Is Disability Insurance Truly Important for the Average American?
The answer is quite simple and straightforward. It is far and away the most important piece of insurance that every working American should own. So why then is there such an extreme emphasis in this country on other products like medical insurance and life insurance while DI sales fail in comparison? Don’t get me wrong, life insurance and healthcare are critical to everyone’s financial protection and should be held in esteem in a sound financial plan – but more so than disability income insurance? Not a chance.
I don’t care if medical insurance or life insurance sales are your bread and butter or if they are easier for you or more attractive to prospective clientele or even more profitable. If your clients are between the ages of 18 and 70 and they earn a regular paycheck, they need at least 65% of their incomes protected with comprehensive “own occupation” disability insurance. That is the bottom line, and we need to think more about the wellbeing of our clients and their families and less about making easy sales.
Most Americans suffer from the delusion that they will not be disabled during their lifetime. Unfortunately, the reality is quite different. Over a quarter of working Americans will be affected by a short or long term disablement during their career. Yet, only 31% of those working in the private sector have any form of income protection insurance. Why do we feel impervious to accidents and to the thousands of medical conditions and diseases that can harm the human body to the point of disability? Well, that is just human nature to feel impervious, and it is up to you the advisor to educate and guide your client through the proper planning not only for retirement, but throughout their income accumulation years.
And that is when most of the problems take shape, in the first two-thirds of our lives. We don’t save enough of our earned income. Expanding retirement vehicles have brought promise over the last quarter century, but Americans still don’t save enough for emergencies let alone retirement. One-third of us have no retirement savings, and 48% of us don’t save any annual income. How can we expect to financially survive in this world while supporting our families without any savings or income protection? We can’t. We need personal disability insurance.
Personal disability insurance is available to anyone and everyone who works for a living. If not through traditional insurance channels, there are sources of income protection for those who may fall outside the realm of “usual” insurability including impaired-risk clients with hazardous occupations or moderate to severe health concerns.
The tools are there and the products are there to help protect your clients from whatever physical disasters life throws at them. Disablement is real and it happens to millions of Americans every year. Safeguard your clients by prescribing high limits of disability insurance.