Guardian Disability Insurance Brokerage

Disability Insurance Checklist for Executives

As an executive, you probably don't get paid to understand your disability insurance needs. You may even be guilty of assuming that your company group long-term disability plan, that is paid for by your employer, has your income covered. Your company group LTD plan was designed to cover every employee in the company working over 30 hours a week, one policy for everybody. Do you think your LTD plan should be the same plan that the receptionist has? If not, you may need to read further, or call us to talk to one of our disability insurance agents.

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What Are The Biggest Problems With My Company Disability Insurance Plan?

When you understand exactly how much money you can reasonably expect to receive during a disability with your Group LTD plan, the solution becomes evident. The first step is to actually read your company's plan for the first time. Every one of them is a little different, but the benefits may be very similar. The Group LTD plan will probably pay 60% of base salary, up to a monthly maximum benefit of $5,000. If the company pays the premiums for the plan, then any benefits received will be taxable during a claim.

So if you make $150,000 a year, and had the plan described above, you would be living on $3,600 a month. ($5,000 - $1,400 [5000x 28% tax bracket]) You will notice that during a disability insurance claim you would not actually be living on 60% of your annual income under your Group LTD plan. The monthly benefits are often capped at either $5 or $10,000 a month, and you still have to pay taxes during a claim on that money.

The Solution For Six-Figure Income Executives

Berkshire offers executives the ability to purchase an individual supplemental disability insurance policy. A supplemental policy can do several things for you;

• Provide a higher monthly benefit, especially over any benefit maximum in the group LTD plan.
• Provide income protection for any bonus or commission income not covered in the LTD plan.
• Provide benefits to help offset for taxes paid on group LTD benefits.
• Provide portability to your disability insurance protection.
• Provide inflation protection via a Cost of Living Adjustment Rider which is available for an additional premium to qualifying individuals.*
• Provide a more comprehensive definition of total disability making it easier to get paid during a disability.

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Supplemental Disability Insurance - The Easiest Solution

When you are no longer relying on a company to provide your income protection, and you know that should a sickness or injury occur, you have done everything you can to make sure your family is able to maintain their current standard of living, it is one less stress that you will have to deal with.

A supplemental disability insurance policy is an excellent way to obtain a monthly benefit much closer to your current take-home income level. Having a policy with portable coverage s the only way to guarantee your ability to have disability income insurance should you ever leave your current employer, or if your current employer drops the LTD plan all together.

Call our office today to get a free proposal based upon your existing LTD plan. Our associates will design a policy based upon your current income, the benefits in your LTD plan, and what income is covered under that plan.

*This benefit is not necessarily protection against increased in the cost of living.

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