There are a lot of steps involved in preparing for your insurance exam, from taking and understanding
preparation courses, to taking quizzes and conducting final reviews. Before you can properly engage
with the process as we outline it here though, you’ll have to actually sign up — and pay for — a relevant
course.
The good news is that the prices for these courses are not exorbitant. They should not be thought of as,
say, graduate-level courses or semesters of college. Rather, prep courses and guides for your exam will
typically add up to anywhere from $250 to about $1,000 (with some variance). Manageable as these
numbers may be compared to other costs in different types of education however, they’re certainly not
negligible.
It may well be that when you’re at a point in your life to pursue your insurance license, and you look up
course prep of this nature, you don’t have $250 or $1,000 readily on hand. It’s for this kind of scenario
that we wanted to suggest some quick and easy ways to fund your exam courses and guides if
necessary.
These are some of the creative things that some of our previous students have used and that you might find helpful.
Do some freelance work
“Do more work” isn’t always the most appealing tip when you’re looking to raise money to study. The
simple fact, however, is that there are a lot of freelance platforms online today through which you can
fairly easily find work — be it in writing, translating, transcribing, tutoring, or any number of other
things. Most of the work pays fairly low rates, but if you just need to raise a few hundred dollars to
supplement exam course payments, a handful of hours of freelance work can help you on your way.
Take surveys
If you like the general freelance concept but you have trouble finding the right job, or you want
something a little more passive, you can also go the survey route. These days, there are legitimate
survey platforms that pay participants to answer questions. Of course the sums aren’t particularly large,
but this is another way to make $5 here and $10 there through some fairly minimal online work. A
diligent approach might just get you about $100 in a week’s time.
Crowdfund
Crowdfunding can mean a number of different things, from borrowing money from your local
community to posting your need and desired sum on an app or website designed for this purpose. For
this sort of cost though, you might be best off crowdfunding through social media — perhaps for a
holiday or birthday. It’s not unusual at all today for someone to request small contributions in lieu of
gifts for an upcoming birthday or holiday. Through this sort of effort, just a few generous friends and
family members can help you toward your goal.
Rent out your car
If in fact you have a car, you might be surprised at how quickly you can earn a few hundred dollars by
letting other people drive it! In recent years, car borrowing services have emerged as somewhat trendy
options that enable owners to profit off of their vehicles whey they don’t need them. Choose an evening
or a weekend when you don’t need to drive, list your vehicle, and start earning. It’s about that simple.
Draw from your savings
This may seem like an obvious option. But a lot of us are more or less conditioned to treat savings
accounts as untouchable, when in fact they’re useful for this sort of cost! Perhaps you’ve set up your
own savings account to contribute to and grow over time; maybe your parents set one up for you when
you were young, and there’s been a little bit of money appreciating in it for years. Whatever the case, if
you have these kinds of savings on hand, you have the option of tapping into a chunk of cash to assist
with exam prep. That’s what it’s there for.
Draw from your retirement fund
Similar to the savings options, you also have the option of pulling money out of a retirement fund, if you
have one. This is not typically an appealing option, because the most common plans (at least in Canada)
are RRSPs, and RRSP withdrawals come with certain negative associations. The money you pull out
ceases to compound, for instance, and it also counts as taxable income in the year in which you
withdraw it. These negatives, however, really apply to larger withdrawals of thousands of dollars at
once. Pulling a few hundred dollars won’t harm your fund very much, nor will it massively increase your
taxes. But it can help you with exam prep!
Use a credit card
If you have a credit card with an adequate credit line, you also have the option of supplementing a
payment with credit you can pay back later. It’s not a feasible option for everyone, but particularly if you
have some leeway with regard to your minimum monthly payment you may well be able to squeeze in
even $100 of your total cost. This essentially buys you time to pay back that amount, but allows you to
post the cost for exam prep up front.
Borrow from family
This overlaps with the crowdfunding suggestion, but the last suggestion is to borrow from family if you
have the option. This is not about asking family to fund your exam prep materials and courses. Rather
it’s about asking for help up front that you an pay back on a manageable schedule — and perhaps
without the interest that can come into play with a credit card, or a loan. It may be slightly
uncomfortable for some, and certainly there are many who don’t have the option. If you do have family
in your life who would be open to the idea though, it never hurts to ask or help.
We hope these suggestions have helped you with your planning and given you a good idea as to how to
fund exam courses. Best of luck with your preparation and exam!