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Disability:
Disability insurance, like life insurance, is used to protect future earnings - disability insurance will replace your income in the event that you become physically unable to work. Although it gets less attention than life insurance, experts agree that disability coverage is at least as important.
While most people are prepared for the medical costs of severe injury or sickness (through health insurance), without disability insurance, they are not prepared for the loss of wages that accompanies such a tragedy. In general, if you count on your job to pay the rent and buy food, you should seriously consider disability coverage.
Long-term disability - Some experts contend that long-term disability insurance is the most important insurance you can purchase. This can be partially attributed to advances in medical care; some diseases and injuries are now disabling rather than deadly, meaning that the incapacitation can be lengthy.
Typically, long-term disability insurance can be purchased to replace 50-70% of salary. The”salary” is set at the time the policy is purchased, and you will likely want to increase the value of the plan as your compensation increases. Some plans only allow increases with a physical, some allow increases without a physical for the first few years of the plan, and some have other rules; check the plan for its particulars.
Long-term disability policies vary in the length of payout: some policies will only pay out for 5 or 10 years, some will pay out until age 65. Experts recommend the latter. Policies also vary in definition of disability (some contentious categories include mental illness and back injuries) and exclusionary criteria (pre-existing medical conditions, injuries from dangerous activities, etc.). |
