Are Disability Insurance Policies a Scam?

disability insurance scamYour average everyday financial guru doesn’t tend to agree with insurance agents all that often, but one area in which they both tend to be pretty in-sync is the subject of disability insurance.

I’ve always found this sort of amusing. Disability insurance is arguably the most important financial product one can own prior to retirement and yet it’s probably the most under-purchased financial product in existence.

Perhaps this has to do with its steep price tag. High quality disability insurance is expensive, and who wants to buy a pricey insurance product that covers a life event we’d all much rather not have to experience? Sound logic be damned, because I’ve heard this one too many times in the past.

Maybe it’s the brutal medical underwriting process that precludes the purchase from an otherwise hungry crowd of potential purchasers? I used to jokingly say, “oh you’ve had hangnails before? Declined.”

Or maybe it’s really because…it’s all a scam.

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Waiting to Buy Disability Insurance…

Disability InsuranceYup, it’s disability insurance awareness month. So why not spend a little time discussing what could be one of the most important financial decisions you’ll make in your life?

And one such crucial decision younger professionals will often find themselves tasked with is whether or not it makes sense to purchase individual disability insurance when they kick off their career.

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Why You No Sell More Disability Insurance?

Why You No Sell More Disability Insurance

As the month of May comes to an end, we figured we take a second to explore why more agents/brokers don't focus more of their efforts on discussing disability insurance with their clients?

If you've been following along for the month, the answer is probably somewhat intuitive, but we'll dive into it a little deeper, and discuss a nuance topic or two that haven't really been brought up until today.

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How Important is Pure Own-Occ Coverage for Your Disability Insurance Policy?

How Important is Pure Own-Occ Coverage for Your Disability Insurance Policy

I might kill a sacred cow today as we talk about disability insurance (PS: May is almost over meaning this disability insurance bonanza is soon coming to an end), but going against the grain is just sort of in my nature, and you'll learn today that I have no friends when it comes to making thoughtful comments and insurance recommendations.

As we already know, pure (true) own-occ disability coverage means you are considered totally disabled when you cannot perform the material and substantial duties of your own occupation

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Disability Insurance Is True Mortgage Protection Insurance

Disability Insurance Is True Mortgage Protection Insurance

When most people in the insurance industry bring up the topic of mortgage protection insurance, they're simply talking about buying a term life insurance policy to payoff of your mortgage in the untimely event that you die before you were planning to.

Yes, indeed there are some us who aren’t fortunate enough to be able to tell the exact date we shall make our grand exit.

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Qualified Sick Pay Plans: The Ultimate Disability Insurance Plan for Small Business Owners

The Ultimate Disability Insurance Plan for Small Business Owners

No agent, and no insurance company, can declare himself or herself a professional in the disability insurance market if he or she is unfamiliar with Qualified Sick Pay Plans.  For small business owners, this is the ultimate in CYA planning to ensure their earnings don't go bust, and it's yet one more way for business owners attract and retain talented employees who contribute greatly to the bottom line.

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Mental Nervous Disorders and Disability Insurance

Mental Nervous Disorders and Disability Insurance

One of the trickiest health conditions to navigate in disability insurance underwriting is a mental nervous disorder.  It used to be the kiss of death for any hopeful proposed insured, and thankfully has gotten much better.

Because mental nervous disorders are hard to prove or disprove, and because they tend to come with the territory of a stressful high income professional career (the crowd most disability insurance carriers like to target) any sign that it could be a problem down the road is an immediate time out for underwriting.

Today we'll dive into how to deal with disability underwriting if you have a history of mental nervous disorder, and how to prepare.

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Disability Insurance for your Retirement Plan

Disability Insurance for your Retirement Plan

Contrast all the noise about your 401k with the deafening silence of financial pundits discussing how to protect your retirement plan with disability insurance.  No one can deny that we place a tremendous focus on the accumulation of retirement savings in our country.

I think we've pretty much all accepted the fact that we have to take this on as a personal responsibility and that this afternoon's Barnum & Bailey three ring circus on Capitol Hill cannot be counted on to help us out in retirement. (excuse the run-on)

Or is that just me?

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Residual Disability Insurance Riders

Disability Insurance Riders

Disability insurance comes with a multitude of different riders to enhance the contract.  Today we'll dive into what those riders do for you.  Additionally, we'll also touch on some contract features that may not be riders, but do vary from company to company and are a good thing to keep in the back of your mind when comparing policies.

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Individual Disability Insurance a Primer

Individual Disability Insurance a Primer

This is where we probably should have started with disability insurance, but being such geniuses we decided to take a long road to grandmas house (i.e. we never thought of it until now).  So, if you're wondering what disability insurance is all about, how it works, and why you should have it.

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