About two years ago, I found myself in a situation that allowed for me to truly gain a sense of appreciation for disability insurance. Although I didn’t own a personal Disability Insurance policy, I finally understood the importance of protecting my most significant asset; my income.
At 24 years old, I tore my Achilles tendon in my ankle playing a game of pickup basketball. Six hours and a stack of Hospital bills later, I found myself panicking. How was I going to pay my rent? What about my car insurance? How am I going to move forward with the bills of everyday life without being able to work?
Fortunately, with a healthy savings account, I was able to pull through and make it during this tumultuous time. Unfortunately, I completely depleted that same savings account after about a month. I was struggling to survive and I was by myself. I didn’t have all the responsibilities of someone with a spouse or kids or even a mortgage payment. If I had, I’m not sure I would have been so lucky.
We live in a material world; protecting our televisions, cell phones, and tablets but tend to skip out on protecting our income when that’s what we use to pay for protecting those items. For just around 2-3% of your annual income, you can protect your income and save yourself from potential disaster for you and your family. Shouldn’t that be reason enough?
Many of us go through our lives believing we’re untouchable. We might say, “How would I even get injured? I work in an office,” or “That’s not going to happen to me.” Though we’re all far from invincible super heroes, the truth is most of us have a difficult time picturing ourselves becoming so injured or ill that we cannot do one of the most important aspects of our lives; earn a paycheck.
To put that into perspective, think about this: Plenty of people can remember the recession and its devastating effect on the ability of many people to earn an income. In 2008, over 2.6 million people lost their jobs. According to CNN, it was the worst year for jobs since 1949. Yet, the staggering number of Americans unable to collect an income during that period pales in comparison to the number of citizens currently disabled in America. Today, over 37 million Americans are classified as disabled with an average long-term disability claim lasting upwards of 31 months.
Without any sort of paycheck protection, I lasted about a month.
How long would you last?
If you’d rather NOT find out how long you can last without a paycheck, get a disability insurance quote today. Get whatever policy works for your budget. Some coverage is better than no coverage at all.
