Short-term Disability. Do I need it?

[NextTime]

So every year the benefits at my company seem to get worse and worse. This year I will be forced to pay a spousal surcharge of $50/pay period, and they will no longer pay for the short term disability coverage they have supplied since I started working here.

Question is, do I really need short term disability? It's $12/pay period and I'm leaning towards no. I'm male if it makes any difference.

[thd7t]

The only time we've ever bought short term disability insurance was prior to my wife getting pregnant (each time).  We only bought it for her, because if she had it for a month before becoming pregnant, she would receive 6 weeks of pay while she was on leave.  We did the math and determined that it could take us two years to become pregnant and still be worthwhile. 

That said, you are a man and can't anticipate that kind of absence from work.  In that case, it's what an emergency fund is for and I don't think it's worth doing.

[NextTime]

Yeah. That's the only thing I can think of. My wife is due in May so it would be worth it for her to have. I can't think of a reason for myself. Never had to worry about it before because it was given to me. Now that it's on me, $24/month seems like a lot to considering it's a long shot that it will ever be used.

[StetsTerhune]

There's usually two questions to ask if you you're thinking of buying insurance:

1. Is the expected payout higher than the premiums (for instance because it's mostly employer paid and you're planning on being pregnant)
2. Is it protecting against something that will be ruinous for me if it happens (no matter how unlikely it seems to be).

If either of those is a yes, you should probably buy it. If both are no, you probably shouldn't.

If you're on this website, it's pretty likely that you can go 6 weeks without a paycheck without losing your house, car, etc. So I'm guessing you're a no.