Life & Disability Insurance

Corporate life and disability insurance planning includes:

Funding Buy Sell Agreements
Bonus Plans
Key Man Policies
Debt Reduction Plans
Disability Overhead Expense

Life insurance

Personal Life Insurance Planning
Most Advisors recommend 10 to 12 times annual Income as a Life Style Protection Strategy.

Personal Disability Planning
This requires expertise in contractual language. If you are a Physician, Attorney or other professional, you’ve found the right group to advise you on your needs

Product Recommendations
Most Advisors today recommend Term Insurance as a solution to most Corporate and Personal Life Insurance Needs. Capstone Benefits Advisors represents all competitive Term Insurance Companies and Advises objectively regarding Permanent Life Insurance Solutions.

How much insurance do I need to buy?
As a general rule, most planners recommend 10 - 12 x current income in life insurance proceeds in order to maintain your family’s standard of living.

What’s the difference between term and permanent insurance?

Term Insurance is temporary insurance designed to cover a specific need over a specific period of time. Premiums and death benefits generally remain the same during the contractual period. Most people will purchase 10, 15, 20 and 30 level premium and death benefit term policies.

Permanent Insurance is a broad term used to describe a variety of products such as Whole Life, Variable Whole Life, Universal Life and Variable Universal Life. These products are used to provide permanent death benefits for an insured’s entire life. These policies may be invested in a fixed interest investment or in mutual funds.

When Capstone Benefits Advisors puts together a proposal for your specific needs, we will review for you in detail all the different types of life insurance policies that are offered.

Disability insurance

Disability Insurance
When you encounter a disability your life is transformed. Your immediate efforts are channeled into maintaining a reasonable quality of life with the only resources you have available, all while trying to regain your health in order to return to work.

Obviously, your family will also feel the strain both emotionally and financially during this crisis. You must consider their perspective in such a situation as they will undoubtedly have questions and concerns. They may be worried about losing a major source of income. In some circumstances, a stay at home mom may have to go find employment to make up for the loss of income. How will this change impact their lives and compromise their goals?

Types of Disability Insurance Plans

Renewable at the Option of the Company: This is the least expensive type of disability insurance plan, but it carries the highest degree of exposure to the insured. As the term suggests, in order to keep the policy in force, the insured must qualify medically and financially upon each policy anniversary in order to preserve the coverage. Failure to meet the underwriting requirements will result in termination of your policy by the carrier. There are also no guarantees on the premium you pay. The insurer can raise rates on your individually each year.

Perhaps the most negative aspect of this type of policy is the definition of disability. The definition used in this policy is referred to as any occupation. Under this definition, if you are disabled and are unable to work in your regular occupation (the difference between any occupation and regular occupation is explained under Guaranteed Renewable) for up to 2 years into your disability. After that, in order to continue receiving benefits, your disability must be of such nature that you are unable to engage in "any occupation" based on education or experience. The biggest drawback to this is that the period in which you are protected in your regular occupation is far less than the statistical average duration of disability.
Guaranteed Renewable: This type of disability insurance provides guarantees that the previous one does not. Once the policy is issued, the insured does not need to re-qualify in order to continue coverage. Once it is issued, only the insured can cancel this contract. In addition, the definition under this policy is broadened and referred to as "Regular Occupation". This means that in order to receive benefits under the policy, 3 conditions must be met:
1. You are diagnosed as being unable to meet the material and substantial duties of your regular occupation
2. You are under the regular care of a physician appropriate for your injury or sickness.
3. You are not actively engaged in any other gainful employment.
The key difference with "Regular Occupation" definition versus "Any Occupation" is that it does not matter whether or not you are capable of performing in another occupation during your disability.

Finally, these policies typically provide for an interim rate guarantee, usually three or five years. After the fixed premium period elapses, the only basis with which the carrier can raise the rates on this type of disability insurance policy is by occupation classification.
Non-cancelable/Guaranteed Renewable: A Non-Cancelable/Guaranteed Renewable disability insurance plan is a Guaranteed Renewable contract as described above, but in addition to those terms, the premiums remain fixed for the life of the contract, typically until age 65, 66 or 67.
Additionally, depending on your occupational class, which is predicated upon several factors including level of physical risk, income earned and specialization of your occupation, you can qualify for an even more broadened definition of disability referred to as "own occupation" or occupation specific by some carriers. Under this definition, you are disabled if:
- You are diagnosed unable to perform the material and substantial duties of your "own occupation".
- You are under the regular care of a physician appropriate for your injury or sickness.
What does this all mean? As long as you cannot work in your "own occupation" and are under the care of a doctor, you can earn an income in another occupation should you choose to do so and still receive your disability benefit in full.

Disability Insurance can be very confusing. You want to purchase what makes the most sense for you. Capstone Benefits Advisors will educate you fully on the different types of insurance available and recommend what’s best for you.