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Anybody heard of these wage loss insurance programs?
The idea is in my provence short term disability only pays out up to 8 weeks and long term disability does not kick in until 6 months. The idea is you pay $XXX and you will get X% of your wage in that in-between period. (As I understood it)
If I already have a 6 month emergency fund I just figured I would use that but is that a good idea?
I would recommend taking a closer look at the fine print in your long-term disability policy (employer-provided?) before taking on a short-term wage insurance program to cover just the 4-month gap. Many long-term disability policies do not provide enough of a replacement income, and/or they come with all kinds of reasons why the insured is not eligible to receive payments under the policy. For example, if you are a professional and are disabled to the point that you cannot practice your profession but are nonetheless able to do work of some kind, e.g. work as a greeter in a large department store, you may be told that your policy payments will stop since you can work, even though you thought it meant that you would be paid as long as you cannot practice your profession.
It depends on your willingness to absorb the risk. This is the nature of most insurance. Your car is worth $20,000? You decide you can absorb the cost of a new car, so you only buy the liability your province requires, but not the coverage to your own car. That's a choice. If you have a long-term disability, are you comfortable enough to spend that savings before the coverage starts?
