BusinessWeek had an online article this week urging people to get disability insurance.  It touched on the no no of touching retirement accounts.

As the article stated:  “Digging into retirement accounts before retiring is a big no-no. Americans should heed two methods to safeguard savings: set aside a liquid cushion and buy disability insurance.”

Also the article went on to say:  “If you have the right disability protection in place, then you won’t have to worry about liquidating or discontinuing your retirement savings because of a debilitating injury or illness.”

The best endorsements for disability insurance are the people who have collected claims and saved their financial lives.  An interesting survey was reported in U.S. Insurance News.

Here are some of the interesting facts:

• Most claimants said they did not have any problems with the claims process, and of those who did, the majority had their problem resolved satisfactorily.
• While disability insurance carriers surely like to hear of these approval rates, even better is the acknowledgement from claimants that their disability coverage prevented them from suffering a financial hardship—a key selling point for disability insurance carriers
• Accordingly, 96 of claimants said it is at least somewhat likely that they would have suffered financial hardship had they not received disability insurance benefits after suffering a disability. Two-thirds (67 percent) said it is very or extremely likely that they would have suffered financial hardship.

The well known online and offline financial publication, Kiplinger’s, today in an online article entitled, “Your Essential Emergency Kit” to make sure you have disability insurance.

Here’s a quote from the article: 

“You’ll also want disability insurance, just in case something happened to you that prevented you from working for a time. Many people get some form of disability insurance through their job, but you’ll want to make sure it’s enough.”

The article is a good one including other tips for preparing for emergencies including what to do with important documents, setting up emergency kits and more.  I recommend it.

A recent Newsweek article quoted an “insurance planner” who doesn’t buy disability insurance for himself.   Here’s the quote:  “The chance that you’ll ever be too disabled to earn a living is far less than you’ll hear from your insurance salesman. Before you buy, think about your lifestyle. “If you could do your job from home, you’ve reduced to a minuscule percentage those things that could keep you from earning a living,” says ____ an insurance planner who doesn’t buy disability coverage for himself.”

The statistics about disability are clear and obvious.   See the protectyourincome.com website’s education center to see the facts. 

What’s most objectionable about this article is that someone might follow this advice and then become financially ruined because their largest asset, their income, would disappear in case of a serious, long term disability.

There was an article on msnbc.com about Ed McMahon and the effect of injury and illness on one’s financial health. 

There were numerous points made but the key one was to “Obtain disability insurance. This should rank with life insurance as a secondary financial priority.”

Other points made included:

Be rigorous in reviewing potential long-term disability policies. Such contracts have numerous options; so carefully check occupation, income, recovery, and cost-of-living clauses. Access disabilitybenefits101.org for an independent discussion of disability benefits.

* Choose a long-term rather than short-term policy if your budget is limited. Long-term disabilities can create more expensive financial hardships.

* Review the financial strength of the insurance company before signing a short- or long-term policy. Check their ratings at ambest.com.

The Dallas Morning News asks today:  “Do you have enough disability insurance to cover you if you can no longer earn a living? That ability is your greatest asset.”

We couldn’t agree more.

An article today from The Sacramento Bee advises getting disability insurance especially if you’re self employed or an independent contractor who doesn’t have an employer sponsored disability insurance plan.

The article also states:  “Even for high-income individuals already covered by their employer’s group disability plan, the additional coverage can make sense to compensate for bonuses and commission income not covered by most group plans.”

Disability insurance isn’t just for white collar professionals.  Some of the highest paid people with the highest risk of losing their occupation are professional athletes.  There is disability insurance available for athletes that the experts at Protectyourincome.com can help with.

A recent article from the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reviews this subject well.  Here’s an excerpt:  “With the NFL Players Association union able to negotiate more dollars on behalf of the players, a college athlete could potentially lose millions of dollars if he got hurt.”

The average NFL salary has jumped more than 1,000 percent during the past 25 years, from $152,800 in 1983 to an estimated $1.75 million this year, according to the NFL Players Association.”

The article says:  “Financial security isn’t cheap” but complete the thought…. It provides security.  A small amount paid to insure the risk.

There is a very helpful article from inc.com that may be of value to help business owners who may not have thought about the issue of what happens when an employee becomes disabled.

If you own a business you don’t want to be put in that position.  By getting disability insurance for your employees or your key employees you shift the risk and the decision to the insurance company.

As the article states: “Most successful small business owners have some key, valued employees in what they consider their “business family” — people they’d have a hard time replacing. Here’s my question: What if one of these key people gets sick and misses work for months or even a year? How long will you go on paying them? At what point will you stop paying them? No one likes to think about this, but there has to be a point, doesn’t there?”

Let the insurance company be the one who makes the decisions and most importantly makes sure that income continues for the employees.

We like the theme of this article on disability insurance from the Street.com.  The theme is a  familiar one to those who have followed this blog or read through our disability insurance site, protectyourincome.com.

The article states:  “Disability insurance insures what’s extremely likely to be your biggest asset: your future income. That’s the reason disability insurance is so important.”

It is that simple.  Unless you’ve already built your net worth to a substantial amount, your future income is your biggest asset.  That’s why you should learn more about and then obtain disability insurance.