If I could not work, how long would my savings last?
Follow the months after a disability begins: the waiting period with no pay, your work coverage, Social Security disability if it is approved, and the savings that have to fill what is missing.
Long-term disability coverage
A benefit paid for by your employer, or through a pre-tax cafeteria plan, is taxed as income.
Waiting period before it pays
Also called the elimination period. You have no plan income until it ends.
Does the plan reduce its benefit by Social Security disability?
Many plans do: they pay only the difference once Social Security starts. It is in your plan summary.
HOW LONG SAVINGS LASTSAVINGS DO NOT COVER THE WAIT
1.8 mo
Your plan would pay $7,250 a month after a 90-day wait ($6,391 after tax). The wait needs $15,000 of your own money; your $9,000 runs out after 1.8 months. After the wait the benefit covers your $5,000 a month. Social Security disability, if approved, would add about $3,876 a month from month 6; a plan that offsets it would then pay only $3,374; approval is not certain and can take months.
Plan benefit after tax
$6,391/mo
Short each month
$0/mo
Cash for the wait
$15,000
Social Security, if approved
$3,876/mo
UNDERSTAND YOUR RESULT
Your savings month by month after a disability begins
Your coverage aloneWith Social Security disability, if approved
With your coverage alone your $9,000 runs out after 1.8 months. Below zero the line is the amount you would have to borrow or cut.
The monthly picture in each phase
| Phase | Income | You need | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waiting period (months 1 to 3) | $0 | $5,000 | −$5,000 |
| After the wait: plan benefit after tax | $6,391 | $5,000 | +$1,391 |
| From month 6, if Social Security disability is approved | $7,027 | $5,000 | +$2,027 |
Social Security disability pays only for a total disability expected to last at least 12 months, after a five-month wait, and nothing for a partial or short-term one. Working above $1,690 a month (2026) counts as able to work. The estimate is $3,876 a month on $145,000 of average yearly earnings; the average disabled worker was paid $1,635.90 in August 2026 (SSA).
What moves the needle
Each row re-runs the calculation with one change. Click to apply.How it's computed
FORMULA
Plan benefit = the smaller of (share of pay × pay ÷ 12) and the monthly cap; taxed as income if the employer pays for it, untaxed if you pay with after-tax pay
Social Security disability estimate = the 2026 primary insurance amount on average indexed monthly earnings (yearly earnings up to the taxable maximum ÷ 12)
Each month: savings = last month’s savings + income − what you need; no income during the waiting period; Social Security from month 6
A plan that offsets pays only the plan benefit less the Social Security amount once Social Security starts
- The plan pays 60% of pay up to $10,000 a month after 90 days, for the whole period; these are examples, not your plan's terms. Plans differ in how long they pay (often to age 65), how they define disability, and what income reduces the benefit.
- An employer-paid or pre-tax benefit is taxed as income; this page applies federal income tax as a single filer whose only income is the benefit, with no state tax. A benefit you pay for entirely with after-tax dollars is not income.
- Social Security disability needs a disability that keeps you from work at the substantial gainful activity level ($1,690 a month in 2026) and is expected to last 12 months or to end in death; it starts after a five-month wait, in the sixth full month. The estimate assumes approval, on time, and level earnings; it is taxed as nothing here, and part of it can be taxable at higher incomes.
- Short-term disability, sick pay and paid leave, which many employers give for the first months, are not counted, so the waiting period looks harsher here than for someone who has them. A spouse’s income and any other household income are not counted either.
- The period shown is 36 months. Prices and pay are held at today’s dollars.
WORKED EXAMPLE · SAMPLE NUMBERS
Plan: min(60% × $145,000 ÷ 12, $10,000) = $7,250 a month, $6,391 after tax. Waiting 3 months costs $15,000; $9,000 of savings does not. Social Security estimate: $3,876 a month on $145,000 a year. Savings run out after 1.8 months.
SOURCES
[1]How does someone become eligible? (disability benefits)Social Security Administration[2]Substantial Gainful Activity (2026 amounts)Social Security Administration[3]Monthly Statistical Snapshot, August 2026Social Security Administration[4]Publication 525, Taxable and Nontaxable Income (sickness and injury benefits)Internal Revenue Service[5]Employee Benefits in the United States (long-term disability access), 2026 A01 resultsU.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsHSBuilt by Hussain Sehorewala · checked against worked examples · Sep 29, 2026
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Questions about this result
Probably not by itself. It pays only for a total disability expected to last at least a year, after a five-month wait, and the Social Security Administration calls its definition strict and its program a base that assumes other resources. The average disabled worker was paid $1,635.90 a month in August 2026; your own estimate is on this page.
The waiting period before a long-term disability plan begins paying, often 90 or 180 days. You get no plan income during it, so you need savings, sick pay or short-term disability to bridge it. It is the part of the picture that surprises people most, and the chart shows it as the first drop.
It depends on who paid the premiums. Publication 525 says a benefit from a plan your employer pays for is income, one you pay for entirely with after-tax dollars is not, and premiums paid through a pre-tax cafeteria plan make the benefit taxable. This page taxes an employer-paid benefit and leaves an after-tax-premium one alone.
About 37% of private-industry workers had access to a long-term disability plan and 44% to a short-term plan, in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 2026 data. Coverage tends to be higher for larger employers and higher-paid jobs.
It reduces its own benefit by what you get from Social Security disability, so the two together come to the larger of them rather than the sum. The page pays the plan’s difference once Social Security starts if you tell it the plan offsets.
It depends on the gap this page shows and on what your work plan does and does not cover. A policy is usually sized to close the monthly shortfall, and a benefit paid for with after-tax premiums is not taxed. The monthly shortfall figure is the number to compare with quotes; this page does not price a policy.