Guide
How much life insurance do you need?
A simple tool and the thinking behind it—what to cover for how long, your debts, education money, and what you already own.
One widely used method: total up what your paychecks would cover over the years you are concerned about, then subtract what is already in savings and group coverage. It will not be exact, and it does not have to be—term coverage comes in round amounts, and the real goal is a sum that would keep your house stable when it matters most.
Coverage estimate
Here is the formula: (yearly income × number of years) + debts + education costs − current savings and group coverage, rounded to the nearest $5,000. This gets you a starting number; it is not personal guidance.
Why those inputs
Income years. Most advisors point to ten to twenty years of what you earn as a useful span; the exact number relies on how long the people counting on you would need that help. A household raising young children in the Central Valley sometimes picks the longer side because childcare, mortgage, and school expenses all hit at the same time.
Debts. For most households, a mortgage is the biggest. If you die, coverage large enough to pay it off lets your family decide their next move instead of being pushed by cash needs.
Education. A ballpark amount per child in current dollars. It is simpler to build it in now than to buy another policy later.
What you have. Cash saved up that could be used, and life coverage through work. Group coverage from your job usually goes away when you leave the job, so many count only half of it.
Once you know what you want, the quote tool will show you what that covers for 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 years from every carrier. Choosing more coverage than your estimate suggests often makes sense: when you are younger, the extra cost is tiny, but the extra protection matters.