Many will go through life securing what is so important to them. I’m sure you can name a few of them: Auto/Home/Boat/jewelry/computers/business/etc. At the time of claim you expect them to work and get a replacement or at least get it back to where it was. To have these things you love, you have to produce an income. This is important because income is required to have everything else, including supporting your family. Yet people take it for granted. How will you maintain your family’s current standard of living if you get too sick or injured to work? If you don’t protect your income, you could lose it all.
Statistically, sixty-two percent of bankruptcies in the United States are due to medical bankruptcies. However, three quarters of them had health insurance at the time of the onset of the disease*. So if everyone had health insurance, was health insurance the root of the problem?
Not.
Safe medical bills piled up beyond what was affordable. Most people will blame health insurance for the cause. This is partly because we are in the habit of treating the symptom of the problem instead of getting to the root of the problem.
If you had monthly income to be able to get treatment, would that help manage the medical bills that are piling up? Of course I’d do it. What is your plan for making sure you have income once you are too sick or hurt to work?
Given a choice, would you leave work to focus on your health, or continue working while receiving treatment?
I think the choice is obvious.
Let’s dig deeper… What if you are forced to take leave to focus on your health and your life depends on it? Would you still work anyway? Most likely, he will take some time off. No amount of money is that important when your life is on the line. Or is that it?
How are you going to pay those bills, keep food on the table, clothes on your growing children’s backs, and keep a roof over everyone’s head?
This is a question that most will not broach or even think about. You can’t afford not to secure your earning power, and that’s because your life depends on it.
Insuring your earning ability should be at the top of the list with other major insurance programs. It could easily be ignored because you are now working, but one day that will change. You are not immortal.
1 in 3 people will lose their earning capacity before the age of 65**. The chances are high enough that it will be you, one day. But since you don’t feel any immediate pain, it’s easier to put it off.
The homeowners policy will not pay you anything if you are too sick or injured to work. Some will say “what about life insurance”. Maybe. If you planned it correctly, it could. Otherwise, life insurance should be called death insurance. Usually it can only be used once and you are not even the one to receive it.
Reviewing and implementing an insurance policy to protect your income is very important these days. It is so important that it must be the most important insurance program to have. After all, your life could depend on it.
*Harvard Study 2009
**2007 LeClair Corporation