I’m fairly young and healthy. Do I really need to plan for incapacity?

The short answer is “yes.” In fact, if you are relatively young and healthy you probably need to be more worried about a period of incapacity than you do death. Up to about age 40 you are three times more likely to become incapacitated than you are to die. One in four of today’s 20-year-olds can expect to be out of work for at least a year because of a disabling condition before they reach retirement age. Because you undoubtedly care what happens to you and your assets if incapacity does strike, it is imperative that you plan for that possibility.