A few months back, my mother-in-law was shopping around for new insurance, and she asked me to take a look at her current policy versus the quotes she got from an independent agent.

Within 30 seconds, I noticed that her current policy listed her roof as being the original roof... from 30+ years ago.

She'd actually replaced that roof a few years prior. But because this happened before I became an insurance agent, I didn't know that a new roof could reduce her insurance premium. If I'd known then what I do now, I would've had her call her insurance company the moment she got that invoice for the new roof.

I felt bad that she'd likely overpaid for years, and it got me thinking about all the things that I didn't know until I became an agent—things that quietly cost me and others money. I no longer sell insurance, but I stay licensed ...