Could you live on half of what you bring home today?

Many employees have disability insurance coverage through their employer's group plan. Almost all assume this would protect them in the event that they couldn't work due to illness or injury. Is this true?!?

A typical plan covers, after being out of work for 3 months, 60% of compensation. And is taxable. Let's assume an employee makes $100,000/year. If their effective combined federal and state tax rate is 20%, they and their family are living on $80,000. If disabled, the insurance company would pay $60,000/year, and at a 10% effective tax rate, they would have $54,000/year to live on. This is a cut in take-home pay of almost 1/3. 

Could you afford to stay in your home if you had a long-term cut in pay of 33% or more?

Everyone's situation and benefits are different. Contact MTM so our specialists can help you understand the impact an illness or injury would have on your family, and what options you have to protect yourself.  

Send us your Contracts before you sign!

Many of our commercial clients are asked to sign contracts or leases each year that contain specific insurance language and requirements. We always ask that you consult with us before you sign that next contract.

At MTM , we will assist you in determining if your current insurance coverage is adequate to meet the requirements of this new contract. We will also obtain additional costs if, in fact, you need to increase or add critical insurance coverage in order to satisfy YOUR clients demands.

Often we find that some of these lease/contract insurance requirements are onerous and in some cases, not applicable to your operations. In one recent case, we had a client who was providing professional management consulting, and was being asked to obtain POLLUTION insurance! Thankfully, we reviewed beforehand and our client was able to go back and strike that request from the list. In another case, a client was being forced to purchase $10,000,000 of Network Security and Data breach insurance and their client was not backing off this requirement. Once we priced out the additional premium, our client decided that this deal was too small to make fiscal sense and walked away.

Kids Going off to  college..................a few more things to worry about!

Summer has ended and many of us have sent our kids off to college.  For both parents and kids, this can be a very emotional time. Unfortunately, amidst all the commotion of packing them up and moving them out, there are a few critical insurance issues that need to be addressed. 

Here are some points you may need to think about:

- If your child is renting an "off campus" apartment, it is likely that they will not have any coverage under the parents' homeowner policy .  They will need to purchase a  "renters" policy to ensure that they have coverage for personal property , ( i.e. lap tops, clothing etc. ) and personal liability

- If your child will be keeping their vehicle with them at college, you will need to change the "principal" place of garaging on his auto policy from home to school.  ( failure to make this change can result in a claim being denied by your insurance carrier)

- If your child is living in a dorm he or she will typically have limited benefits extended from the parents homeowner policy but we recommend placing a call to your agent to make sure there aren't any big gaps in coverage.

- Laptops/software can be costly to replace.  They require special insurance and we recommend you have a discussion with your agent to review your options.

Lastly, we recommend you advise your kids not to let anyone else drive the car.    If a major accident were to occur, the risk to both the parents and the kids financial well being is too great to assume!

Good Luck!