THE IMPORTANCE OF DISABILITY INSURANCE

One of the important aspects of financial planning involves taking steps to maintain an ongoing income stream. Without an ongoing flow of income there are few options that would enable you to cover expenses associated with running your practice, your personal living expenses and setting aside money for retirement. For this reason most financial plans will include protection in the event of an unexpected accident or illness by using disability insurance policies.

Statistically disabilities occur much more often than many of the other issues we normally think to insure ourselves from. According to a Gallup survey, most people estimate that they have only a 16% chance of becoming disabled during their working years.  The facts are startling:

• If you are under age 35, chances are one in three that you will become disabled for at least six months during the course of your career.
• Men have a 43% chance of becoming seriously disabled during their working years.
• Women have a 54% chance.
• At age 42, it is four times more likely that you will become seriously disabled than that you will die during your working years.

Human resource representatives and physicians are well acquainted with the challenge of obtaining adequate disability insurance coverage in a climate of industry consolidation, rising premiums costs, stricter qualification requirements, and eroding coverage due to additional policy exclusions and limitations