Disability

If you’re faced with an unexpected disability, it can take a long time to financially recover. Beyond the emotional and physical impact of unforeseen disability, injuries or illness can take a toll on your finances. These can have a long-lasting effect on your ability to succeed at your job and earn money. Your employer may offer sick time and a few weeks of short-term disability. But what if you still can't work after that?

You can protect yourself from the financial effects of these situations with long-term disability insurance.

Are You Covered?
Check with your employer to see if you have long-term disability coverage. If you do, make sure you know how well you're covered. You don't want to wait until you really need the benefits to discover gaps in your insurance.

Your Policy
Policies vary considerably. Make sure you know how well you are covered so that you can prepare around your policy. If your benefits are limited, you should save up more in your emergency fund.

• Term of Benefits – Check how long your benefits will be paid. Some policies will only cover you for two years. Others provide lifelong benefits. Most policies are somewhere in between. You can lower your premiums by reducing the term of your benefits.
• Premium – The amount you or your employer will pay for your coverage depends on a range of factors including your age, gender, job, income, medical history and lifestyle.
• Guaranteed Renewable – Your employer can't terminate your policy unless he or she stops covering your entire job class, but the employer can raise your rates.
• Own Occupation – This is an important designation on your policy that determines what it means to be disabled.