Intro:
Getting disability insurance as a freelancer is actually really important.
And here’s why.
As a freelancer, you’re a one-person operation.
You don’t have a whole team of people supporting you.
If things break down and fall apart, you’ve got to have your own back.
You have to take care of yourself if things go sour.
For this reason, it’s really crucial that you take steps to protect yourself in case of a disaster.
And this is exactly where disability insurance comes in.
What if you were to get sick, experience an accident, or run into some other physical ailment or disability situation that kept you from working for an extended period of time?
Would you continue to be able to earn money during that time?
Or would you just be out of work, out of cash, and out of luck?
Listen—as a freelancer, it’s important for you to protect yourself financially in case something bad were to happen to you.
And this is the whole reason behind freelancer disability insurance.
So let’s dive into it and talk about exactly what you can do today to set yourself up with disability insurance to actually protect yourself if things go sideways.
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Shop For A Good Policy
If you’re wondering how to get disability insurance being self employed, you want to begin your search by looking for companies that are offering good policies for freelancers.
Not all disability policies are the same.
Some are intended for big businesses, but that’s not what you want.
You want a policy that will actually protect you as a freelancer, and give you the tools you need to survive a health disaster.
So looking for the right policy for you is a great way to get started.
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Look For A Policy That Pays Out At Least 50% Of Your Income
As a baseline standard, you’re going to want to shop for a disability policy that’ll actually pay out roughly 50% of what you normally make in your business—at least.
This is on low end.
If you can find a better policy than this within your price range, go for it.
But this is really the minimum that you need in order to ensure that your life doesn’t become a total disaster if you have a health and wellness emergency.
This basically means that if you need to cash in on the policy, you’ll still be bringing in roughly half of what you would normally be making doing your job.
This isn’t necessarily ideal, but it’s much better than nothing.
It’ll help to keep you afloat and keep you from running into serious financial trouble while you recover and take the time needed to get back to work.
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Find A Company That You Trust
Once you find a range of companies that offer decent policies, you’ll want to do some serious legwork to find out if you can trust these companies.
You always want to make sure that you’re buying freelancer disability insurance from a trusted company that has your best interests at heart—rather than going for some company that doesn’t care about you or your business.
Go for a company that has agents who will actually talk to you and learn about your situation.
This is really important.
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Read Online Reviews
If you’re not totally sure whether or not a company is a good fit for you, you’ll want to look up some online reviews to see what other freelancers have had to say about them.
This is a great way to figure out if other freelancers have actually benefited from high quality disability insurance from these companies.
Doing your homework in this fashion can save you a ton of trouble in the long term.
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Look For Decent Prices
Obviously, disability insurance isn’t going to do you any good if it’s so expensive that you can’t afford it.
Therefore, it’s really important that you stay focused on the process of finding the right products for your price point.
Obviously, you need to find a policy that you can afford.
But you also need to find a policy that covers you.
If you can’t make these things work with a particular insurance company, then you may need to skip that company and try something different.
Conclusion
There you have it.
These 5 steps will help you to get disability insurance as a freelancer, and to actually protect yourself in the event of an unlikely health or medical emergency.
Hopefully, you’ll never have to make use of it.
But if you ever need it, having freelancer disability insurance can really be a life-saver.
