 Personal Finance PowerPoint Presentation. Disability Insurance Companies. Prepare to get financially fit by practicing personal finance. Insurance is part of our long-term risk mitigation strategy where we follow the adage of measure twice cut once put in a formal process in place, looking something like set the insurance goals, develop a plan to reach them, put the plan in action, review the results, repeat the process periodically. Most of this information can be found at Investopedia Best Short-Term Disability Insurance. We'll take a look at long-term disability in the second half of the presentation. You can find these online. Take a look at the references, resources, continue your research from there. This is by Stephanie Kohlstock, updated May 10th, 2022, noting that we ourselves are not affiliated with any of the companies that are recommended. However, Investopedia may be, in some ways, we're just trying to give a list here so you can get an idea, a jumping off point to start your research. You can then go to Investopedia if you so choose and take a look at their references and resources and of course go to the websites of themselves, for the companies themselves, and do some comparisons doing your own research from there. We talked about insurance in general from prior presentations, and now we're moving on to the disability insurance here and thinking about this in conjunction with our overall insurance plans and strategies. So Best Short-Term Disability Insurance, if you were to get injured or become ill, your ability to work and earn a full income could be impacted. That's of course where the disability insurance comes in. We're hoping we don't get disabled or have any problems that would stop our normal income flows. But if it were to happen, we might want to have some safeguarding against that. That's where the disability insurance may play a role in our risk mitigation. So without your usual paycheck, how long would it take for your household finances to suffer? 6 out of 10 Americans couldn't make it 6 months before financial hardship set in and 14% would be affected immediately according to a 2020 survey. Considering a simple broken bone can take 6 to 8 weeks to heal and a serious illness or injury easily could affect you for 6 to 12 months or more, it's clear that a safety net of some kind is needed for your income. So obviously one of the safety nets would be nice for our overall risk mitigation strategies would be to try to save up enough money to self-insure to some degree. It would be nice if we're not living, for example, paycheck to paycheck and we can self-insure to some degree. Obviously that's more easy to do in some parts of our lives in some circumstances than others, but that's one of the risk mitigation strategies that we would want. And then of course we might also consider insurance to help us out with that kind of system as well. So enter short-term disability insurance, SDI, this type of coverage protects a portion of your income for a short period of time, hence short-term, such as if you are hurt, sick or even recovering from the birth of a child. Coverage typically lasts between 6 and 12 months with benefits that begin immediately in some cases. To help you shop around, we compare more than 10 companies to select the best short-term disability insurance policies as according to Investopedia. Factors we consider include price, availability, coverage limits, and the length of time required before benefits are available. Here is what we found according to Investopedia. So the four best short-term disability insurance in 2022 according to Investopedia, we'll just take a look at one or two of them in more detail. You can take a look at their websites and do some more research from there if it's interesting to you and or take a look at the Investopedia references as well. Best overall mutual of Omaha, best for quick issue and simple underwriting, a surety, best for long coverage period, state farm, best for self-employed. You got the life preserve. So you can take a look at their individual websites if you want to do some comparisons there. Let's just take a look at the mutual of Omaha. Taking the top spot for best overall short-term disability insurance coverage is mutual of Omaha according to Investopedia. This insurer provides up to 10 years of benefits much longer than many other companies allow with some policies offering coverage 30 days after your eligible disability. Monthly benefits are available up to $20,000 and policies can be issued through age 61. What are the pros? Benefit periods range from 6 months to 10 years. Maximum monthly benefit of $20,000. Elimination period between 30 and 730 days. Generous built-in policy benefits. What are the cons? Losses resulting from mental or nervous disorders are excluded. Partial disability benefits only available for up to 6 months regardless of overall policy length. Policy must be purchased through an agent. So we have the mutual of Omaha has been around since 1909. When it first started offering health and accident insurance coverage, the company has an A-plus superior financial strength rating from AM Best. It offers insurance coverage across the country, though not all policies are available in all states. Short-term disability coverage through mutual of Omaha is some of the most comprehensive and benefit rich around, which is why we chose them as the overall best provider, that being Investopedia. A coverage max is out at $20,000 per month with benefit periods ranging anywhere from 6 months to as long as 10 years. Elimination periods are available in typical lengths of 30, 60 and 90 days. So mutual of Omaha's STD short-term policies are portable and can be taken with you even if you change jobs. That's amazing. They also come full of built-in benefits such as partial disability coverage, waiver of premium, guaranteed renewability and rehabilitation coverage. If you want even more out of your policy, you can add a critical illness benefit, return of premium rider, a hospital confination or hospital confinement benefit. So then we're going to take a look at Assurity. So I think this is the only second one and then we'll go into the long-term policies and you can look at the rest of them on the list for yourself either at Investopedia and or at the company website. So we got Assurity. If you're searching for short-term disability income insurance that can be obtained quickly and without arduous underwriting, Assurity sets itself apart from the competition. It offers a guaranteed 4-day issue for qualified applicants with minimal medical underwriting requirements. What are the pros? Benefit periods from 6 to 24 months coverage available up to 3,000 per month. Many features included at no charge with a variety of additional riders available. Quick, simple application with a 4-day guarantee on qualified applications. Full and partial disability coverage. How about the cons? Not available in New York. So if it's in New York, that's a major con for you over there for Assurity. Though broad, only two occupational classes are accepted. Policies only issued through age 59. Online quotes are limited and policies can only be purchased through an agent. Assurity's Simplified Disability Income Insurance is our top choice for those looking for a feature risk policy, feature rich policy with quick issues and simple underwriting. It provides between 6 and 24 months of coverage whether you are totally or partially disabled. So coverage is offered from $300 up to $3,000 maximum out at a maxing out at 60% of your monthly income with elimination periods of 30, 60, 90 or 180 days. We got the renewability is guaranteed through age 67 and conditional up to age 70 and a waiver of premiums is included at no additional charge. The optional coverage include a critical illness benefit writer, return of premium writer, a retroactive injury benefit writer. In order to add these options to purchase the policy that suits you best, you'll need to consult a local assurity agent as coverage cannot be purchased online. The Simplified Disability Income Insurance Policy is only offered to two occupation classes which include professional office occupations such as pharmacists, accountants, sales clerks, biologists and more, as well as skilled and unskilled manual occupations like electricians, plumbers, farmers, mechanics, custodians, crane operators and the like. While these categories are pretty broad, the acceptance of only two classes may be limiting to some applicants depending if you don't fall into those two classes. This particular assurity policy is touted as a quick, simple product. They offer a four-day issue guarantee for qualified applicants and medical underwriting is limited to a medical history prescription jug check check and a potential telephone interview ages 30 plus, requesting $2,000 plus in monthly coverage. Only in certain cases will a physician's statement be requested. Assurity has been providing trusted coverage since 1890 and they currently hold an A- excellent financial strength rating from AM Best. So now we're going to move on to the long-term disability insurance. Most of this can be found at Investopedia, Best Long-Term Disability Insurance Plans, which you can find online. Take a look at the references, resources, continue your research from there. This by Stephanie Kohlstock, updated February 23, 2022. Again, these are not companies that we're affiliated to, but Investopedia may be in some way. These are just to give an idea of different companies that you can use to further your research from. So the best long-term disability plans, according to the Social Security Administration, a 20-year-old worker has a one in four chance of becoming disabled before reaching full retirement age. Man, that's scary. 25, really? Is that, can that be? Whether that disability is temporary or permanent, it's imperative to have an income replacement plan in place as early as possible. Of course, a disability and company would be saying something like that, but it could be a good idea. Which should ideally include disability income insurance. Disability coverage provides you with the support you need if you were to become hurt or sick and could not work. Long-term disability insurance can offer years of replacement income, lasting well into your 60s in many cases, while short-term disability helps during a temporary injury or illness or when you give birth. While both policies are worth considering, long-term coverage is arguably the most valuable, especially if your ability to work becomes permanently affected. So the long-term kind of falls into what more of what you would think of classical kind of insurance. In other words, it would be nice if you can kind of self-insure for short-term kind of problems, if I'm out of the workforce for, you know, a few months or something like that. It would be nice if I had the money to self-insure to cover that. The long-term, if I'm disabled and I'm out for a long time, then I can't. That's that big event like the house burning down or something like that. We're hoping that doesn't happen, but if it did, it would be financially devastating kind of event. And hopefully, and that's what you would think a more like classical kind of insurance component would you might be safeguarded against that big event that's not likely to happen, but that you would like to have coverage in the event that it does. So we compared more than 25 different insurers to determine this being Investopedia. The best long-term disability insurance for you here are our top picks and why we were selected them. So we've got five picks from Investopedia. The five best long-term disability insurance of 2022 according to Investopedia. Best overall, breeze. Best for customization, guardian life. Best for risky occupations, surety. So risky occupations like a police officer, I would assume or something or someone construction working on high rises or things like that. And then best for no medical exam, principal financial group. And then best for writer options, mutual of Omaha. We'll just take a look at one or two of them here. You can go to these company websites themselves just to launch you off and do some more of your own research if you so choose from this point. Let's look at breeze, top in the list, climbing our best overall spot or claiming the best overall spot that it climbed to the top to get. Breeze makes getting coverage simple by taking as little as 15 minutes to apply for and purchase a disability policy online. Really? Not me. It wouldn't take me 15 minutes. I don't think that'd be pretty good timing. I'm pretty good with the sign stuff, filling out paperwork. I don't know. But that's pretty good. There's no medical exam required for most applicants and coverage starts as low as $9 a month. Wow, my Netflix is like around that. I can do that. Pro's automated underwriting makes it quick and easy to buy coverage if you qualify the 100% online process means most people won't need to speak with an agent. That's nice. Don't even need to talk to anyone. No medical exams required for most applicants. That's nice. Non-cancelable and guaranteed renewal coverage through age 65 or 67. What are the cons then? What's the downside people? Consumer reviews are sparse for the youngest insurers among our five bests. So there's not as much feedback information in which that's not good. There are coverage limitations regarding foreign travel and mental health, and some products and rates are not available to New York residents again. What is it with New York? He would think any case. So Though Breeze is a fairly new digital insurance company, only founded in 2019. It's a simple buying process that makes it our top choice for individual long-term disability insurance, according to Investopedia policies and underwriting by Assurity and Assurance Rated A- by A-M Best that has been providing coverage since 1890. Breeze uses automated underwriting technology and algorithms to change the way we buy disability insurance, offering quick online quotes and coverage to customers all across the country. It's a breeze to apply for a long-term disability policy through this top pick, taking 10 minutes or less. Now we're at 10 minutes. I thought it was 15. Just 5 minutes ago it was 15. But 10 minutes or less through a 100% online process. If eligible, you can even purchase the coverage with just a few clicks and a medical exam is not required for many customers. For instance, if you're between the ages of 18 and 50, a medical exam probably won't be necessary as long as you're buying $4,000 or less in monthly coverage. Elimination or waiting periods on Breeze policies range from 30 to 180 days. Benefits can run 1, 2, 5 or 10 years in length. Or they can last until you reach retirement age 65 or 67 depending on your policy. Typically, your benefit options will max out at around 60% to 70% of your income. Available options on Breeze long-term disability policies include automatic benefit increase, guaranteed insurability, own occupation, supplemental DI disability insurance and residential disability benefit riders. While Breeze offers a coverage to a variety of occupations and industries, laborers may find that their policy options are a bit more limited. Also, some products and rates will not be available to residents of New York, where Breeze policies are underwritten by a separate arm of assurity. So we won't go through all the rest of the list here, but you can do the rest of the list on your own. Check it out on Investopedia, look at the resources there, and then on the actual company websites, of course, and you can start to do your own research in the actual companies yourself.