thoughts on disability insurance?

I have both LTD and STD through work. LTD is 100 percent employer paid, and STD is 100 percent employee-paid.

If you can get it through work, it is pretty much a no-brainer.

Stuff happens, you might get a long sickness, or get in a bad accident, etc, that puts you out of work for a while. This will allow an income stream to continue.

I know when you go in the individual market, the prices can get pretty high, so you need to look at that.

If you can get it through work, have them take any premiums AFTER Tax, not Pre-tax. This will allow for the benefits to be tax-free (important since your benefits are only a portion of your wages). If some of the premium is paid by your employer, then your benefits would be split between taxable and tax-free.

It's a must

quote:

---

I'd get a long elimination period (180+ days)

---

Why? It does't save you that much money. Most I sell have a 90 day elimination period. Doubling that would have a pretty big effect.

Any companies suggested? I would have to look through market myself

quote:

---

From my research, it saves about 20% just from 90 to 180 days.

---

Sounds about right. I just applied for disability insurance after my wife left her job. We could live on either one of our incomes so I didn't consider it crucial until now. I went 180 days since we have good savings. It's about 1.5% of my current income. I only insure against catastrophes and the money I've saved over the years will pay for a lot of shite at this point.

If you are in a state that participates in the LTC partnership program, make sure you select a policy that is Partnership compliant. John Hancock and Genworth have compliant policies in Louisiana.

It's through their branch Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company. Actual policy will be through Illinois Mutual. He's a farmer. We're comfortable with the benefit, the elimination period that we chose and the premium.

And looking at the quote from Zander, his premium is about $200 per year less for the same benefits.

quote:

---

Well assuming you have an emergency fund, you won't need the disability until 6 months anyway

---

Sure, if we are assuming your expenses don't go up (not likely), and the goal is to completely deplete your emergency fund.

quote:

---

From my research, it saves about 20% just from 90 to 180 days.

---

Depends on the company. Some there is only around a 10% difference, however, if you become disabled, it more than makes up for it.

quote:

---

Any companies suggested? I would have to look through market myself

---

Guardian, Northwestern Mutual, Mass Mutual, and UNUM are probably the most used in the DI market. UNUM is a stock company, and don't have a great history of returning dividends to policy holders. Guardian, NML and Mass are all mutual companies.

Zander or Dixon Wells can help you run a bunch of quotes from around the market, but not all policies have the same definitions or allow for partial disabilities, so basing your decision solely off of price isn't wise. Also, some companies have different occupation classes that could help lower price. I think Zander only shows a 4A occupation class as their highest, and only policies that pay to 65.