Disability insurance is the foundation of any financial plan. Everything you own and everyone you provide for relies on your ability to generate income. Without income everything you have worked so hard for can come crashing down. The need for disability insurance is immediate and can begin even before the need for life insurance, such as with single working people. The chances of a disability, prior to age 65, are 5 times greater than that of death.

Disability Income Insurance is a form of insurance that insures the beneficiary's earned income against the risk that a disability will make working, and therefore earning money, impossible. It includes paid sick leave, short-term disability benefits, and long-term disability benefits.

More than a quarter of today’s 20 year olds will become disabled, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA). It does not have to be a freak injury that prevents you from working – back injuries, cancer, heart disease or other illnesses are the majority of the reasons for long-term absences.

Are you prepared if you can't work due to a long-term disability? The average long-term disability last 2 1/2 years; do you have the emergency savings to survive that long without an income? If not, you need to make sure you have disability insurance.

Individual disability insurance offers multiple options for coverage, and a policy can be tailored to your needs. Since individual disability insurance policies are paid with after tax dollars, you don’t pay taxes on the benefits you receive.