Monthly Archives: January 2019

Can A Disability Lawyer Help You Qualify For SSDI And SSI Disability Benefits?

Many of the people that qualify for an SSI payment will also receive a smaller amount of their Social Security Disability and benefits as well. When you apply for both benefits it’s called a concurrent claim and a good disability advocate or lawyer, such as the Raleigh NC firm Disability Advocates Group, can help you here.

In specific circumstances, it is entirely possible to collect both SSI and the SSDI benefits concurrently. This is what happens when the applicant is approved for their disability or SSDI and is only receiving a smaller amount of money. Typically, when someone is receiving a low amount of money it’s because they didn’t work too long or didn’t work in the most recent years.

Qualifying For SSI With an Advocates Help

In order to qualify for SSI payment as well as SSDI payments, the unearned income or the SSDI must be lower than $750 on a monthly basis. The SSI income limits are quite complicated, however, their limit is typically higher in most states and if you’re still able to work and earn some money, that income won’t count toward the limit that is allotted. However, there are specific limits that are set and specific guidelines that are followed when calculating the overall amounts.

If the assets and the income are low enough to allow you to qualify for Supplemental Security, and if you worked long enough that you will qualify for your Social Security Disability, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll receive both of the payouts at one time. It’s important to keep in mind that the SSDI payment will be included in the calculation of the eligibility for your SSI. Often, your SSDI payment is so high that you’re not going to qualify for the SSI benefit.

Monthly Payment For Concurrent SSI Benefits and SSDI Benefits

The current payment allotment for SSI is $750. If you’re receiving an SSDI benefit that is lower than this and you are qualified for your SSI, you’ll also receive an SSI payment. That means if you qualify, you’ll be receiving both payments on a monthly basis. If you’re receiving SSDI at $500, you’ll then receive $350 from the SSI payment to total the limited amount.

If you’ve received approval for your SSDI, however, you’re still within the five-month wait period, you’re not going to get an SSDI payment, however, you may still get the SSI payments if you haven’t any countable income. When the SSDI payments begin, the waiting period is over and you’re not going to receive any type of higher amount of combined benefits. In fact, the SSI payment will be taken down a notch by the amount of your SSDI payment so that you can reach the maximum allowed payment of $750.

How You Apply For Concurrent Benefits Via Your Attorney

Regardless of whether you’ve applied for an SSI or an SSDI, the Social Security Office is going to determine whether or not the claims are concurrent. This will be dependent on the income and assets that are shown on your application. Your disability claim won’t make any difference in the processing of the claim or the Disability determination services that are set forth by the industry standards. The definition of disability and the evaluation process are the same in both of the programs.

The Benefits Of A Concurrent Claim

The main benefit to a concurrent claim is that it can raise the level to a benefit of $750 per month in lieu of a lesser amount.

The benefit of being able to collect both SSDI and SSI is that you may also be eligible to use Medicare as you’re also an SSDI recipient, however, there is a two year wait period from the time that the SSDI benefits and eligibility begin.

By contrast, SSI recipients are also eligible for Medicaid. While the Medicaid provides payment for more of the services than Medicare does, there are some doctors who only accept Medicare so it’s easier to find the providers. There is more information available on this in the article that discusses Medicare and Medicaid on disability. So remember, if you do need help, be sure to reach out to the experts at Disability Advocates Group at (919) 815-4889. They did great by me so I know they’ll be able to help you.

Companies Seeking Best Practices for their Channel management Programs are Changing How They Evaluate New Channel Partner Managers

Channel VPs and directors at large technology companies are re-ordering an expanded list of qualifications they’re seeking in new channel account managers (CAM).

Analysis of a poll by the Channel Institute of more than 400 channel execs revealed that job applicants need more than the usual set of related business skills and relationship building capabilities. What especially surprised us was how much channel execs expect new hires to really want a career as a channel professional.

And in what we see as an acknowledgement of disruption in the overall technology industry as well as channel organizations, channel leaders are seeking new hires that have the flexibility to innovative responses to shifting business requirements.

The Channel Institute polled more than 400 Channel VP’s and Directors at large technology companies to learn what they look for when hiring new Channel Account Managers. There were some surprising results! Although most responses fell into standard categories, there were two unusual standouts in the top 5.

The two surprising entries were “Innovation & Creativity” and “Commitment to the channel”. These were accompanied by the more commonly expected factors of “Business Acumen”, “Relationship Building” and “Flexible Delivery”.

Innovation and Creativity.

This is not something that was highlighted in previous research by third parties, but innovation and creativity is a skill that appears to have jumped up the rankings. Heads of Channel want to know that new team members can think on their feet and bring new insights that can be shared across the entire channel team. This was mentioned as being particularly important for channel teams working with partners that are still trying to adapt their business to cloud-based models.

Commitment to the Channel.

The second most frequently reported response was that candidates take the channel profession seriously, and do not merely consider it “another type of sales job”. This category covers topics such as a clear knowledge of channel management and channel best practices, along with excellent skills in partner business planning. Channel leaders are clearly raising the bar on the profession, recognizing that the subtleties associated with channel program management requires skills that can only be acquired through a combination of formal channel training and experience in best practices, as opposed to the more ad-hoc learning approaches of the past.

Job candidates could set themselves apart from the crowd through Continuous Professional Development (CPD) with a business qualification specifically in channel partner program management or channel marketing. This was particularly important for those companies hiring candidates that are relatively new to the channel profession.

Business Acumen.

The runaway number one sought after skill falls into the general category of “business acumen”. This covered responses such as understanding of best practices and new business drivers (AI, Business Transformation, Digital Co-Marketing, Social Selling, etc.) and how these will impact on channel partner profitability. New CAM’s need to quickly grasp the consequences for channel partners of increasingly shifting towards service delivery with recurring revenue model programs and the impact of this on a business and its profitability.

Relationship Skills.

Communication skills, empathy and the ability to develop relationships and trust are obvious skills that any successful Partner Account Manager must possess. These skills were identified as being a basic requirement in channel partner sales training and not something that would make a candidate stand out from the crowd.

Flexible Delivery.

Finally, many respondents highlighted that Channel Partner Managers operate in a world that is affected by many stakeholders, and many factors are entirely outside of their control. The ability to maintain focus on a channel partner program in the face of turbulence, managing unpredictability and still deliver sales results according to best practices was identified as a key requirement.

The top 5 factors listed in order of priority are:

  1. Business Acumen.
  2. Channel knowledge and commitment.
  3. Innovation and creativity.
  4. Relationship building.
  5. Flexible delivery.

Key Learnings:

According to Mike Kelly, Director at the Channel Institute, “There are five key takeaways from this research to help channel professionals progress their career:

  1. Emphasize your business training and acumen.
  2. Channel-specific CPD and channel-business certification is essential to prove your commitment to the channel profession.
  3. Demonstrate “outside-the-box” thinking.
  4. Prove your communication and empathy skills.
  5. Convince employers that you can deliver in the face of unforeseen disruptions to channel partner programs.”