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A tool used in financial planning that one often sees is the financial planning pyramid. The bases of the premium are the items that protect the rest of the pyramid. This is the foundation. They are made up of protection factors. The greatest retirement and wealth-building strategies can be destroyed by the risks of life. One of the most important of these factors is the problem of disability. The cornerstone protecting against this potential problem is disability insurance.

The foundation of the financial pyramid is made up of:

· Insuring against premature death through life insurance

· Loss of potentially one's greatest asset, the ability to earn an income, insured through disability insurance.

· Loss of property and suit protection with property and liability insurance.

· Having an emergency fund of 6 to 12 months expenses. The statistical likelihood of having a long term disability (one that lasts more than 90 days before age 65) and the potential length of time of disability is as follows. The source of this information is the table put together by the state insurance commissioners entitled the 1985 Commissioners' Disability Individual Table (A).

At age 30, the average length of disability is 32 months, with the possibility of long-term disability at 1 of 3. At age 40, the average length of disability is 42 months, with the possibility of long-term disability at 3 of 10. At age 50, the average length of disability is 50 months, with the possibility of long-term disability at 5 of 22. At age 60, the average length of disability is 54 months, with the possibility of long-term disability at 1 of 10. Knowing this information can help one with their thinking in prioritizing what to do in financial planning.

If you don't have an emergency fund that's easily accessible, start putting away a minimum of 10% of your gross income, if you can, go to 20% until you get to the goal of three to six months of expenses in that account.

Make sure you have your property properly insured and both a liability and an umbrella liability policy. See your property and casualty agent for that,.

Get disability insurance and life insurance. You can go online to both learn about these from unbiased sites like Protectyourincome.com.for disability insurance and lifeinsure.com for life insurance.

About the Author

Author, Neil Willner, CEO of ProtectYourIncome.com, Disability Insurance Online, provider of disability insurance quotes and information, writes articles on disability insurance for ProtectYourIncome.com. For more information, visit www.ProtectYourIncome.com.