As a physician-in-training, you spend your fair share of time around illnesses and injuries: Studying them, treating them, educating your patients. Still, it’s easy to fall into the mindset of “it won’t happen to me.”

James Pommert dives into why disability insurance is so critical for early-career physicians, drawing on his expertise as a Certified Financial Planner, Founder of physician-focused wealth management firm Equitta, and husband of a pediatric oncologist. 

Related: Insurance Must-Knows for Early-Career Physicians

“The best way to understand this concept is to think of a bridge: On one end of the bridge you have this kind of this promised land of what we call financial independence,” he explains. “On the other side of that bridge though, you're in the ‘accumulation phase’ – and that is when and why disability insurance is needed.”

James notes that true financial independence occurs when a loss of income wouldn’t impact your ability to live the life you want to. Until that moment, disability insurance can offer protection to you and your loved ones, potentially covering costs associated with your mortgage or rent, food, travel, gym membership, childcare, and beyond. 

Often, however, that value isn’t clear until it affects you or someone you know.

Consider the story of a couple James was working with several years ago: Both were physicians at the University of Cincinnati and considering adding disability insurance to their financial plan. In the time they were taking to consider their options and apply for a plan, one of their colleagues was struck by a vehicle while cycling – requiring years of physical therapy to recover enough to practice medicine again. 

Related: The RIGHT Way to Get Disability Insurance as a Young Physician

“The purpose in saying that is it became tangibly real for the people that I was working with – my clients were like, ‘Hey, I'm glad we're going through this process because it's happening to somebody we know.’”

Hit “play” to hear other real-world examples of why disability insurance is a critical piece of financial planning for physicians-in-training (including a personal story from James’ own experience)!

Chapters

• 00:00:00 – What is disability insurance?
• 00:01:14 – How disability insurance protects your lifestyle
• 00:02:11 – What happens when you’re (literally) hit by a bus?
• 00:04:00 – No one thinks it will happen to them
• 00:06:03 – A personal anecdote about the value of disability insurance

3 Key Takeaways

1. Disability insurance is essential for protecting your income as a physician, as well as for maintaining your lifestyle in case of illness or injury.
2. It’s easy to think that it can never happen to you – but unexpected accidents and illnesses can occur at any moment, disrupting your career and financial plans. 
3. Diseases and illnesses (particularly musculoskeletal) account for far more disability claims than injuries.

Protect Your Lifestyle

Want to explore what disability insurance plans are available to you? Click here to connect with a member of the Equitta team and get started today. 

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