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Hey all. I'm a PGY1 in internal medicine (most likely eventually doing IM or non-invasive cardiology). I decided to really start educating myself about personal finances at the end of my fourth year of medical school.
For two months out, I feel like I'm doing pretty well with everything. I'm budgeting, saving, I even started my Vanguard Roth IRA. I recently started thinking about disability insurance and I wanted hear peoples' thoughts on the pros/cons of delaying DI coverage. My broker needs to get back to me with official quotes, but I believe we were toying with a policy from Principal for $115/mo and $94/mo with Guardian. Guardian is also offering a graded premium policy; my premium would be $51/mo for this first year (although subject to go up each year thereafter until I decide to lock in). These rates are for $5k policies with all the lovely riders WCI says we should have. I was also told I'm likely to face either a one ear or two ear exclusion on the policy as I wear a hearing aid in my left ear for moderate hearing loss, so essentially my ears are not insurable due to pre-existing condition.
On a PGY1 salary a premium ~$100/mo comes out to roughly 2.9% of my net salary. This hurts just enough to give me pause, especially when my monthly budget leaves so little wiggle room. I understand that in delaying my purchase of DI many things can happen:
1) The longer I wait the more monthly premiums will be as the older we get the more likely we are to claim disability
2) Like every other uninsured person out there - I might have the need to claim disability in the coming years and will be without a policy
3) In the interim I might develop a new pre-existing condition making it harder to insure myself down the road
So given this, whats the harm in say getting disability insurance as a PGY3 if I'm not planning on fellowship, or getting it in fellowship? I really suppose this all comes down to how risk adverse you are so I apologize if this is a silly question.
Also FYI - I'm turning 27 in two weeks. Single, no kids, renting, own my car, $190k student loans.
Further FYI - My residency program does offer a "free" group disability benefit. Predictably it sucks. Would not consider it adequate. 180 day elimination. Their definition of disability is as follows: "1. unable to perform the material duties of any occupation for which you are, or may reasonably become, qualified based on education, training or experience; and 2. unable to earn 80% or more of your Indexed Earnings."
For two months out, I feel like I'm doing pretty well with everything. I'm budgeting, saving, I even started my Vanguard Roth IRA. I recently started thinking about disability insurance and I wanted hear peoples' thoughts on the pros/cons of delaying DI coverage. My broker needs to get back to me with official quotes, but I believe we were toying with a policy from Principal for $115/mo and $94/mo with Guardian. Guardian is also offering a graded premium policy; my premium would be $51/mo for this first year (although subject to go up each year thereafter until I decide to lock in). These rates are for $5k policies with all the lovely riders WCI says we should have. I was also told I'm likely to face either a one ear or two ear exclusion on the policy as I wear a hearing aid in my left ear for moderate hearing loss, so essentially my ears are not insurable due to pre-existing condition.
On a PGY1 salary a premium ~$100/mo comes out to roughly 2.9% of my net salary. This hurts just enough to give me pause, especially when my monthly budget leaves so little wiggle room. I understand that in delaying my purchase of DI many things can happen:
1) The longer I wait the more monthly premiums will be as the older we get the more likely we are to claim disability
2) Like every other uninsured person out there - I might have the need to claim disability in the coming years and will be without a policy
3) In the interim I might develop a new pre-existing condition making it harder to insure myself down the road
So given this, whats the harm in say getting disability insurance as a PGY3 if I'm not planning on fellowship, or getting it in fellowship? I really suppose this all comes down to how risk adverse you are so I apologize if this is a silly question.
Also FYI - I'm turning 27 in two weeks. Single, no kids, renting, own my car, $190k student loans.
Further FYI - My residency program does offer a "free" group disability benefit. Predictably it sucks. Would not consider it adequate. 180 day elimination. Their definition of disability is as follows: "1. unable to perform the material duties of any occupation for which you are, or may reasonably become, qualified based on education, training or experience; and 2. unable to earn 80% or more of your Indexed Earnings."
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