How much disability insurance do I need?

Key takeaways

• Disability insurance safeguards your living standards while you’re alive, replacing a portion of your paycheck if an illness or condition prevents you from working.

• Calculating your required coverage involves deducting lower nonworking expenses, potential spousal income, and alternate savings from your current take-home pay.

• Policies typically cover 40% to 80% of your earnings, with individual plans offering tax-free payouts that help bridge gaps left by taxable employer coverage.

• Premium costs range between 1% and 3% of your salary, driven by factors like your age, health, occupational risk, and specific riders like inflation protection.

• Selecting a true own-occupation policy ensures full payout eligibility if you are unable to perform your specific job, even if you pursue work in another field.

Along with life insurance, disability insurance is a critical tool for protecting your financial future. Some might consider disability insurance to be even more important. After all, life insurance provides money to your family to replace your income after you’re no longer here. But disability insurance helps replace income for you and your family while you’re still alive and with them.

For individuals buying personal coverage, getting the right amount matters because a disability can interrupt earnings for months or years. This article will help you understand the following:

• What disability insurance is and does.

• Why you may need disability insurance.

• How to estimate the amount of coverage you need.

• What affects the cost.

• Which policy features and riders to compare.

• How to get a policy that fits your needs.

What disability insurance does — and why you need it

Disability insurance replaces a portion of your income when you're too sick or injured to perform all your job duties. That's why some call it “disability income insurance.” The benefits you get can be used to support and maintain your lifestyle, from groceries to mortgage payments to child care — and even more enjoyable pursuits like travel.

You need it because disability is more common than you probably think: 1 in 4 workers will experience a disability during their working years.¹ Some people believe they don't need disability if they work in an office or professional setting — they think it's for workers at factories or construction sites where accidents are more likely. But disability insurance isn’t just for accidents: the leading causes of long-term disability claims are illnesses such as cancer (16%), musculoskeletal problems (24%), nervous system disorders (10%), and mental health-related problems (10%).²

Do you need short-term or long-term coverage?

Most disability is temporary, keeping a person out of the workplace for under a year. Short-term disability insurance (STD for short) is designed to replace income for these shorter periods of recuperation from accident or illness. STD is often provided through the workplace, either as a mandatory or a voluntary benefit.

Unfortunately, other disabilities are more severe, longer lasting, and even permanent. Long-term disability insurance (LTD for short) is for these situations, with a benefit that lasts for many years — through retirement if needed. While most STD is offered through the workplace, LTD is often purchased as an individual policy, especially by higher-income professionals who are concerned about what might happen to their family's lifestyle if they were no longer able to earn an income.

For that reason, LTD policies typically have a more detailed definition of disability, which differentiates between own-occupation disability and any-occupation disability. Own-occupation policies pay a benefit if you lose the ability to perform your profession or specialty. Any-occupation policies only pay a benefit if you can't perform any work at all — even a simple job entirely outside of your profession.

This article focuses on the questions people have about long-term disability insurance purchased individually. These policies tend to be highly personalized and relatively complex, especially compared to employer-provided STD plans.

How to determine how much disability coverage you should get

The simplest answer to “How much should I get?” might be “Enough to replace all my income.” However, when it comes to disability insurance, that answer doesn't work: you aren't likely to find such a policy. Almost all policies are designed to replace a portion of your income, ranging from 40% to 80%, depending on several factors. Here's how to decide what you need:

What are your actual current expenses?

If you're concerned about maintaining your lifestyle as much as possible, you need to start by thinking about all the expenses that go into it. Since employer-provided disability benefits often replace only about 50% to 60% of base salary, not your full income, look at your monthly take-home pay, then figure out how much you have left over (if any) at the end of the month. If you take home $5,000 a month, save $800, and give another $200 to charity, your actual expenses for things like housing, utilities, food, and health care costs are more like $4,000.

What spending changes will you make if disabled?

Many financial advisors believe that 60% to 70% is the sweet spot for income replacement because most people don't spend as much when they don't work. Why?

• You don't have commuting costs.

• You don't spend as much on lunch and coffee breaks.

• You spend less on your wardrobe.

• You will likely pay less in taxes.

In addition, you may be able to lower your housing costs substantially. Many professionals live in affluent urban areas because that is where their jobs are. When they don't need to be close to a given workplace, they can choose to move to a less-costly area more suited to their new life.

Can your spouse provide more income?

If you're at home, you may be able to take care of more of what your spouse currently does. That could free up more time for your spouse to work and make up some of the income shortfall.

Will the benefit be taxable?

Individual LTD policies are usually bought with post-tax dollars, so the benefit is generally not subject to income taxes. However, if you have employer-paid coverage through work, the premium is paid with pre-tax dollars — and the benefit will be subject to taxes. In that case, taxable benefits can reduce take-home pay by roughly 20%, meaning that a benefit equal to 50% of your take-home income could be 35% or 40% of that amount. That's why many people with workplace disability benefits get a supplemental disability policy to make up the shortfall.

What other assets, income, or savings can you draw on?

If you've been building savings for another purpose (not retirement savings), you could repurpose that money to pay living expenses. Also, your job may not be your only source of income — for example, you may own rental property. Similarly, if you have a legal or medical practice and own your offices, you could rent that space to another practitioner. Other sources of income may include Social Security benefits, if you qualify.

How can I figure out how much I need?

Try to put a number on all the items discussed above and enter them into this simple formula:

Current monthly expenses 

- Reduced monthly spending

- Monthly income from other sources

= Minimum monthly disability benefit needed

Remember: Long-term disability coverage is meant to last a long time, providing a monthly benefit that could last for decades. That kind of coverage comes at a cost. The lower the monthly benefit you can comfortably live with, the easier it will be to pay premiums while you are healthy and working.

How much you should expect to pay for disability insurance

A good benchmark is that an LTD policy can cost 1% to 3% of your income. That's a fairly significant range because a lot of variables go into determining your risk for disability and premium cost, including:

• Your age.

• The state of your health.

• Your occupation.

• Yearly income.

• Monthly benefit amount.

• Waiting period (how long until you can qualify for monthly benefits).

• Benefit period (as little as two years or through retirement age).

The type of coverage — own-occupation or any-occupation — will impact your premiums, and more robust benefits often come with higher premiums. With an any-occupation policy, you only qualify for benefits if you have a severe disability and can't perform the bulk of your work responsibilities. However, relatively common conditions like arthritis keep many professionals from practicing their specialty, even if they can work at another job that doesn't require manual dexterity. An own-occupation policy costs more because there's a greater likelihood the insurer will have to pay benefits. To illustrate, here is how true own-occupation coverage works in Guardian LTD policies:

True Own-Occupation Disability Insurance

Guardian True Own-Occupation Definition of Total Disability allows you to receive full disability benefits, even if you're gainfully employed in another occupation or capacity — with no benefit reduction. So, suppose you have the energy, interest, and motivation to pursue another occupation while totally disabled from your occupation. In that case, our True Own-Occupation Definition does not prevent you from doing so.

Riders also affect the cost of your policy. These are optional provisions that enhance your coverage or benefits. A top-tier provider will offer disability coverage with riders, allowing you to tailor a policy to your specific needs. Some of the most popular choices offered by companies such as Guardian include:

• Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) Rider: This helps your benefits keep pace with inflation by adjusting the benefit amount each year you are disabled and eligible for benefits.³

• Basic or Enhanced Partial Disability Benefit Rider: These options protect you by paying a partial benefit if an injury or illness limits your ability to work but doesn't cause total disability.

• Student Loan Protection Rider: This optional benefit provides extra money to help make student loan payments during the benefit period. It is particularly useful for early-career professionals such as doctors and lawyers who have invested heavily in their education.⁴

• Future Purchase Option: This lets you increase coverage as your income rises without undergoing a medical exam or providing proof of insurability.⁵

How disability coverage can work in real life

An individual LTD policy is a highly specialized financial protection tool personalized to each policyholder's specific needs. The scenario below illustrates how a (fictionalized) IT professional tailored a Guardian Provider Choice plan to meet her budget — and how that coverage worked to meet her needs when she was disabled.

Sarah's scenario

• 36 years old.

• Married with one child.

• Not eligible for group long-term disability coverage through work.

• She feels confident about her financial future as long as her job is secure.

How she earns her income

• Computer software technical professional.

• 1099 subcontractor earning $150,000 annual income.

Planning considerations

• Affordable protection with premium features.

• Protection for serious illnesses such as cancer or stroke.

• Cost of living adjustments for inflation.

• Ability to increase benefits as income grows.

• Strong carrier with a history of paying claims.

As a professional, Sarah was attracted to the plan's tailored coverage options

Knowing she was price-conscious, Sarah and her financial advisor initially explored a more basic Essential package. However, because Sarah was interested in potentially increasing benefits over time, they reviewed the added benefits available with Guardian's Select package, including standard Benefit Purchase and Unemployment Waiver of Premium Riders. Adding protection for student loan debt with the Student Loan Protection Rider also made sense for Sarah's situation.

How Sarah's Provider Choice policy worked for her

• Select Package, $7,150 monthly benefit, two-year True Own-Occupation Definition of Total Disability, Severe Disability, Student Loan Protection Rider.

• Her claim illustration below reflects a policy configuration commonly recommended to professionals.⁶

Sarah's disability and impact

• Cancer diagnosis.

• Unable to work for 18 months, returned to work part-time for two months, returned to full-time employment at 20 months.

Balancing parenthood and working full time kept Sarah busy, and she was caught off guard by her cancer diagnosis. Because her cancer was aggressive, she started a regimen of radiation and chemotherapy before surgery and was left with lingering fatigue. After 18 months, Sarah was able to return to work part-time. After two months of working part-time, earning half her income, Sarah was ready to “get her life back” — with stamina and confidence, and returned to work full-time.

Ongoing benefits of coverage

Sarah's policy has a built-in Waiver of Elimination Period. Because Sarah collected benefits and her disability lasted at least six months, if she experiences a subsequent disability within five years — even if her cancer comes back — Guardian will pay benefits immediately.

How to get a disability insurance policy

There are two basic ways to get disability insurance: Through work or as an individual.

Your company may offer STD and LTD as part of your employee benefit package. If you're self-employed, you may be able to get disability insurance through a professional association. Either way, group disability insurance can be an excellent choice: Because the company or association buys for a large group of people, the premium is typically lower than for an individual policy, though these plans often have a maximum monthly benefit cap. In addition, your HR department (or the association's management) will likely have more expertise and leverage to negotiate favorable terms. Your employer may also subsidize a portion of the premiums, further lowering your cost. However, if premiums are paid with pre-tax dollars (usually the case with employee benefits), then the income benefit will typically be taxed later on. Also, if you leave the company or association, in most cases you'll most likely lose your coverage. So, even if you have some disability through work, looking into an individual policy may be worthwhile.

Individual disability insurance

An LTD policy you buy yourself can provide better overall value because it’s tailored to your needs. Since it is (usually) paid for with after-tax dollars, the benefit it provides is usually tax-free. It's most often bought through a financial advisor; if you don't have one, or if that person doesn't have much experience with disability insurance, a Guardian financial advisor can give you a disability insurance quote. Because disability insurance is meant to replace income, it's a key part of your overall financial plan. You should discuss disability insurance with your financial advisor and be prepared to share as much as you can about your financial situation and goals so that they can tailor your disability policy to your needs.