Disability insurance?

[hellokitty]

I was wondering if those of you who have shopped around for private disability insurance could offer me some guidance and tips. My DH has disability insurance through his work. It's ok, but not enough on its own. Recently, an immediate family member was in a serious car accident and is in a situation where he may not be able to return to work again, so it's kind of shaken me up, and I want to get more disability coverage for my DH. What should I look for, what should I avoid, what's a reasonable rate, any companies that you like or dislike, etc.? TIA!

[HannaAddict]

Good for you for looking at this since many people have life insurance (hopefully term!) and don't think about getting supplemental disability insurance or stand alone policy if their company doesn't offer it at all. Some employers (my old one) let you pay to supplement what they provide for group disability insurance. Great deal if you can get it (at least it was for me). To buy it yourself it will probably be more than the premium for level term insurance since there is a greater chance of being disabled than killed.

We just upped husband's using Northwestern Mutual. The amount you can purchase depends on what your past income has been in the last year or so. We upped it since we have purchased a bigger house (finally have three bedrooms) and bigger payment. We chose to have a 90 day waiting period (or might be longer) versus 30 days before payment begins since we are okay at this point with money to live on while waiting for it to kick in (if we had to use it). A few years ago, it would have been hard to go three or four months without $$. We also went with a bigger benefit for shorter time frame (10 year level term) versus our prior 20 year term with the intention of having significant savings to ride out disability or that I could go back to work full time. It all factors into the price and how you allocate risk and our situation is different than a few years ago. The NW Mutual rep was good and didn't try and sell us stuff we didn't need and ran the numbers a few different ways. My husband still has a level term disability policy through USAA too that we just left in place. They were not as competitive this go around as NW Mutual.

Hope this helps a little. PM if you have more specific questions.

[Momof3Labs]

I like Northwestern Mutual, also, for disability insurance. My policy is through them. I would only buy a "to-65" benefit period (so that you would get benefits to age 65 should you become disabled) and go with the longest elimination period (like a deductible - how long you have to be disabled before they pay benefits) as you can afford based on your savings to bring the price down.

I'd also purchase the largest monthly benefit that they will allow your DH to purchase, given his income over the past year and the disability benefits that he already has at work.

[hellokitty]

Thanks ladies! My DH called the insurance agent who is going to give him some quotes. NW mutual is one of the companies he is getting a quote from. We'll see what they look like and I'll keep your words of wisdom in mind when trying to make a decision. :)