What is your greatest asset?
You might say it’s your home or your business, perhaps a valued heirloom, or even your education. But it’s not.
Your greatest, most valuable asset is your ability to earn an income.
Think about it. Your income generates your cash flow, which determines what your lifestyle is and will be. So as long as you’re earning a good income you can plan for the future. But what if you are sick or injured and can’t work, or even die unexpectedly? Are you prepared for what would happen if your income was lost? Remember, your value as a provider not only includes your mortgage and car payments, utilities, education and living expenses, it also includes benefits through work and the value of the personal contributions you provide to your family.
Your earning potential over your career could be quite significant. If your annual earned income is $100,000 and you have 20 years until retirement, you would earn $2,000,000 (without accounting for pay increases, inflation, taxes or the value of any other contributions) to live on and save for retirement. But all that potential future income would be lost if you weren’t able to work.
What if you own a business? In that case, you not only provide for your family, you are responsible for your employees’ livelihoods and the community your business serves. Could your business continue to operate successfully if you weren’t there to run it?
Managing the risk of “what if”
Insurance protection is an essential piece of your future financial security and can help you manage the risk of “what if” – what if you can’t work due to illness or injury, or what if your partner of many years exits the business, or what if an untimely death were to occur.
Disability income insurance replaces a portion of your income if you are sick or injured and unable to work. If you are fortunate, you may already have some insurance protection in place through your employer’s Group Long Term Disability (GLTD) benefits. But is your current GLTD coverage adequate for your needs? For example, are the GLTD benefits taxable? Does it cover bonuses? Are there monthly benefit caps?
The limitations of GLTD coverage all contribute to the ‘DI Gap’– the difference between your current net income and the net GLTD benefits you would receive if you were to become too sick or hurt to work for an extended period of time.
Individual disability income insurance (DI) is a personal protection solution available to you that, when used to supplement your employer-provided GLTD, can help replace a larger portion of your income[1] – including bonuses or commissions. While no disability income insurance policy, or any combination of policies, will cover 100% of your income, adding DI coverage to supplement existing GLTD coverage can help you minimize the DI Gap.
Additionally, disability income insurance policies can help to cover the operating costs of a business, provide the funds for small business partnership buyouts, replace a portion of lost earnings, and help protect your ability to save for retirement.
Life insurance offers basic and essential financial protection and it can help to relieve many uncertainties about the future financial well-being of those who depend on you. Many Americans agree that life insurance is the best way to protect against the financial hardships resulting from the premature death of a primary wage earner.
You probably know that life insurance is one of the most effective ways to help protect the financial security of your family or business against the economic loss that may result when you die. However, you may not be aware that your life insurance may help you achieve other financial goals, such as providing cash for emergencies, preparing for retirement or ensuring that you leave a financial legacy for the next generation.
In addition to pure death benefit protection, some life insurance policies contain a cash value component – sometimes what is referred to as a “living benefit” – that can be accessed through loans or withdrawals[2]. These funds can be used for a variety of purposes, including funding education costs or supplementing retirement income.
Find a trusted advisor
You can benefit from working with a financial services professional who has knowledge, experience, insight and an active interest in your financial success. A skilled financial services professional can not only advise you on the type and amount of insurance protection that is right for you, he or she can coordinate your financial strategies with your attorney, your accountant, and any other professional advisors with whom you work to help you achieve what is most important to you.
Your financial services professional can help you live better today and be prepared for whatever tomorrow may bring.
Howard Bienenfeld, CLU, ChFC
Financial Services Professional
Bienenfeld, Lasek & Starr, LLC.
Office: (201) 449-0026
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.blsfinancial.com
By JLNJ Staff
