Recommendations for disability insurance?

[robbase]

I am quite behind on getting disability insurance and not that knowledgable on it.

1) anyone recommend any companies that sell it?

2) what kind of coverage to get? Dollar amounts / percentage of pay to reimburse? anything else to know?

sorry, I had a similar thread on the old MSN board, but that one is gone (RIP). I only recently became aware of the availability of this type of insurance and appreciate any help as I will probably get some soon for my wife.

thanks all

[Deleted]

When I was looking for disability insurance most seemed to be only 60% of gross.

[tractor]

Check and see if your employer has a plan that you can pay for, it would probably be your cheapest option. The key for disability insurance is to start young, but it's never too late to get some, the cost gets higher as you get older. I use northwestern mutual life, not really a recommendation, since I have never had to use it, so I don't know how good it is. Mine covers 60% of my income, but I took it out almost 20 years ago and it cost me only $32/month. This seems like a lot when I was 21 and started working, but now it's nothing.

I also have a policy through work that also covers 60%, I was told that I would actually make more money if I was disabled that if I was working full time due to the double coverage. This only works because I had a personal policy for many years before the company one.

I don't sell insurance, but understand that most people have a greater chance of becoming disabled in any given year that they do dieing, so it's a pretty important insurance to have if you would like to protect your assets.

[jk70]

and read the fine print. There are a lot of little triggers that need to be met for the insurance to kick in. You should do some major research before getting this to be sure what you will actually get if you become disabled.

[robbase]

Thanks all, appreciate the advice so far, reason not to get it from work--my wife will be changing jobs afew times over the next few years

I would appreciate any other company names to check out, or fine print to be on the look out for. thanks

[tiredturkey]

We had disability coverage until our retirement in 2001. We only covered my husband because my income was much lower than his and we knew we could live without it if necessary. We opted to basically self-insure for the first 6 months of disability which really lowered the premiums but that does require a very big emergency fund. We also looked for a plan that offered continuation of coverage on a reduced basis if he were able to return to work part-time only because half salary doesn't go very far usually. Some plans terminate benefits if you return to work on any basis.

I second the previous posters who said to read the fine print and be very clear about the definition of disability and the so-called triggers. What you perceive as inability to work, how your employer defines it and what's spelled out in your policy can be quite different. We chose a plan that provided, but did not mandate, retraining for a different profession. Some plans require you to accept retraining to any gainful employment which may not be what you want to do. Also, it's good to be clear on how the policy will handle, or perhaps not handle, disability from on-the-job injuries. For example, my husband was a public official who frequently dealt with irate citizens. If he would have been disabled by a citizen's physical assault, our policy would not have paid; that would have been a workers compensation claim.

Our plan was with MONY. Since we thankfully never had to use it, I can't say if it was good or bad. We paid about $124/month to insure 60% on $75,000 after initial six months of disability on a 50+ year old male.

[kindthatjingles]

I work for an Insurance company ( one of the biggies)
There are so many products. I personally had Mortgage Disability Insurance. Covered me when my pregnancy went from normal to hospital for 12 weeks. Read the fine print, so your research and beware of internet only companies