But the chance of becoming disabled is higher than you probably think. According to the Council for Disability Awareness who says that you can ignore the problem, but it's hard to ignore the facts:1. Almost one-third of Americans entering the work force today (3 in 10) will become disabled before they retire.
2. Freak accidents are NOT usually the culprit. Back injuries, cancer, heart disease and other illnesses cause the majority of long-term absences.
Are you prepared if it happens to you?
Most working Americans estimate that their own chances of experiencing a long term disability are substantially lower than the average worker’s. 64% of wage earners believe they have a 2% or less chance of being disabled for 3 months or more during their working career. The actual odds for a worker entering the workforce today are about 30%.
A. According to CDA’s 2010 Long-Term Disability Claims Review, the following are the leading causes of new disability claims in 2009:
o Musculoskeletal/connective tissue disorders caused 26.2% of new claims.
o Nervous System-Related disorders caused 13.7% of new claims.
o Cardiovascular/circulatory disorders caused 13.1% of new claims.
o Cancer was the 4th leading cause of new disability claims at 8.4%.
C. Accident-related claims dropped rather significantly as a cause of new disability claims from 10.7% in 2008 to 8.8% in 2009. This may be related to lifestyle changes, possibly driven by the economy.
A sample of factors that increase the risk of disability: Excess body weight, tobacco use, high risk activities or behaviors, chronic conditions such as; diabetes, high blood pressure, back pain, anxiety or depression, frequent alcohol consumption or substance abuse.
To calculate your own Personal Disability Quotient, go to:
http://www.disabilitycanhappen.org/chances_disability/pdq.asp To learn more about risk factors and ways to help reduce your risk, go to:
http://www.disabilitycanhappen.org/reducing_chances/default.asp
When you take the risk and it does not work out. You take on a severe financial hardship.
2. Medical problems contributed to 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, a 49.6% increase over results from a similar 2001 study.
3. It is estimated that medical problems contributed to more than 500,000 personal bankruptcy filings in 2007.
4. Personal bankruptcy filings increased 32% from 2008-2009, 31% between 2007- 2008, and 38% from 2006-2007.
5. Medical problems contributed to half of all home foreclosure filings in 2006.
1. Do you spend more than you earn? 44% of U.S. families do.
2. Do you have private pension coverage? Most of us - over 50% - don't.
3. Retirement savings? One-third of us have none.
4. 60% of adult Americans have NO savings earmarked for emergencies.
5. 71% of Americans would find it very difficult or somewhat difficult to meet their current financial obligations if their next paycheck were delayed for one week.
6. 65% of working Americans say they could not cover normal living expenses even for a year if their employment income was lost; 38% could not pay their bills for more than 3 months.
7. Nearly nine in ten workers (86%) surveyed believe that people should plan in their 20’s or 30’s in case an income limiting disability should occur;
o Only half (50%) of all workers have actually planned for this possibility.
o Fewer than half (46%) have even discussed disability planning.
A. 65% of initial SSDI claim applications were denied in 2009.
B. Can your family live on $1,065 a month? That's the average monthly benefit paid by Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) in June of 2010. 8% of SSDI recipients received less than $500 monthly. 52% received less than $1,000 per month. 97% received less than $2,000 per month.
C. The average SSDI monthly benefit payment was $1,190 for males, and $928 for females.
D. Less than 10% of disabling accidents and illnesses are work related. The other 90% are not, meaning Workers’ Compensation doesn’t cover them.
Visit the CDA website for more information: http://www.disabilitycanhappen.org/
Darnell’s IRA Portfolio doubled in two years, two months, and 13 days. He started keeping track of his IRA on January 30, 2009 and it doubled on April 11, 2011. That was an investment time of 802 days giving 102.53 per cent.
“Year to Date” (YTD) Darnell's portfolio is out performing the Dow. This is a surprise to him because he thought that the recovery would have started by now and people would be spending more money causing profits of companies to rise. This in turn would cause demand for common stocks that would cause stock prices to rise. This would cause the Dow to rise. But this is not happening. The unemployment rate has fallen some but the amount of unemployment in the United States is staggering. The amount of unemployment around the world is far worse. Unemployment has caused civil unrest in Europe and governments are threatened in North Africa and the Middle East. The last time this much economic civil unrest occurred is when Hitler and Mussolini came to power causing World War II.
With his yearly contribution, YTD (April 15, 2011), Darnell is up 13.4%. Without his yearly contribution, YTD, April 15, 2011, he is up 6.64%. The Dow is up YTD 5.26%. Many of his bonds that he bought at the time of the Stock Market melt down matured on April 15, 2011. He will have to reinvest his money in bonds giving a lower return. The bonds that he bought in 2008 and 2009 gave a return of 36% per year for 2 to 3 years. The bonds that he bought on April 15, 2011 is giving interest of only 7.9% to 9.5% per year for the next 2 to 7 years.
No matter how you look at Darnell's portfolio, he is still beating the Dow.
Who has been looking at Darnell's blog in the past 30 days (from the most to the least);
1. United States
2. Russia
3. Slovenia
4. Canada
5. Germany
6. France
7. Hungary
8. Iran
9. United Arab Emirates
10. Brazil
No comments:
Post a Comment