Your clients who are working in professional business and medical occupations are generally financially responsible. They insure their life and health insurance are adequate, plan for their retirement and their children’s future education expenses, but more often than not, they do not have adequate paycheck protection in the event of a disabling injury or sickness.Purchasing individual disability coverage is essential during the working years. All the financial planning you do with your clients rests on their ability to earn a paycheck. Most importantly, your professional clients need to secure income protection that protects them in their own occupation or specialty. It insures that if they cannot perform the duties of their occupation or specialty, they will be able to collect a monthly disability benefit.
Most good disability contracts will have extra policy riders that can be purchased, too. The future purchase option rider allows policyholders to increase coverage later as their incomes increase, regardless of health. A residual rider pays benefits in the most realistic claim scenario of being partially disabled but still working in their own occupation. A cost of living rider ensures that if policyholders go on claim their benefit would increase every year to keep pace with inflation.
Working with disability income specialists at Source Brokerage, Inc, will help you tailor your clients’ disability income proposals for their specific financial and professional profiles. In addition, you’ll be able to offer your clients access to the major disability income carriers, and offer premium discounts and pricing not available elsewhere.
Don’t let your professional clients rely on Social Security, group coverage or professional association coverage as their sole source of income protection. Many group policies are structured with loopholes and nit picking provisions. To qualify for Social Security, your clients must be completely disabled with no hope of recovery for a period of at least one year, or have a disability expected to end in death. They must also be unable to do any kind of work, not just their job. The majority of people who apply for Social Security disability are denied.
Group coverage and professional association coverages may protect their “Own Occupation or Specialty” but only for 2 or 5 years. After 2 or 5 years their policy definition will switch to any occupation based on their education, training and experience. If the insurance company feels they can do some sort of reasonable occupation based on education, training or experience, benefits will cease. Many group and association contracts require a period to total disability before they will pay a claim for a partial disability–thirty percent of disability claims are partial only. Premiums on group and association disability policies also generally increase every 5 years with association coverage.
Unfortunately, many clients are not aware that their group or association coverage does not provide adequate protection for professional salaries and bonuses. It’s up to you to open the discussion with your professional clients and make sure they understand the need to protect their income with an individual disability protection.
To learn more about income protection for your professional clients and special pricing and discounts that may be available, contact Steve Crowe at ext. 222, Ellen Crowe at ext. 223 or Brian Hettmansberger at ext. 230 Chris Bussey at ext. 220 or request a quote.
