Disability Insurance - Do You Really Need Disability Insurance Or Is It A Waste of Money?

Most people never even think of purchasing disability income insurance. And when it's brought to their attention, usually by a financial planner, they refuse it (a lot) more often than they purchase it. And yet disability insurance is crucial to any type of financial planning you do.

The odds that you will miss at least some work time due to a disability is a lot higher than you think.

If it happens to you, what will you do?

Do you have enough money in the bank to cover all your living expenses for months?

What would this do to your retirement plan?

Will you lose your home if you can't work for a few months?

The great thing is, there are many different disability insurance plans and companies, thus making it quite likely that you can find a plan that fits within your budget. When researching an appropriate disability insurance plan for your financial needs, you'll want to think about the following:

Put together a budget and determine the bare minimum monthly income you'll need to be able to continue paying your living expenses.

Determine what you need to put into your retirement plan on a monthly basis in order to meet your retirement income goals.

Be sure to figure for any benefit that might be offset by worker's comp or social security.

Make sure to explore "total disability" options and definitions. What if you can never work again? Different insurance companies define "total disability" in different ways. Make sure you know what you're getting with any "total disability" clause.

One method for determining "total disability" is to define it as the inability to perform at some or all of the duties of one's own occupation.

Another method that is more restrictive (but also less expensive as far as premiums are concerned) would be "the insureds inability to perform the duties of any occupation for which he or she is reasonably qualified by education, training or experience."

As you can see, the reality of what you are getting with these two different definitions of "total disability" are a world apart. Make sure you know what your disability income policy covers.

Learn more about affordable health insurance plans at http://www.myhealthinsurancetips.com where you'll find many health insurance articles, tips and ideas from freelance writer Sally Simmons.

Source: www.articlesbase.com