Disability Insurance

Before age 65, an employed worker is three to four times more likely to suffer a disability lasting longer than 90 days than to pass away. While life insurance pays beneficiaries, disability insurance sustains both your living expenses and ongoing medical costs. Read our deep dive in Long-Term vs Short-Term Disability.

"Own-Occupation" defines disability as the inability to perform the material duties of your specific professional specialty, even if you can work in another job. "Any-Occupation" requires you to be unable to perform any gainful employment. See our breakdown in Disability Insurance Architecture.

Individual disability insurance typically replaces 60% to 70% of gross earnings. Because individual premiums are paid with after-tax dollars, the monthly benefit payments are 100% tax-free under current IRS statutes. Model your income replacement needs with our Insurance Needs Calculator.

When you fall outside statutory workers' comp—whether as a sole proprietor, independent contractor, or an officer choosing a corporate officer workers' comp opt-out—workplace injury wage loss is not covered automatically. In those scenarios, an individual disability policy or an occupational accident insurance contract serves as your personal income safety net. Review our detailed guide on workers' compensation insurance exemptions and see the risks of contractor misclassification in Travis's subcontractor audit case study.