If you were disable and unable to work, where would your money come from?
Last week, I was sitting in the emergency room at Lowell General Hospital waiting with my older son. I’m pretty certain that question crossed the mind of the adult patients there. If I had asked, my guess is most people would say Social Security.
For most, they would end up sorely disappointed, and quite broke.
If you will rely on Social Security, consider the following:
• You must be unable to do work you did before and cannot adjust to other work because of a medical condition.
• Your disability must last or be expected to last for at least 1 year or to result in death.
• Social Security pays only for total disability. No benefits are payable for partial disability or short-term disability.
If you meet those hurdles (not easy by the way), then you have to wait for your money.
• If deemed disabled, you will have to wait 6 months to get a check. It can take a long time to process an application for disability benefits (3 - 5 months).
• If approved, your first Social Security disability benefits will be paid for the 6th full month after the date your disability began.
• Social Security benefits are paid in the month following the month for which they are due, so effectively you get your money in month 7 or 8.
But I’ll never get disabled.
On average, Americans have a 1 in 3 chance of being disabled for more than 3 months. Even if you have a safe office job, one auto accident is all it takes. Or one stray rubber band shot across the office…
May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month. What are you relying on?
Answer to the last trivia question: C – 66%. Most people feel they have to work instead of being able to want to work.
This week’s trivia question: For a 40yr old person, with an estimated salary of $60k/yr ($5k/month), what is the estimated amount of Soc. Sec. disability benefit? Is it?
A - $1,000
B - $1,756
C – $2,570
D - $3,000
