Ever since most of us were children we have had it drilled into our head to save for our future, protect our future, put something away for a rainy day, and all the rest of it. For many of us, those lessons didn’t quite sink in until we were much older and had a family for which we were responsible. Then we understood – now as the parents who were telling their own children to save for their future – just how important it is to make sure that you have provisions put in place for whatever the future holds.
All the savings in the world, however, and even the investments that we make throughout our lifetime, could all easily be at risk if we suddenly find ourselves in a position of having to leave our job and not continue to earn. The economy may be bad, but most of us can’t imagine a scenario where we wouldn’t be able to find something; some way in which to earn some sort of a living. But this only works in a scenario in which we are healthy and physically capable of continuing to earn a living in the way in which we have been doing. But in a situation where we are hurt in an accident and unable to return to work or we find ourselves physically ill and undergoing treatment, we may simply be physically incapable of going to work and earning a paycheck. And without disability insurance in place we could be facing a very insecure future.
Most of what we plan for involves us being healthy and viable enough to have a long retirement but far too few of us plan for those circumstances in which we are not healthy. Disability income insurance can put those provisions in place and we hope never to have to use them. But if we do – we know we are well protected.
Popularity: 11% [?]
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To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, the only thing we have to do in life is die and pay taxes. But this, of course, is a sweeping statement for freedom of choice; the reality is there are many things that we have to do so that we may live as long, comfortable, and healthy a life as possible. Surely most of us would not go to work every day if we didn’t have to; if we didn’t have those pesky bills to pay and that annoying food to buy. But we do what we need to do and make as many choices as we can that make us happy along the way. Adjustments must be made, to be sure, as we advance in life – health insurance is changed to accommodate our changing medical needs as a single, as a family, as an older person nearing retirement; as change is also addressed in the other financial considerations we make throughout our lifetime including life insurance, retirement funds, other investments, and disability insurance.
Much like life insurance, disability insurance is often one of those purchase and forget about it things; we know we need it and we do what we need to do to find the best policy for our particular life circumstances, after which we tend to forget we even have disability insurance in place. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily. After all, disability insurance is put into place as a protective measure in our lives; the money is there should we face a short term or long term disability wherein we are not capable of maintaining our current level of income. Like the money that we put aside for a rainy day, a short term or long term disability policy is meant to be attended to and then mentally forgotten; a provision should we need it. But this does not mean that disability income insurance should not be examined from time to time, especially as our life circumstances and our needs change; something we will look closer at in the next post.
Popularity: 14% [?]
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Obviously we know things happen in life; but that doesn’t mean that we are in any way prepared when disastrous things happen in our own lives. There are those who predicted the disastrous state of the economy that we are currently experiencing but that doesn’t make it any easier for those of us who are now struggling with our own finances because of the economic state.
We understand that accidents happen and illnesses befall people on a daily basis but when it happens in our own families most of us are woefully unprepared; and not just in an emotional respect. Far too few of us have put measures into place to financially protect ourselves and our families if we are unable to return to work because of an illness or injury. Disability income insurance puts protective measures in place so that in the event that such a scenario plays out, money is the last thing with which anybody has to concern themselves.
If you were to be hurt in an accident tomorrow or suffer an illness that meant a temporary – or even permanent – separation from your job, consider how you would pay for the following without comprehensive disability income insurance in place:
• Mortgage or rent. This is the biggest chunk of money that comes from earners’ paychecks on a monthly basis. Without a paycheck coming, mortgage payments or rental payments can begin to lapse very quickly. Even with savings or investments put away you will find that the average family goes through these financial nest eggs very quickly, leaving savings depleted and housing payments still lagging behind.
• Utilities. In this day and age utility payments are often through the roof. With a missing paycheck, payments can quickly get out of control.
• Car payments. Most of us are paying some sort of car payment or lease payment. Consider how much of your monthly pay goes toward maintaining your vehicles.
• Debt. Paying credit cards or loans late simply work to increase your interest rates and service charges. What happens when you can’t even make the minimum payments?
• Living. From food to fuel, the cost of living increases every day. Without disability insurance, even the most fundamental necessities can be difficult to finance.
Popularity: 15% [?]
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In the last post we started talking about the importance of having disability insurance as protection and peace of mind so that a car accident will not financially devastate your life.
Consider Lynn, a single mother of three who was the sole breadwinner in her household. Not only was Lynn working a full time job but she was paying for child care in order to be able to work the hours she needed to work. Like most American families every paycheck was stretched to its limits in an effort to keep up with the bills associated with everyday life. There were no extras and Lynn and her family walked a very fine line of barely making it; something that is all too common these days.
On an average day, with no hint of bad weather or anything out of the ordinary, Lynn was struck by an out-of-control driver and her car flipped while she was going 50 mph on her way to work. Her car was totaled but even worse was the fact that Lynn sustained life-threatening injuries in this accident and received treatment in the hospital – including rehabilitation – for nearly two months.
Following her return home, however, life was very different, as she was unable to walk on her own and had to be assisted in basic functions. Lynn was not only unable to return to work in the short term but she needed help to meet the needs of her family on a day to day basis. If she did not have the disability insurance policy she had purchased just a few short months before her accident her family would have been financially unable to recover from this event.
But because of the disability income insurance that she had Lynn was able to continue meeting her financial obligations so that she could concentrate on her recovery.
Popularity: 14% [?]
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In the last post, we talked about how pregnancy and delivery – something that working women often take months off of work from as they bring their babies home and settle into a routine – can quickly become the unexpected when moms find themselves facing a longer than normal recovery.
Pregnancy and delivery should be the most natural thing in the world but the fact is that sometimes things go wrong. When women find themselves in a tough situation and facing more recovery than they anticipated, many things cross their minds. The paramount concern, of course, is the care for their newborn; as well as the care for other children in the home. Moms being out of the equation – even for the shortest period of time – can render a household out of commission.
Then there is, of course, the financial concern especially if the mother was planning on going back to work after the traditional six-eight week maternity leave but finds herself unable to do so. The loss of a paycheck can financially devastate a family under normal circumstances but if you add a new baby and a struggling economy to the equation, the plot thickens considerably.
With disability insurance in place, however, women who have just given birth can concentrate on their family and on their recovery without having financial concerns get in the way. Disability income insurance can make up for lost salaries and keep a family financially above water until such time that those who are disabled can return to work. And if they are unable to return to work in any capacity for the foreseeable future, long term disability insurance will be there for policyholders to depend upon.
Some companies offer disability insurance plans in which employees can take part. But privately purchased disability insurance often provides the most options in terms of amount of coverage, policy payout wait times, and length of coverage.
Popularity: 21% [?]
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Debt has become something that most of us are all too complacent about; the average American, in fact, carries an average of $9,000 in credit card debt – something that is born from our inability to pay for those things we want in cash. With the economy struggling even more so today, more and more of us are finding ourselves in the position of carrying significant debt. It is, unfortunately, something that many of us just accept as a by-product of the economy. And we hope that by at least continuing to make minimum payments every month – until we are able to make some headway with a bulk amount of cash at some point – we can stay in the good graces of the credit bureaus and one day find financial independence.
This plan is all well and good on paper until there is a sudden and dramatic loss of income, such as what can happen when an earner find themselves out of a job due to illness or injury. In that kind of situation, without comprehensive disability income insurance in place, a consumer can very easily find themselves overwhelmed and eventually in default.
Disability insurance can put protective measures in place so the loss of a job doesn’t have to necessarily mean the end of the world financially. When an injury or illness causes someone to be identified as disabled and someone who cannot continue in their present line of work, the stream of income ceases. In a perfect world, the injured or ill person has a spouse that is able to make up for this loss of income; but often this is not the case and families wind up turning to savings and investments in order to fill their financial need.
With disability income insurance, however, policy payouts begin after the policy-stipulated waiting period and policyholders are able to meet their financial responsibilities – including debt payments – even with the loss of their paycheck.
Popularity: 19% [?]
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Most of us who have children begin to put away money for college following their birth. We hope to build a substantial enough nest egg that they can go away to school and study what they want without the burden of student loans on their shoulders when they graduate. But it’s amazing how quickly those hard earned savings can disappear if you do not have the proper tools in place to protect yourself and your family.
Consider, for example, those who have opted not to purchase private disability insurance or take part in company-provided disability insurance plans. Essentially this makes you vulnerable to any possible illness or injury that may take you out of work. And how quickly would most of us go under without even our next paycheck?
An illness that requires a hospital stay, ongoing treatments, or renders someone unable to do their job in the short term or the long term can financially bury a family. An accident that results in an absence or permanent separation from work can mean a complete financial – as well as personal – transformation. How many of us have the resources available to us to be able to survive such an event in our lives?
What generally happens with those who do not have disability insurance is that once all vacation, personal, and sick time is taken from work, they turn to their savings accounts, investments, retirement funds, and even their children’s education savings. These are desperate times and they call for desperate measures. A child’s education could easily be sacrificed to save a family from financial ruin.
With disability insurance in place, however, parents do not have to turn to such extreme measures. Their policy payouts will account for their missing income and keep their family afloat during this period of time so that savings, the family home, and investments are secure.
Popularity: 21% [?]
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There are many people who are lucky enough to have really great benefits from their job. This may include comprehensive health insurance, a retirement savings plan, and even life and disability insurance. These are important components in a benefits package and can make up for even a slightly lower than average salary. In terms of all of these benefits, however, it is very important for an employee to really look at the extent of the benefits and decide if they need to supplement them in any way. For instance, an employer may offer a life insurance policy that only goes up to a maximum amount; therefore, the employee – perhaps with dependent children – may decide that they need to purchase private life insurance in order to supplement the insurance provided by their company.
With disability income insurance, the same premise can apply. The disability insurance policy provided by the company where you are employed may only cover you for a specific period of time, or may come with a waiting period – that is the time that you must wait before you receive disability benefits. With regard to these stipulations and more it may be wise to purchase private disability income insurance in order to make sure that all your needs are covered.
For instance, you may purchase a private long term disability insurance policy to cover you until the age of traditional retirement – this in addition to company disability insurance plans that may only cover you for a certain period of time. Or, if the amount of time that you have to wait to receive your policy payouts concerns you, it may be necessary to purchase private disability insurance in order to cover this gap. After all, most people do not have savings or investments that are readily available to cover them for this amount of time. A private disability insurance policy ensures that all of your bases are covered.
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Popularity: 31% [?]
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Ever hear of the phrase, “coulda, shoulda, woulda?” This of course refers to the principle of hindsight being 20/20. Most of us, knowing what we know now, would certainly go back in time and amend a few of the decisions that we have made accordingly. But, of course, that’s not possible and, in most cases, we are stuck with the outcome of our choice. In some instances, we had all the information at our disposal to make the responsible choice but we choose at the time to ignore that information – sometimes costing us far more than we could have ever imagined.
This is often the case for those who choose, for a myriad of reasons, not to purchase disability insurance. We surely never expect to get sick or to get injured in an accident; and even if we do, most of us would never imagine that such an illness or injury would preclude us from going back to work and earning a paycheck. But it happens every day. And those people who find themselves in the position of having no income and limited (if any) savings and investments, the prospects are terrifying. These are the times, of course, when they are wishing with everything they have that they had opted to purchase disability income insurance.
Disability insurance is something that you should not wait to consider because by then it could easily be too late. Instead, disability insurance plans – such as short term disability and long term disability insurance – should be considered as a preventative measure. We don’t use health insurance every day but that doesn’t mean we don’t need or won’t need it in the future. The same can be said of disability insurance. Just as medical bills would quickly sink us without health insurance, making up for lost income can easily destroy us financially without disability insurance in place. Make the decision to get prepared today!
Popularity: 27% [?]
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Accidents happen every day; and while we certainly cannot live our lives wondering what is around every corner, we can most certainly plan to the best of our ability for any possible circumstances. After all, if we do not put provisions in place that will protect us and our family in the event of an accident or illness, most of us would quickly lose everything we have worked so hard for over the years including our savings, our investments, and even our home.
Consider the possibility of being involved in an accident as so many are on a yearly basis. What would your family do if you were suddenly not only unable to return to work but needed ongoing medical care and rehabilitation? Thousands of families find themselves in exactly this situation; and having not prepared themselves with disability insurance, they are left to empty many of the financial accounts that were created to take care of them in the future.
Accidents can have devastating physical and emotional repercussions; but they can also have equally devastating financial effects. Those who have saved their whole lives in order to have a peaceful and stress free retirement are suddenly called upon to scrape together cash when there is simply nothing left. Disability insurance policies are put in place to stop this possibility from occurring and give families the peace of mind that they are protected no matter what the circumstances.
A disability income insurance policy is meant to replace income when a person is declared disabled and unable to return to work. Whereas others who are unprotected will have to find alternative means of income support, those with long term disability insurance plans in place are able to concentrate on their recovery and not have to worry about financial matters. It is peace of mind that is certainly worth the price of premiums.
Popularity: 29% [?]
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