Top carriers for Tech Sales
All five carriers below can be written as true own-occupation for most professions. Guardian and Ameritas build it into the base definition, MassMutual and Principal deliver it through their own-occupation rider or definition, and at The Standard it comes through a rider whose availability depends on your occupation class. Your optimal carrier depends on your specific specialty, income structure, and state. We compare all five side-by-side in every analysis.
| Carrier | Product | AM Best rating | Contract strength |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Provider Choice | A++ (Superior) | Strongest contract; best default mental-health |
 | Platinum Advantage | A (Excellent) | Contract clarity |
 | Income Protector | A+ (Superior) | Most flexible underwriting; deep rider menu |
 | Radius Choice | A++ (Superior) | Mutual-company dividends; billing-code own-occ |
 | DInamic Cornerstone | A (Excellent) | Competitive pricing; highest BOE limit |
Provider Choice
- AM Best
- A++ (Superior)
- Strength
- Strongest contract; best default mental-health
Radius Choice
- AM Best
- A++ (Superior)
- Strength
- Mutual-company dividends; billing-code own-occ
Income Protector
- AM Best
- A+ (Superior)
- Strength
- Most flexible underwriting; deep rider menu
Platinum Advantage
- AM Best
- A (Excellent)
- Strength
- Contract clarity
DInamic Cornerstone
- AM Best
- A (Excellent)
- Strength
- Competitive pricing; highest BOE limit
Get a comparison of all five carriers tailored to your specialty
Get a Quote ComparisonWhy does a tech sales rep's disability coverage work differently?
It works differently because commission can be a large share of a tech sales rep's pay. An account executive, sales engineer, or account manager carries a base salary plus commission against an on-target-earnings number. The Bureau of Labor Statistics gives a one-line definition in its Occupational Outlook Handbook. "Sales engineers sell business products or services, such as software or support, that require technical expertise."
That single fact reshapes the coverage question. For a salaried professional the benefit tracks a stable salary. For a sales rep, the number that matters is total OTE, and the central sizing risk in a sales policy is insuring base salary when base is the smaller slice. Get the variable-income piece right and the rest is relatively straightforward, because office-based sales roles generally class favorably and are inexpensive to insure against the income they protect. For the wider set of tech roles, see our hub for tech professionals.
Does group disability coverage protect a sales rep's commission?
Generally not, because group long-term disability typically calculates its benefit from base salary, so for a rep whose pay is heavily commission it can leave much of the income uninsured. The most expensive assumption a rep can make is that employer coverage is enough. Group plans also cap the monthly benefit, are typically taxable when the employer pays the premium, apply an own-occupation test that commonly lasts about 24 months before switching to an any-occupation standard (as of 2026), and end the day you leave the job.
An individual policy can be sized to your total on-target earnings instead, because commission counts as earned income. That difference, base-only versus total-OTE, is the entire reason a sales rep should own coverage rather than rent it from an employer plan.
What does disability insurance cost a tech sales rep?
The cheapest cell in the table is $130 a month, for a 30-year-old man on a 180-day wait. The most expensive is $930, for a 45-year-old woman with a 90-day wait and inflation protection. Both buy $10,000 of monthly benefit at list price on a Texas basis in Seaworthy's 2026 quote study. The carriers' current guides generally class tech sales at Guardian 4 for outside or field sales (5 for inside sales), Principal 5A once earnings reach $150,000 in each of the last two years (the same 5A applies in California and New York), MassMutual 5A/5 over $250,000, The Standard 5A at $150,000 or more in each of the past two years, and Ameritas 6A at $125,000 or more for at least two years. The table prices the outside-sales class at Guardian.
Every figure is a benefit paid to age 65 with true own-occupation, residual (partial) disability, and each carrier's increase riders built in, and none reflects a discount.
| Profile | Monthly benefit | 180-day wait | 180-day wait + inflation protection | 90-day wait + inflation protection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male, 30 | $10,000 | $130–$245 | $160–$285 | $190–$335 |
| Female, 30 | $10,000 | $235–$380 | $270–$435 | $320–$510 |
| Male, 35 | $10,000 | $155–$295 | $190–$340 | $225–$400 |
| Female, 35 | $10,000 | $275–$465 | $315–$525 | $375–$615 |
| Male, 45 | $10,000 | $245–$445 | $285–$515 | $335–$605 |
| Female, 45 | $10,000 | $435–$695 | $475–$790 | $560–$930 |
Lowest to highest carrier, monthly, 2026 list price, Texas basis. Figures include residual coverage, the no-cost increase riders, and the own-occupation rider at carriers that sell one separately. They exclude the catastrophic disability rider, and inflation protection appears only where a column says so.
For a 35-year-old man in outside sales, the 180-day, $10,000 design costs $155 to $295 depending on the carrier. Add inflation protection and drop to a 90-day wait, and it becomes $225 to $400. The 180-day version for a woman of 35 runs $275 to $465.
In August 2026 the quote study ran carrier illustrations at $5,000, $10,000, and $15,000 of monthly benefit for applicants aged 28, 35, and 45. Age-30 rows are interpolated from those runs. Women's prices apply each carrier's measured female-to-male ratio, and a 180-day price equals 85% of the matching 90-day illustration. Pricing assumes income above $250,000 and a rep who meets each carrier's class conditions, including income held for the required years and inside or outside sales duties. Several carriers set income thresholds for these classes somewhere between $125,000 and $250,000, and a rep below the line classes lower and pays more. The white-collar carrier comparison adds a catastrophic disability rider to its full-rider-package prices, a rider left out here, so its figures run higher. Expect state, health history, and any employer or association discount to move a real quote. Our tech disability insurance cost page lines up prices across technology roles, and the disability insurance cost guide walks through how any occupation's premium is built.
How do carriers count and average commission?
Carriers generally count commission and bonus as earned income and typically average them over two to three years, while base salary is counted directly. Averaging smooths a single blowout year or uneven income and produces a figure an underwriter treats as recurring. A rep with one enormous deal is generally credited with a multi-year average rather than the peak, while a falling year can count against you (Principal uses the lower, more recent year when income drops). The benefit is then built on base plus that averaged commission. The table below shows how each piece of a typical tech sales package is treated.
| Compensation component | How carriers generally treat it |
|---|---|
| Base salary | Counted directly. |
| Commission (variable / on-target) | Counted, usually averaged over two to three years to smooth a strong year or uneven income. |
| Cash bonus, accelerators, SPIFFs | Counted; averaged the same way as commission. |
| Ramp-year or draw-period earnings | Viewed in the context of about two years. A single soft year is weighed against the fuller pattern. |
| Equity (RSUs) | Treated separately. Vested RSUs are W-2 wages and generally count when documented. Unvested grants do not. |
| Dividends, capital gains, investment income | Excluded. Unearned income, not pay for work. |
What documents do underwriters want from a sales rep, and why can a ramp year hurt?
Carriers generally want about two years of federal tax returns plus W-2s, which already capture base and commission together, and that documentation is what turns commission into countable income. For a sales rep, that record is what lets an underwriter average the variable pay and credit it toward the benefit rather than defaulting to the base salary on an offer letter.
The trap is timing the application around a weak window. If you apply right after a ramp year, a territory change, or a stretch on a draw, the recent numbers can understate your earning power, and a thin or one-sided record gives an underwriter less to work with. We present the two-year history so the variable pay reads as recurring, which is the difference between a benefit sized to base alone and one sized to what you earn. If you also receive equity, read our guide on disability insurance for RSUs and equity compensation so the benefit reflects all of your pay.
What happens to a sales rep's coverage after a job change?
Group coverage ends when you leave an employer, while an individual policy is yours and crosses every move with you. Sales careers run on movement, with bigger books, better comp plans, and new companies, which makes portability the second defining concern after OTE sizing. The next role may offer weaker disability protection or none until a waiting period clears.
With a future increase option, the benefit can rise alongside your earnings, without new medical underwriting, when you take a larger territory or step up to enterprise. Buying while you are employed and healthy is what locks in the rate and the health class, which is why, for a rep who expects to change companies a few more times, timing the purchase matters as much as the contract.
What disability risks come with a travel-heavy sales career?
A travel-heavy sales career means time on the road and long sedentary stretches between bursts of activity, and the conditions that can end a sales career include cardiometabolic illness and musculoskeletal problems in the back, neck, and joints. Beyond those, any injury or illness that ends your ability to perform at quota threatens income that is largely variable and, without an individual policy, largely unprotected. A policy built for this work recognizes that your earning power rests on staying able to do a demanding, mobile job. Reps selling medical devices or pharmaceuticals face a different set of carrier rows, covered on our medical device and pharmaceutical sales page.
How does Seaworthy compare carriers for tech sales roles?
Each sales case is quoted at all five carriers we place (Guardian, Principal, MassMutual, Ameritas, and The Standard) and judged on occupation class, contract language, and how each one handles variable-income documentation. We are independent and carrier-neutral, and we price the result for your specific role and OTE. You see the five side by side, with a policy sized to total earnings rather than your base line. With 15+ years placing individual disability coverage, we also push to get commission and variable pay credited at full value, so the benefit reflects your total OTE and not just the base on an offer letter.
Underwriting is not a rubber stamp. Our 2026 audit found a restriction, either an exclusion or a rating, on about 28% of placed policies, with mental and nervous conditions leading the list (see our State of Disability Underwriting). Because that exposure hits high-pressure tech roles often, it is worth reading how we approach it in our guide to disability insurance and mental health for tech workers. If one lands that the record does not support, we send the underwriter the case history behind our objection, and if that fails, a second carrier's underwriter reviews the same file. Start with a quote comparison, or see the full lineup on the tech professionals hub.