I know – I know …. company annual reports can be boring! I get that but usually, when you get a company report – the CEO or other leading official of that company throw in some information that might surprise you. Recently, I received a report from one of our portfolio companies – UNUM! UNUM bought Provident Insurance Company a few years back and both of these companies have long specialized in disability insurance. Disability insurance can be your paycheck when you can’t work! I have several insured with UNUM and the comfort they have in knowing that if they have some sickness or accident and can’t work for a period of time, UNUM will step in and pay them disability income while they can’t work. That peace of mind for so many doesn’t have a price tag! I’ve seen many avoid bankruptcy and destroyed credit ratings because they had the foresight to purchase disability insurance.

This company annual report for 2014 offered some interesting items as UNUM (as all companies do) tried to show their best of their progress with this report. Here are some of those items presented by Tom Watjen, Chief Executive Officer and Rick McKenney, President of UNUM Insurance Company.

• Last year, we paid more than $6.7 billion in benefits and, in our group disability business alone, enabled 230,000 people to return to work and a productive lifestyle, while giving millions of others the peace of mind that comes with protecting themselves and their loved ones.
• Looking ahead, we believe there is an even greater need for our products and services, especially when you consider that 70 percent of working Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck with little to fall back on should a significant illness or injury occur. Or that a full 66 percent lack basic disability coverage. And as we know all too well, our government lacks the financial resources to expand its benefits programs for those facing these issues.
• As a leading provider of workplace benefits, we see a tremendous opportunity to grow the market and believe we are in a strong position to do so in part by building from our 165 years of industry expertise and the strong customer relationships we have established over time.
• Our strategy going forward does not change, even as we go through a planned, natural CEO transition in 2015. Our focus will remain on profitably growing our business. We’re confident that, with your continued partnership with our agents, we will achieve this objective because we have solid plans in place and a track record of delivering on our commitments. We also have a deeply talented, well-established senior management team the product of a rigorous leadership development and succession planning process at all levels of the company and 10,000 of the best people in the business.

Disability is a critical piece of any insurance portfolio. As the above states, about 1/3 of the insurable population feels that way.

We’ve offered disability insurance for our entire 37 years in this business. Actually, disability was one of the first policies I learned to offer in 1978 when I began in the insurance business! My mentor and initial teacher, Dick Roberts always said: “Why not take pennies from a dollar and furnish DOLLARS of income for your clients if they can’t earn it themselves because of a sickness or accident.” It was true then – it’s true today!

Let us help you! Contact me or my staff at 615.377.1212 or email us at info@BentonWhite.com. We can cover you if you can’t work because of an unavoidable sickness or accident. Disability insurance – just another of the coverage’s we offer at Benton White Insurance!