This stuff can be expensive, but look how big that risk is. If you do become disabled, your benefits will well exceed your premium cost. If you NEEDED Disability Insurance now, you would not be able to get it. Don’t let yourself get to that point.

Things to look for in a policy:
1. noncancable & guaranteed renewable policies- this means the insurance company can not change your benefits or premium once the policy is in force.
2. True Own Occupation Definition of Disability – this will pay you benefits if you are unable to do the substantial and material duties of YOUR job..even if you can go do something else, the ins. co. still pays you full benefit.
3. Residual (Partial Benefits) – if you suffer a loss of income b/c of an injury or illness & you are still at work, the policy will pay you out a portion of your benefit, to help make you whole.
4. COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) – this is your built in inflation protection. If you become too sick or injured to work, your benefits will increase each year to help keep up with pace of rise in living costs.
5. Future Increase Options – this gives you the option to buy more coverage as your income increases through the years, and it does not matter what your health is. This protects your medical insurability.

As I said before, this stuff can be expensive, but there are options you can choose to have a lower premium right now while your starting out. Also, there are pretty inexpensive programs for some grad. students and working your first year. And mixing group with individual can help bring down the cost, but you will never get the “best” coverage all through group insurance. Read those policies carefully. I often work with clients who think they are fully covered, and we come to find out the benefits of their group policy is very limited.

Please fill free to ask me any questions about this insurance and/or the different carriers.

Mr. Cheap – if you could never work again – what would you do?

Jim – you should insure for future income as well – what if you are disabled and your wife is no longer your wife?

Jim: So she’s the only one covered? There wouldn’t be anything if you became disabled? And its provided as a percentage of the workers income, not a fixed amount? What’s the longest they’d keep paying for (e.g. if it was a lifelong disability, would they pay forever?)

Mike