DISABILITY INSURANCE

Why Do I Need Long-term Disability Insurance?

Long-term Disability Insurance is designed to protect about 60% of your earned income should an accident or illness prevent you from working. It is an income replacement plan that protects your most valuable asset—your ability to earn a living. In fact, if you think about it, your earning power is the one asset that allows you to have all the others.

For most of our clients, those who work for the federal government or for a large contracting firm, the employer provides benefits through a group long-term disability contract. It may also provide some short-term disability benefits so that you could receive benefits almost from the first day you are not able to work. However, once you terminate employment, your disability benefits cease.

And what if you are self-employed or work for a small firm that does not provide disability benefit? Ask yourself this: if you were sick or injured and could not work, what source of income would you have to pay your personal and business expenses? Could you afford to keep your business open? Would you be draining resources needed for your retirement?

The Real Cost of Disability

Your income is doing a double job—it provides you with the cash you need for basic necessities and luxuries as well as money you can use for saving and investing for your future. What would happen if you became disabled?

• You would still need to pay for the basic necessities of life.
• Retirement plans and children’s or grandchildren’s education funding would need to postponed, if not forgotten altogether.
• You would have to do without some, perhaps all luxuries, yet you would still be responsible for fixed expenses such as a mortgage, car payments, insurance premiums, and loan or credit card payments.

If you think it’s tough living within your income now, have you ever wondered how you would be able to live if it suddenly stopped?

If you are self-employed, or you are planning to be, or if you work for a company that does not offer disability benefits, ask for our free report, Disability Income Insurance–Points To Consider In Designing An Individual Plan, written by our long-term planning specialist, Dave Kahn, (703) 810-1072, ext 115 or dkahn@nwfllc.com And if you are an employer, we can help as well. At Northwest Financial LLC, we can design an appropriate and affordable plan that will fit your budget and still protect your most valuable asset—your ability to earn an income.