Coverage planning

How much life insurance do I need calculator

This calculator is for the point after the broad question: you have numbers in front of you and want to see which ones move the total. Start with income and existing coverage. Then add only the debt, mortgage, education, and final-expense amounts you would expect survivors to carry.

The output is deliberately not one magic number. A visible range is more useful when the inputs are choices, not facts supplied by an insurer.

Coverage tally

Your planning range

Low
Mid
High
Coverage gap after existing coverage

Audit of your tally (midpoint)

Planning range (midpoint)

When this page helps

You have a rough household budget, current policy declarations, or mortgage balance nearby and want a five-minute planning pass without opening a quote form.

When it does not

Do not use it to decide whether a policy is legally adequate for a court order, a loan covenant, or a business agreement.

Example 1

Existing term review: $500,000 existing coverage against a $1.1M DIME mid Planning gap around $600,000 before you decide whether existing coverage is portable or expiring

Example 2

Debt-only check: $0 mortgage and education, $40,000 debt, five years of $70,000 income, $15,000 final expenses A simple DIME structure shows why a generic million-dollar answer may not fit

Common traps

Group coverage may have a benefit multiplier rather than a flat dollar amount; verify the actual number.
Do not use gross income blindly if most of it is not needed to support the household.
Education should be a planned contribution, not an imaginary full-tuition promise unless that is the real goal.
A smaller coverage gap can still be a problem if the existing policy ends soon.

Compare the next question

Questions

Enter policies and group benefits that you believe would pay to beneficiaries. Review their term, portability, exclusions, and beneficiary setup outside this calculator.

Related

This is a planning estimate, not insurance, legal, tax, or investment advice, and not a recommendation to buy a policy.