Insurance
Disability Income Replacement
See how much of your paycheck would keep coming if you couldn't work, whether your savings cover the waiting period, and the coverage that closes the gap.
What this means
Before any long-term benefit arrives, you'd need about $9,600 to cover 90 days of essentials. Your savings cover 1.9 months, leaving $3,600 to find. Sick days, a short-term disability plan, or a bigger emergency fund are what fill that gap.
Once benefits start, your coverage pays about $2,550 a month after tax, which is $650 short of your essentials. Closing that means more coverage (an individual policy can sit on top of a group plan), lower fixed costs, or savings that keep going past the waiting period.
Read your plan document for the details this estimate can’t see: the monthly maximum, how long benefits last, and whether “disabled” means unable to do your own job or any job. These are estimates, not a quote or advice.
These are estimates to help you think, not personalized legal, tax, or investment advice, and not a promise of any result.
This calculator shows what would happen to your money if an illness or injury kept you off work. Enter your gross pay, your essential bills, any long-term disability coverage you have, your savings and the waiting period, and it shows the monthly income gap, how long savings carry you before benefits start, and how much more coverage would reach a common replacement target.
Why it matters: for working people, the ability to earn is usually the biggest financial asset there is. Long-term disability coverage often replaces only part of a paycheck, may be taxed, and pays nothing for the first months. Seeing those three facts in your own numbers is how you find out whether a long recovery would also be a financial emergency.
How to use it
Enter your pay and your must-pays
Gross monthly pay (benefits are figured on it) and essential expenses only: housing, food, utilities, insurance, minimum debt payments. Leave out what you would cut in a crisis.
Describe the coverage you have
The percent of pay your long-term disability plan replaces, and who pays the premium. Your benefits summary or HR has both. If the employer pays, or you pay pre-tax, the benefit is usually taxable, so add a rough tax rate.
Set your savings and waiting period
Cash you could reach quickly, and the plan's elimination period: the days you must be out before benefits begin. The calculator checks whether savings carry your essentials that long.
Behind the numbers
The elimination period
Long-term disability pays nothing until you have been unable to work for a set time, commonly 90 days. Sick days, a short-term disability plan or your emergency fund have to cover every bill until then. A longer waiting period lowers the premium and raises what you need saved.
Taxable versus tax-free benefits
When an employer pays the premium, or you pay it with pre-tax dollars, the benefit is generally taxable income. When you pay with after-tax dollars, it generally is not. The same 60% coverage can leave noticeably different amounts to live on.
The 60% to 70% target
A common planning range is to have about 60% to 70% of gross pay replaced. It is a rule of thumb, not a requirement. Insurers usually limit how much of your income they will cover, and your real need depends on your essential bills, which is why the calculator checks those too.
The math behind it
The benefit is your gross pay times your coverage percent. If the benefit is taxable, it is reduced by the tax rate you enter. Your monthly shortfall is your essential expenses minus that after-tax benefit. The waiting period costs your essentials times its length in months (90 days is three months), and savings either cover that or leave a gap. The coverage to reach the target is 60% or 70% of gross pay minus the benefit you already have.
Worked example
$5,000 a month gross with 60% employer-paid coverage is a $3,000 benefit; at a 15% tax rate that is $2,550 to spend. Against $3,200 of essentials, you are $650 short every month. A 90-day wait costs $9,600 in essentials, so $6,000 of savings leaves $3,600 to find before the first check arrives.
Waiting period times essentials
Multiply your essential monthly bills by the months in your waiting period. That is the emergency fund your disability plan quietly assumes you already have.
Common questions
How much disability insurance do I need?
Enough that the benefit, after any tax, covers your essential bills, with savings to carry you through the waiting period. Many people plan around replacing 60% to 70% of gross pay. The calculator shows both your essentials gap and the distance to that range.
Is my disability benefit taxable?
Generally, if your employer paid the premiums or you paid them with pre-tax dollars, the benefits are taxable income. If you paid the premiums with after-tax dollars, the benefits generally are not. Your plan administrator or a tax professional can confirm how yours is set up.
Is my group coverage through work enough?
Often it covers part of the gap but not all of it, especially once tax is taken out, and many group plans cap the monthly benefit. Coverage through work also usually ends when the job does. An individual policy can sit on top of a group plan to close what is left.
What does the calculator leave out?
Plan maximums, offsets for Social Security disability benefits, how long benefits last, and whether the policy pays when you cannot do your own job or only when you cannot do any job. Each one changes the real answer; your plan document has them.
Sources & references
Go deeper
The calculator gives you a number. The Income Protection Brick teaches you what to do with it, in plain English. And if you’re not sure where to start, the free BrickScore Assessment checks your whole foundation in about 5 minutes.
first the number, then the move