Disability Insurance
Many adults feel disability insurance is not for them. Diving into a pool and becoming paralyzed, riding your bike and being hit by a car, getting in a car accident and suffering a back injury, and being diagnosed with cancer. No one dreams these things will happen to them, but people experience injuries and illnesses every day that leave them unable to work. Whether you think it will happen to you or not, you should protect the one asset—your ability to earn an income—that makes your lifestyle possible.
Do you need disability insurance?
On average, a 30-something year old, with a 50/50 chance of becoming disabled for more than 90 days, stands to lose nearly one-third of a million dollars while disabled; a 45-year-old could lose nearly two-thirds of a million dollars.1 The financial risk is considerable. Therefore paycheck protection is a huge consideration. At any age, disability insurance is a wise choice. Younger adults have the added advantage of generally lower premiums but higher likelihoods of disability; older adults have the extra incentive of increased disability periods and larger income losses.
Are you in your 30s?
Workers in their 30s still tend to be healthy, but they’re also taking on more responsibilities, and their incomes are growing. In other words, they have more to protect.
- Disability insurance can protect your family and home. Adults in this age group may be starting families and buying homes. If a disability prevents you from working, payment protection may be the only thing that helps your family make ends meet and avoid foreclosure.
- Disability insurance can be just as important as life insurance. Many adults in this age bracket recognize the importance of life insurance, but they may not realize that working aged adults have a greater risk of becoming disabled than they do of dying. While the Social Security Administration puts the odds of a 20-year-old experiencing disability before reaching retirement at one in four, the odds of dying are one in eight.2
Are you in your 40s?
Workers in their 40s often have both children and aging parents who depend on them. With so many people depending on their income, disability insurance takes on a new level of importance. Consider the following:
- Waiting to buy coverage can be risky. Adults in their 40s may still enjoy good health, but they shouldn’t assume this will last forever. If they wait until after they’ve experienced a serious illness or injury, they won’t have the coverage they need, and buying coverage in the future will be more difficult.
- During a period of disability, savings can run out fast. Some adults in this age bracket have accumulated savings, but it’s likely earmarked for things like their retirement or their children’s education. Between the loss of income and medical bills, they may deplete their savings fast. Disability insurance can prevent that from happening.
An injury or illness is something that’s very unlikely to happen, but if it does it would be a devastating loss, and the cost of insuring against the devastating loss is very small. Keep in mind:
- Working in an office or other low-risk environment doesn’t make you safe from injury.
- Less than 5% of disabling accidents and illnesses are work-related, according to the Council for Disability Awareness3, meaning it’s more likely that something could happen to you outside of work.
- There are certain things in life that we can’t predict. We can’t predict if we’re going to get hit by a car; we can’t predict if we’re going to have some unforeseen illness occur like gallbladder disease, or appendicitis.
- It’s really important when you’re young and healthy to purchase disability insurance. If you wait until you’re prompted by something urgent, such as a diagnosis, your coverage could be declined.
Disability insurance, both short- and long-term, has its benefits. One type or both are helpful for anyone who relies on their income for living expenses. A few specific scenarios where it might come in handy would be for older adults, adults with a history of family illness, or women planning to become pregnant, since it can sometimes be used in conjunction with maternity leave or in place of it. In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get sidetracked from important things like picking out essential insurance coverage. Don’t let it happen to you!
Key Features of Sun Life’s Short-Term Disability Insurance Key Features of Sun Life’s Long-Term Disability InsuranceFootnotes, Additional Details & Disclaimers
1Disability Insurance Services, What is the Right Age to Buy Individual Disability Insurance?195+Disability Statistics & Disability Insurance Stats, 2025
2Council for Disability Awareness, Disability Statistics, September, 2021
3Council for Disability Awareness, Disability Statistics, September, 2021
Group life and disability insurance policies are underwritten by Sun Life and Health Insurance Company (U.S.) (Lansing, MI) under Policy Form Series 15-GP-01, 13-GP-LF-01, 13-LF-C-01, 12-GPPort-P-01, 13-LFPort-C-01, 15-LF-GP-01, 15-LF-C-01, 12-GPPort-P-01, 15-LFPort-C-01, 13-GP-LH-01, 13-ADD-C-01, 12-DI-C-01, 16-DI-C-01, 13-LTD-C-01, 13-STD-C-01, 06P-NY-DBL, 12-GPPort-01, and 12-STDPort-C-01.
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