Life insurance may be the last thing on your mind, if you’re a medical student, resident or young physician just starting out. Since you have few, if any dependents, you may think it’s a waste of money. Yet young physicians like you, in Texas and around the country, are starting careers with more financial risks than any previous generation of physicians.

Physicians are feeling pressure due to rising student loans burdens, lower compensation expectations and shrinking health care reimbursements. These factors can distract from their primary motivations for pursuing a career in medicine – helping others, contributing to advancements in the medical field, and promoting health in their communities.

Teenagers and college grads expect to “have it all together” by their 30s. It’s ok to be a kid in your 20s — even in med school — but when the infamous 3-0 rolls around, it’s time to focus on building a solid foundation, climbing the ladder, and settling down to start a family.

Physicians are among the highest earners, but many don’t feel like it. Having already managed large debt burdens on compressed budgets by the time they pay off their student loans and build up to a sizeable income, many physicians learn the value of setting financial goals and seeking professional advice early on.

There’s an old episode of “The X-Files” in which insurance salesman Clyde Bruckman, played by Peter Boyle of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” sits with a young couple at their kitchen table trying to sell them an insurance policy.

What is long-term disability insurance?

When unwanted illness or injury keeps you from practicing medicine for months or years at a time, a long-term disability insurance policy is designed to provide a benefit while you are unable to work.

Permanent life insurance provides death protection for policyholders, but is it the right solution for all physicians?

Here are five reasons why physicians might want to obtain or keep a permanent life insurance policy:

Insurance. If you’re a Millennial, the word probably evokes yawns and shrugs. But insurance is needed for many reasons in our lives. We purchase travel policies when we book a vacation. We insure our cars. But what happens when that car gets smashed by another car, sending you sideways into the landscape? Or the plane falls out of the sky? Or you get sick.

These are dramatic images, but they can happen. To anyone. At any age.