You bought life insurance to take care of your family should something happen to you. That's great. But is your family protected if you become disabled and can't work? Could you and your family still pay the bills if you didn't get a paycheck for a few weeks, months or even years? It's a question we all have to face, because between the ages of 35 and 65 we have a far greater chance of becoming disabled than dying.

Ask your employer's benefits officer if you have a disability plan at work. If you do have disability insurance through work, ask your employer how long your company will continue paying your regular paycheck if you become disabled, what percentage of your salary your disability plan pays while you're laid up, and how long you have to wait for the benefits to start. Using this information, you can decide if your employer's policy is adequate, or if you need to buy additional coverage.

First, add your sick pay and any other income (spouse's salary, investment income, etc.) to your emergency savings, then divide that total by the amount of your monthly expenses. This will tell you how long you can wait for your employer's disability benefits to kick in.

Our hope is that you have enough "rainy day" money tucked away that you can get through this waiting period on your own. If you don't have emergency savings and think it will take you some time to build up enough funds to get through a waiting period, consider buying a disability policy to bridge the gap.

If you already have disability insurance through work, the only other reason you may need additional coverage is to make up for an income shortfall. For example, if your employer's plan pays 60% of your current salary and you can't get by on that, you could make up some of that missing income with your own policy. Keep in mind, however, that the most income you'll be able to replace through all sources of disability income combined is 80% of your salary. So, if you have disability insurance through your employer that pays you 60% of your current salary, you could only cover another 20% of your salary through an individual policy.

If you don't have disability insurance through your employer, you should consider buying a policy of your own. You can buy an individual policy from any top insurance company. You should also check with any professional organizations you belong to - they may offer quite a savings on policies.

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