TOO MUCH TO BEAR

Ok, so you’ve heard me talk about the importance of life insurance and long term care insurance. But there is another type of insurance that is very important as well. If something happened to you today and you were not able to work anymore or at least for a long period of time, how would you pay your bills, buy food for your family or buy anything else needed for your family. Now, most of you might have a good six months or more worth of income saved up which could cover you or at least buy you some time to figure out what to do. But the majority of you probably do not have that kind of savings and could quickly find yourself in a very uncomfortable position. So, a way to prepare for this kind of problem is to purchase disability insurance. Disability insurance is insurance that will pay you a certain percentage of your income for the period of time for which you have a need.

Let’s say, for instance, that it is the weekend and you are doing some yardwork. While you are up on the ladder trying to clean out the gutters, you slip off of the ladder and fall 15 feet to the ground landing on your back. You try to get up and you can’t move. The pain in your back is too much to bear. You finally get some help from a family member and you are able to get to the emergency room where they x-ray your back and discover that you have injured your back and it is going to require surgery and extensive rehab to be able to get around on your own again, much less work. So now you are laid up with no income but your monthly obligations are still there. If you have disability insurance, then after a waiting period of about 60-90 days, you may start receiving benefits from your policy and you may be able to continue to pay your bills and buy the things your family needs. This is just one scenario, but there are so many different ways that we can hurt ourselves or end up in situations like this. The whole point of this example is to make you think about how you can protect your family and yourself in the event something happens. Now, disability insurance won’t solve all of your problems in these situations, but it can go along way of easing those burdens and put you in a better position to make arrangements to help get you through that time.

So how do you go about finding out how to get the right coverage? Well, sit down with a financial advisor who can take time with you to go through your budget with you and can get you some quotes, from some reputable companies, that will work with your budget. Apply and get the coverage in place and then set up a plan, in writing, of what to do during the waiting period until your benefits start to come in. If at all possible try to work into your budget now a savings plan to build up a least 3 months’ worth of living expenses.

Sometimes these situations can be catastrophic and sometimes they are much more manageable but it is always better to be prepared should you find yourself suffering. It is better to work through the situation with your full focus on getting better than to have to worry about the finances at the same time. You don’t want this situation to be too much to bear. So don’t wait, find an advisor to talk to today to make sure you and your family are protected.

If you don’t have a Financial Advisor, please feel free to call me and I’ll be happy to set up a time to talk with you.

Buddy Hicks is a Financial Advisor with Wealth Management Group LLC an affiliate firm of Securian Financial Services and has over 18 years of experience in the financial services business. He is Life and Health Insurance licensed and FINRA registered with his Series 7 and Series 66 which allows him to be an Investment Advisor Representative and Registered Representative of and offer securities and investment advisory services through Securian Financial Services Inc, member FINRA / SIPC. He is an Alumnus of Troy University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business/Finance. He takes a process approach with all of his clients to help determine their goals and then works with them to put a strategy in place to help reach those goals. An area of importance of Buddy’s is his ability to intuitively listen to his clients so that he can fully understand their current situation and what their future needs might be.

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