Why Buy Disability Insurance in Vancouver?

If you’re living and working in Vancouver, have you ever stopped to consider the impact on your life and lifestyle if you were to become disabled and unable to earn an income?  The active lifestyle that many Vancouver residents enjoy may be healthy, but also comes at an additional risk of injury.  Imagine the exposure to the risk of injury while bicycling through downtown Vancouver in traffic or mountain biking in the trails of North Vancouver.  In addition, COVID-19 has produced more mental anxiety and depression due to social isolation.  Without the ability to earn an income, it becomes difficult to pay your rent or mortgage, pay for food, gas, and utilities.

Disability Insurance Vancouver Explained

Fortunately, you can insure the most valuable money making machine and that is your ability to work.  Disability insurance pays you a monthly tax free income should you be unable to work and earn an income yourself due to injury, illness, or nervous disorder.  With disability insurance, you will typically spend up to 5% of your income to protect the remaining 95%.

Employee Disability Insurance Through Work

If you’re an employee of a company, check your benefits booklet thoroughly to see if you have disability insurance coverage and whether that coverage has gaps.  If there are gaps, this can be topped up with private disability insurance coverage.

Self-Employed Disability Insurance in Vancouver

If you’re self-employed or working as a contractor for a company, then you will likely need to purchase disability insurance for yourself.  When you work for yourself, the safety net offered by an employer isn’t there and a private disability insurance policy is a way of creating your own safety net.

A caveat for newly self-employed people is that disability insurance is more difficult to buy unless there is some stability in the self-employment income for at least 2 years.  If when you were an employee and purchased a “Non-cancellable” type of disability policy, when you had no plans to change careers, and then transitioned into self-employment, then your policy will carry over and still be in effect.

High Income Disability Insurance

For higher income employees, such as executives and some tech workers, you should carefully check your benefits booklet as employer sponsored disability insurance will typically not cover the full amount of your monthly income.

Disability Insurance Vancouver Advisors

Venture First Advisory has Advisors that specialize in disability insurance, particularly for Vancouver employees and self-employed individuals.