Should i get disability insurance

Length of waiting period: This is known as the elimination period. You can reduce the premium by increasing the waiting period before benefits kick in. Extra features: Additional features, such as cost-of-living adjustments to protect against inflation, will increase the premium. How much of your income would you need to replace to maintain your lifestyle if you became disabled and couldn't work?

Use the answer to determine the monthly benefit to select. How long could you wait before the disability benefits kicked in? This will determine the "elimination period" — the number of months you would wait after becoming disabled for the policy to pay out. A typical elimination period is 90 days, but you can choose shorter or longer periods.

The longer the elimination period, the lower the insurance price. How long would you want the benefits to last? For some occupations, such as plumbers and carpenters, benefits are limited to five years on most policies, Hoffman says.

For desk jobs, you can choose a benefit period to last a certain number of years or up to a certain age, such as The longer the benefit period, the higher the price of the policy. How broadly would you define "disability"?

Highly skilled people who have invested a lot of money in training may want a policy that pays out if they can't work in their specialty. A neurosurgeon who loses the ability to operate might still be able to teach or work as a general practitioner, for instance, but those positions would pay far less than a career as a surgeon. Another consideration: Do you want a policy that pays out a portion of the benefits if you are partially disabled, meaning you can work only part time? Hoffman recommends this option because people who suffer a disability often need to cut back on their hours, either on the front end as their condition deteriorates from an illness or on the back end as they recover from an injury or illness.

Tinker with the benefits if the price quote is too high. Hoffman recommends:. Start by increasing the waiting period before benefits kick in. As a last resort, reduce the monthly benefit amount. Coverage is portable moves with you to new jobs. For Current Customer. Fraud Awareness. About MetLife. Investor Relations. Careers at MetLife. Navigating Life Together. Corporate Profile. MetLife Worldwide. Company Ratings. Global Procurement. MetLife Affiliates. Corporate Governance.

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If you are the administrator of your business's insurance policy, log in to your Business account. If you are an agent or broker, log in to your broker account. Access the MetLink section of the website. Access the DigitalSolution section of the website. Access the MyBenefits section of the website. Enter your account username e. Enter your account password. Anything over two years and up until retirement age is considered a long-term policy but you could extend it into retirement if you wanted to.

If you take out your own policy, it will stay with you whenever you change jobs. Filing a claim will require proof of an employment income to replace. Talk to your human resources department about setting it up. When you look at the numbers, long-term disability insurance really is your best option. Because long-term disability is designed to kick in after short-term disability, there is usually an elimination period of several months. The average time it takes to process a long-term claim is around 90 days.

Short-term disability insurance is exactly that: short. Payments only last for a few months to a year. The elimination period is normally around two weeks—so you can get your payout faster than with long-term coverage. But when it comes to cost, short-term premiums are around the same but usually more expensive than long-term premiums. You can put together your own short-term disability coverage by saving 3—6 months of expenses in an emergency fund!

If you get sick or injured and have to take time off work for a few months, your savings can fill in the gaps until you get back on your feet. Remember: a disability policy is a contract, and like many contracts it contains fixed terms and provisions, but there are also optional provisions, which are called riders. Make sure to go through all the provisions to understand the conditions of your contract and the circumstances under which you will be paid a benefit.

Expect to pay between 1 to 3 percent of your annual income for disability insurance for an individual policy. The actual premiums you pay for a policy will depend on the following factors:. Smoking will raise the cost of your policy, as will other risky activities such as scuba diving and auto racing. If you have a high-risk occupation, or work in a dangerous environment e. The broader the definition of disability, the higher the premium; own-occupation coverage will cost more than any-occupation coverage.

Many riders — such as the cost-of-living adjustment rider that increases your benefit for inflation — will also increase your policy cost. Other than SSDI, which is paid for as part of your Social Security premiums, there are two basic ways to get a disability insurance policy. You may be able to get disability insurance through a professional association. Either way, group disability insurance can be an excellent choice: Because the company or association is buying for a large group of people, the premium is typically lower than for an individual policy.

An added benefit to getting a policy through your employer is that they may also subsidize a portion of the premiums, further lowering your cost. If the premiums are paid with pre-tax dollars which is common , then any benefit you receive down the road will typically be taxed. If the coverage is paid for by an employer, the benefits will be taxable.

This is a policy you purchase for yourself, so you can tailor it to your needs.