Worsening condition: when to apply?

New Hampshire. A spinal cord injury 15 years ago has left me with a slowly, but steadily, worsening condition. Partial paralysis, numbness in extremities, poor balance (prone to falls), loss of strength in legs and feet, decreasing ability to walk. I have worked as an on-the-road hardware salesman on commission for 11 years. All employees of the company were offered LTD insurance 5 years ago, and I subscribed to it. The problem is this: As my health worsens, the number of customers I can visit in a day decreases, and therefore my income likewise drops. Since disability benefits are based on the last two years' earnings, the longer I work, the less I will earn, and the smaller my eventual benefits. Certainly, at some point, I won't be able to work at all -- but do I have to wait that long, or would it be better to apply for partial disability right now? (I should mention that the only reason I can still earn a living in my condition is that most of my customers have been with me for 10 years and have been very understanding of my limitations; acquiring new customers, however, is quite difficult -- but absolutely necessary to replace customers lost to normal attrition.) Thank you!

This is really a question you should be discussing with your doctor.

social security disability goes by how much you have earned in your lifetime, you can recieve a check from them and still work your current job... contact your local social security office.

Income

You have looked over your policy well enough to understand how they figure what benefits are paid out. Now may be the best time to see if the policy will allow you to collect some type of partial benefit, if you can still do work. If you are offered STD as well, look into how that is "worded". An attorney can help with this, but so can a very determined policyholder...

You are correct, if they base the amount of disablity on your past 2 yrs. earnings, and you are slowly earning less, and less per year because of your health problems It will hurt you in the long run, since that amount will be used up till maximum benefit age.

With SSDI, they take the 5 best earning years of your life, and use those, waiting would not matter.

Also, with SSDI.

These 5 years that are used are not permanent.

Example; become disabled, and later on at some point, able for a time to work. If you can make more than you did in one of the above 5 years, that year will be used. This can increase your SSDI benefits.