Who Should Buy Disability Insurance But Not Life Insurance?

Insurance is an incredibly important, yet confusing, topic. Think of all the different policies people tell you that you need: health insurance, auto insurance, homeowner's insurance, umbrella insurance, and don't even get me started on all the different life insurance products out there. This can be the impetus to finally do the things that we know we should do but have been putting off, like actually understanding what we need versus what insurance salespeople want us to buy.

The most common insurance policies I see high earners confused about are disability insurance and life insurance, which makes total sense. We want to protect our ability to live the lifestyle we've built. But not everyone needs both equally, and the timing of when you need them can be drastically different.

The fundamental difference is simple: disability insurance protects your ability to earn income, while life insurance protects people who depend on that income. If no one relies on your paycheck to survive, disability insurance is often far more critical than life insurance. Here's the nitty gritty of why.

Who needs disability insurance more than life insurance

Single high-earning professionals

Take Sarah, a 32-year-old orthodontist earning $180,000 annually. She's single, owns her own practice, and has built her lifestyle around her substantial income. If Sarah becomes disabled and can't work, she loses her entire income stream — her practice revenue, her ability to pay her mortgage, everything.

But if Sarah dies? While tragic, there's no spouse depending on her income, no children who need financial support, no one whose standard of living would collapse without her paycheck.

For Sarah, disability insurance is essential. Life insurance? It depends on her future plans. If she knows she’d like to have children someday, now is the best time to apply for — she can lock in coverage at a younger age and secure insurability while she’s healthy. If she doesn’t anticipate a family depending on her income, she may still want a modest life insurance policy to cover final expenses, pay off her mortgage, or even leave her home to a relative or close friend.

DINK couples (dual income, no kids)

Alex and Sam are both veterinarians earning $95,000 each. They've chosen not to have children and have structured their finances around two incomes — their $400,000 house, their lifestyle, their retirement savings.

If Alex becomes disabled, they lose their income but gain new expenses, like medical costs, potentially modified housing needs, ongoing care expenses. Sam’s salary has to stretch further while covering more. 

If Alex dies, it's devastating emotionally, but the financial picture is different. Sam loses their income but doesn't face ongoing medical and care costs. A life insurance payout in this situation can help with the transition and offer more flexibility for financial adjustments like downsizing.

The point isn't that death is financially preferable. It's that disability often creates a more complex and expensive long-term financial burden that makes disability insurance crucial for couples like Alex and Sam.

Both Alex and Sam need a good disability insurance policy. For life insurance, a small-ish policy to pay off joint debts and provide some transition time should be plenty.

Whether you’re legally married or not, one reality often overlooked is how devastating disability can be to a relationship. Disability is one of the leading contributors to divorce. None of us can predict how we’d react if our partner became permanently disabled. Even if you have a high-earning spouse who could “technically” support you, the reality is that many partners do not stick around long-term. 

For unmarried long-term partners, disability insurance is even more critical because the safety nets are practically nonexistent. Life insurance is still less urgent unless you've intentionally structured your finances like a married couple — joint mortgage, shared major debts, that sort of thing.

Specialized professionals with unique skills

Highly specialized professionals — surgeons, dentists and veterinarians — face an outsized risk if disability strikes. Their entire income is tied to their unique expertise.

• A hand surgeon with years of training can’t just pivot to another medical specialty if their hands are injured. 
• A dentist who develops severe back or neck problems may no longer be able to treat patients, threatening the stability of their practice. 
• A veterinarian sidelined by something like a stroke or traumatic brain injury could suddenly lose the ability to perform the physically demanding and cognitively complex tasks their work requires.

For these professionals, disability insurance is what keeps the lights on and the mortgage paid in these scenarios.

The math behind the priority (and why this isn't just feel-good advice)

Here's why disability insurance often matters more for these groups, and I'm not going to sugarcoat the statistics:

• Probability: You're far more likely to become disabled during your career than to die. The Social Security Administration estimates that a 20-year-old worker has a 1-in-4 chance of becoming disabled before reaching retirement age. Those aren't feel-good odds.
• Duration: Disability can last decades. A 35-year-old who becomes permanently disabled could lose 30+ years of income. Death, while devastating, is a one-time financial event.
• Existing safety nets: Life insurance has some natural alternatives — savings, investments, Social Security survivor benefits for spouses. Long-term disability? The safety net is much thinner, and frankly, pretty inadequate.

When life insurance is essential

Life insurance priority flips when people depend on your income, and this is usually pretty obvious:

• Parents: Children need financial support for years or decades
• Single-income households: A non-working spouse needs income replacement
• Significant shared debts: Mortgage, business loans that a surviving partner couldn't handle alone
• Caregiving situations: You support elderly parents or disabled family members

Special considerations if you’re planning a family

Life circumstances change, and if you're planning to start a family, everything I've just outlined gets more complicated. I'm going to be brutally honest — pregnancy complicates everything about qualifying for insurance. 

If you're thinking about kids in the next few years, there are some timing considerations that could save you thousands and a lot of frustration. I've covered the details about when to buy insurance if you're planning a family that walks through exactly what happens when you apply while pregnant, why timing matters so much, and how to avoid costly exclusions.

The short version? If kids are in your future plans, don't wait to apply for insurance until you're expecting.

The takeaway

Insurance isn't one-size-fits-all, despite what every financial advisor's blog post will tell you. If you're single or in a dual-income relationship without dependents, disability insurance protects your most valuable asset — your ability to earn income. Life insurance becomes critical when people depend on that income to survive.

The best financial protection — and the best gift you can give your future self — is coverage that matches your actual risks. For many high-earning professionals without dependents, that means prioritizing disability insurance while keeping life insurance focused and proportional to your actual needs.