I spend time visiting and reading other finance-related websites and blogs to see what is up in the world of personal finance. While The Insurance Word blog mainly offers information on how insurance, life, health, disability and long-term care, helps you form a smart and solid financial foundation, we do know that there is a lot more that goes into building a healthy financial life.

Most of the time I see good advice being offered on these sites and blogs, although from time to time I do run across bits of “wisdom” that make me raise an eyebrow. But on the whole, I think they serve an important service: They get people to think about their finances and financial lives in a way they might not have done before.

LearnVest is new to the scene, launched just last November (and is still in beta), but it has made an impression on me. It was started by Alexa von Tobel, who took a leave of absence from Harvard Business School, to address this specific problem:

“There is no formal education for personal finance. Barring the extremely rare exception, personal finance is not taught in high schools, colleges, or even by most parents. How do we typically learn about our finances? Unfortunately, through our own financial mistakes and blunders, which have the potential to set us back before we even had a chance to get started.”

And while most of the information on the site is targeted at women half my age, I do subscribe to their daily email: LearnVest Daily, which I have found engaging and on point, addressing concerns large and small that young people have as they navigate their financial lives. I’ve even benefited occasionally from money-saving (or generating) tips.

I know many of our blog readers are like me, regular people trying to get and keep a handle on what can be an overwhelming topic at times, their personal finances. But I also know we have financial advisors and insurance agents who read this blog.

So, I’d like to do a soft-turn and appeal to you, the professionals out there, to help out with this important task of educating young people about their finances. While websites and blogs are an important avenue to learning, nothing can replace the personal touch, a “teacher” leading the way. And if you are an advisor or agent, you need to start seeing yourself as a personal finance teacher to the upcoming generations.

You can do something about this. LIFE’s NextGen3 is multimedia insurance education program to help educate high-school students about the basics of life, health and disability insurance, as well as financial planning fundamentals. The program has already reached 23 million high schoolers, and this new edition is aimed at raising that number much higher, but we need your help. You can be the conduit to bringing this free program into your local schools, and to your next generation of clients. For more information, you can contact Julie Lattanzi at the LIFE Foudation at jlattanzi@lifehappens.org.

As we come toward the end of Disability Insurance Awareness Month, I’d like to bring up a point that hasn’t been discussed yet: the good news/bad news aspect of a some research by LIMRA International. It revealed that while the incidence of disability may have slightly decreased, the length of time that one is disabled has increased. So, we may not get sick or hurt as often but, when we do, the effects of illness or injury last longer.

That makes a lot of sense to me. Modern medicine is prolonging our lives. More attention to our health, better screening and prevention may decrease our exposure to risk. When something bad does happen, modern medicine often saves us from the things that may, in the past, have killed us quickly. But, the other side of being spared an early death from disease or injury is living life for a longer period of time with some sort of impairment to our independence. And, of course, the longer the problem persists, the more it affects us financially.

That is why it is critical for all of us to review how we and our families would fare, not only in the short, but in the long-term, if we have not protected our paychecks with disability insurance.

What would happen to you financially if you were injured or got sick and were unable to work? Your answer might be, “Well, there’s a government disability program. I’m not really sure what it’s called, but I know it’s there as a backup if I need it.”

Are you sure?

First, let’s cross Workers’ Compensation off the list. This government program covers you only if you get hurt or sick as a result of your job. According to the National Safety Council, 90% of disabilities occur outside the workplace, so chances are you won’t be covered by Workers’ Comp.

Then consider the Social Security Disability Insurance program, which pays disability benefits independent of where the disability occurs.

“Great!” you say. “That’s what I’ll rely on.”

Not so fast.

Did you know that the Social Security Disability Insurance program is on the verge of going bust? As reported in this insurancenewsnet article, “Laid-off workers and aging baby boomers are flooding Social Security’s disability program with benefit claims, pushing the financially strapped system toward the brink of insolvency.” According to congressional estimates, money in the program is due to run out in six years.

The article goes on to underline a second reason you should not rely on this program: “The stampede for benefits is adding to a growing backlog of applicants—many wait two years or more before their cases are resolved.” (You can read more about this from my post during Disability Insurance Awareness Month this past May.)

Now, a third reason to reconsider relying on the government. The federal government defines a disability very narrowly as “the inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.” There are no benefits for short-term disability or partial disability.

And lastly, if you were to qualify, the average benefit hovers around $1,000. This would give you an annual “salary” that’s below the poverty line.

This should make you rethink your strategy to protect your paycheck in the case of a disability. Just ask yourself this: How long could I go without a paycheck before experiencing financial problems? Then take the next step to learn more about disability insurance.

I attended a banquet at my son’s school last week and talked at length with another dad. Our sons play on the school’s basketball team. He’s a successful lawyer and I’m usually entertained by his good nature and interesting work. Honestly, when I see him at events like this I seek him out.

He had never probed much into my work but did this night. He knew I worked in the life insurance industry. He didn’t know about the LIFE Foundation and our mission. When I talked about my role as manager of the Disability Insurance Awareness Month campaign, I sensed right away the news struck an emotional cord.

Unlike many people I meet in my community, this dad understood how important disability insurance can be when something goes terribly wrong.

About 15 years ago, this then 36-year-old, seemingly healthy man, without any warning, suffered an aneurysm that nearly killed him. The subsequent recovery and rehabilitation put him out of work for a full year.

His law firm provided disability coverage which replaced much of the income he lost while unable to work. He supported a wife and three kids, and the bills continued to get paid while he focused on his recovery. He said, “I know for sure I would have lost my house if I didn’t have disability insurance.”

Through a difficult experience, my banquet companion (yes, I sat next to him during dinner) learned the power of disability insurance. The bad news is, tens of millions of people in this country go to work every day with bills to pay and families to protect, and don’t have coverage. That’s why LIFE and its industry partners observe Disability Insurance Awareness Month. Through our collective efforts, we hope more people will know enough to talk to their employer or an insurance professional to find out if they are covered in the event the worst were to happen, and to take the necessary steps to get adequate coverge if they aren’t.

In a December article, “Disability Cases Last Longer as Backlog Rises,” the New York Times reported on a backlog of Social Security disability claims that have left hundreds of thousands of families suffering financial hardship while they wait—for as long as three years—for a resolution to their cases.

The personal stories described in the article are gut wrenching and probably leave you shaking your head at the inefficiency, if not the incompetence, of government. I hope, as I’m sure you do too, that those who face the most dire circumstances get the help they desperately need. And fast.

But as we hope for the best for others, we should all take a step back and ask ourselves an important question: “What would happen to me and my family if I were to suffer an unexpected accident or injury that prevented me from earning a living for three months or longer?”

Think the government will get its act together and be there when you need it? Even before the mounting case backlog, only 40% of Americans who applied for government disability actually received any. Here’s why: the federal government defines a disability with the narrowest lens—the “inability to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.” This program provides assistance to the neediest, so if you suffered a long-term disability that kept you from performing certain jobs but not others, you would not qualify.

At the LIFE Foundation, we emphasize that the answer to the question above is disability insurance coverage. We emphasize that the risk we working Americans face of a long-term disability are too significant not to have disability income protection—a study released by the LIFE Foundation puts the odds at close to 1 in 4 for men and 1 in 3 for women.

In May, the LIFE Foundation will coordinate the second annual Disability Insurance Awareness Month to once again raise awareness of the risk of disability and the hardship that can result from a lack of insurance coverage.

So the moral to the New York Times article is to not expect someone else to bail you out when things get tough. You are responsible for your financial security and your family’s. Plan for the unexpected. Make sure your financial plan insures your most valuable asset—your ability to earn an income.

At the LIFE website, you can learn more about disability insurance including how to go about finding an insurance professional who can help you determine your needs.

Lots of questions go before an answer can be given.

Recently, ABC aired an episode of the show “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition“that was a heartbreaking but touching story of a family devastated by a car accident that nearly killed the father, Paul Giunta”on the same day he and wife Renee celebrated the birth of their third child.

Paul survived the accident but suffered severe brain trauma. The injuries were so bad that doctors told him he’d never walk or talk again. But two years after the 2006 accident, he is learning to talk again and he can take steps with the aid of a walker. For the most part, though, he is confined to a wheelchair.

Because the home was not wheelchair accessible, Paul lived with his parents. For two years, Renee raised three children without the father at her side. “She said, “I miss my husband.”

Enter the Extreme Makeover crew, which went to work modifying the home to accommodate Paul’s disability. The touching story ended when Paul moved back into his newly wheelchair-accessible home with his wife and three children.

The show had a happy ending and, during it, an important message about disability insurance.

Early in the episode, Ty, the show’s host, asked Renee a question that was likely on a lot of viewers minds: With Paul out of work for two years and Renee at home with three young children, how did the family make ends meet with his disability? She replied: “The only money coming in is disability insurance.”

There’s a lot about the disability insurance we don’t know, but it appears that the insurance Paul had allowed Renee to pay the bills and to keep their home but not enough to pay for the modifications to the house on their own. What if your family was struck by a tragedy of this magnitude? Would you have enough disability insurance to cover your expenses if the breadwinner couldn’t work for an extended period of time? The statistics tell us you probably don’t.

May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month, which makes this a good time to access your income protection needs. To learn more about disability insurance, go to the disability section of LIFE’s website. You should also talk to your human resources department to see what coverage options are available through work. If it’s not enough to cover your needs, talk to a qualified insurance professional.

Long-term disability coverage isn’t part of the OPM proposal, but it’s great to see the government recognizes the need for workers to protect their ability to earn an income. That’s an important step forward.

“We believe this proposal will make the federal government more competitive in the employment marketplace by allowing employees the opportunity to enhance their financial protections.”
“ Linda M. Springer, Director, Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

This quote comes from a letter to Congress from the OPM in which the government agency proposes a short-term disability program that would offer coverage to federal employees on a “evoluntary basis.” (more on this term in a moment). The proposal, reported in the March 25 Washington Post, would offer federal workers their first short-term disability insurance benefit.

The healthcare debate and the legislation that recently passed put a bright spotlight on the insurance industry, the insurance companies as well as agents and advisors. Much of what was said and portrayed in the press and on Capitol Hill was not favorable. But as often is the case, the larger picture being drawn is most often not the reality that people face in their day-to-day lives.

Let me share the stories of two of my clients that I think serve as real-life examples of how government, or mandated, benefits work vs. how insurance company benefits work.

Client A, age 48, was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy a few years ago. During this time, in the middle of the economic downturn, his job was outsourced. When he lost his job, he also lost his group disability insurance coverage and his only paycheck benefits. As the disease progressed, he was unable to work any longer.

In late 2008, he filed for Social Security disability benefits and was denied. You may not know it, but this is a common occurrence for first time filers of Social Security benefits. In fact, the industry statistics indicate that 65% of all Social Security claims are initially denied.

With my help, my client engaged an attorney who specializes in Social Security disability claims. A year and a half after filing and paying attorneys fees, he was approved for benefits.

Contrast this experience with Client B. He had a substantial life insurance policy with me that was scheduled to expire for lack of payment. When I spoke with the client’s wife, I learned her husband had been declared totally disabled four years ago, due to the effects of exposure to Agent Orange when he served in Vietnam. The family had never shared this information with me.

I informed them that his insurance policy had a “waiver of premium” benefit, which meant that if he were to become disabled and unable to work, his life insurance premiums would be paid by the company for the rest of his life.

Once the client sent me the documentation I needed, the insurance company sent the client a refund check for those four years’ worth of premiums that they had paid. And now the policy is now paid for life! The whole process took just over a month, and there were no attorney fees and no hassle.

I leave it to you to decide: Which “system” worked better? The government’s or the insurance industry’s? We all want reform, but we need to understand what that truly needs to be.

What do we mean by underwriting? In the insurance world, underwriting refers to the process an insurance company goes through to decide whether to insure you and at what rate based on several factors (your medical history being an important one).

That process can be easy or stringent depending on where you go to apply for disability insurance.

Typically, underwriting a disability insurance application, either for group long-term disability (LTD) coverage through work, or coverage through your professional association, is easier (and can even be guaranteed!) when compared to underwriting an individual plan which you can get on your own outside of the workplace. Individual plans require much more underwriting (health, financials, duties etc.), because of all of the guarantees and liberal wording in the contract-all of which allow a claim to be paid under more circumstances and conditions.

On the other hand, the reason why group/association plans are more “forgiving” and have less underwriting is because if the claims for disability are higher than the insurance carrier calculates, one of two things can happen: the group or the association plan gets canceled by the carrier, or the carrier raises the rates (which are not guaranteed like individual plans). Neither scenario paints a pretty picture. On the other side of the coin, coverage might be issued on a guaranteed basis by group/association LTD plans. This is a nice feature if the association member or an employee of a company that is applying for group coverage is uninsurable or has a pre-existing condition that would normally be excluded from coverage under an individual plan.

However, a word to the wise in connection with pre-existing conditions when applying for any type of coverage. Since a claim begins with the application, the applicant must fully disclose all pertinent information on the application. Omissions, misstatements, or fraudulent statements, can cause a claim to be denied or a policy to be rescinded. I know this first hand, because over the years, I have been called in as an expert witness/consultant in dozens of lawsuits in conflicts over claim payment.

Larry Schneider is owner of Disability Insurance Resource Center, the nation’s largest brokerage specializing in coverage for both standard and hard to place. He has over 35 years of industry experience and published dozens of articles on a wide range of disability insurance topics. Mr. Schneider can be reached at info@di-resource-center.com.

“Other Government Payments Affect Benefits: We are holding your Social Security benefits for November 2008 through April 2010. We may have to reduce these benefits if you received Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for this period. We will not reduce your past-due benefits if you did not get SSI benefits for those months; When we decide how much you are due for this period, we will send you another letter.”

According to Crowe Paradis, this provision, taken from a recent Notice of Award of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits, indicates that the beneficiary’s past-due benefits are being withheld pending an SSI investigation. Unfortunately, it is appearing in increasing instances, resulting in the tying up of tens-of-thousands of dollars in benefits that are direly needed by beneficiaries to obtain medical treatment, pay bills or pay off existing debt, sometimes for as long as 90 days.

If SSDI benefits will be your primary source of income if you were to become disabled, how will you pay these bills if the government is holding your money? If you have not insured your paycheck through employer-provided or individually purchased disability income insurance, you may find yourself in a similar situation if you become disabled.

Protect you paycheck. Talk to your agent or your HR department today about DI coverage.

Our society places a high value on being independent and self-sufficient. We pride ourselves on taking adversity head on and “keeping a stiff upper lip.” But as a result, people sometimes take a less than prudent approach when it comes to insuring what may be the most valuable asset in their lives: their paychecks.

As an advisor, when I am working with a client and discussing their need to insure their paychecks with disability insurance, I often hear them say, “It would take a lot to disable me,” or “I could work from a wheelchair or hospital bed.”

These comments raise three questions in my mind. First, could you really work from your hospital bed or are you just keeping a stiff upper lip? Secondly, even if you could work, would you want to, and would you be able to do your job as well? And lastly, would being forced to work impede your recovery?

Anyone who has actually been disabled knows the answers to these questions, myself included. A few years back I had the misfortune of shattering both bones in my lower right leg while playing soccer. Although my right leg isn’t critical to my work, being rested, feeling good and being lucid are. I didn’t sleep well for a year. Every time I moved even the slightest amount, the broken bones shifted and I woke up in excruciating pain. How well do any of us work when we are exhausted?

Further, I had my choice of either being lucid but in horrible pain, or being comfortable yet doped up with pain medication. I don’t think too many of us would want to do business with someone who is in either state, yet I hear clients say that it would take “a lot to disable me.” Personally, I chose pain over the fog of pain medication, and it took all of my focus to be a tolerable (not good and definitely not exceptional) husband and father. Work was totally out of the question, all from a simple broken leg.

So maybe our approach to being independent and self-sufficient should be one of proactive “risk management,” via insurance. Too often we insist on doing things the hard way. If you have ever stayed home when you had a bad cold or the flu, then think about how hard it would be to work if you were actually disabled day after day. You have insured your car, you have insured your home, isn’t it time to insure your paycheck?

Not everyone who makes a lot of money is good with money. Take the case of Ed McMahon, the loveable sidekick to Johnny Carson for three decades, the pitchman for everything from Budweiser to American Family Publishing sweepstakes, and the occasional big screen actor. Over his career, McMahon earned millions on late night TV and in commercials, but then last night, he was on “Larry King Live,” with his wife, telling America that he had no money and was likely going to lose his $6 million Beverly Hills house to foreclosure.

You’ve just become disabled, but you’re not worried. Why? Because you think Social Security disability payments will “take care of you.” Really? According to statistics from the Social Security Administration, the average person who has qualified for Social Security benefits receives $1,125.10 a month.

If you’re making $50,000 per year, how long could you (and your family) survive on a disability payment of $1,125.10 per month? That’s only $13,501 per year, or 27% of your income. This assumes you qualify for benefits, and not everybody does. And if you do, it may still be more than two years—yes, years— before you start to receive any payments. What will you do in the meantime?

It’s time for you to protect your paycheck.

What am I talking about? You protect your home by insuring it against loss. You do the same for your car, boat, motorcycle, RV and personal property, but have you insured your paycheck?

Yes, I am talking about disability insurance. You protect your worldly goods with insurance, and you also need to protect your income against loss. If you become ill or injured and are unable to work, disability insurance pays you a percentage of your income until you can return to work.

May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month, the perfect time to talk to your advisor or agent and learn how to protect your paycheck.

Here are the most recent government statistics (2009) for the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program.

• Disability benefits were paid to almost 9 million people.
• Average monthly benefit received was $1,064.30.
• Benefits were terminated for 630,074 disabled workers.
• Workers accounted for the largest share of disabled beneficiaries (87 percent).
• The average age of a beneficiary was about 53.
• Men represented nearly 53% of the beneficiaries.
• A mental disorder was the diagnosis for about a third of the recipients.

What these numbers don’t tell you is that according to the Social Security Administration, approximately 65 percent of those that apply for disability insurance through Social Security are rejected, and the backlog in Social Security disability applications is so large in some areas of the country that the average wait for a hearing in some states is almost two years (600 days).

The National Safety Council reported in 2004 that a disabling injury occurs every two seconds in America, and Health Affairs reported that unexpected illnesses and injuries cause 350,000 bankruptcies a year. According to the Health Insurance Association of America, one in seven workers will be disabled for five or more years during their time in the workforce, and in 2005, half of all mortgage foreclosures were caused by disabilities due to unexpected injury or illness.

Yes, SSDI is an excellent program, but if you become disabled, will you qualify, and if so, how long will it take before you start receiving benefits? What will you do for income while you wait to see if you will receive SSDI? How long could you go without a paycheck before experiencing financial problems?

May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month—the time to protect your paycheck. You have insurance to protect your home, your car, your boat and your motorcycle, but do you have insurance to protect your paycheck? Go to www.protectyourpaycheck.org to learn more.

The word “disability” typically makes people think about wheelchairs and catastrophic injuries. But disability often means having back problems, being temporarily sidelined as you recover from a heart attack or cancer, or even battling depression or other mental illnesses.

According to the Council for Disability Awareness‘s 2008 Long-Term Disability Claims Review, mental illnesses accounted for nearly 6.5% of new disability claims, not far behind the 10% caused by injuries and accidents.

What does this mean in the real world? Mental Health America (MHA) estimates that, in a typical office of 20 people, four will experience a mental health challenge in any given year. Translated across the broader economy, MHA notes that untreated and mistreated mental illness costs the nation $150 billion in lost productivity each year, with U.S. businesses footing up to $44 billion of this bill.

The negative impact works the other way, too. Today’s continued uncertain economic climate, high unemployment rate and increases in personal bankruptcies and home foreclosures have created additional stress for many Americans, and stress can be linked to depression.

In this economy, protecting your ability to earn an income with disability insurance, obtained through your employer’s group plan or on your own as an individual policy, is more essential than ever. Knowing that your family’s well-being can be protected even if a serious illness like depression forces you to leave the work force temporarily is so important.

That’s why during May, which is both Disability Insurance Awareness Month and Mental Health Month, Guardian is joining forces with MHA to bring attention to the issue of mental illness as a trigger for disability claims, as well as the importance of being financially protected should that occur and the need for wellness and prevention.

The month-long educational campaign is centered on a brief online quiz. We encourage you to take this quiz and to pass the link on to your friends, family and colleagues. Every time someone completes the quiz during the month of May, Guardian will donate $1 to support MHA’s work nationwide to improve mental health and wellbeing, up to $10,000. To find out more about disability insurance and how you can protect your paycheck, go to www.protectyourpaycheck.org.

The LIFE Foundation has employed many communications strategies and tactics to get people to understand their need for insurance, but never before have we turned to an actor in tights and a cape.

That’s just what we’ve done to draw attention to the need for disability income protection. May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month, and to launch the campaign, LIFE unveiled a web movie starring its first-ever superhero, Captain Indestructible. You can view the two-minute video at www.lifehappens.org/indestructible. You’ll find it entertaining, but the point we make is that disabilities can happen to anyone, even superheroes. No one is indestructible. Consider this: according to a study LIFE commissioned in 2007, U.S. workers face a one-in-three chance of suffering a disability that last 90 days or more. That’s right. You might be in your prime working years and haven’t given much thought to what would happen to you if you became sick or hurt and couldn’t work for an extended period of time. But a disability could happen to you. If you became disabled and couldn’t work, how would you pay the bills? How would you protect you and your family? Disability insurance replaces your income when you can’t work.

The theme for our campaign is “Disability Insurance: Because no one is indestructible.” Make May the month you prepare yourself for the unexpected. Talk to a benefits manager to learn more about your coverage options at work, or get help from an insurance professional in your community. For help finding one in your area, use LIFE’s agent locator.

The Commissioner of Social Security, Michael J. Asture, recently used this headline for a column he wrote pertaining to Social Security’s disability process. He pointed out some interesting statistics which reveal the need for personal disability protection.

Some stats are mind-boggling. We’ll spend weeks planning a family vacation or countless hours studying Consumer Reports prior to purchasing a flat screen TV. But when it comes to more substantive matters, like making choices about the various insurance benefits available to us through our company’s benefits program, most Americans take a completely passive approach.

We Americans are an independent lot. We don’t want other people making decisions for us. Not the government. Not our neighbors. Not even our friends. But when it comes to important financial security matters like choices regarding our life, disability or health insurance coverage, we have no problem letting our employers decide what’s best for us. Washington Post syndicated personal finance writer Michelle Singletary recently reported that only 40 percent of employees actively make a decision about their open enrollment choices.

If I get disabled and can’t work for a period of time, will I be able to make ends meet on 40% of my income, or is it worth a few extra dollars a month to raise that amount to 60% or 67%? Who cares, I’ve got an important work deadline to meet.

Should I simply accept my employer’s basic life insurance plan, which provides one times my annual income in coverage at no extra cost to me, or should I apply to increase that to five or seven times my annual income? I can’t be bothered with that now, I’ve got to sprint home to get my son to baseball practice.

I don’t mean to disparage the importance of a great family vacation or how nice it is to watch your favorite TV program on a crystal clear 42-inch LCD screen. But if we can make time for those sorts of things, we should be able to carve out time to give careful consideration to the valuable insurance benefits that are offered to many of us through our employers.

Open enrollment season only comes around once a year. If your company is currently allowing you to make changes to your insurance benefits, take a few minutes to review your options. Or better yet, schedule time to meet with someone in the HR department to make sure you understand what benefits you presently receive and whether it makes sense to purchase supplemental coverage. I’m sure there will be plenty of time afterwards to plan your next great family vacation.

The author is a financial advisor and owner of Ike Trotter Agency, based in Greenville, MS.

When you stop and think about your most valuable asset, what comes to mind? Your home, your car, your jewelry or other possessions? Yes, these are all very valuable to the financial standard of living you have created. But what is it that makes these things possible? Quite simply; it’s your income.

A new year is a clean slate. Take advantage of the new beginning by taking steps that will help build you a better future.

Many people will tell you they don’t have time to plan. I say you don’t have time not to. The bottom line is: Life happens. We have a tendency to focus too much on tomorrow and not enough on today.

Many Americans have taken steps towards saving for retirement. And while that’s important, it shouldn’t be at the expense of overlooking the risks we live with every day. What would happen to your retirement plans if you became disabled for a long period of time? What if an important income earner in your family passed away unexpectedly?

The loss of income from either of these situations could have a major impact on your retirement savings and may leave your family in a financial hole they may not recover from. My mom always told me “Prepare for the worst, but expect the best.”

So what are you going to do about it?

Here are some quick steps you can put into play today to help you make a difference in your family’s financial future:

1. Get protected.

Stop sitting on the fence. There is no good time, so just do it now.

Find out what your disability insurance plan is at work, if any, and how supplemental disability insurance can further help in the event you were to become disabled and unable to work.

Purchase life insurance to protect your family. There are many affordable options, including term life insurance. But don’t count yourself out of protecting your family on the basis of what you think can afford alone. Do your homework and talk to a trusted financial professional who can help offer solutions.

If you do buy insurance, be a prudent consumer and ask about policy protection add-ons known as riders. Riders can give you additional benefits and increase peace of mind that if something goes wrong, there’s another option that will help you maximize your insurance protection. For example, a “waiver of premium” rider means the company pays the life insurance premium should you ever become totally disabled. Some riders are free, but many are available at an additional cost.

2. Pay down your debt.

Create a debt reduction strategy for any high-interest-rate credit card debt. And STOP charging. One of the biggest budgeting mistakes people make is not having their debt paid off at retirement. Start now and stick with it.

3. Start saving.

Successful savers use the concept of paying themselves first whenever they receive a paycheck. Check with your employer to see if part of your pay can be automatically deposited into one or more savings accounts and let it build.

The sooner you learn to pay yourself, the better off you’ll be in the long term. By starting early, the power of compounding becomes a formidable ally in wealth growth, and it also paves the way to building that three to six months of salary contingency plan advisors recommend in the event you lose your job.

What are you waiting for?

Long-term financial health encompasses a lot more than just making sure you’re saving smartly for retirement. Decisions you make, or fail to make, about how you safeguard your future with proper amounts of financial protection are also important. The type and amount of insurance you have now, from life to health to disability to long-term care, and even auto, impacts the amount money you’ll have for retirement.

Imagine, for example, what a protracted illness would do to your finances over the long term if you didn’t have in place the right kind of health insurance or disability insurance coverage (if that illness left you unable to work). Here-and-now insurance decisions can make a lasting mark on your financial future, for good or bad.

A smart thing for you to do is take the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ online Insurance Intelligence Quiz and test your knowledge. Most who have taken the quiz have gotten a failing grade on it! See how you stack up.

Once you get your score, be sure to follow through and educate yourself on the questions you got wrong. LIFE has a wide range of information to help you make smart insurance decisions, and a great place to start is with the Insurance 101 videos. It’s easy: Just sit back, relax and let the experts explain it to you.

Life Insurance 101
Health Insurance 101
Disability Insurance 101
Long-term Care Insurance 101
Auto Insurance 101
Homeowners Insurance 101
Insurance Fundamentals

Put yourself ahead of the majority of Americans by making informed insurance decisions. It’s a smart thing to do for your financial future.

Workers starting out today are projected to have about a three in 10 chance of experiencing a long-term disability during their working years. Yet, despite such daunting odds, nearly 70% of America’s workforce has no private disability insurance.

In conducting a recently released consumer research project entitled “The Disability Divide,” the Council for Disability Awareness found out some interesting facts:

Employees believe that “disability can happen to anyone at any time” … but they deny it can happen to them.

When asked to choose which of several statements about disability was most reflective of their belief, an overwhelming 83% of respondents chose “it can happen to anyone at any time.” Other choices like “it happens infrequently” (5%) and “most disabilities can be avoided through healthy lifestyles” (6%) were mostly ignored.

Survey participants estimated their chances of experiencing a disability during their working careers at 1% or 2% … while the actual odds are 10 or more times higher.

When asked about their odds of becoming disabled during their working careers, 64% pegged their own chances at either 1% or 2%. Most thought their own odds were below average. So while they recognize that disability can happen, they think it will happen to the “other guy,” and not very frequently at that.

Wage earners overwhelmingly believe disabilities are typically caused by serious accidents … but most data show 90% or more of disabilities result from illnesses.

When asked to rate different likely causes of disability, 71% rated “serious accident” as likely or very likely. The next most highly rated cause was “stroke,” a distant second at 45%, which was followed by “cancer” with 43% choosing it as a likely or very likely cause. Generally, the most commonly picked expected causes of disability were vivid, one time, catastrophic events (accident, stroke, heart attack, cancer, paralysis) while other more chronic type conditions such as muscle or bone pain (26%) and depression/anxiety (14%), which actually cause a high percentage of disabilities, were thought to be less likely.

Employees perceive that disabilities last for a long time … but less than one-third of America’s workforce is covered by adequate long-term disability income protection.

Nearly 70% of respondents thought a person who experienced a disability would miss work for one year or more; amazingly, 31% said the person would never return to work. The “catastrophic perception” of disability noted above is reflected in this response. Still, roughly 70% of the American workforce has no private disability insurance.

Where would the money come from?

Here are some questions you should answer as you consider your disability insurance needs:

• How much are your monthly living expenses that would continue—or even increase—if your income stopped? Did you consider an illness or accident typically increases “out of pocket” expenses like medical deductibles and co-pays, and the cost of accommodations or custodial care?
• How would you pay your necessary monthly living expenses if your paycheck stopped? How long could you continue to pay your bills?
• Do you know that the average long-term disability lasts for 2 ½ years?
• Do you have a sick-pay plan or long-term disability program at work? When would it start? How much would it pay and for how long? Is there a gap between what the program pays, and what your anticipated monthly expenses will be?
• What if you deplete your personal and retirement savings? How will that affect your long-term financial picture and your dreams for the future?

Take advantage of the disability related educational tools that the Council for Disability Awareness and LIFE Foundation make available and make sure you get the disability insurance coverage you need.

Last week, I wrote a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal about an article (yet another) critical of long-term care insurance. In this one, the Journal took 15 states to task for encouraging their residents to consider private long-term care insurance. See “States Draw Fire for Pitching Citizens On Private Long-Term Care Insurance.”

I just heard the story of a single, 55-year-old man with limited mental capacity, whose doctor has determined that he is unable to make financial and health decisions for himself. He sustained an injury to his back, making it impossible for him to perform his job.

This man worked in a pottery factory where his job consisted of packing and lifting crates weighing over 30 pounds. His doctor instructed him to not lift anything in excess of 10 pounds due to his injury. So, with the help of a friend, he applied for Social Security disability benefits and was declined. The Social Security Administration determined he could still work at his current job, even though his doctor told him he could not to lift heavy objects. His case is now going to be appealed with the help of an attorney.

Question: He can no longer work at the only job he has ever had, has limited mental capacity to make decisions and has no disability insurance either at work or individually. What will he do for income over the next 18 to 36 months while he waits for the decision from the Social Security Administration?

While you may not have limited mental abilities, you may end up in his same situation if you do not have either group or individual disability income insurance. Have you insured you paycheck against just such a possibility? Contact your agent or financial professional to learn more and go to www.protectyourpaycheck.org for more information about disability insurance.

According to a new Hartford Life survey, just 29% of full-time workers making less than $50,000 said they “completely understand” life insurance. And less than two-thirds of those workers had life insurance through their employers.

The survey showed that Gen Y workers and less educated workers also showed a lower understanding along with less ownership of life insurance products. Just 30% of workers with a high school education said they completely understood life insurance, compared with almost two-thirds of workers with a college education.

These numbers are very distressing, but there is hope. In 2010, 69% of working women took advantage of employer-sponsored life insurance benefits, compared with 64% in 2009. Seventy percent of men enrolled in life insurance benefits at work in 2010, up from 67% in 2009.

While a recent LIMRA study tells us that individual ownership of life insurance is at a 50-year low, people are taking advantage of employer-offered benefit programs. This is an area where the LIFE Foundation is working diligently to increase its educational resources to assist these employees in understanding what insurance does, and not just life insurance, but disability, long-term care and in the near future, critical illness insurance.

Our NextGen3 high-school education program is designed to help young consumers and tomorrow’s workers better understand what these insurance tools do and the importance of owning insurance for self-reliance.

Our mission is to educate the American consumer, and during September we are doing this through Life Insurance Awareness Month, a program endorsed by over 100 companies and the leading industry associations to educate today’s consumers about life insurance.

Some people are numbers people. If you are one of them, then this number might strike a cord: You have a three in 10 chance of suffering a disabling illness or injury during your career that would keep you out of work for three months or more.

Some people are pictures people. If you are one of them, watch this video of a woman whose life was changed in an instant by a disabling accident.

Whether you are a numbers person or a pictures person, you need to think about what you would do if an accident or illness prevented you from bringing home your paycheck? How would you pay your mortgage or rent? Your bills? For groceries? Where would you find the money to keep your (and your family’s) day-to-day life going? If you don’t have answers to these questions, you can find some here at www.protectyourpaycheck.org.

Ask most people to think about their most valuable asset, and they’ll mention their home, their car, their jewelry, or other possessions. But for most of us, our most valuable possession isn’t anything of those things. It’s our ability to earn a living. And just as you would insure your car, your home, and other valuable possessions, you need to insure yourself in case you are no longer able to work. That’s what disability insurance does. It provides a source of replacement income if you’re unable to work due to an illness or accident.

Disability insurance is a key component of an individual’s financial plan, and provides valuable coverage to guard against the risk of them losing their income due to an illness or injury.

Since a long-term disability can ruin a person’s financial health, it would make sense that everyone have the coverage. However, fewer than a third of workers in private industry have long-term disability coverage through work, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor.

While those who don’t have it through work (or enough of it) should be covering their risk with an individual disability insurance policy they buy on their own, many are turned off by the high price tag that often comes with it. As a result, they are putting themselves in a dangerous position that could have severe financial ramifications for themselves and their families.

There are alternatives for getting coverage that do not involve purchasing an individual disability policy. A disability income “rider” is one approach that you can take to hedge against the possibility of incurring a financial tragedy. These riders are usually sold as an attachment to an individual life insurance plan.

Obtaining a life insurance policy with a disability rider is fairly simple. First and foremost, since not every life insurance plan offers this feature, you will need to find a company that does. After applying for coverage, the life insurance underwriting process is generally used as a starting point to determine whether or not you qualify for the additional disability coverage. In addition to the life insurance questions, the company may come back to you with additional questions to prescreen you for the disability rider as well.

After the underwriting process is complete, you are usually either approved or denied the coverage, as there typically isn’t any type of rating scale like there is with traditional life insurance. Disability insurance riders are usually attractive due to the fact that they are less expensive than most individual disability policies. In addition, the insured can kill two birds with one stone instead of having two separate policies with different billing cycles.

But please keep in mind this important fact: The disability insurance rider’s coverage tends to be much more limited than it would be if you were to purchase an individual disability insurance policy. Most life insurance companies that have these riders only offer benefits of up to $3,000 per month, and the coverage only lasts for 2-3 years. As a result, this type of policy usually serves as a great resource for disability coverage if you have none, but doesn’t truly protect against a prolonged disability situation.

William Rowan is the founder of eTermLifeInsurance.net, a site geared towards consumer term life insurance education and comparison. Its sole focus is for consumers to find the best life insurance policy for their individual situation.

Through Facebook, I recently re-connected with a high school classmate who I haven’t communicated with in more than 20 years. When I let her know that I work for an insurance education organization, she confided that she’s been thinking a lot lately about disability insurance. Why? Because she’s currently on disability leave, having been diagnosed in the fall with a manageable, but chronic and progressive neurological condition.

My friend is a nurse and she told me that awhile back she attended a session where an insurance company representative was promoting supplemental disability insurance coverage. Because the hospital where she works provides a long-term disability insurance benefit that covers 60 percent of her salary, she thought the extra coverage was unnecessary. In fact, she laughed at her friends who signed up for the coverage. Having been out of work for several months and struggling to make ends meet on 60 percent of her prior income (taxable income at that), my friend is no longer laughing.

Thankfully, my friend is feeling better and thinks she’ll be able to return to work shortly. However, she knows there’s a pretty good chance that she may have to go on disability leave again in the future. Though not life threatening, the condition she has will only get worse over time. So what’s the moral of this story? There are several.

1. Don’t assume that you don’t need disability insurance (or additional coverage) because you’re young and healthy. My friend is 43 and, prior to this episode, had a clean bill of health.

2. Even if your company is generous and provides a disability benefit at no cost to you, don’t assume that it’s necessarily enough to cover all of your income replacement needs. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn’t. Here’s a Disability Insurance Calculator to figure it out www.lifehappens.org/disabilitycalculator.

3. If you have a need for insurance, lock in coverage early, when the need first presents itself. Had my friend secured supplemental coverage early in her nursing career, she probably would have qualified for an excellent rate because her health would have been flawless at the time. Now she’s got a serious pre-existing condition and it’s unlikely that she’ll be able to get the coverage she wants at a price she can afford.

So the next time you’re presented with the opportunity to buy disability insurance (or add to coverage you already have), pay close attention to what’s being offered. It’s no laughing matter.

It doesn’t surprise me that Ron Lieber of The New York Times used this headline recently for his article about disability: “The Odds of a Disability Are Themselves Odd.” He clearly shows the confusion that surrounds your chances of becoming disabled.

But is the issue really about your odds of becoming disabled? Or is it the fact that you don’t know if you will be the one to become disabled or not? Because of that uncertainty, you need to make sure that if anything were to happen that you’ve empowered yourself with the choice and control you want.

Let me explain. Not only am I a financial advisor who sells disability insurance, I am someone who suffered a disabling accident. It was my group and individual disability insurance plans that gave me choices and control over my life. Because I had income protection plans, I was able focus on recovery and rehabilitation, I could ask for a second opinion, and I could choose in-home care. Because I had that income, I didn’t have to sell my assets and move in with my parents, and I could maintain my lifestyle. In essence, disability insurance protected my paycheck by ensuring that I would continue to receive an income even if I was unable to work.

As I was sitting on that dock before my water skiing accident, young, healthy and athletic, my odds of becoming disabled might have been 80% or 52% or 10%. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that moments later it was 100%.

As an industry, we need change the way we speak about our product. By doing so, we can make it easier to have a conversation with people about how they can protect their incomes and preserve their lifestyle from the unexpected. We can show that disability insurance helps people protect their paychecks to pay their bills, pay for rehabilitation, keep their businesses running, safeguard their assets and preserve their retirement dreams.

It’s not about disability at all. Instead, it’s about giving people the ability to have choices and to be in control of their financial lives.

As a consumer, I urge you to educate yourself and work with a trusted advisor with disability insurance expertise (read 5 Tips for Finding the Right Advisor) so you can make an informed decision on the value of protecting your paycheck. There’s nothing “odd” about that, just intelligent planning, and taking personal responsibility. To help get you started, visit the section on LIFE’s website dedicated to disability insurance.

These days April Holmes brings to mind the popular investment company commercial that we used to hear all of the time on TV, because when she talks, people listen.

The LIFE Foundation’s “This Moment Made Possible by My Paycheck” photo contest got me thinking about all of those great moments in my own background, and how important our paychecks and our ability to earn an income are to each of us and our families. With that in mind, I offer this “pop quiz” that CIGNA developed to help people gauge and build their awareness of disability insurance.

1. True or False: People who work don’t need disability insurance because they’re covered by Workers’ Compensation insurance. 

Answer: False. Workers’ Compensation insurance only covers injuries or illnesses acquired on the job, while the majority of accidents and illnesses are not work-related, according to the National Safety Council.

2. True or False: People who work can rely totally on their accrued sick leave if they miss work due to illness or injury. 

Answer: False. A disability-related absence can last a lot longer than an individual’s accrued sick time. Disabilities aren’t necessarily catastrophic events, but can range from broken bones, pregnancy, surgery, treatment for an illness, etc. Recovery time is unique to each situation.

3. True or False: Most people have enough money saved to cover their living expenses if they can’t work because of a disability. 

Answer: False. Disabilities can last many months or even years, and many people haven’t saved enough to cover living expenses for that long.

4. True or False: Short-term disability covers a portion of an individual’s wages for a year. 

Answer: False. Short-term disability insurance generally covers individuals for up to about six months, while long-term disability insurance provides coverage for longer periods of time.

5. True or False: People who work don’t need disability insurance as long as they have medical insurance. 

Answer: False. Medical insurance offers protection for covered medical expenses, but won’t replace income that’s needed to pay a mortgage, car payment or other household bills.

If you scored three or more right answers, good for you! But no matter how well you did on the quiz, there’s much more you can learn about disability insurance. The LIFE Foundation offers many great resources at www.protectyourpaycheck.org.

While the value of having disability insurance can’t be overstated, it’s also important to be aware of programs that can help prevent disability.

Use your Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Many employers offer an EAP that can help individuals cope with stress, depression, substance abuse and work/life balance. Many disability absences are related to behavioral health issues such as these, so EAPs can play a critical role in helping people stay healthy and avoid a disability absence. EAPs are free to the employee and completely confidential.

Stay well and minimize health risks. Many employers offer programs to help you quit smoking, lose weight, eat better, sleep better, manage stress or get more physical activity. Like an employee assistance program, these health and wellness programs are usually free to the employee; so if you have them, use them.

Manage a chronic condition. Programs that help people manage chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes or heart disease are also important because they can help prevent a chronic illness from leading to disability. A CIGNA study shows that people who enrolled in a chronic care program and experienced a disability missed nearly four fewer days than those people with a chronic condition who didn’t participate in a program.

Be sure to take a moment during May’s Disability Insurance Awareness Month to learn about this important coverage. It could be the most important thing you do for your financial security and well-being.

Dr. Anfield is chief medical officer for CIGNA’s disability business. Be sure to listen to his podcast “Thinking Ahead: How to Protect Your Paycheck.”

It’s that time again. Open enrollment time. Each fall, millions of wage earners must make important financial decisions about a variety of insurance plans and options offered at work. What are the best choices to protect your financial security? How that question gets answered may well determine your future financial security. Given the troubling economic times, it’s never been more important to seriously evaluate benefits choices and strongly consider protecting income. Here’s why.

The ability to earn a living is what makes financial security possible for nearly every working individual in America. In fact, in a recent survey conducted by the Council for Disability Awareness, 90 percent of workers ranked their ability to earn an income as more valuable than any other financial resources or assets. Income is what enables individuals and families to pay the day-to-day bills, keep a home or apartment, save for retirement, pay insurance premiums and live a good lifestyle. Yet when asked what they would do if their income suddenly stopped, most of these workers revealed that they are poorly positioned to avoid severe financial hardship. In fact, the most common response when asked whether they had a plan to protect their income was, “I haven’t really thought about it.”

But individuals definitely need to think about it. The likelihood of experiencing a disability is greater than most think. There’s about a one-in-three chance that an individual entering the workforce today will experience an income-limiting illness or disability lasting 90 days or more before he or she turns 65 years old.

How many of us could pay our bills for longer than 90 days,with no paycheck coming in? What would be the consequence of a prolonged period without a paycheck? Diminished savings? Curtailed lifestyle? Unpaid bills? Deeper and deeper debt? Foreclosure? Perhaps even bankruptcy? The ability to earn an income is essential for just about everything we need, and then some. Yet industry experts say that workers tend to value other benefits like dental and vision insurance more than disability insurance. And while the 47 million Americans without medical insurance were front and center to the health-care debate, according to the Social Security Administration, 70 percent of the private-sector workforce, about 100 million workers, has no private long-term disability insurance.

That’s why it’s critically important for you to use this enrollment period to understand your risk of becoming disabled, evaluate your benefit choices and update your income protection election. The right time to do this is now; if not now, when? You need to realize that an appropriate income protection plan can provide the foundation for your (and your family’s) continued financial independence, even if an illness or accident prevents you from being able to work.

Think you are well versed about disability? Take this quiz now to test your knowledge.

Think disability will not happen to you? Calculate your own chances with the Council for Disability Awareness “Personal Disability Quotient” calculator available as a printable paper form or online at www.whatsmypdq.org.

Think there’s no way to prevent a disability from occurring? Check out these prevention tips.

Assess the income needed to sustain your current standard of living should become disabled with this online calculator.

What do a 19-year-old nursing student in Virginia, a single mother in Hawaii, a disabled father of two in Missouri and a healthcare professional working in a South Carolina hospital have in common?

This week, their connection was on display”-first, in a special insurance section of the September 8 Newsweek magazine and again at the annual meeting of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, as part of the realLIFEStories Client Service Award Banquet, sponsored by the LIFE Foundation and Newsweek. The four individuals from different walks of life and parts of the country stood before about 600 insurance professionals to share their stories and a similar message: how smart insurance planning ensured their emotional struggles weren’t compounded by financial hardship.

That’s just what the realLIFEstories program has done for 13 years. It tells the stories of everyday people who have benefited from life, health, disability and/or long-term care insurance, and the service of insurance professionals at times of great financial need.

For a summary of their stories and the insurance professionals honored, read our news release.

Why, some might wonder, do we continue to do this year after year, to keep searching for and telling the kind of stories that you’ve heard this evening, Jack Dewald, a LIFE Foundation board member and the banquet’s host. It’s really simple. We do it because we must. By sharing them in such a public way, we know that millions of Americans will have their consciousness raised.

Their consciousness must be raised because, according to the industry research firm LIMRA International, nearly 68 million Americans have no life insurance. Those not adequately insured against a disabling illness or injury, or the need for long-term care also number in the tens of millions.

[Consumers] need to be reminded,said Dewald, that the unexpected can and does happen all the time, and that you need a smart insurance program to back you up.

Decades ago, the traditional family unit consisted of a husband and wife with 2.5 children. Most women were stay-at-home mothers, able to call on extended family members in case illness or injury affected their abilities to care for their children.

But these days, there is no longer a “traditional” family unit (and by extension, an extended support network), as the following figures attest:

• In 2010, 43.6% of all U.S. residents 18 and older were unmarried—more than half of them women—while the elderly comprised 16.5% of all unmarried and single people 18 and older.
• 45% of households nationwide were maintained by unmarried men or women, while number of single parents living with their children in 2010 reached 11.7 million. (Almost a third of grandparents are raising their grandchildren.)
• There were 6.5 million unmarried-partner households, which included 581,300 same-sex couples.
• Finally, the number of people who lived alone totaled 31.4 million in 2010, comprising 27% of all households—up from 17% in 1970.

What does this mean to you? Well, if you fall into one of the above categories—a single parent or grandparent raising a child, an adult living alone, or an unmarried couple—you need to do a little “worst case scenario” thinking. Specifically: should you experience an illness or injury that results in a disability (temporary or permanent), what type of impact will that have not only on your finances, but also on anyone who depends on you?
During Disability Insurance Awareness Month, educate yourself about the reality of the impact a disability can have on your budget—and your life.

Disability coverage facts
If you think you have your bases covered with health insurance, worker’s compensation or Social Security, the following information might change your mind.

• While health insurance will cover medical-related expenses, it won’t provide an income to cover your needs if you are unable to work even for a relatively short period of time.
• Worker’s compensation coverage only comes into play if the disability is job-related—which only happens in about 5% of the cases, according to the Council for Disability Awareness. (If you’re playing the odds, you might want to reconsider, since 30% of those entering the workforce today will be disabled for three months or more during their career, with the average long-term disability claim lasts 31.2 months.)
• While Social Security provides coverage, qualifying for benefits can be challenging (60% are initially denied) and, at a little over $1,100 a month, the average monthly payment is barely above poverty level.

In the meantime, bills keep mounting up and your financial situation becomes even more precarious. According to one study, more than 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 were due to medical issues—a significant increase from the 2001 figure of 46.2%.

Fortunately, you do have several options to help safeguard yourself and those who depend on you. Employer-sponsored coverage (short-term disability insurance, long-term disability insurance, or both) can replace a significant percentage of your income—possibly up to 40% to 60% of your pre-tax income. (In a few states, employees can also purchase additional short-term disability coverage on their own, paid for through payroll deductions.)

If you are self-employed or want a stronger safety net, an individual disability insurance policy is the best choice. Start by calculating the amount of income you would need to maintain your current standard of living in the event you’re unable to work. Then, look at your life and work situation. Do you have children, a spouse or an elderly relative who depends on you for support? Is there a cap on the benefits available through your employer—and are you getting close to that level? Finally, has your standard of living increased or you have taken on a significant amount of new debt?

Once you have a clearer picture of your “worst case scenario,” schedule a meeting with your insurance advisor to review your disability insurance purchase options: through your employer, a professional organization or on your own. This will help you make the best decision for your budget, your future and those who are part of your “family unit.” For more disability information, visit www.protectyourpaycheck.org.

Now here are some disturbing numbers. According to MetLife’s 9th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, 63% of full-time workers who are primary wage earners and not married are very concerned about having enough money to pay bills during a period of sudden income loss. But 60% of these single workers have no disability insurance to protect their income and paycheck if an illness or injury prevents them from working. The study also states that more than a third of unmarried men and more than half of unmarried women who are primary wage earners say they live paycheck to paycheck. Have they never heard of paycheck protection insurance?

What does paycheck protection do? It replaces a portion of your income if you are unable to work for a period of time due to an illness or injury. Depending on the level of protection purchased, you may be able to continue paying for essential living expenses including food, utilities, home and car payments, until you are able to return to work.

Yes, I know. This will never happen to you, only other people. Well, let’s look at some numbers.

• 10% of short-term disability claims approved were for men ages 21 to 30. The average claim duration was 40 days.
• 22% of short-term disability claims approved were for women ages 21 to 30. The average claim duration was 46 days.
• 5% of long-term disability claims approved were for men ages 21 to 30. Top causes were fractures, back strain and cancer. For closed claims the average duration was 32 months.
• 10% of the long-term disability claims approved were for women ages 21 to 30. Top causes were pregnancy, depression and back strain. For closed claims the average duration was 21 months.

For more complete income protection, individuals should have both short and long-term disability insurance benefits. Short-term disability plans replace income for the early period of a disability. In general, the plans provide benefits for periods that range from as little as two weeks up to two years. Long-term disability benefits help replace income for an extended period, often until the disabled person turns 65. Social Security disability benefits are not available if an individual expects to be out of work for less than a year and, if paid, will likely be deducted from group disability benefits. In addition, most causes of disability are not work-related and, therefore, not covered by Workers’ Compensation.

According to the MetLife study, nearly three-quarters of employers offer some type of disability coverage, and while some disability insurance coverage is obviously better than no coverage, a good rule of thumb is to protect 60% – 80% of your after-tax income so essential monthly expenses will be covered. There is no substitute for good advice, so if you don’t understand your coverage or how to determine your needs, seek professional assistance.

While most of us understand the need to insure our cars and homes, many do not consider insuring what pays for those things… our paychecks. It is crucial to understand the importance of properly insuring your paycheck with disability insurance. Here are answers to six of people’s most pressing disability insurance questions:

1. Where does disability insurance fit within my financial plan?

Disability insurance is there to protect your income, should you become ill or injured and unable to work. In essence, it protects your paycheck. Your financial plan needs to begin and end with income planning. Unless you first protect your income, there is no financial plan!

2. What about disability insurance through my work—isn’t that enough?

That’s called group disability insurance. With this particular coverage, you are just a tenant. You are not in control because you do not own the policy. It can be taken from you in an instant; your employer may give it up or the insurer may decide to stop insuring the group. You are at their mercy.

Plus, 70% of employers don’t offer long-term disability insurance at work, which means if you do have coverage, it’s probably short-term disability insurance, which would not help you meet your financial obligations if you were sick or injured for an extended period of time.

Also, keep in mind that group long-term disability insurance typically only covers your base salary, so bonuses, commissions, incentives, deferred compensation, stock options and pension contributions are generally not covered. In most claims scenarios, people are very disappointed with the adequacy of their group disability coverage.

3. How does disability insurance differ from long-term care insurance?

Simple. Disability Insurance pays you and long-term care insurance typically pays someone else who is providing the care service.

4. How does disability insurance differ from life insurance?

When it comes to income replacement and asset conservation, there is no difference. The difference between disability insurance and life insurance is you’re either above or below six feet of dirt. The main concept to think about is that the chances of becoming disabled are much greater than dying prematurely.

5. How much disability insurance should I have?

You should have as much disability insurance as possible. No less than 65% of your gross income is considered adequate. I’ve not met anyone who is receiving disability benefits that has said that their benefit is more than enough. Unfortunately, when you’re disabled, the truth is always the opposite; there is never enough money. That’s why supplemental disability insurance is often necessary to adequately protect a person’s income. You can get a working idea of how much you might need here.

6. Where can I get disability insurance?

A good financial advisor or insurance agent will always offer disability insurance, so that should be a clue when choosing an advisor. If you don’t have an agent or advisor, you can start your search here.

Often statistics go in one ear and out the other. However, I think that these statistics need to go in one ear and stay. These are statistics affect everyone who earns a paycheck.

Lincoln Financial Group released a special advertising supplement in the May 19, 2010 issue of The Wall Street Journal discussing the need for disability insurance. The statistics pinpoint the need for people to insure their paychecks.
49% of home foreclosures are caused by a medical reason. 2008 study by Harvard Law School, 1.5 million Americans are in jeopardy of losing their homes due to medical conditions. Also in 2008 study by Harvard Law School, 60% of working Americans believe they have a 2% or less chance of being disabled for three or more months.

The reality, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA), is as high as 30%. Almost 350,000 personal bankruptcies are caused each year by unexpected illnesses or injuries. 62.1% of all bankruptcies have a medical cause. Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School. Only 35% of respondents in a recent Council for Disability Awareness study said they could pay their bills and living expenses for a year or more if they lost their employment income.

The average monthly disability check from the SSA is only $1,062 and only 3% of checks exceed $2,000, and this is after a lengthy wait to receive benefits.

So, have you insured your paycheck? Would you spend 1% to 2% of your paycheck to insure you receive the balance if you became ill or injured? Peace of mind has a price tag, and it’s not expensive. Talk to your agent or HR representative today. To learn more about disability insurance, go to www.protectyourpaycheck.org.

I was sitting at a table in a chilly ballroom in Charlotte, N.C., and had just laid down my dinner fork. The lights dimmed and everyone in the room shuffled their chairs, a few hundred of them, to face the stage. Dinner was over and the presentation was about to begin. Within moments, I was transfixed.

It was my first realLIFEstories award dinner. At the tim, almost eight years ago, I was a seasoned journalist, but new to the world of insurance and financial services. I was tasked with writing about the event, but had no idea what was in store for me.

What happened next took the concept of life insurance from the realm of the theoretical into the realm of reality for me. I watched the large video screen as Sarah Lewis, a young, vibrant mother of three, spoke of incredible loss. Her husband, David, a cardiac pediatrician, left on a trip to Ecuador to administer free medical care to local children and never returned. He died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 43.

As the story unfolded, it became clear to me I knew who this family was, albeit by association. David had been my sister’s friend and colleague at Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee where they both worked. Here I was hundreds of miles from my home in Washington, D.C., and hundreds more from my sister and where I grew up in Milwaukee, but there was the connection. I felt like an unknown hand had been placed on my shoulder.

Life insurance had saved this family from financial hardship during a time of overwhelming grief and a seismic shift in their family’s make up. David and Sarah had carefully planned with their advisor for the unexpected, and in doing so ensured that the family could maintain their quality of life even without David.

That’s what realLIFEstories are about. They celebrate people doing the right thing the right planning for their and their family’s future, while also honoring the insurance professionals who help them make those plans a reality. These stories remind people not to leave their insurance planning until it is too late.

It’s time to gather stories like the Lewis, for the 2010 realLIFEstories Client Service Awards. And while the realLIFEstories application is for agents and advisors to fill out, I encourage anyone who has been touched by the benefit of insurance, life, health, disability or long-term care, to let their agent know that it’s time to share your story with America.

The stories that are chosen will be featured in a September 2010 issue of Newsweek, which reaches nearly 13 million Americans. In addition, you and your agent (each with a guest) will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to Seattle, Wash., this Sept. 11 to 14 to attend the award ceremony. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, March 31. I encourage you to take this opportunity to reach out and touch others, lives with your story.

Next month, the industry will observe Disability Insurance Awareness Month (DIAM). The LIFE Foundation coordinates the industry-wide campaign, and as part of its own DIAM activities, produced a set of radio public service announcements. They are being distributed as I write and will be played in hundreds of radio stations nationwide during the May campaign. One set features Anthony Domino Jr., who emphasizes the need for disability insurance coverage in this difficult economy (click here to listen to the 60-second spot). Just this week, the LIFE spokesperson got air time on Fox Business News — not talking about disability insurance, but this time long-term care insurance (LTCi).

You can say what you want about the federal government. But when they make official pronouncements, we Americans tend to pay attention. When Homeland Security tells us that the National Threat Level has been raised to High from Elevated, it’s time to pay attention. When the Centers for Disease Control recommends a vaccination for our children, it’s time to pay attention again.

So when the Social Security Administration recently made some word changes to the annual Social Security Statement that gets mailed to all Americans over the age of 25, I immediately perked up. I don’t know about you, but I’m always very interested in reviewing this document when it lands in my mailbox. First, I like seeing my historical earnings record laid out nicely and neatly. Second, I’m always curious to see my projected retirement benefits and how they’ll differ depending on the age at which I retire. And lastly, the personal finance geek that I am, I like to read the feds advice about how I’m supposed to plan for my financial future.

With their severely strained budgets, the feds clearly have a major interest in Americans taking many financial matters into their own hands. So while they tout the importance of Social Security retirement benefits, they note: You also will need other savings, investments, pensions or retirement accounts to make sure you have enough money to live comfortably when you retire. Simple yet sound advice.

So what do the feds have to say about private insurance? Sadly, not much. In fact, the all-important front page of the four-page statement doesn’t mention private insurance. The word change that excited some people in the insurance industry is this small addition to the back page of the statement: Medicare does not pay for long-term care, so you may want to consider options for private insurance. Three cheers for the feds. With millions of seniors confused and disappointed because they think Medicare will pay for long-term care expenses (it doesn’t) and the Medicaid budget crippled by the high cost of paying for long-term care services for low-income Americans, the feds have finally caved in and given us 18 words on the back page of the annual SSA statement.

I know. I’m being a little tough on the feds. I’ll admit it. I used to work in government and it’s not easy being a civil servant. So rather than criticize, let me conclude by dispensing some unsolicited advice. If the feds really want to help Americans plan for a secure financial future, they should start devoting more ink to private insurance. Social Security disability benefits will NOT be available to most Americans if they become disabled and are unable to work. Tell them that and urge them to look to their employers or a local insurance professional for help securing private protection. Similarly, Social Security death benefits will NOT be nearly enough to stabilize a family’s finances in the event of a premature death. Tell them that and urge them to explore their private insurance options.

Achieving a secure financial future requires more that just saving and investing. The feds know it and should start saying more about it in their official pronouncements.

I come from the other side of the table from most of you reading this. I’m an advisor, which gives me a much broader view of the toll that a disability can take on families and their finances. During my career, I’ve had 32 clients, become disabled and receive benefits from their disability insurance policies. (And that’s just those with individual policies, not group policies.)

The longest claim period that a client has had so far is one lasting over 14 years. Had the client said no to the disability insurance coverage I recommended, life would have been very different for this family. The father, who is insured, was a high-earning professional when he was able to work. Without the disability insurance, he, his wife and three children would not have been able to stay in their home.

Instead, because my client understood the importance of protecting his paycheck, his family continues to live in their same home, two of the children have graduated from college and the third is on her way to a degree. One of the college graduates is in medical school and the other is in law school. Now I think this story is pretty strong testimony to the financial power of protecting your paycheck, and my client also has the psychological reward of knowing that his decision kept his family in “their world.”

There is no asset more valuable than our ability to make a living. And we need to protect ourselves so our paychecks, and the lifestyle it supports, can continue when an accident or sickness makes us vulnerable. To learn more about disability insurance, visit these links.

Well, most employer-sponsored disability plans pay between to 60% to 66.67% of your income if you are totally disabled. And that money is usually taxable. So you might wind up with take-home pay that’s 30% – 40% less than when you were working.

Quick! Give me the first answer that pops into your head. What is your most valuable asset?

Did you say, “My house!” Or perhaps, “My car!” Both answers makes sense, but neither is correct.  If you are like most people, your most valuable asset is actually your paycheck. It’s what pays for your house and car and all the other things that you have in your life.

At the LIFE Foundation, we think it’s time to pay a little homage to that underappreciated asset—your paycheck. That’s why during May, which is Disability Insurance Awareness Month, we are running the “This Moment Made Possible by My Paycheck” photo contest. Just post a photo with a caption of a special moment that your paycheck has made possible, and if LIFE chooses your photo as the winning moment, you’ll receive a $500 gift card.

When you just take a couple of minutes to think about the magnitude of what our paychecks help us accomplish, it’s amazing what we can come up with. Look at these two entries:

Now imagine if your paycheck were to stop due to an unexpected illness or injury. You’d probably run into trouble—most likely sooner, rather than later—trying to make ends meet. That’s why we think it’s important to not only give our paycheck props, but to protect it with disability insurance—think of it as insurance for your paycheck. To find out more, visit www.protectyourpaycheck.org.

It’s May 1, which means it’s the start of Disability Insurance Awareness Month; Wait! Don’t click away thinking this is not about you. It is about you. Most workers do not have long-term disability insurance, and those that do, may be underinsured. And, again, before you think this post is not about you, know that if you earn a paycheck, you need disability insurance. Why? Well, I’d ask you to take just a minute or two to take the “Where Did My Paycheck Go?” Challenge. Not only will you see where all your hard-earned cash is going (and be entered to win a bonus $1,000 paycheck), but you’ll learn more about how disability insurance protects your paycheck. After that, if you still think disability insurance is not for you, my next challenge would be for you to come back here and post why you think it’s not.

"Waiver of Premium". Say what??

The insurance industry is famous for confusing jargon despite the fact that most states require policies to be written in language an eighth grader can understand. The unfortunate result is that many people's eyes will glaze over when they’re reviewing a policy and they’ll often miss an important point or feature – or worse, fail to buy insurance they need because they’re too confused. One good example is "Waiver of Premium".

The Federal Government does its best to take care of our neediest citizens, but despite cries of “welfare state,” it really provides only a basic safety net for the most urgent needs of the American people.

… Well watch this to find out!

A good laugh, right? But the message is serious. If you aren’t protecting your paycheck with insurance the way you do with your other valuable assets—your car and home—then you need to do something about that. This site, www.protectyourpaycheck.org, can help you get started.

 Nearly 80 percent of Americans said they would be devastated if a disability prevented them from earning a living, according to a recent Northwestern Mutual survey. However, only one in 10 adults has taken action to protect their income by insuring it in the event of a disability, and only three in 10 have disability coverage through their employer.

Harris Interactive conducted the survey and asked more than 2,100 consumers about the following situations: a house fire destroying all their personal belongings, their credit card information being stolen with false charges made to the account, their car being destroyed in an accident, a vacation cancelled due to bad weather, and being disabled and unable to work for a living. Among other questions, Harris asked about the emotional impact these situations would create and the types of insurance the respondents have purchased to cover these events.

In terms of emotional impact, being disabled and unable to work ranked almost as high as their home burning down and destroying all of their belongings (78 percent and 85 percent, respectively). Surprisingly, only 10 percent of those surveyed said they had insured their income with disability insurance, compared with 73 percent who had insured their homes or rental property. An additional 88 percent said they had auto insurance, despite the fact that less than 50 percent would consider having their car destroyed in an accident as “devastating.”

The point is that if you insure your home, car and other personal belongings, doesn’t it make sense to insure the person that creates the income to purchase these? Personal items can be replaced, but your income may not be replaceable.

During the past year’s health-care reform debate, a central driver has been the 47 million uninsured. What gets almost no attention are the 100 million U.S. workers who have no private disability insurance (according the Social Security Administration). And while almost all workers are covered by Social Security Disability Insurance, the SSDI approval process is lengthy and difficult, and the benefit levels typically are insufficient to cover all living expenses.

“Protect Your Paycheck” is a very appropriate theme for Disability Insurance Awareness Month (DIAM). The ability to earn a paycheck is nearly every American’s most valuable asset. Income is the source of all financial security for virtually every wage earner. Without an income, funding a retirement, saving for college or a child’s wedding, paying for a home or apartment, building an investment nest egg and even paying day-to-day bills is simply not possible. Despite the fundamental importance income plays in the financial security of America’s wage earners, roughly two-thirds of America’s workforce has no private income protection insurance.

Consider the following facts, and think about the risks and implications for breadwinners with unprotected paychecks:

• On average, an American wage earner has about a three in 10 chance of losing their income from illness or injury for three months or more during their working career.
• The average disability that extends beyond three months will last two and a half years.
• Disability is on the rise. There are nearly eight million workers receiving Social Security Disability Benefits today (more than 5% of the workforce), and SSDI benefits are almost always more difficult than typical private insurance benefits to qualify for.
• The average SSDI monthly benefit is $1,064 and 97% of all monthly SSDI benefits received by disabled workers are less than $2,000 per month.
• Most Americans have little awareness of the risk and no plan to deal with disability’s devastating financial impact. Many feel “It won’t happen to me.”

To calculate your own risk of disability, you can use the Council for Disability Awareness “Personal Disability Quotient” calculator, available at www.whatsmypdq.org.

Still not convinced? For many, it becomes “real” when they experience disability on a more personal level. Look at some realLIFEstories that the LIFE Foundation has, as well as examples from The Council for Disability Awareness.

Disabilities do occur, and in sufficient enough numbers that the risk cannot be ignored. No financial plan can be considered complete without addressing income protection.

Ask yourself one simple question: “If I became sick or injured and could no longer work, how would I pay my bills?” If your paycheck is among the 100 million unprotected ones, use DIAM as a launching pad to understand your risk of disability, and to prepare, plan and protect your paycheck. To learn more, visit www.protectyourpaycheck.org.

I hate impractical gifts or things I’ll never use, like pashminas. They never look right with my clothes. I have no idea how to drape them. I just look like I’ve been attacked by a large piece of fabric.

For me, I like gifts that keep on giving. A few things I learned recently about disability insurance helped me decide that this is a gift I’m giving myself and my family this holiday season.

It could save my marriage. I always think every Saturday when my husband heads out on his long bike rides, even with ice on the road, I’m glad he has disability insurance. He should have the same peace of mind about me. The stress of a disabling injury on our marriage would be tough, but worse would be the added stress of a lost income and caring for a disabled spouse.

It gives me choice. After we’d quickly blow through the $5,000 rehabilitation coverage provided by our health insurance; then what? Without disability insurance, my options for care would be pretty limited. Most likely, I would not be able to afford care in my own home. I want to know I’ve done all I can to make sure I will have choices available to me if I become disabled.

It gives me control. Workers’ Compensation and Social Security disability insurance have lots of restrictions. Many people who apply get denied. Privately owned disability insurance, whether obtained through the workplace or individually purchased, does not have severe restrictions. Typically, if a disability prevents you from working, you’ll be covered. No need to wait months and sometimes even years to see if the government will come to your assistance.

It gives me hope. Often times, people who suffer a disability have major victories like beating cancer, regaining mobility or being able to return to work. Often the difference of getting from Point A to Point B is disability insurance, which allows a person to focus on recovering rather than worrying about money.

I know all you pashmina lovers of the world, especially my mother-in-law, might not appreciate my sentiments, but this year I say, “You can keep your coverage, I’m getting what I need through my insurance agent.”

The best time to get income protection (or any form of insurance coverage) is to get it just before you get the disability! Seriously (although this is not an inaccurate answer), the best time to get coverage is at the earliest possible moment, when both financially feasible and practical (even though there may not be an obvious need at the moment). Health can change, circumstances can change. Why then do people wait until it’s too late? Maybe they don’t see the need. Maybe no one told them they should have it. Maybe they have some false belief that they will never get disabled or that their employer will pay their expenses if they do.

First off, if you’re young and you think the chances are slim to none that you will suffer a disability, well, let me tell you that things happen”and bad things can happen at a very young age! The chances of 25-year-old suffering a disabling injury or illness lasting three months or longer before age 65 is 58%; for a 30-year-old worker, it’s 54%.

So to answer the question, the sooner you have disability insurance coverage, the better off you’ll be. The good news is, if you buy insurance when you’re young, the cheaper the insurance is likely to be. If you’re concerned that you can’t immediately afford the coverage for the full amount and benefit period, then consider a policy with a shorter benefit period”one that will pay a portion of your income for, say, five years instead of to your retirement. This makes sense when you consider most disabilities last five years or less. Remember, a half a loaf of bread is better than none. If you decide later that you want more coverage, most carriers will allow you to buy more coverage with reduced underwriting requirements (i.e., additional medical exam).

Larry Schneider is owner of Disability Insurance Resource Center, the nation’s largest brokerage specializing in coverage for both standard and hard to place. He has over 35 years of industry experience and published dozens of articles on a wide range of disability insurance topics. Mr. Schneider can be reached at info@di-resource-center.com.

Almost exactly two years ago, “life happened” to me in a more sudden and dramatic way than I ever could have imagined possible. Even now, looking back, I can’t believe the circumstances that suddenly came crashing down around me at the same time, creating a perfect storm of emotional, physical and financial vulnerability that threatened to pull me under for good.

On April 27, 2010, I got a terrible call while at my office informing me that my teenage son Henry had suffered a brutal beating and drug overdose, and that he had been rushed to a local hospital in critical condition. For the next five weeks, I sat next to his hospital bed night and day while still attempting to remain employed.

My son died on May 31, 2010, just over a month after entering the hospital. Three weeks after my oldest child passed away, I gave birth via emergency C-section to my youngest child, who arrived six weeks premature.

As our family’s primary wage earner, and the person who provided health insurance through my job, my stress during this unimaginably painful and difficult time was compounded a hundred-fold by my concern that this series of horrible events would lead to me losing my position with the company where I was employed at that time. Soon after my son began his hospitalization, company management made it clear to me that while they regretted the difficulties I was facing attempting to juggle caring for my critically injured child and my challenging job, there were limits to the amount of time I could be off work without jeopardizing my employment. And looking back, I feel certain that the only thing that prevented me from being let go was my ability to draw on the short-term disability insurance policy that I had in place.

This short-term disability policy wasn’t much; it provided for about six weeks of partially paid leave. However, I was able to utilize some of my short-term disability leave during the late stage of my pregnancy, while my son was in the hospital, and then have five weeks of paid leave following my daughter’s early birth. Certainly, I could have used a more robust disability policy at the time. I wanted and needed to take much more time off to heal, but I shudder to think what would have happened to us financially if I hadn’t had the little extra “gap” insurance in place.

Two years later, I continue to grieve my son’s death every day, and I miss him more than words can express. In his memory, I am focused on building the non-profit organization, Henry’s Fund, that my family has launched to honor his legacy (also on Facebook). My youngest child, the baby born prematurely only a few weeks after her big brother died, is 22 months old, and she is a happy, healthy toddler, and the light in our family’s life following our terrible loss. (She’s the youngest in the photo of my kids in front of Henry’s garden.) I also have a new job with a company that I love, and which has been exceptionally supportive and compassionate as I have slowly gotten back up to full speed on the job.

And you know what else I now have? Life insurance and long-term disability insurance. Since first writing here on the LIFE Foundation’s blog about how my husband and I knew we’d delayed this important piece of financial planning for far too long, we’ve begun taking the important first steps toward the fully insured status we have as a goal. We still don’t have as much insurance as I want us to have, but we are well on our way, and I have made the disability insurance piece of our insurance portfolio a primary focus, because I do know firsthand what it’s like to suddenly find yourself in a situation where you may have to choose between your own care and the job that puts food on the table. I never, ever want to be in that position again.

If you won the lottery, would you still work? It’s a common daydream, but the answer speaks to the importance that many people place on the role of work in their lives. According to a recent survey of American workers by Yankelovich, most people, 63 percent, say they “live to work,” and that they derive satisfaction from their job beyond just a paycheck. Eighteen percent actually said they would keep working even if they won the lottery. For the 36 percent of people who “work to live,” work represents the means to a paycheck and benefits.

But, no matter which describes your attitude toward your work, paying the bills or loving the work or both, I think most people would agree that the ability to earn a living is one of the most important assets of all.

With an estimated seven in 10 American workers living paycheck to paycheck according to a recent CareerBuilder survey, why would so many Americans roll the dice and forgo disability insurance? Are they doing something else to prepare?

Almost nine out of 10 workers Yankelovich surveyed said they know there are steps they can take to protect themselves against a work-stopping injury or illness and yet, only 36 percent said they have taken action to prepare for that possibility. Of those, about half (51 percent) said they saved more money, compared with just 32 percent who said they purchased new or additional disability insurance.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is estimated that 70 percent of chronic illnesses, which can lead to a disability, are preventable or reversible. But most people don’t readily identify improving their health as a way to prevent a disability, focusing on the financial instead. When asked what can be done to prepare for the possibility of being out of work for an extended period of time, fewer than two in 10 said “trying to be healthier” or “staying well.”

A recent post on this blog pointed out the impact that depression can have on disability. Research has shown there is a very strong correlation between emotional well-being and physical health. When people are depressed, stressed, distracted or anxious, they are more likely to suffer a disabling injury or illness, so it’s important for employers and workers to understand ways to be healthier and also to strike a healthy work/life balance.

Preventing a disability is the first step. And wellness programs are there to help workers maintain their health so they can work. But if the unforeseen happens, disability insurance is there to help workers protect their livelihoods when they can’t. I encourage you to listen to this podcast that I participated in that has wellness tips, both for your personal and financial health.

Dr. Anfield is chief medical officer for CIGNA’s disability insurance unit.

I just did a rough calculation. There are nearly 145 million working Americans. Of that 145 million, 37 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, have short-term disability coverage through work. I figure that’s about 54 million workers with the minimum coverage. LIMRA International tells us there are about 6 million individual disability insurance policies in force. These folks purchased a policy on their own outside of work. Let’s assume, for the sake of the point I’m going to make, that these 6 million don’t have a disability benefit through their employer in addition to the individual policy. Combined then, roughly 60 million workers have some form of disability insurance. So, about 85 million working Americans, or close to 60 percent, DON’T have disability insurance.

My figures are estimates. I didn’t include those who take advantage of coverage through their professional associations. And I should acknowledge other groups have arrived at different numbers”a study done by the parent company of AXA Equitable, for instance, estimates 60 percent of Americans have disability insurance from some source. That puts the rough number of uninsured workers, according to their calculation, at about 60 million.

Whether there are 85 million or 60 million workers without disability coverage, there are in either case far too many. Tens of millions of Americans leave themselves vulnerable to serious financial hardship, and they probably aren’t aware of the risks.

That’s why LIFE and 40 leading industry organizations have banded together to raise their awareness as part of Disability Insurance Awareness Month. For the month of May, we will focus our marketing and communications efforts to educate the public about the importance of disability insurance protection, to point out the consequences of not having sufficient coverage, and provide them with tips on how they can go about getting it.

Simply put, disability insurance is insurance on your income. It replaces your income when you can’t work due to an unexpected injury or illness.

Think about it. You have bills, a mortgage payment, a car loan to pay, or maybe a retirement account and college savings program to fund. How do you pay your expenses, and take care of your plans for the future, without a paycheck for weeks, months, even years? A lot is riding on that income, and it needs to be insured. If you were a 25-year-old making $50,000 a year and suffered a permanent disability, you stand to lose $3.8 million in future earnings. What do you own that is more valuable than your ability to earn an income?

For the next month during Disability Insurance Awareness Month, LIFE will drive home that point in a series of radio public service announcements, in advertising and through aggressive media outreach. DIAM spokesperson and U.S. Paralympian April Holmes will be the centerpiece of our media outreach program (watch her video message at the LIFE home page). She is scheduled to talk with reporters from more than 20 TV, radio and print outlets this month. April will share her story and describe how disability insurance enabled her to keep her life together financially following a disabling accident seven years ago. We’ll also drive reporters and consumers to the new and improved LIFE website, which boasts great information about disability insurance as well as a popular online calculator, which allows you to determine for yourself about how much disability insurance you need.

During May, take the time to assess your disability insurance needs. Talk to a person in your human resources department to understand your coverage options at work or talk to a qualified insurance professional in your community. Make sure you have enough insurance to make ends meet should you become disabled and can’t work.

A catchy title for a blog column? Maybe, but, the story I’m about to start with is, unfortunately, true. When I’m finished, perhaps we’ll all pay more attention to the potential impact of disability on our personal and financial lives.

 This summer, I traveled to Rome, Italy, with about 50 students in connection with my university’s foreign-study program. I asked for another faculty colleague to come along. About 48 hours after arriving in Italy, my colleague became ill and asked to be taken to a hospital. In the next 24 hours, she was admitted to the hospital and had emergency surgery for what was supposed to be a bowel obstruction. After the surgery and a CAT scan, she was told she had multiple cancer sites and probably had only a few months to live.

A shock? You bet! She quickly returned to the USA where she is undergoing further tests and treatment at a major cancer center. Hopefully, something can be done, but the outlook is, at best, guarded.

Where does this all fit in with financial planning? Your first thought might be in regard to life insurance, but I’d rather focus on the impact on her occupation and professional life. Even under the best of circumstances, this woman’s career is likely over. Her earnings constituted the substantial majority of her family’s income; it’s not likely to be replaced.

Ever thought what would happen to you and to your family if you couldn’t work at your present job and continue to earn about what you’re earning now? I know I haven’t really thought about it that much. A recent article in U.S. News and World Report emphasized how much we should be concerned.

That article reported on a study by the Urban Institute that “looked at people who were 51 to 61 years old in 1992. A decade later, over three-quarters of them had lost their jobs, become widowed or divorced, developed new health problems, or were confronted with frail parents or in-laws.”

It went on: “A third of the participants had a health condition that limited their work, and 19 percent went through a layoff or business closing. And laid-off employees who managed to get a new job were less likely to get health insurance and earned about 25 percent less per hour.”

There’s an old saying, “Hope for the best; prepare for the worst.” One of the best things you can do for yourself is to prepare for occurrences that will limit your ability to work and to earn a living. It happens more often than you might think. Disability, long-term health care, and business interruption insurance are obvious areas to consider. I’m sure you’ll think of others.

Dr. Robert T. LeClair is President of Leimberg Information Services, Inc., an e-mail and database service providing information and commentary on tax cases, rulings, and legislation for financial services professionals. He is also a professor of finance at Villanova University, a faculty member in finance of the National School of Banking, and is active as a lecturer for John Cabot University in Rome, Italy.

The author is president of Disability Resource Group, based in Chicago, and serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.

When I make disability income insurance presentations now, I no longer wait for the “It won’t happen to me” objections for the people I meet. Instead, I tell them, “It can happen to you . . . and let me tell you why.”

Why are soap operas so riveting? Is it because the characters are larger than life and always, always live in a really big, fancy house, regardless of their profession or income? Or, maybe it’s due to the fact that despite everything being over the top—from the plot to hairdos—there is a kernel of truth in these stories … something that resonates with us. That’s why I think “All My Paychecks” will resonate with you. Indulge in a few minutes of guilty pleasure and watch (all three episodes!). Then let us know what you think.