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Life Insurance Calculator: How Much You Need, Minus What You Already Have
Work out what your family would need, subtract what they already have, and the difference is the only figure you can act on. That difference is what this calculator gives you.
Most calculators stop a step earlier. They total the need and show it to you without taking off the savings and the policy you may already hold, which is how people end up shopping for far more than they are short of.
We do not sell life insurance. Nothing on this page gets bigger when your number does.
Nothing is saved and nothing is sent anywhere. The numbers stay in your browser.
How much life insurance do you need?
Round numbers are fine. The last section is the one that turns a need into a gap, so do not leave it empty.
Cover still to find
Enter an income to see the figure.
How that adds up
- Income to replace$0
- Bills landing at once$0
- Already covered$0
This is arithmetic on the figures above, not a quote. What a policy costs turns on age, health and the kind of cover, and none of that is in here. Survivor benefits from Social Security can also close part of the gap, and they are left out because working them out needs your earnings record.
This hypothetical example is used for illustrative purposes only. Actual results will vary.
This information is not intended as tax, legal, investment, or retirement advice or recommendations, and it may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any federal tax penalties. You are encouraged to seek guidance from an independent tax or legal professional. The content is derived from sources believed to be accurate.
This is arithmetic on the figures you entered, not a quote. What a policy costs depends on age, health, the type of cover and the insurer. Survivor benefits from Social Security are not counted, because working them out needs your earnings record.
Reading the result
Four numbers, and which one you act on
Cover still to find
The gap. What a new policy would have to carry once everything your family already holds has been counted. If it lands on zero, the honest reading is that you do not need to buy anything today.
Income to replace
The yearly amount times the number of years. At the default setting there is no forecast in it, so you can check the figure on paper. Raise the return above inflation only if you believe the payout would be invested and left alone.
Bills landing at once
A mortgage payoff, other debts, final expenses and anything set aside for education. These arrive together, in the same month, and they do not wait for a new job to be found.
Already covered
Savings your family could reach, plus any policy in force. Cover through work belongs here, with one caveat worth remembering: it usually ends when the job does.
What goes into the number
Three parts, and the third is the one that decides whether you buy anything.
- Income replacement. The yearly amount your household would still need, and for how many years. The share starts at 70 per cent, because the household is one person smaller while the mortgage and the bills are not.
- Bills that land at once. A mortgage payoff, other debts, final expenses, money set aside for education. None of these spread themselves over twenty years.
- What already exists. Savings your family could reach and any policy already in force. Subtracting this is what turns a need into a gap, and it is the step most calculators leave out.
There is one assumption in the whole thing, and it starts at none. The income part is the yearly amount times the number of years, full stop, so you can check it against the back of an envelope. Raise the return above inflation only if you genuinely believe the payout would be invested and left to grow, and know that doing so lowers the answer.
The rule you arrived with
Why times ten is a starting point, not an answer
You will meet it everywhere: take your income, multiply by ten. It is quick, and as a first guess in thirty seconds it is not unreasonable.
It is still a guess, and it knows nothing about you. Ten times income says exactly the same thing to a renter with no children and to a parent of three with twenty-two years left on a mortgage. More to the point, it ignores what you already have, which is the difference between a number and a decision.
Use it to check you are in the right ballpark. Use the calculator above to find out whether you are actually short.
We do not sell life insurance, and that is the point
Almost every other calculator on the first page of Google belongs to somebody with a policy to place. That does not make their arithmetic wrong. It does mean the number and the product point in the same direction.
We build estate plans. If the figure above says you need cover, your next stop is a broker, not us.
What the figure usually says as well is something quieter. If people depend on your income, they depend on your decisions too: who raises your children, who speaks for you if you cannot, who handles the money in the months before anything is settled. A policy pays out. It does not name a guardian.
Common questions
Questions people ask before they buy anything
How much life insurance do I need?
Enough to cover the income your household would lose and the bills that would arrive at once, less whatever it already has. That is the entire answer, and the calculator above is that arithmetic with the steps written down.
Does cover through work count?
Yes, for as long as you hold the job. Put it in, and keep in mind that it usually ends when the employment does. If your gap is closed only by an employer policy, that is worth knowing before you rely on it.
Why does this page not tell me what a policy costs?
Because the price turns on age, health, the type of cover and the insurer, and none of that is on this page. Any figure we printed would be a made-up number with a dollar sign in front of it.
What about Social Security survivor benefits?
They can close part of the gap and they are deliberately not counted here, because working them out needs your earnings record. Read the result as the figure before any survivor benefit, not after.
How often should I redo this?
After anything that changes the arithmetic: a mortgage, a birth, a move, a change in income, a policy starting or ending. The line that goes stale fastest is the last one, because cover through work comes and goes with the job.