So many of us want to do things in our lives, but we are afraid of the mistakes we might make. As Theodore Roosevelt once said, “The only man who never makes a mistake is the man who never does anything.” Let’s use disability insurance as an example of a mistake many people make through inaction. Most people know that they should have life insurance and health insurance, but when it comes to disability insurance almost everyone says the same things: “I’m young, nothing will happen to me.”, “I’m covered through work.”, or “I pay into CPP, they will take care of me!” In reality, even if you are young, you can still get hurt. Since 2001, disability has increased an average of 5.5% from ages 15-44. In Manitoba alone the percentage of people unemployed due to disability is 8.9%. That’s almost double the rate of people unemployed without a disability. So don’t think that you are invincible just because you are young. Group insurance is fantastic. If your work offers it, take as much as you can, but educate yourself about how it works. Group disability only covers you for 66% of your monthly income for up to 2 years, after that they can cancel your benefits if you are able to work any job. Basically, if are still disabled, but you could work at Wal-Mart, they will cancel your benefits. Like I said, group is great, but just cover all your bases and educate yourself. Now comes the government. Did you know that to qualify for CPP disability benefits your disability must be severe and prolonged and most likely to end in death. CPP disability is basically a last resort. Unless you can never do any job on a regular basis, you won’t be eligible for benefits.

Let’s take me for instance. I am a prime example of thinking that I am young and healthy and nothing can happen to me. I had no coverage and was working a labor intensive job. I thought I would be able to do my job forever and then BANG! A simple tree removal changed my life drastically. Since I had no coverage, I couldn’t take the time off required to recover fully from my back injury. I returned to work and pushed through the pain for two years. Eventually, I had to quit my job. Because of my injury, there weren’t a lot of jobs that I could do, and I didn’t have the qualifications to pursue jobs in different industries. The money I had invested for my retirement now became the money I needed to survive off of, and now I don’t qualify for disability benefits on the issue that I will mostly likely become disabled from. So here I am two years later starting a brand new career with two kids and no savings left. I went from knowing what my future would look like, to not knowing what next year is going to look like. So don’t risk your future by doing nothing, because that could end up being the biggest mistake you ever make.