Trading is an intense, high-stakes profession that demands quick thinking, focus, and endurance. When illness or injury affects your ability to perform under pressure, it can become impossible to keep up with the fast pace of the markets. Unfortunately, disability insurers often overlook the mental and environmental challenges of trading, relying on narrow job definitions that don’t reflect reality.
Understanding how insurers define your occupation and how to clearly explain your actual duties is key to a successful long term disability claim.
Below we’ll answer common questions traders have about securing long term disability benefits.
The occupation of a trader involves both physical and cognitive demands that can be extremely challenging, especially in high-pressure financial environments. Understanding these demands is essential when explaining your limitations to your long term disability insurer.
Physical job demands of a trader include:
Cognitive demands of a trader often include:
Because of these combined demands, even seemingly “minor” medical issues (such as back pain, vision problems, or cognitive fatigue) can significantly impair your ability to function effectively as a trader. When filing a long term disability claim, it’s important to describe your job in a way that highlights both the physical and cognitive intensity of your daily responsibilities.
Insurance companies typically rely on resources like the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (“DOT”) and the Occupational Information Network (“O*NET”) to define the occupation of a trader. According to the DOT, a Trader (code 162.167-038) is classified as a “light” occupation, which generally involves a significant amount of standing and walking. However, this definition doesn’t capture the full scope of what traders actually do.
In reality, the role of a trader requires much more than physical stamina. You’re responsible for buying and selling securities, researching and analyzing market conditions, monitoring multiple screens simultaneously, and making rapid, high-stakes decisions in a noisy, fast-paced environment. You must also communicate constantly—by phone, email, and in person—with clients, colleagues, and superiors.
When insurers assess a long term disability (“LTD”) claim, they sometimes focus too narrowly on the physical classification of your job (such as its “light” exertional level) without considering the cognitive, sensory, and stress-related demands that are central to your role.
That’s why it’s crucial to inform your insurer of the true nature of your work. A well-supported LTD claim will highlight both the physical and cognitive demands that make the trader occupation uniquely challenging when you’re facing a disabling condition.
Common environmental challenges for traders include:
If your medical condition makes it difficult to function in such an intense environment, it’s important to describe these challenges clearly in your long term disability claim. Explaining how your symptoms interact with the demands of your work setting helps the insurer understand why even a seemingly minor impairment can prevent you from performing your role safely and effectively.
An experienced long term disability attorney can help you explain these environmental challenges in the context of your specific job duties and medical condition. They can also gather supporting documentation from your doctors and vocational experts to strengthen your claim to ensure your insurance company fully understands how your work environment impacts your ability to perform as a trader.
When describing your job duties to your insurance company, it’s important to go beyond your job title and focus on what you actually do each day. The insurer will often rely on generic definitions from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles ("DOT") or your employer’s job description, which may not reflect the true complexity and pace of your work as a trader. Your goal is to paint a clear picture of the physical, cognitive, and environmental demands that make your occupation unique.
Here are a few ways you can effectively describe your duties:
By giving your insurer a detailed and realistic description of your actual work, you help ensure they understand that your occupation involves far more than the basic “light” physical classification listed in the DOT. This level of specificity can make a major difference in how your long term disability claim is evaluated.
An experienced long term disability attorney can help you present your job description in a way that accurately reflects the true demands of your role. They can also review your employer’s job description and provide guidance on how to clarify or supplement it so your insurer fully understands how your specific duties contribute to your disability claim.
The following types of evidence can strengthen your long term disability claim:
By combining objective medical evidence with occupation-specific context, you create a compelling picture of why your condition prevents you from meeting the unique demands of trading. This holistic approach is often key to convincing your insurer that your condition is genuine and work-preclusive.
A long term disability attorney can play a crucial role in gathering and organizing the right evidence for your claim. They can pinpoint what documentation will best demonstrate how your condition affects your trading duties, collaborate with your doctors to obtain clear and detailed reports, and ensure every piece of evidence reinforces your inability to meet the unique cognitive and physical demands of your job.
An experienced long term disability attorney can make a significant difference in helping traders secure long term disability benefits. Because insurance companies often misunderstand or oversimplify the trader’s role, a knowledgeable attorney can bridge the gap between your medical limitations and the true demands of your occupation.
Here’s how an attorney can help you strengthen your claim:
Riemer Hess has handled the long term disability needs of traders from most of the top Wall Street firms. We understand the tactics insurers use to deny these claims and the best strategies to increase your chances of a successful outcome.
Here is an example of a trader we helped secure long term disability for:
Joe was a high-performing trader on Wall Street whose success depended on razor-sharp concentration and quick decision-making in a chaotic, fast-paced trading environment. When he developed severe tinnitus, the constant ringing in his ears made it impossible to focus amid the background noise of the trading floor. He began missing key market movements and struggling to process multiple data streams at once. Despite clear evidence that his condition disrupted his ability to function in such an intense setting, Joe’s long term disability insurer denied his claim, arguing that tinnitus was a “subjective” complaint and not disabling.
When Joe turned to Riemer Hess for help, our team immediately identified that the insurer had disregarded how the loud, stressful nature of his workplace aggravated his condition. We arranged for Joe to undergo vestibular testing, which provided objective evidence of balance and sensory impairments consistent with his tinnitus. We also obtained a vocational assessment that explained how his symptoms directly interfered with his ability to perform essential trading duties, such as interpreting complex market data and reacting quickly under pressure. Our appeal emphasized that the insurer’s failure to consider Joe’s actual work environment and the cognitive precision required of a trader rendered its decision unreasonable.
The appeal succeeded, and Joe’s long term disability benefits were fully approved. Grateful for the result and the thorough advocacy that helped restore his financial security, Joe chose to continue retaining Riemer Hess to monitor his claim and protect his benefits against future insurer scrutiny. With our firm’s ongoing support, Joe can now focus on managing his health.