Hello and

welcome to Moneygirls quick and dirty tips for a richer life.

Today's topic, Ensuring Your Biggest Asset.

A listener named Marv emailed me with this request.

I purchased a long-term disability insurance policy several years ago after a friend of mine fell off a ladder

and was disabled for a long time. However, I had trouble finding objective advice on how to

research an insurer and what kind of policy

was appropriate for me. I'm sure I got the coverage I wanted but I didn't have many

choices to do adequate comparison shopping. To this day I don't hear much about this topic.

You're wise Marv to have gotten yourself disability insurance.

It's the most important insurance coverage to have.

It's also one of the most overlooked. And you're right, it

doesn't seem to get much attention given how important it is.

Disability insurance ensures what's extremely likely to be your biggest asset, your future income.

That's the reason disability insurance is so important.

It's more important than life insurance, health insurance and auto insurance.

If you depend on your income to pay your bills, you need disability insurance.

And if you happen to be independently wealthy and don't need to work, you can stop

listening to this episode right now. You don't need disability coverage.

If you're unable to work because of a disability, disability insurance pays you your income.

The odds of becoming disabled are surprisingly high.

According to the Social Security Administration, a 20-year-old worker has a 30% chance of becoming disabled before retirement age.

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