Before my husband went on disability, we stopped spending money in order to increase our savings. We’ve found that our spending has actually been much lower while he’s been out of work, but we also had a few unexpected events develop where the savings has come in handy.
Delays in Disability Pay
The first issue is delays in processing disability pay. We were prepared for it to take up to a month to get the first check, so we needed to have at least one month’s expenses in the bank. As it turned, we got the first check in two weeks, but it gave us peace of mind anyway.
Being on Disability Longer than Planned
We initially planned for my husband to be out of work for two months. Due to a complication, that timeline stretched out to three months. We reached that point, and another small issue arose. My husband won’t be returning to work until three and a half months after he went out, and he may not be full time at first. Fortunately, we still have savings to cover any gaps, because our spending will start to rise again once he returns to work.
Gaps in Disability Pay
The initial disability application had an end date of April 1. At the end of that period, the state sent us an extension form, but it took a month to restart the payments from that point. We received back pay, but our check account got a little low during the gap period because we also had a plumbing emergency and some work done on the kitchen. Again, because we’d saved up, we were able to cover the gap without a great deal of stress. We were close to transferring money from our savings, but the checks arrived just in time.
So far we haven’t had to spend any of our savings, although we will when the plumber finally asks to be paid. We were very fortunate to be able to plan for disability, but this is yet another reason you need an emergency fund. California provides state disability pay (funds come from employee payroll taxes), but most other states do not. If you don’t have disability insurance, or your disability coverage is taxable, make sure you have enough money to cover a three-month shortfall. You’ll be glad you did you or a family member suffers an accident or illness.
