Long-term disability insurance & Income Insurance

Ten years ago I was married to an engineer who had a good paying job with a government contractor.  I worked because I loved what I did, not because we needed the money. In spite of that, I  had a college education, and I was grateful I got to do what I loved to do.  I didn't think he would ever be anything but an engineer, and I didn't think I would be anything else but a teacher.  Then, one cold February morning both of our lives changed forever.  I never thought I would need the insurance that we had.  Nobody does.

I have mentioned before that Richard believed in being over-insured.  He had the options of getting long-term disability insurance, which pays a substantial amount monthly.

Income insurance is also an option and it covers up to 70% of the income of the injured. It is very inexpensive insurance.  The thing to keep in mind is that they take into consideration all of the other sources of income (Social Security, disability insurance, etc.) to get to that 70%.  They also take into account any other family members that receive SS benefits to get to that 70%. In our case, this payment is pretty minimal because most of that 70% is provided by the long-term disability insurance and social security benefits. Still, every little bit helps.

Consider the kinds of insurance that you have and whether or not you could survive on the insurance that you have if needed.  We are fortunate in that we are debt free, so living on 70% of Richard's income meets our everyday needs. We are not able to afford extra medical procedures or devices that are not covered by insurance, but we will have food to eat.

A family member of ours retired early and then lived a long life after retirement.  That retirement income was sufficient when he retired, but by the time of his death over 30 years later, it was not enough. Seeing that, I realized that I needed to provide some income for my family to finanically survive.

This post is mainly for the benefit of those that are young and deciding on what insurance they feel is necessary.  I hope that my experiences will help someone realize that they need more insurance than they currently have. The other advice that I would have for you is to have two ways to produce income. If you have a college degree, have a skill as well that can provide income if you need it.  You just never know, and it is better to have more than enough options than not enough.

Ten years ago, Richard was an electrical engineer, and I was a teacher.  Now Richard is Santa, and I sell real estate.  I never dreamed we would be in this position, but that's the thing with life.  You just never know....