Talk to any financial planner or agent what risk could be termed the forgotten risk and chances are the answer will be disability. Their clients often come in the door questioning whether they have enough, too much or the right kind of life insurance, but rarely have they thought about how they could survive financially with no earned income? In reality, disability insurance is as important as (and in some cases, even more important than) life insurance. Go to above link for full article.

Disability insurance is insurance that is designed to protect your income and thus your standard of living. If you become disabled, you probably won't be able to earn much income but you will continue to have living expenses. Your monthly outlays could even rise, especially if you need paid help at home, can no longer drive, or have to pay for prescriptions or therapy that aren’t completely reimbursed by your medical coverage. Disability insurance will provide monthly payments to help you meet your daily living expenses. Most people need to have some sort of disability insurance, which will provide them with money in case they can no longer work. When people without disability insurance become disabled, their income stops and their life savings are drained shortly thereafter.

The difference between the worker’s compensation and disability insurance is Worker's compensation is to protect you if you are injured while performing your job, while Disability insurance covers you for any injury or illness, whether it happens at home, on vacation or on the job. The maximum income you can protect by disability income insurance is 65% to 70% of your gross earned income. Companies make every effort to avoid a benefit that is greater than the after tax income of the insured.

There are different definitions of disability which you should understand if you're looking for a disability insurance policy. The definition used in your particular policy will determine the circumstances under which you will be able to collect payments, and possibly even decide whether you can go into some other line of work without losing your disability benefits. Under the own occupation definition of disability, total disability benefits are payable if you become unable to work at your specific job or career. But if you go out and start a new career or get into a new line of work, you may be able to collect both a paycheck and disability payments.