It’s easy to think that a long-term disability diagnosis will never happen to you. But having a safe profession and low-risk lifestyle does not negate the need to protect your income if you are no longer able to perform the duties of your occupation.
Here are two big reasons to consider this coverage:
Reason #1: The risk is real, even if you don’t think anything will happen to you.
What are the chances of being diagnosed with a long-term disability if you work a desk job? The answer may surprise you: it’s the same as everyone else.
More than one in four of today’s 20-year-olds can expect to be out of work for at least a year due to a disabling condition before they reach the normal retirement age.1 Even if you work a desk job (and have no intention of skydiving or swimming with great white sharks) you still face more risk than you may think.
A long-term disability can range from something as common as arthritis to something as serious as cancer. Contrary to popular belief, the leading causes of disability claims (and loss of income) for workers are musculoskeletal disorders and disease—not catastrophic accidents.2
Reason #2: Employer-provided disability plans often cover only a fraction of your income.
If you have long-term disability coverage provided through your employer, you may want to review your current coverage amount and make changes if needed. Employer-provided plans will often only cover a limited portion of your salary and may not factor in any bonuses that you and your family rely on to pay your bills or maintain your lifestyle.
Hopefully, you will never have to file a claim and collect the benefits of a long-term disability policy, but if you do, you’ll be glad you have one.
1 Social Security Administration, July 2019, https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10029.pdf
2 The State of Disability Coverage in America – Key Facts in 2019, https://disabilitycanhappen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DIAM2019_Facts.pdf