Cover Your Assets Podcast with Billy Gwaltney

When you advance from a resident or fellow physician to an attending physician, your income grows. And with more income, you can increase your disability insurance. But how much disability insurance should you have? Are your benefits going to be taxed? And why doesn’t your policy cover 100% of your salary? You might not be asking yourself these questions today. But answering them means you get to...

Many young physicians wonder if the Cost Of Living Adjustment is an important insurance rider. They want to know how a COLA works and how it's calculated. By earning interest, a COLA ensures that disability payments keep pace with inflation. But not all COLAs are the same, and you may not even need one. Listen now to discover everything you need to know about COLAs! Show Highlights Include: How a...

When considering your insurance options, you may have come across the Mental Nervous benefit. This confusing benefit has a very specific purpose: to cover your psychiatric care. But what is psychiatric care, exactly? What disabilities does this benefit cover? And how long does it pay? There is a lot of confusion around the Mental Nervous benefit. And in today's episode, you’ll get a clear understa...

Your disability insurance policy may include a Future Insurability Option. With an FIO, you can increase your coverage without an updated medical review. This allows you to increase coverage throughout your career. But what if you don't take this option, or you let it lapse? When you find yourself in need of more insurance, it can be costly — or outright denied. Don't leave your future disability...

To get disability insurance, your provider needs to review your medical history. That history is your medical underwriting. It determines your insurance rates. And once that insurance cost is set, it only covers your income at the time of that review. What happens when you make more money? With a Benefit Update Rider, you have the option to increase your coverage to match your income. These Benefi...

Combining your disability coverage with life insurance sounds like a smart financial move. You want to cover career gaps after an injury and get the coverage that always protects your loved ones. But having a sustainable financial future starts with knowing what discounts work for you. Combining policies is a case-by-case situation (and you don’t want to stack your policies on bad advice). In this...

When it comes to policy shopping, you might combine disability coverage with life insurance. But you want to make sure you get the most protection (without paying the most in fees).  There are a few things to consider in the underwriting process of combining plans. Getting the best rates is about knowing how discounts work for you. In this episode, you’ll discover how to find the best rates for co...

It might feel like a waste of money getting coverage if you don’t perform extensive surgeries or exhaust your body every day. But a policy is about much more than preventing injuries…. The perfect policy will take care of your income when you’re sick or injured. Those things happen all the time and you need time to recover (without stressing about your next check). Cover will make sure your income...

You might think you’re medically ‘uninsurable’ based on something that’s happened in the past…but conversations about coverage don’t end with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.  And by asking the right questions and knowing what options are available, you can explore the alternatives and find a powerful plan that protects your career (even if it’s not the one you wanted).   Remember: Everything is temporary....

If you can’t land the best contract available or get the disability benefits you want, it might feel like it’s not worth paying for. But as strange as it may seem, policies with exclusions are better than no policy at all.  You might have a less-than-perfect offer right now, but find ways to improve your policy in the future. As the famous saying goes: Don’t miss the forest through the trees. In t...

When looking into insurance rates, you might notice that the cost of a disability plan for females is significantly higher. But you don’t want to settle on a plan that doesn’t protect and preserve your career (just to save yourself from paying premium rates).  So what’s the reason for the extra expense? And should you pick a plan based on price? In this episode, you’ll discover how to find the max...

Nobody wants to plan for the worst, but when it comes to an unexpected disability on the job, you don’t want to be digging in your savings account just to cover the rent. With the right coverage, finances are immune to expenses and you can focus on your recovery (without worrying about missing work).  In this episode, you’ll learn how Principal disability insurance preserves your career today whil...

It’s hard to find the perfect policy for your unique situation. And with disability insurance, mistakes are costly - you can’t afford to find out about your contract’s details when you’re already disabled and can’t perform your job.  That’s why it’s important to make the right choice from the beginning. And that starts with choosing a provider you can trust. In this episode, I introduce you to Gua...

In various stages of your career, disability insurance could cost more or less. Preserving and protecting income starts with locking in the best rates price possible for you and your family. Save yourself the guesswork and know exactly how what top plans in the industry do to slash expenses and support the life you deserve during an emergency.  In this episode, you’ll discover learn about one of t...

Disability coverage plans can feel like a mystery if you don’t know how to read between the fine lines of your contract. And you shouldn’t be haveving to figure it all out during recovery while trying to recover and get back to work. Understanding your plan before an accident is essential for an effortless claims process (so you won’t be sitting around wondering when or if you’ll get a paycheck)....

When looking at disability coverage plans, finding one that protects the career you love most and the money you’ve worked so hard for is crucial. And it’s easy to get lost in the lingo of the insurance world between policy definitions and what fits your particular situation. ManyIn many cases, physicians even end up going back to clinical and doing things they don’t like because of ‘hidden definit...

The only thing more difficult than deciding to get a disability insurance policy is deciding which one to buy. Which benefits will you actually need? How much will that cost you? It’s a lot for one person to think about…  But life insurance should alleviate stress, not cause it. With a little insight into one of the top disability contracts out there, you can find a plan that works with your caree...

There’s a lot of confusion and speculation behind pricing special disability coverage. You might feel so overwhelmed by the wave of information that you put it off until you really need it. By then, your rates have skyrocketed beyond repair.  Preserving and protecting a career path starts with coverage that works with your wallet, not against it. In this episode, I share the invisible expenses beh...

Some physicians rely on group insurance policies from employers. This saves money in the short term, but what happens when you move on to an employer that doesn’t offer coverage? Or open your own practice? Many times the cost of disability coverage has skyrocketed, making it a financial burden. But if you purchase private coverage early on, it will be cheaper but also portable. That policy will co...

Healthy, young, non-smoking physicians typically think they can get away without having disability insurance. It makes sense — insurance can seem foolish when you’re healthy.  But what happens if you get sick? Healthy, young, physicians have a 25% chance of becoming disabled for 3 months or longer — and a 40% chance that a disability lasts 5 years or longer.  Even a 3-month break in income while y...

The decision to purchase disability insurance is not always easy. After all, there are plenty of other things you could do with that money. And if your budget is tight, the decision gets even harder. Most clients want to know if they are at risk of becoming disabled. The answer: surprisingly high. And there’s no way to know when it will happen or how long it will last. If you want to avoid financi...

When money is tight, it can be tempting to pick up a disability policy with a cheaper premium. But that’s not always the best financial move for you. Often the policy that is cheaper today will cost you far more money tomorrow.  It’s critical for you to understand the difference between various premium structures. Then you don’t get stuck with a policy that costs more than it’s worth. In this epis...

Many physicians hesitate to get disability coverage because they fear rising costs over time. There are plenty of horror stories of companies raising rates and terms unexpectedly, leaving doctors without the coverage they desperately need. This is common with lower-tier companies. That’s why we don’t sell or recommend their policies. In this episode, I discuss everything you need to know to get a...

Most physicians know about term insurance. It’s cheap, and if you die, your family gets paid quite a bit of money. Whole life insurance is another matter entirely. It is more expensive, more complicated, and typically pays a smaller death benefit. So why would you ever purchase it? In this episode, Billy busts some financially irresponsible myths about whole life insurance, discusses why you shoul...

This is a more personal episode than we’ve done lately, but with all that’s going on in the world right now, it seemed like the perfect time to explain why we at PPG love working with you. Having worked with thousands of physicians around the country, we have come to realize that there are a number of traits that really make doctors a special group of people, and in this episode Billy will discuss...