When you’re healthy and working, it’s hard to imagine being disabled by illness or injury.

What would happen if your paychecks suddenly stopped because you were too sick or injured to work? What if you couldn’t work for months – or years?

You’d still have to pay all your monthly bills, including food, utilities, house and car payments. Add in things like tuition and retirement funding, and it’s easy to see how savings could quickly disappear.

Unfortunately, you can’t rely on other income sources like Social Security to protect you. In many cases, they don’t apply -- or aren’t enough

Think you're already protected?  Think about this:

• Social Security disability payments are limited to disabilities expected to last at least 12 months or end in death. To qualify, you must be unable to engage in any type of work.

• Personal Savings can best be used to build a comfortable future. Add up your monthly bills, then multiply by 12 and you can see how fast even substantial savings can be depleted by unexpected illness or injury.

• Long-Term Disability Insurance offered through your employer is a start. But workplace disability benefits often times cover only about 50% of your income. Can your family survive on half of a paycheck?