Let’s talk Long-Term Disability first.

Long Term Disability – From what I understand there is no longer a waiting period it was 30 to 180 days. Benefit period can be 5 yrs or more. LDI pays up to 70% of your pre-tax income. There are also 3 types of LDI. Own Occupation, Regular Occupation and Any Occupation coverage.

Short-Term Disability – Usually the best choice for the self employed. STD covers all short-term disability. This disability insurance has a two week waiting period, and usually has a benefit period of 13-26 weeks.

This is one of those areas that I recommend you get on the internet and do your research. You should also consult with the company that is providing your life insurance.

There are times when you are really busy with your business and everything does not get done. There are times when you think if only I had some more income then I could hire some one or several people to help me with my business and take it to the next level.

I have a word for you – Intern. As a matter of fact, why not contact your local community college and inquire about their internship requirements. Interns can be paid or unpaid, it is up to you. I have thought about this several times and literally am about to step out and do this.

When you are self-employed and your household depends on your producing income, it is important to ensure that you do what you do best whatever that service is. I do not even begin to say that I am good at everything because I know better. Therefore, get you an intern that can help you that is willing to learn and preferably one that will not be competing with you after they learn everything they can from you.

Wives, you do not want a husband (I’ve heard these stories during different group seminars) that is upset because your business is not generating any income. Therefore, his first suggestion is that you return to work outside the home.

Let’s talk about solutions:

1) Hire an intern – go through local community college, put a listing on backpage.com, contact friends and see if they know anyone who is looking for a job.

2) Sit down and evaluate what you really want to do with your business and can you partner with another business to get it done. For example, I am working on developing relationships with other small business owners that have their own groups that do not conflict with what I do and see how we can collaborate.

3) Inquire to see if there are any offline events locally that you could speak at or provide your service for.

4) Contact previous clients and ask them for referrals.

5) You could also develop a promotion and run it!

Wives, it is all about being solution oriented instead of stress and victim oriented.

1) Medical Insurance

2) Life Insurance

3) Disability (Short and Long-term)

4) Retirement Planning

Those are the top four. True enough you may have already covered the first two – be sure and get numbers 3 and 4 handled. If you can no longer perform your business due to injury or illness, are you covered?

1) Northwestern Mutual

2) MetLife

3) Tiaa-Cref

4) AFLAC

5) Prudential Financial

6) New York Life

7) Genworth Financial

Term Life Insurance - simple, no cash value, not as expensive. Purpose: to pay out one lump sum to whomever you designated upon your death.

Whole Life Insurance - provides permanent protection for your dependents while building a cash value account. Other benefits to this policy: pays a death benefit to the beneficiary you name and offers you a low risk cash value account and tax-deferred cash accumulation; provides a fixed premium which can’t increase during your lifetime as long as you continue to pay the planned amount.

Universal Life – You decide how much you want to put in over and above a minimum premium. The company chooses the investment vehicle. The investment and the returns go into a cash-value account, which you can use against premiums or allow to build.

As a Wife CFO, doing your homework is crucial.

If you have not purchased life insurance, let me share some important questions with you that you should be asking:

1) What is the financial health of the company? I wanted to start with this one because I have seen companies (not life insurance companies mind you) but have seen some that don’t have the money to pay a claim when it becomes due. HELLO – what would be the point of going with an insurance company that is not financially sound. TAKE your time and ask the questions. You are the one that will be paying YOUR money.

2) Is there an”Act of GOD” exclusion? If the cause of death is determined to be an “act of God”, the policy will not pay a death benefit, or the benefit is reduced from the original face amount. An “act of God” is, essentially, a natural disaster. Therefore if you are killed in a tornado, hurricane or some other natural cause, the insurance company does not have to pay or they can pay a reduced amount. Being from Louisiana and watching what happened to all those people in Katrina, it was my hope that the insurance companies would step up and work to restore those individuals and families to some sense of normalcy.

3) What documentation is required for “proof of death” before the policy can be paid out? (What is necessary for my family to prove I am dead?). A problem the families of the 911 victims encountered with the insurance companies, was the companies refused to pay the claim because their was no “proof of death”, in other words, (to be blunt), no body, no death certificate, no check.

4) How much Life Insurance do I need? Make sure you are prepared to answer all the questions from your insurance agent regarding number of persons in your family, whether or not you want to pay for your children’s (or spouse’s) college education, if you own a home, have a lot of outstanding debt. All of that information is important to giving you a quote.

5) How can I lower my insurance premium? Ask what you can do to reduce your premium for life insurance. If you’re a smoker, going on a stop-smoking program, for example, can provide you with a nonsmoker’s rate after one year of quitting. And two years into a smoke-free lifestyle, you may qualify for a preferred nonsmoker’s premium.

These are only some of the beginning questions. Make sure you do your homework and ask all the right questions before you sign on the dotted line.

Shortly after we got the bank account, we contacted our insurance agent for our automobiles and talked with him about life insurance.

Let’s talk about the top reasons why you should have life insurance:

1) If you have a mortgage or other bills, in the event of your death, these will be PAID OFF! Enough said right!

2) Are you healthy, nothing is hurting? This is the prime time to get life insurance – the cost will be low. If you take out a policy that gives you the chance to keep the same that allows you to keep the same premium until the age of 65, you will have considerable savings! If you wait until you develop health issues to get a policy, you could be turned down from the start because of pre-existing conditions or you could be charged more. The earlier you start, the better.

3) If you are married and care about your spouse – GET things in order. Doing this is not saying you expect something to happen; however it says you are prepared and want to ensure your family is taken care of.

4) LEGACY! Leaving a legacy for grandchildren instead of passing on bills and debt. You do not want family members fighting once the funeral is over because everyone has to chip in on funeral expenses.

5) BIGGEST ONE for me is Gives you peace of mind. You know once we put the life insurance policies in place, I was sleeping very well at night. Those nightmares vanished as if they never happened. I learned from them and my husband and I took action.

1) It’s all about how you present the information
2) Do not leave out any details so a wise and informed decision can be made.

Scenario: The refrigerator went out in Jane and Roger’s house. Her husband, Roger called a repairman to come and tell them what was happening. The repairman came in and said to fix the refrigerator would cost them $575.00. Roger tells Jane it would cost $575 to fix the refrigerator and he could go buy one for $720. Jane says the $575 would wipe out their cash and to find out what is the repairman’s charge for telling the what was wrong. Roger talks with the repairman and he says $55. As Jane approaches the hallway, she hears the repairman saying he could fix it for $400 cash!

Jane and Roger do not have $400 cash in the home, also Jane had just finished paying their other bills. So Jane pays the repairman the $55 and he leaves. Jane and Roger sit down to discuss what is going to be their next course of action –

1) Do they try to get the $400 and get their refrigerator fixed?

2) Do they go to a local store and purchase a refrigerator hoping they can get credit – thereby creating some debt?

What would you recommend and why?

I can relate to this and understand that is a concern. I remember when I was in the process of leaving my employment to have our twins and at that time the plan was to be on COBRA for 18 months. Wives, COBRA is a pretty penny.
We paid it and I made sure everyone was covered.

Once COBRA became unaffordable, I checked into various insurance policies. Since that has been many years ago and situations change my husband has been utilizing the insurance plan through his employer.

What are the options for medical insurance? Below are different ones you can research for your situation. If you are self-employed, you can ask for quotes in that situation as well.

1) Aetna Health Insurance

2) Blue Cross Blue Shield

3) Ehealthinsurance.com

4) Humana

Christian Sharing Programs

1) Christian Healthcare Ministries

2) Medi-share

3) Samaritan Ministries

Low Income Health Insurance

For those that fit into this bracket for now, go to Google and type in Low Income Health Insurance and your state to see what is available.

1) To protect you and your family against the financial hardship that results from health care expenses.

2) When you have health insurance, people are more comfortable going to get a situation checked out before it worsens and can result in more expense.

3) If large medical bills are not paid, the hospital can put a lien against your property.

4) If you have to seek care through a county run hospital, the wait times are enormous.

5) Without medical insurance, you may not be able to receive affordable medical care when you need it.

Of course this should also encourage you to get healthy due to the amount of money that can be spent on healthcare.