Serving more than policies: Lisa Beamer Agency treats clients like family

People who have yet to associate the word 'insurance' with adjectives like 'friendly', 'helpful' and 'fun' have not met Farmers Agent, Lisa Beamer.

"I love people, and I love to help people," said Beamer, "We spend a lot of time with our customers just explaining what coverages mean and I think that's important. People need to know what they're buying." Beamer, who won the Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year award in 2025, has been serving the Worland community as an insurance agent for a decade and is passionate about what she does.

She offers homeowners insurance, auto and life insurance, as well as commercial insurance, variable life insurance policies, and insurance for "toys" such as 4-wheelers and motorcycles.

Beamer says she loves the challenge of figuring out how to save her clients the most money.

Beamer is also a qualified financial advisor and one of her favorite things to do is educate young people about simple steps they can take now to set them up for future financial success.

"My favorite is when you have kids that are just starting out and they buy their term life insurance policies - it's like $25 a month - and they have a budget; they can do $75 a month total. So, then we take that extra $50, and we start investing in a Roth IRA for them. And in 20 or 30 years, they have this enormous nest egg, and they have completely changed their family's history." Beamer has a degree in psychology and says that people often say, 'well, that didn't pan out,' and Beamer is quick to correct them and let them know she uses it frequently. Beamer said, "I see the worst-case scenarios weekly. I don't want people to be caught with not enough coverage - but also, I don't want them to pay too much either. So, you just try to take the best care of people possible." When asked if there are common areas where she thinks people in the Big Horn Basin are underinsured, Beamer smiles, recalling childhood memories of spring rainstorms that transformed 15th Street in Worland into a river that she and her friends would float down on innertubes. "Looking back on that now with insurance agent eyes, I'm like, oh my gosh, I wonder how many people's basements flooded from that every spring?" Beamer says that groundwater and flood damage is not typically covered by standard insurance policies, and even flood insurance policies have stipulations that detail how long the water has to be standing before flood insurance kicks in.

Service line coverage is another area where Beamer believes Worland residents can benefit from added coverage. Beamer said, "Talk to your insurance agent about it; I'm almost positive all of us in town now can offer service line coverage, which basically covers water line, sewer line, and gas line from where it attaches to the outside of your house to the city main line. It used to be kind of this no man's land where if something broke or needed [to be] replaced, it was on the homeowner." Beamer estimates that service line coverage will cost homeowners an additional $60 annually.

One area where Beamer sees people underinsured to the degree where an accident could cost them considerably is auto insurance.

With inflation and the recent spike in vehicle costs, Beamer believes people tend to underestimate both the need for and the amount of liability coverage they should have on their auto policy.

Beamer said, "What people forget is that most new trucks are $100,000.

And if your 1991 Ford F-150 made of all steel runs into a 2025 hybrid and you total that, your $20,000 property damage liability stops at $20,000.

And so, if that's a $100,000 vehicle, you're responsible for $80,000 out of pocket.

So, at minimum I like to do $250,000, $500,000, [property damage liability] across the board. And it's not just that property damage piece. Like, if you really hurt somebody in an accident, no local hospital can do ICU. And so, you're paying to get someone life flighted out of here and it's like a hundred thousand dollars a week to be in the ICU, and you're financially responsible for all of that.

So I'm on my soapbox, 'please have good liability, they're truly very inexpensive considering the risk,' I just see that all the time." Beamer admits the difference between those who have had to file a claim and those who have had not is like night and day. She said, "I've had a few customers whose homes have burned to the ground, and they'll argue with me about not having enough coverage, and then there are the people that have never had a claim and they're like, 'you're just trying to overcharge me,' and so there is a constant tug-of-war between over-cautiousness and under-cautiousness." Beamer says the insurance industry is not immune to the recent price increases and said, "Five years ago the average roof in Worland cost about $12,000 to replace and now it's like $20,000 or more. So, in five years, just the cost to put a new roof on has dang near doubled.

And the number of cat storms (major storm events) has doubled for two years in a row and it's all over the country: hurricanes and fires and tornadoes, you name it.

So, we've had this huge amount of loss, and the reinsurance companies (the companies who insure the insurance companies) are raising their rates because it's not just one company every 10 years having those billion-dollar losses, it's like every company every year having to manage those." A misconception about insurance that Beamer often sees is that some people think insurance is a maintenance plan - which it is not. Beamer understands that a lot of the insurance-related terms, policies and practices can be tricky to comprehend.

Many people only become familiar with the terms after they are put into a position where they need to file a claim. Therefore, she believes it is important to break it down and takes time to answer questions and explain what everything means.

The insurance Beamer believes is the most important for people to have is also the insurance that is hardest to sell: Life insurance is not required by law, yet for those who have yet to retire, having life insurance means that if the worst-case scenario were to occur, the surviving family members still have options. Beamer references one of her clients who had life insurance when she tragically passed away in her mid-30s. Beamer said, "When she died it was terrible, but her daughter has choices that she wouldn't have had if they didn't have the life insurance.

They were able to stay in their home and grieve and get her little girl the counseling that she needed-the insurance money doesn't bring anyone back, but it gives the people you leave behind better choices than they would have otherwise." Beamer urges people who are offered workplace life insurance to read the fine print, because even though it is a wonderful offering, oftentimes there are caveats involved.

For the most part, Beamer believes that Big Horn Basin residents have it easy compared to what people deal with in other places. She said, "We have few environmental risks, and I think Worland has the lowest crime in the state or something wild like that. So, we're very fortunate from a risk standpoint here." Lisa Beamer's office is located at 900 Big Horn Ave Worland, WY 82401 and is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Her office can be reached at (307) 347-9822.