Guide
How much life insurance do you need?
A calculator that walks you through the reasoning: how many years of income, debts to cover, education costs, and what you already own.
The most straightforward method is to estimate what your income has been covering and then subtract what you already have in place. The calculation will not be exact, and it does not need to be: term amounts are purchased in increments, and the target is a number that would let your household remain steady for the critical years.
Coverage estimate
Estimate = (annual income × years of need) + total debts + education fund − existing insurance, rounded to the nearest $5,000. This is a starting estimate, not professional guidance.
Why those inputs
Income years. Financial advisors commonly suggest ten to twenty years of income as the working range; the right figure is determined by when your dependents would stop needing support. Many Bay Area families with young children lean toward the upper range because housing, childcare, and education costs occur during the same years.
Debts. A home mortgage represents the single largest obligation for most families. Setting aside coverage equal to the mortgage balance gives survivors the option to keep or sell without being forced by money constraints.
Education. A rough sum per child, using current dollars. It is more convenient to include this now than to buy a second policy later.
What you have. Liquid savings available to draw on, plus employer coverage. Group policies frequently end when employment ends, so many households count only half of their group coverage.
Once you have a target amount, the quote tool will display pricing for that figure across 10-, 15-, 20-, 25-, and 30-year options from each carrier. Going slightly higher than your estimate is common because the monthly cost difference is modest at earlier ages.