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Supplemental Unemployment Insurance

May 28th, 2016 at 11:26 pm

I had never heard of such a thing before, but came across the term in my reading and discovered there is in fact such a thing. One company that offers it (not sure how many do) is called Income Assure. This is something I would be tempted to do, or at least research more intensively, but alas, I don't and won't qualify. You cannot have been unemployed within the past two years ( which won't be true of me until December) and the company you work for has to have at least 20 employees (which won't ever be true of my company). Also it only applies to W-2 employees, which is currently true of me. But with luck and some growth in the company, I could eventually be offered a small ownership stake and would get my earnings reported on a K-1. That's still a couple of years down the road, though. Still, supplemental unemployment insurance would be something I would check into if my circumstances were different. At least I finally got a good *disability* policy by joining a professional association. None is offered thru work. Lower quality benefits is a downside of working for a smaller employer. But on the positive side, we also don't have bureaucracy ourselves, only with the institutions we deal with.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Supplemental Unemployment Insurance”

  1. VS_ozgirl Says:
    May 28th, 2016 at 11:35 pm 1464478559
    1464478559

    In Australia it's called income protection insurance and we've made sure we've had it for many years - it pretty much paid our loan repayments (mortgage and car) when my husband was off work for four months due to a broken wrist. It's also tax deductible here which is an added bonus - why would you not protect your income when you can claim it back on tax? It's well worth the money but I've found you also need money you can access quickly as there is generally a two month waiting period. We pay around $85 per month for me and $165 for my husband (his premium went up because he claimed plus he rides motorbikes).

  2. Dido Says:
    May 29th, 2016 at 02:24 pm 1464531857
    1464531857

    Very nice. I did a bit more reading and found that it is really a new product here--just within the past few years, and no assurance that it will prove to be profitable to the insurance companies so no no guarantee that it will still be available in another ten years.

    The best alternative here is to self-insure--that is, increase one's emergency savings. The Income Assure product also has a waiting period--one can elect a period from two weeks minimum to two months--and a maximum payout period of 24 weeks.

    How nice to live in a country where such a protection is more widely available.

  3. Jenn Says:
    May 29th, 2016 at 08:21 pm 1464553297
    1464553297

    To me that seems like a waste - why not take that $250/month (!) and sweep it into an emergency fund instead? Then in the most likely event - you never become unemployed - you get to keep all the money. In the worst case, you have it as a cushion to tap and can cut expenses to the bone as well. Even tapping home equity seems like a better option in the event of unemployment.

    I also generally oppose buying insurance on phones and calculators, buying extended warranties on appliances, and getting that rider to pay off a car loan in the event of your death.

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