Protecting Your Largest Financial Asset
May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month and if you asked people if they have disability insurance, most will just shrug and say “who needs more insurance, especially insurance you might never need?”
The truth is more people need disability insurance than you might imagine. Many people think of disability in terms of getting hurt at work or falling off a ladder at home and not being able to get to work because of an injury, but 90% of all dualities are not injury related at all. Rather they are related to acute or chronic health conditions such as cancer treatment, arthritis, spine and joint disorders according to the non-profit Council of Disability Awareness.
Do you think you don’t need disability coverage? Think again.
It may shock you how little of your wages you can replace. You can only get workers compensation if your injury or illness is job-related – but less than 5% of disabling illnesses or injuries are. Social Security disability benefits typically provide about $1,100 per month – not exactly the income most people can live on nowadays. Additionally, it might take a year or more for you to get your first check. In 2009 (the midst of the Great Recession), the Social Security Administration denied 65% of initial disability claim applications.
“It Won’t Happen to Me”
I bet you think bad stuff only happens to the other guy. Well to the other guy, you’re the other guy! Last year 47% of all mortgage foreclosures were caused by disability. When someone gets injured or ill, they can’t work. They then lose their job and their income. With no income they can’t pay their mortgage and the bank forecloses on their home. If you thought people lose their homes because they are deadbeats or losers or alcoholics, think again. They are good honest people who merely suffered a disability without insurance to protect them.
You insure your home against a fire or similar catastrophe. However statistics show that only 1 in 1,200 homes are lost to a fire. You insure your car in case of an accident, but those statistics show us that 1 out of 56 vehicles will be totaled in an accident. But most people never think about insuring their income with disability insurance when your odds of suffering a disability before age 65, one that lasts 90 days or more is an incredible 1 in 8.
It’s time to start thinking about disability insurance. We’d all like to believe that we’ll never be disabled. But the reality is … it could happen to you. If it does, how will your family manage? Are you prepared?
If you would like more information about disability insurance or would like a free, no obligation call our office at: 914-633-1717.
