What is your most valuable asset? It’s not your home. It’s not your car. It’s your income.
What If Disability Happened to You?
What would you or your family go through financially if you were unable to work for a week? Four weeks? What would happen if you were out of work for a year or more? How would your mortgage, car payments, children’s tuition, and other bills get paid?
Understanding Disability Income Insurance
What Is Disability Income Insurance?
First – Disability Insurance or Disability Income Insurance is NOT the disability payments that we think of people getting from the government (SSDI).
Disability Insurance (also known as disability income insurance) provides you with a safety net to replace as much as 65% of your income if you become unable to work. Disability Insurance protects your greatest asset – your ability to earn a living and provide for yourself and your loved ones.
What Qualifies As Disabled?
Most people think of disability as being just the result of major accidents or illnesses (and those things do happen) but the most common disability events are back injuries, strokes, heart attacks, and illnesses like cancer and diabetes.
Your Current Coverage May Not Be Enough
Even if your employer offers disability insurance through a group plan, the coverage you currently have may not be enough to keep you and your family out of financial jeopardy if something happens to you. The gap between what your employer offers and your current income, bonuses, and other benefits could still be large enough to adversely affect your family.
Who Needs Disability Insurance The Most?
The most vulnerable are people whose employers don’t offer disability insurance, self-employed people, and small business owners. Also, anyone who has invested a number of years in their education such as physicians & attorneys need excellent disability.
Others would include single-income families as well as employees with a high percentage of their income being bonus-related income as group disability insurance doesn’t cover bonus income. For example, if you’re an employee making $100,000 in annual income where $70,000 of your income is bonus related; your group disability benefit will only be based on your non-bonus W-2 income.
What Types of Disability Insurance Are Available?
Employer Provided
The most common form of disability insurance is through employer-provided benefits. An employee can voluntarily have coverage via salary deduction. Group disability is generally affordable, yet most group benefits are limited in coverage and many times limit benefits available. Having some coverage though is always better than nothing. If you have extra income at the end of the month though, it is always better financial advise to own your disability coverage rather than using your employer’s limited benefit.
Short-Term Disability
Short-Term Disability (STD) pays a portion of your income for a short period of time after you run out of sick leave. Depending on your plan, STD generally will pay a benefit up to 52 weeks.
Long-Term Disability
Long-term disability insurance (LTD) is an insurance policy that protects a person’s income in the event a person is unable to work for long periods of time. Policies can be designed to pay out a monthly benefit anywhere from one year or until retirement age when social security is accepted.
How Much Disability Insurance Do I Need and What Will It Cost?
Insurance professionals estimate your disability income insurance needs by looking at your current income and your total monthly bills and living expenses. The good news is that for many people, adequate disability insurance and the peace of mind that comes with it can be had for as little as $50 per month.
How Do I Get Started?
Call us at: (205) 578-2097 or leave us your contact info below and we’ll reach out shortly.
Let Independent Agent Sam Price Help You…
Since 2012, I’ve helped thousands of families find affordable protection. I’m not interested is just selling you a policy, I want you to be fully satisfied in your plan and in the amount of money that you pay. You’re going to have your life & disability insurance for the better part of your life so why not have the best? Let me be the agent you turn to over the years as your family grows or your needs change. Let’s get started. ~Sam Price
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