Better to Be Dead or Disabled?

Which would you rather be? Which would make your family better off, at least financially better off? Do I have your attention?

Do you have disability insurance? If not, your family might be better off financially if you were to die rather than become severely or even partially disabled. If you become disabled to the point of not being able to work and provide for your family, life insurance is not of much use.

Disability insurance, on the other hand, would be. You would be surprised how many people have good health insurance and loads of life insurance, but are not covered by a disability insurance policy. If you are one of them, talk to your insurance advisor about what the company has to offer for disability insurance.

While you are at it, you might want to check about providing disability insurance for your employees or at least your key staff member. Consider these statistics:

• someone 35 years old has a 50 percent chance of being unable to work for a period of more than three months due to a disability before age 65, and
• disabilities affect one-fifth of Americans (over 49 million people).

With all of the focus on health insurance, it’s easy to forget about disability insurance. The risk of disability is clear and so is the potential need for disability insurance. Given the times we live in, insurance costs can be a real financial burden. However, disability insurance can be relatively affordable, and whether you pay for it, have employees contribute or they buy it themselves, it may prevent financial disaster.