 80% holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, nearly 10% holding a master’s degree, and nearly 30% earning over one million yuan annually before joining.

From the positioning and recruitment of the “Talents Program,” it is clear that these agents are no longer traditional insurance salespeople but are assigned three roles: financial advisor, family doctor, and eldercare manager. This means agents need to deeply meet clients’ full lifecycle needs for wealth, health, and eldercare.

It is worth noting that Ping An Life’s initiative is not unique. Similar role transformations are happening in other insurance companies, each with different focuses: some emphasize health management by collaborating with medical institutions for professional training; some focus on eldercare scenarios by integrating eldercare community resources to cultivate professionals with eldercare planning and care coordination skills; others strengthen the integration of finance and eldercare, requiring advisors to have skills in insurance planning, wealth management, and eldercare services.

For example, Taikang Life’s Health Wealth Planner (HWP) combines functions of insurance advisor, medical and eldercare advisor, and financial advisor; AIA’s “HEA Talent Program” positions marketers as lifelong “health and wealth management partners” and “insurance entrepreneurs” with leadership qualities.

Overall, the industry shows three distinct features in cultivating high-end agents and eldercare advisors: first, talent thresholds are continuously rising, with high education levels and cross-field elites becoming key recruits; second, training systems are becoming more comprehensive, covering financial, health, and eldercare knowledge through integrated guidance from entry to advanced levels; third, career development paths are clear, with most insurers restructuring dual-track channels of “individual sales + organizational development” to provide ladder-like promotion opportunities and competitive reward systems.

Behind the Transformation: Shifting Demand Focus Spurs “New Life Insurance” Model

From the recruitment and training directions of these institutions, it is evident that insurance agents are no longer just salespeople but providers of full-lifecycle services and one-stop solutions. This means that becoming an insurance agent previously might have only required understanding basic insurance terms and sales scripts, with low educational and professional knowledge requirements. Now, to join these elite teams, one may need to master complex knowledge in insurance, finance, medical health, eldercare planning, taxation, and law, while playing multiple roles such as financial advisor, family doctor, and eldercare steward.

The core reason for insurance companies focusing on developing eldercare advisors and actively recruiting high-end talent is closely related to the evolving industry landscape.

At the turn of the millennium, consumers’ understanding of insurance was limited to policies and claims. At that time, consumers only needed to purchase policies with relevant coverage based on their needs, and agents only needed to sell appropriate products. The connection and service between the two generally ended after the policy transaction, with many agents only re-engaging with clients when claims arose.

However, with economic development and increasing average lifespan, consumer needs have shifted. Insurance no longer only addresses protection but also includes wealth planning, medical care, and eldercare. Under this concept, policies are no longer just proof of contract between insurer and client but become a bond, allowing clients to access health management services, eldercare community admission, travel and retirement experiences, and more.

This industry trend is called the “New Life Insurance” model. Chen Dongsheng, founder, chairman, and CEO of Taikang Insurance Group, once stated that traditional life insurance only covers life and investment, while “New Life Insurance” adds medical and eldercare services, forming a pattern supported by insurance payments, investment assets, and medical-eldercare services.

To meet consumer needs and provide personalized services under this model, insurance agents need to enhance their skills accordingly.

According to Tao Junqing, Deputy General Manager of Taikang Life’s Health Wealth Management Division and national head of the HWP project, the core of “New Life Insurance” is adding medical and eldercare services on top of the existing two pillars. Since these services often need to be communicated to clients through agents, agents must not only understand insurance but also possess some medical and eldercare knowledge.

Future Development: Reshaping Individual Channel Personnel Continues

With continuous improvement of training systems and active recruitment efforts by insurance companies, the growth rate of eldercare advisors and specialized agents is quite notable.

“Takang HWP’s compound growth rate is higher than that of regular agents because the attrition rate of regular agents is relatively high,” Tao Junqing told the Daily Economic News. “In first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai, Takang basically no longer has regular agents; all business is conducted by HWP. In markets like Ningbo, 80% to 90% of newly recruited personnel are HWP.”

However, Tao also pointed out that in terms of overall numbers, HWPs still account for a smaller proportion than regular agents. “In some less developed insurance markets or third- and fourth-tier cities, there is still a need for a certain number of regular agents: on one hand, they lack the extensive resources that HWPs in big cities have; on the other hand, clients in these areas have insurance needs that require regular agents’ services.” Tao said that in terms of agent development, it is difficult for all regions in the country to follow a uniform approach, even for Taikang.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that in an increasingly complex and variable market environment, with more diverse and personalized client needs, the professional competence and continuous learning ability of insurance agents will become crucial to coping with market challenges. In this context, many insurance companies are actively promoting and improving relevant training systems to build high-quality talent pools.

Jushun Jing, postdoctoral fellow and professor of applied economics at Peking University, pointed out that marketers are shifting from traditional “network-driven” approaches to “professional and service-driven” models. By leveraging digital tools, they improve customer acquisition and management efficiency through social fission, private domain operations, and customer tagging, expanding service coverage. Marketers are gradually transforming from simple product sellers into “family risk management advisors,” providing systematic and customized protection plans around family lifecycle, extending to health management, eldercare planning, and wealth inheritance, thereby increasing customer stickiness and creating a positive cycle of referrals based on professionalism, trust, and personalized service.

Cover image source: AIGC