17 Jul Travis Guthman Disability Insurance Case Study
Disability Insurance Case Study: It Can Happen To You
Life can change in an instant, and that life-changing moment may be as simple as sending a text message. That’s what happened to Travis Guthman.
Travis and his wife, Wendy, moved back to where he had grown up when they had the opportunity to buy his grandparents’ farmhouse. They felt it was an ideal place to raise their six kids. They also decided to put their prior experience to work and open up a pizzeria.
It was on a busy day—typical of one so many parents have— that Travis juggled driving and arranging a meet-up for his son. While he had pulled over to read the text, he decided to answer it while driving back home. That’s when, distracted by his phone, he hit a concrete footing on a narrow bridge—a route he had taken hundreds of times before.
The accident landed him in the hospital with a shattered pelvis and other injuries so severe that it has taken him almost two years and countless surgeries just to be able to walk with the help of a leg brace. During this time, he hasn’t been able to work, and admits the family would have lost the pizzeria if it hadn’t been for the disability insurance that his insurance professional Tom Bader helped him put in place.
The monthly payment from his disability insurance has allowed the Guthmans to pay their ongoing bills and expenses and keep food on the table. “I didn’t have to pull money out of the restaurant to live on; instead I could continue paying the employees and keep things running,” he says. “Without disability insurance we would have been in a world of hurt. You think it will never happen to you, until it does. Disability insurance has been a huge blessing for our family.”
Did you know that Social Security disability benefits average $1,166 a month, and are typically paid only if you can’t work for a year or more.1 Make sure to get disability insurance and ensure you have adequate coverage. Contact QQIS today and learn how you can protect your future with our comprehensive Disability Insurance products.
(1) U.S. Social Security Administration, January 2016
Travis Guthman Disability Insurance Case Study – Video Transcription
Travis: Lacon is a quaint little town right on the river. We wanted the kids to grow up on a farm. Just the openness to be able to go out and run, that was the appeal of moving back here.
Tom (Insurance Professional): Travis opened a pizzeria. Very popular restaurant. The first meeting I had with Travis, he came in and mentioned he was starting a business and needed to get just the basics in place.
Travis: As we were going through that process he brought up disability insurance. Us being small business owners and being outside of the business if we were to be injured, we wouldn’t have any income.
Tom: I recommended that coverage for Travis because I knew, the family man that he was, I knew how devastating it would be to him personally if he was not able to provide for his family.
Travis: That just needs Parmesan. That’s ready to go in. I love this right here. I love the dough process, I love slapping and making pizza. I didn’t come down here for a year and a half. That’s hard.
Tom: I think most people believe “It’s not going to happen to me.” This could happen to any family in America. It’s that powerful.
Wendy (Wife): I got a phone call. Told me that he’d been in a car accident.
Travis: The day of the accident I received a text. But the problem was I turned around to head back home and I picked up my phone up and I responded to the text that I was driving. And within, I don’t know, 300 yards I hit a bridge. I couldn’t feel from my waist down. I thought maybe I had a spinal injury or something ‘cus I couldn’t really move much. And they had to cut my passenger door off and pull me out and it was incredibly painful. I was grateful that I didn’t hit anybody else and that I didn’t have any of my children in the car.
Wendy: For me it was very hard. I felt like I was neglecting the kids because I couldn’t be in most places. I felt like they kind of lost both of us.
Tom: This accident has changed Travis forever. On the positive side, it has given Travis a new purpose in life.
Travis: So I get in front of high school kids. I show them my accident and all my trauma that I went through and then give them some tools to help them stay off their phones when they drive. We had so much to worry about physically with the accident that we didn’t have to worry about the financial side ‘cus our disability insurance took the stress and focus away and allowed us to focus on what we needed to focus on.