Judy Bezler
Insurance
Disability Income Protection
Financial security for you and your family in the event of your illness or injury.
How long could you continue to pay your bills without your paycheck? Besides the obvious mortgage or rent expenses, consider other daily living expenses, gas, utilities, food, and daycare — not to mention the fun stuff like movies, soccer camp, piano lessons, haircuts, clothes, and gifts for holidays and special occasions.
What if I could show you that Income Protection Disability Insurance...
Protects you if you become ill or injured
Replaces up to 60% of your income if the unexpected happens
Provides benefits up to age 65
Can be tailored to your needs and budget
Have premiums that are more affordable than most people think
Is available for solopreneur and self-employed workers!!
Many employers don't realize that they don't have to contribute the cost of disability insurance.
If your workplace doesn't already offer disability insurance as an employee benefit, ask them to talk to us about adding it.
Yep, your ability to earn income is your greatest asset
Most people think that their home or car is their greatest asset. With home and car prices rising, that seems to make sense. Let's see if that's true in the long run.
We'll use this simple formula to calculate the value of your total earnings if you earn the same income from now until retirement:
($ Annual Earnings Today) X (Number of Years to Retirement) = Working Year's Earnings
Here’s an example:
$50,000/annual income x 25 years =
$1,250,000 value of your ability to work from now until retirement!
And that earning power doesn't reflect future raises, promotions, or future job opportunities!
* Don't forget that age, occupation, and existing health conditions also contribute to the likelihood of becoming disabled.
Your World Can Do A Flip Flop
When you can't work due to illness or injury, your world gets turned upside down in a big way. Lost income can hurt even more if you're a small business owner, solopreneur, or 1099 contractor.
According to a recent Council for Disability Awareness (CDA) article, one in four of today's 20-year-olds can expect to be out of work for at least a year because of a disabling condition before reaching normal retirement age.
You might have worker's compensation insurance through your employer, but those benefits are payable only if you have a work-related injury.
What if you're unable to work because of COVID-19, an injury you got off the job, or cancer, diabetes, stroke, heart attack, or a pregnancy? Worker's compensation won't come into play for those types of conditions.
The CDA article cited the most common reasons for short-term disability claims as:
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Pregnancies (22.3%)
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Musculoskeletal disorders affecting the back and spine, knees, hips, shoulders, and other parts of the body (18.5%)
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Injuries such as fractures, sprains, and strains of muscles and ligaments (11.4%)
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Digestive disorders, such as hernias and gastritis (7.4%)
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Mental health issues including depression and anxiety (7.3%)
The most common reasons for long-term disability claims are:
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Musculoskeletal disorders (27.6%)
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Cancer (15.0%)
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Injuries such as fractures, sprains, and strains of muscles and ligaments (12.0%)
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Mental health issues (9.3%)
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Circulatory (heart attack, stroke) (8.2%)
In most cases, people count on the financial safety nets of paid time off, vacation days, and savings. But what if you can't go back to work for 30-60-90 days or more!
Who Needs a Financial Safety Net?
Many, if not most, of America's workers, are already stretched thin financially.
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125 million: Number of U.S adults living paycheck to paycheck
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70 percent: Share of millennials who live paycheck to paycheck
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$3,928: Average savings of struggling paycheck-to-paycheck consumers as of May 2021
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Living paycheck to paycheck happens to just about everyone. In fact, a majority of U.S. consumers are in this situation — including 53 percent of those earning between $50,000 and $100,000!
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73% of those surveyed thought it's important to have insurance protect on their car. Only 28 percent recognized the importance of protecting their income!
Don't Bet Your Future
A September 2021 Council for Disability Awareness (CDA) article stated that more than 20 percent of workers under age 40 say they're more likely to win a big lottery than become unable to work due to illness or injury.
Ready for the real odds of becoming disabled? One chance in 259,000,000 you'll hit the jackpot vs. a one in four chance that you'll be disabled during your career. Which do you want to gamble on?
Most working consumers aren't doing anything to protect that all-important resource – the ability to earn income.
That same CDA article added that:
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77.8% of debtors cited income loss as a contributor to their bankruptcy. This included 44.3% specifically citing medically-related work loss as a contributor.
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There is a large-scale study linking cancer registry data and bankruptcy filings in western Washington state found that cancer patients were 2.65 more likely to go bankrupt than people without cancer, with younger (under age 50) cancer patients having the highest rates of bankruptcy.
What About Built-In Safety Nets
Most employers must offer Worker's Compensation Insurance, and most employees have been paying into the Social Security system for years. Think you can count on them for disability benefits?
The September 2021 CDA article gave us some disturbing statistics:
Workers' Compensation only covers time away from work if the disabling illness or injury was directly work-related. In 2019, less than one percent of American workers missed work because of an occupational illness or injury.
From 2009 to 2018, only 32 percent of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) claimants had their applications approved: 21 percent at the initial application stage and the remainder after a reconsideration or appeals process.
It generally takes three to five months from time of application for SSDI benefits to get an initial decision.
The backlog of appeals cases was more than 400,000 in fiscal year 2020, with 38 percent of them being over nine months old.
The average SSDI benefit for a disabled worker as of February 2021 was $1,279 a month. That equates to $15,348 annually – which is below the poverty guideline of $17,420 for a two-person household.
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What People Are Saying
Tom H.
Judy is a true consultant for small to medium size businesses. Whether it is benefits, operations or helping your business get all the tax credits it is missing, Judy can make it happen!
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Judy's experience and novel approach will help you find the right risk management and cost-effective benefits strategies.
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She is very knowledgeable and professional. Dedicated to customer relationships. Top notch.