Brian So|Insurance Advisor, AAFS Insurance

Brian So
Insurance Advisor, Brian So Insurance

1.What type of disability insurance do you own?
I own an individual disability insurance policy with an regular occupation extender, residual disability, future insurability and cost of living riders. In case your readers are not aware, the regular occupation extender means that I will not be forced back to work after 24 months if I could work in any gainful occupation. Residual disability protects me from a partial loss of income, future insurability allows me to add to the coverage if my income increases in the future, and cost of living indexes my benefits to inflation. I feel that riders are more important for disability than life insurance and the ones I chose are mandatory to protect myself from all the risks, even though they increase the cost of coverage.
 

2.What factors did you consider when determining the coverage amount?
I bought the maximum I could based on my income, because I will need all of it if I were to become disabled. 

3. Do you think people underestimate the importance of disability insurance, and if so, why?
Yes. In fact there was a survey by RBC Insurance recently polling Canadian workers about the prevalence of disability. Most Canadians underestimate the chances of a disability occurring, and most believe that they are caused by accidents, when diseases such as mental illness, cancer, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal disease are 6 times more likely to cause disability than accidents.

4. What limitations or exclusions should people watch out for?
People should be aware of the exclusion clause for pre-existing conditions. If a disability results within a certain period once coverage begins because of a condition that was diagnosed a certain period before coverage began, then the insurance company can deny your claim based on this clause. Any exclusion is written in your contract so make sure you double check your policy.

5. If you had to choose between critical illness and disability insurance, which one would you choose and why?
I would choose disability insurance, simply because you can still work after suffering a critical illness, while the definition of a disability means you can’t work in your occupation. A critical illness can be devastating financially, but a long-term disability will without a doubt be much worse for your finances.

Brian So, BSc, CHS, is an insurance advisor at AAFS Insurance. He helps his clients in the lower mainland of British Columbia discover their insurance needs and find suitable products and solutions for those needs. He wants to meet individuals who care deeply about their financial goals in hopes of designing a plan to help them reach those goals. He is currently on the road to becoming a CFP.

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