At 45, lawyer Peter Zatir attributed the fatigue he felt to middle age. Add to that a hectic law practice and five active children – the youngest just one year old – so it’s easy to see how he could have written off the early signs of a serious illness. When he finally visited his doctor, the diagnosis was bleak. He had an aggressive form of thyroid cancer and had less than a year to live.
When Peter was awake at night, his financial situation was something he did not lose sleep over. When Peter and his partner opened their legal business, they knew they needed insurance advice and turned to Brent Kimball, CFP, CLU, ChFC, who convinced them to protect their income and business with disability insurance.
A plan to protect
Shortly after Peter stopped working to focus on fighting his illness, the individual health insurance he purchased began to pay a monthly benefit. A year later, Peter had survived his prognosis, but knew with an injured larynx that he could never return to the courtroom to bring charges. Because the partners had drawn up a buy-sell agreement and financed it with a disability purchase policy, Peter was compensated for half of his business and his partner became the sole owner.
An experimental drug reduced Peter’s tumor, which surgeons could then remove. Now, almost six years after his diagnosis, Peter is feeling better and has been able to maintain his family’s standard of living. He continues to receive benefits from his individual disability insurance, and his retirement is funded thanks to an additional disability policy that he had in place for this purpose. “I fear where we would be today if I had not taken Brent’s advice,” he says.
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