Disability Insurance for
Business Owners

Business owners necessarily depend on their own ability to go to work every day to bring home a paycheck.

But what happens if an illness or injury makes you unable to do so for months or longer?

When considering financial security, business owners need to ask two simple questions:

1. "What will I do for income if I can no
     longer go to work because of an
     illness or injury?"
2. "How long could I and my family
     maintain our current standard of
     living if I couldn't work?"

Consider the following:

• If you stop working, your primary source of income stops immediately.
• Business owners are unlikely to take on jobs outside of their business during rehabilitation, which can extend the disability period.
• Because your business may require physical dexterity, business owners are likely to be completely versus partially disabled, which can also extend the disability period.
• Business owners, especially small business owners, don't have access to employer-sponsored group disability insurance coverage.

A solid individual or supplemental disability insurance policy has a base set of provisions.  Because business owners have additional needs, your disability insurance policy should also include the following:

• The formal definition of Total Disability should be defined in your policy as "Own Occupation".  This means you will be considered disabled if you can't perform your own occupation, versus any occupation.
  
  With this definition, you should be able to collect benefits as long as you can't perform as owner of your company.  This helps to ensure you maintain financial protection until you can do the exact job you specialize in.
• The definition of Residual (or Partial) Disability should be "Loss of Income".  While more expensive than "Time & Duties", Loss of Income ensures your benefit will make up the difference in your pre-disability income up to a set percentage (usually 80%-90%) until you can earn that amount on your own.  Because it may take months to rebuild a clientele once you return to work, Loss of Income in necessary to cover your income until things get rolling again.

Depending on your specific circumstances and specialty, additional provisions may be necessary to ensure your income is protected if you can't work.

For additional information, please submit the form on the right to be contacted by an authorized agent.

Request a Free Disability Insurance Quote