Disability Insurance for
IT & Web Professionals

As an IT or web professional, your company and income depend directly on your ability to work every day.

As with other business owners, you need to ask two simple questions when considering your financial security:

1. "What will I do for income if I can
    no longer do my job 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?"

IT and web professionals need to be vigilant regarding the possibility of not being able to work because of the following:

• If you stop working, your primary source of income stops immediately.
• You are unlikely to take on jobs outside of the IT/web arena during rehabilitation, which can extend the disability period.
• Because IT and web-related work requires physical dexterity with the hands, you are likely to be completely versus partially disabled, which can also extend the disability period.
• IT and web professionals that participate in group disability insurance from an employer commonly find the cap on monthly benefits to be notably less than their regular income, impacting day-to-day cash flow in the event of illness or injury.

Disability is the cause of nearly 50% of all home foreclosures. (National Association of Life Underwriters)

A solid individual or supplemental disability insurance policy has a base set of provisions.  Because IT and web professionals have additional requirements, 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 your IT/web-related occupation.  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.