Income Protection for Employees
If you offer group long-term disability benefits, the coverage may only protect about half of an employee’s net monthly income. You can help your employees reduce the coverage gap by making supplemental individual DI insurance policies available to them1. By offering this valuable coverage as a voluntary benefit, your employees can have added protection to help them meet their financial obligations during a disability, at little or no cost to the business. MassMutual offers different DI products to meet the needs of both small and large businesses and organizations. Depending on your company’s needs, a DI offering can be either voluntary or employer-paid, and might be eligible for simplified underwriting. Regardless of the design, your employees enjoy discounted premiums and policy portability.
Retirement Protection for Employees
Your employees have worked hard to save for retirement, and you can offer a way to help them protect the nest eggs they have built. A major derailer for many people approaching retirement can occur if they become too sick or hurt to work, and are forced to tap into their retirement savings to meet the expenses of everyday life. A disability income policy can not only replace a portion of one’s income when a disability occurs, but it can also be designed to help your employees continue saving for retirement if they become too sick or hurt to work. In this way, offering DI policies can help your business attract talent and build loyalty.
Protect Your Business and Select Employees
For a small business, a key employee’s disability can impact the company’s bottom line. However, if you choose to continue paying that employee’s salary without having a pre-existing plan in place, tax reporting issues may arise as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would generally not recognize those payments as a business expense. A Qualified Sick Pay Plan (QSPP), which is recognized by the IRS and can be funded with DI, sets company policy before a disability occurs. Funding a QSPP with DI, you transfer the risk of a portion of that employee’s salary to MassMutual. The owner can choose which employees will be included in a QSPP, making it ideal for family businesses looking to offer disability income protection for non-owner family members.
Fund Buy-Sell Agreement
If your business has multiple owners, you can use DI to fund a buy-out option if one partner becomes disabled, allowing for an orderly transition of ownership. Additionally, this allows the insurance carrier to serve as an objective third party to determine whether a disability has occurred. If you’re in a partnership that has an existing buy-sell agreement, it’s important that you review the agreement to ensure that disabilities are addressed and funded.
Cover Business Overhead Expenses
As a business owner, you have expenses to pay and obligations to meet. So if you were to become disabled, the future of your company could be in jeopardy. However, with a business overhead expense (BOE) disability policy in place, the business can continue to operate even while you are unable to work. A BOE policy can help by paying a portion of overhead expenses, such as leases and salaries, in the event of a business owner’s disability. Premiums for a BOE policy are generally tax deductible and the benefits paid, which are subject to taxation, are used to pay for expenses that are commonly tax deductible. | |
