Disability Insurance - more important than most people realize
Up until retirement, your potential future earnings or human capital is transformed into financial capital in the form of accumulated savings, investments and real property. If you become unable to earn an income due to a long-term disability, this transformation ceases and your comfortable lifestyle and future financial wealth can be severely compromised.
The role of disability insurance is to make sure that your lifestyle and human capital is protected by providing non-taxable regular income should you suffer a disability that prevents you from performing the important duties of your regular occupation. This is a more common event than most people realize. A survey published by the U.S. Social Security Administration revealed that the statistical risk of a long-term disability prior to age 65 was ten times greater than most people estimated1.
Critical Illness Insurance – survive and prosper
Medical science has made astonishing progress over the last several decades and mapping the genome promises to continue that trend. The result is that many more people are surviving conditions that were fatal in the past. While this is unquestionably positive, it has created some unintended consequences: 1) a shift in risk from mortality (dying early) to morbidity (living with a disease) and 2) spiraling medical costs and limited access to the latest life-saving technology.
Critical illness insurance helps mitigate these consequences by providing a tax-free lump-sum benefit on the diagnosis of a covered condition. This money can be used to access the latest technology or treatment anywhere in the world or can be used to modifying your environment or lifestyle to help you cope with your specific medical condition. Heart attack, stroke and cancer are the most common claims but policies typically cover another 20 conditions as well.
Long-Term Care - providing options for a dignified lifestyle
Another consequence of lower mortality and increased morbidity is the escalating need in long-term care for the fastest growing demographic in North America: people over 80. Increasingly, people are opting to receive their care at home rather than deal with the conditions and scarce resources in the public sector or the growing expense of private sector nursing homes. Long-term care insurance gives you options for dignified care either at home or in private sector facilities by providing a tax-free monthly benefit when you are unable to care for yourself.
Like all insurance, living benefits do not eliminate the hazards of life, but rather mitigate their impact, providing a measure of certainty in an uncertain world.
For more information on Term, Disability & Critical Illness click here
1 U.S. Social Security Administration
