Disability Insurance Calculator
Compute disability insurance coverage gap. Monthly income vs fixed expenses vs employer + government benefits. Short-term + long-term need analysis.
Disability Insurance Calculator
How to use the Disability Insurance Calculator
Enter income + fixed expenses
Monthly income: gross before tax. Fixed expenses: rent/mortgage + utilities + insurance + groceries + minimum debt payments + childcare — everything you MUST pay even if you stop working. Exclude discretionary spending. Fixed expenses are typically 50-75% of gross income; if yours is higher, your disability buffer is thinner.
Check your employer LTD cover
Look up your employer benefits brochure for "long-term disability" details. Typical: 60-70% of base salary, after 90-180 day waiting period, up to a monthly cap (often $5K-$10K). Common gotchas: (1) percentage applies to BASE salary only — bonuses + commissions excluded, (2) some policies offset against government benefits, (3) max benefit period may be 2 or 5 years, not to-age-65.
Add government benefit (usually small)
In Singapore: SGSecure + CareShield Life cover specific severe disabilities, not income broadly. Malaysia: SOCSO Invalidity Pension Scheme — typically 50% of insured wage if eligible. Indonesia/Vietnam/Philippines: minimal. Most ASEAN markets give very limited disability income protection from government sources — usually $0-$1,000/month. The private disability gap is real.
Interpret the monthly gap + ranges
The headline is the monthly coverage gap — how much short you\'d be on fixed expenses each month after employer + government benefits. Multiply by years-to-retirement (25-30 for a 35-year-old) for total long-term need. Short-term need is 6× monthly expenses (covers most disability scenarios + waiting periods). Savings runway tells you how long you can self-insure during the waiting period before insurance kicks in.
Disability insurance — the most under-purchased protection product
Disability insurance — also called income protection — pays a monthly benefit if you become unable to work due to injury or illness. It\'s the most under-purchased major insurance product in the world. Most working adults have life insurance (which covers a relatively rare event) but no disability cover (which covers a much more common event). Statistics: roughly 25% of workers experience a disability lasting 90+ days at some point in their working life; only ~5-10% will die during working years. Yet life insurance penetration is 60-80% in developed markets; disability insurance penetration is 15-25%. Exactly backwards.
Why disability insurance gets neglected
Several reasons disability cover is so under-purchased despite high need. (1) Optimism bias: people imagine death as the rare-but-catastrophic risk and disability as something that "won\'t happen to me" — even though disability is statistically much more common during working years. (2) Complexity: disability policies have many more variables than life insurance (own-occupation definition, waiting period, benefit period, COLA, residual benefits) — buyers get overwhelmed. (3) Employer coverage illusion: many assume their employer LTD is enough. It usually isn\'t — 60% of BASE salary, taxed if employer-paid, capped at monthly maximum, may only run 2-5 years. (4) Less commission for advisors: disability commissions are lower than life insurance commissions, so advisors push life products harder. The under-purchase is structural, not because the math doesn\'t support coverage.
By age 65, ~25% of workers experience a disability lasting 90+ days. Only ~5-10% die during working years. Yet life insurance is owned 3-4× more than disability insurance — exactly backwards.
Policy features that matter more than headline premium
Five disability policy features matter more than headline premium. (1) Own-occupation definition: pays if you can\'t do YOUR specific job (vs "any occupation" — can\'t do ANY job). For a surgeon who develops a hand tremor: own-occupation pays; any-occupation says "you can still teach, so no benefit." Pay extra for own-occupation. (2) Waiting period: 90 days standard; 180 days cheaper but requires bigger emergency fund to bridge. (3) Benefit period: to-age-65 is dramatically more valuable than 2 or 5 years (most permanent disabilities don\'t recover in 5 years). (4) COLA rider: cost-of-living adjustment on benefits during a long claim; protects against inflation. (5) Residual benefits: pays partial benefit if you return to work part-time; critical for gradual recovery cases. Two policies at same headline premium can have wildly different real coverage based on these features. Read the policy details.
The ASEAN disability insurance gap
Disability insurance penetration is particularly low across ASEAN markets, creating significant unprotected risk. Singapore: SGSecure + CareShield Life cover specific severe disabilities (long-term care needs), not income broadly. Private LTD from AIA, Prudential, Manulife typically 60% income replacement at 0.5-1.5% of insured income premium. Annual premiums in the $500-$3,000 range for mid-career professionals. Malaysia: SOCSO Invalidity Pension Scheme provides modest income replacement if eligible — typically 50% of insured wage; private supplements common. Major providers: AIA, Great Eastern, Allianz, Etiqa. Indonesia / Vietnam / Philippines: minimal state safety nets; private long-term disability dramatically under-purchased even at significant gap to need. Pan-Asian insurers (Prudential, Manulife, AXA) offer products but distribution remains limited outside major urban centres. Hong Kong: MPF only covers retirement, not disability; private LTD essential and widely sold. For ASEAN professionals: getting at least a basic individual long-term disability policy supplementing employer cover is one of the highest-ROI insurance buys — typically 1-3% of annual income for protection against a 25% probability event.
10 Things to Know About Disability Insurance
25% of workers experience a disability lasting 90+ days during their working life. ~5-10% die during working years.
Disability insurance penetration is 15-25% globally vs 60-80% for life insurance. Backwards risk weighting.
Most employer LTD: 60% of BASE salary, after 90-180 day waiting period, capped at $5-10K/month, maybe only 2-5 years.
Own-occupation definition is dramatically stronger than "any occupation" — pays if you can\'t do YOUR job. Worth the premium delta.
Singapore CareShield Life covers long-term care, not income replacement. Need private LTD for income protection.
Annual premiums typically 1-3% of insured income. Mid-career SG professional: $500-$3,000/year for meaningful cover.
Benefit period matters: "to age 65" vs "5 years" can be a 10-20× difference in expected payout. Don\'t cheap out here.
If employer pays the premium, benefits are taxable. If you pay (with after-tax dollars), benefits are tax-free.
Mental health + musculoskeletal are the top 2 long-term disability causes — not the dramatic accidents people imagine.
Self-employed + business owners have highest underinsurance risk — no employer cover, often no awareness of the gap.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Probability. By age 65, ~25% of workers will experience a disability lasting 90+ days; only ~5-10% will die during working years. Both are catastrophic if uncovered, but disability is 3-5× more probable. Yet life insurance penetration vastly exceeds disability — partly because death is more "imaginable" than disability, partly because life insurance sells better commission-wise. Most working adults need BOTH; if you can only have one, disability is statistically the higher-impact choice.
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Look up your employee benefits handbook. Typical employer LTD: 60-70% of base salary, after 90-180 days waiting, capped at monthly maximum ($5K-$10K), 2-5 year benefit period. Common gotchas: (1) percentage applies to BASE SALARY only — bonuses, commissions, RSUs excluded; (2) some policies offset against government benefits (employer pays less if you collect government); (3) benefits taxable if employer pays premium. Check policy details before assuming you\'re covered. Most employer LTD is real but insufficient as the sole cover.
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Definitions of "disabled" for benefit-payout purposes. Own-occupation: pays if you can\'t perform YOUR specific job. A surgeon who develops a tremor → pays even if they could work as a hospital administrator. Any-occupation: pays only if you can\'t do ANY reasonably-qualified job. Same surgeon → policy denies because they could become a teacher. Own-occupation is much more valuable for skilled professionals; cost 20-40% higher premium. For doctors, lawyers, executives, the upgrade is essentially mandatory. For unskilled or generic-skill workers, the difference matters less.
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Target 60-70% of pre-tax income, after employer + government benefits. Insurers usually cap individual LTD at 60-70% of income — they don\'t want to remove the incentive to recover and return to work. Concrete math: $10K/mo income → need ~$6K-$7K/mo total disability income. If employer LTD provides $4K, get an individual policy for the $2-3K gap. Don\'t over-insure (cap rule prevents it anyway); don\'t under-insure (the long-term financial damage of a multi-year disability is severe).
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Long-term is more important. Short-term disability (STD): 0-6 month coverage, typically employer-paid; expensive to buy individually; better covered by emergency fund of 3-6 months expenses. Long-term disability (LTD): covers months 7+ up to age 65; catastrophic risk; individual policies essential. Priority order: emergency fund first (covers short-term), then LTD (covers long-term), then everything else. STD is nice-to-have; LTD is essential for working adults with dependants or fixed expenses.
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1-3% of insured monthly benefit per year. Example: $3K/mo individual LTD for a 35-year-old healthy professional → annual premium $360-$1,080. Premiums depend on age (rises 3-5%/year), occupation class (white-collar cheap, manual labour expensive), health, smoking, and policy features (own-occ, COLA, benefit period). Get 3 quotes — pricing varies 20-50% between insurers for the same coverage.
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No employer cover, minimal government cover — you\'re fully exposed unless you buy individual disability insurance. This is the highest-risk group for under-insurance. If you\'re self-employed, individual LTD is essentially mandatory — your income depends entirely on your ability to work. Some insurers offer business overhead expense (BOE) policies that cover business fixed costs separately from personal income LTD. Both can make sense for owner-operators.
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Depends on severity. Mild conditions (controlled hypertension, mild depression history): usually covered, possibly with higher premium. Serious conditions (cancer in remission, MS, lupus, severe mental health): often excluded specifically OR uninsurable. Buy early: a 25-year-old in good health gets the best pricing + full coverage. Waiting until your 40s or after a health scare means you\'re trying to insure a known risk, which is harder + more expensive. Even modest individual LTD at 25-30 locks in low rates + full coverage for life of policy.
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No. All calculations run in your browser via JavaScript. Income, expenses, employer benefits, and savings all stay on your device. Open DevTools → Network and confirm zero outbound requests. Safe for confidential family financial planning.
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Singapore: AIA, Prudential, Manulife, NTUC Income, Singlife. Compare via MoneySmart, CompareFirst (MAS-run). Malaysia: AIA, Great Eastern, Prudential, Allianz, Etiqa. Hong Kong: AIA, Manulife, Prudential, AXA. Regional: most pan-Asian insurers offer in major markets. Tips: get 3+ quotes for same coverage; ask explicitly about own-occupation availability, benefit period to-age-65, COLA, residual benefits, and waiver-of-premium riders. Avoid bundled "investment-linked" disability products — pure individual disability is what you want. A fee-only advisor (paid by you, not commission) can help compare across insurers.
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