You Have 1 in 5 Odds Of Losing Income

Just over 1 in 5 people trigger a disability impacting their ability to work in the US and this number continues to grow. About 56.7 million people — 22 percent of the population — had a disability in 2016, with more than half of them reporting the disability was severe, according to a report on this population released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

What would you do if while working, you become disabled? How would a disability putting you out of commission impact your income, your ability to financially carry on?

According to the Americans With Disabilities report by the Census Bureau, the total number of people with disabilities continues to increase. Their report presents a barometer of the well-being of this population in areas such as employment, income and poverty status.

The report shows that 41 percent of those age 21 to 64 that went on disability did so while employed. Along with the lower likelihood of being able to perform another job came the higher likelihood of experiencing persistent poverty; that is, continuous poverty over a 24-month period.

The only hedge against this is insurance; welcome to the world of disability insurance also known as paycheck protection. For pennies on the dollar you can protect your income while you rehabilitate. Policies range from 3 months of continuous income protection to having coverage until the age of 67. With endless combinations of tax free monthly benefit amounts and deductibles, majority can structure a policy costing less than a donut a day, yes a donut.

Majority of working folks don't have more than 3 weeks of savings to hedge against loss of income. Imagine going a short six months or longer on a disability without replacement of income. How would you or your family survive?

Some disabilities that hinder our ability to work were noted as:

• About 8.1 million people had difficulty seeing, including 2.0 million went blind or unable to see.
• About 7.6 million people experienced difficulty hearing, including 1.1 million whose difficulty was severe. About 5.6 million resulted in the use a hearing aid.
• Roughly 30.6 million had difficulty walking or climbing stairs, or required the use of a wheelchair, cane, crutches or walker.
• About 19.9 million people had difficulty lifting and grasping. This includes, for instance, trouble lifting an object like a bag of groceries, or grasping a glass or a pencil.
• Difficulty with at least one activity of daily living was cited by 9.4 million non-institutionalized adults. These activities included getting around inside the home, bathing, dressing and eating. Of these people, 5 million needed the assistance of others to perform such an activity.
• Approximately 2.4 million had onset Alzheimer’s disease, senility or dementia.
• Reported by 7.0 million adults, being frequently depressed or anxious also lead to a disability that interfered with ordinary activities including the ability to work.

As a 17 year veteran in the insurance industry, paycheck protection is one of the most overlooked areas of need with the misconception that your employer or the state will cover you should you become disabled and unable to continue work tasks. Reach out to one of our partners for a custom quote and to learn more on your options. Carriers such as Mutual of Omaha are not only very competitive, but also include return of premium riders for those hate paying for insurance and not getting anything in return if you never use it, imagine if they offered that on your car insurance.

Sina Azari is a Forbes contributor and Subject Matter Expert in the areas of risk, insurance and finance. He is the Chief Innovation Officer of PRESENT Financial Partners; the principal broker of PRESENT Financial Properties, the Founder of the Millennials Leadership Network and host of AllMindset's Mindset Chronicles Podcast. To learn more about Sina Azari click here.