Life Insurance Calculator: How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?

Les Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before cove.

Les Masterson Deputy Editor, Insurance

Les Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before cove.

Written By Les Masterson Deputy Editor, Insurance

Les Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before cove.

Les Masterson Deputy Editor, Insurance

Les Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before cove.

Deputy Editor, Insurance Penny Gusner Insurance Writer and Analyst

Penny Gusner is a senior insurance writer and analyst at Forbes Advisor. For more than 20 years, she has been helping consumers learn how insurance laws, data, trends, and coverages affect them. Penny enjoys translating the complexities of insurance.

Penny Gusner Insurance Writer and Analyst

Penny Gusner is a senior insurance writer and analyst at Forbes Advisor. For more than 20 years, she has been helping consumers learn how insurance laws, data, trends, and coverages affect them. Penny enjoys translating the complexities of insurance.

Penny Gusner Insurance Writer and Analyst

Penny Gusner is a senior insurance writer and analyst at Forbes Advisor. For more than 20 years, she has been helping consumers learn how insurance laws, data, trends, and coverages affect them. Penny enjoys translating the complexities of insurance.

Penny Gusner Insurance Writer and Analyst

Penny Gusner is a senior insurance writer and analyst at Forbes Advisor. For more than 20 years, she has been helping consumers learn how insurance laws, data, trends, and coverages affect them. Penny enjoys translating the complexities of insurance.

| Insurance Writer and Analyst

Updated: Aug 7, 2024, 1:27pm

Editorial Note: We earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor. Commissions do not affect our editors' opinions or evaluations.

Getting enough life insurance coverage is essential for ensuring your loved ones are taken care of financially if you die. A life insurance calculator is one way to figure out how much you need.

Life Insurance Calculator

An easy way to figure out your coverage needs is to use this life insurance calculator. Enter your annual income and how many years your dependents will need financial support, your debt, future college costs, funeral needs, savings and any other life insurance coverage—and you’ll get a result immediately.

How Much Life Insurance Do I Need?

How much life insurance do you need?

Answer simple questions in our 3 step process

Life Insurance

How much annual income would your dependents need?

How long would your dependents need financial support?

Let's calculate your life insurance need

How much debt do you need to pay off?

If you want to help with the cost of college tuition, how much would you like to cover?

How much do you want to add for burial expenses?

Let's calculate your life insurance need

How much savings do you have?

If you already have life insurance, enter the total coverage amount

Get Results

Amount of life insurance needed

Details that you have entered

How much annual income would your dependents need?

How much debt do you need to pay off?

How long would your dependents need financial support?

If you want to help with the cost of college tuition, how much would you like to cover?

How much do you want to add for burial expenses?

How much savings do you have?

Enter total coverage amount of existing life insurance

Now that you have an estimate of your life insurance need, you can start comparing quotes

Your savings and/or current life insurance total more than your needs. In this case, you may not need life insurance. If you want to exclude your savings or life insurance from the assets your family could spend, please lower the amounts input.

Via Policygenius's Secure Website

How to Use Our Life Insurance Calculator

A good estimate of life insurance needs requires using a formula that includes your future financial obligations and your assets, such as savings, that your loved ones can use if you die.

To find out how much life insurance you need, follow these steps and our life insurance calculator will do the rest.

  1. Enter your annual income and how many years of income you want to cover. We multiply your annual income by the number of years your loved ones will need that salary.
  2. Enter your debts and future costs you want to cover. To do this, determine how much you owe or anticipate owing for financial obligations such as a mortgage, credit card debt, loans, future educational costs and funeral expenses.
  3. Enter your savings and any current life insurance coverage. Now we want to subtract the assets your family would use if you passed away, like funds in a savings account, a retirement plan or another life insurance policy.
  4. Results. When you use our life insurance calculator, a results page will provide an estimate of your life insurance needs along with details of what you entered.

Example of How Our Life Insurance Calculator Works

Annual income Years of replacement income you may need 10 years of replacement income Savings to be spent by family Total life insurance you may need $600,000 See More See Less

Tips for Calculating How Much Life Insurance You Need

Keep these tips in mind when deciding your life insurance needs:

How to Manually Calculate How Much Life Insurance You Need

Besides using the life insurance needs calculator, there are other ways to estimate how much life insurance you need. Here are four options.

Compare Life Insurance Quotes

Once you know your life insurance needs, you can start shopping for a policy. Compare life insurance quotes from multiple companies to see which ones offer you the best price.

Life insurance rates vary from company to company, so comparing quotes online or working with an independent life insurance agent can help you find the best life insurance rates for your age and health.

Compare Life Insurance Companies

Compare Policies With Leading Insurers

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Deputy Editor, Insurance

Les Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before covering insurance, Les was a news editor and reporter for Patch and Community Newspaper Company and also covered health care, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans for multiple websites.

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