Disability insurance - any recs?

[Exhale]

Hello All,

I'm a single 46yo w/no kids and pre-FI (FI is seven years away, but no debt and living frugally on $1,000/mo in an expensive city). Since I've no one else to depend on it seems best to get disability insurance. I have some through my job, but was curious what other people, especially the single w/no kids folks, are choosing to do to protect themselves - both pre-FI and post-FI

Thank you for your recs & info!
Exhale

[GGNoob]

My wife (26) and I (27) have long-term disability through Zander Insurance (https://zanderins.com/disability/disinstantquote.aspx). It doesn't kick in for 6 months and goes to age 65. I dropped my short-term disability through work as it was essentially the same price as what we are both paying for LTD. Our emergency fund/savings can get us by for the 6 months if something happens.

[brooklynmoney]

I'm single 40sonething no kids have long term disability through work and a private policy I bought on my own through Northwestern Mutual. One difference I believe is the private policy payout would not be taxed while the work one would be.

[rubor]

You are doing really well in terms of your monthly expenditures. If you decide to get a disability policy (and I think MMM has an article arguing against doing it), I would make sure you choose options that make the policy as cheap as possible. Don't get the cost of living adjustment, do have a one year waiting period before you can collect, etc. If you become disabled, you can live off your savings until it kicks in. Also, remember that disability policies are often difficult to collect on. Insurance companies make a profit for a reason!

I went FI in Jan 2013, but I kept my disability policy in place just in case I decided to go back to work for any reason. By changing the options, I cut the cost of the policy by about 50%. Early retirement suits me so far, so probably getting rid of it completely at the end of this year.

[Rebecca Stapler]

With no dependents, 7 years from FI, and a policy from your employer, it doesn't seem necessary to buy disability insurance. Take a look at what your employer's policy offers, and check out your last Social Security statement to see if you could still FI in 7 years while making ends meet on your employer's policy and Social Security Disability.

If you can't make ends meet there, and it would trash your FI goals, making you not able to support yourself in the long run, then a disability policy might be worth it. To lower your premiums, you can get a policy with a waiting period ("Elimination Period"), because your employer's policy will kick in to support you while you wait for benefits to kick in.

[Roots&Wings]

Also single, no kids with disability insurance provided through work.  Depending on your coverage amount, what you have through work might be fine if it covers your essential long-term expenses; if it didn't, I would consider increasing the coverage (on mine it's a fairly nominal cost to do this) until FI.

I personally don't intend to pay for this once FI and no longer obligated to work.

[Exhale]

Thank you everyone - this was exactly the info I needed!