Disability Insurance Articles
Calculating A Disability Insurance Benefit Amount To Meet Your Needs
2010-11-18
Getting disability insurance quotes is not difficult to do either online, on the telephone or by just walking into an insurance sales office and making an inquiry. After doing some calculations based on current income and future needs and expectations, an appropriate benefit amount can be determined and a policy cost and premium payment amount will be offered by the insurer. This can even be done easily online.
Disability is often considered the 'forgotten risk' according to many insurance agents. In fact, it's not uncommon for someone to contact their insurance agent for a review and possible upgrade of their life insurance benefit amount. But rarely does anyone ever bring up the subject of disability insurance quotes or even consider the potential of being disabled and therefore unable to work.
The harsh fact is, however, that at any age in their work life a person is much more likely to become disabled. Statistically, every year in the United States, 12% of the adult population suffers some type of long-term disability. Even more surprising to many, one out of seven, or nearly 15% of the adult workforce, will suffer a disability lasting five or more years before reaching the age of 65.
According to the numbers, if you are currently 35 years old, you have a 50% chance of suffering a disability lasting three or more months before you reach retirement age. If you're 45 years of age, the figure drops down to 44%, but the risk is still substantial. These statistics are according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), who are the folks that keep fairly accurate track of these things.
Who Needs Disability Insurance Coverage
If you have a job and depend on your work for paying your monthly expenses, chances are good you should have some disability insurance. If you were hurt and became disabled, even for only a few months, how would that affect your standard of living? Imagine being disabled for five years or more, with an inability to bring in a paycheck to the household. In most cases, not only do the regular expenses like buying food, making a mortgage or rent payment, car payments, insurance payments, etc., continue on, but you incur additional expenses related to your injury or illness.
The fact is, most people don't consider the possibility of becoming disabled yet they seriously consider buying life insurance to cover the other obvious potentiality. The likelihood of needing disability insurance is much greater. Call your agent and look into getting some disability insurance quotes. Remember, it's better to have it and not need it than it is to need it and not have it.