Guide
How much life insurance do you need?
A calculator and the reasoning you need: years of income, debts, education, and what's already in place.
The standard approach is to add up all the years of income you'd want replaced, then add what you owe, then add what you'd want to set aside for education, then subtract anything you already have covered. You don't need precision, and it doesn't need to be exact: term insurance is priced in chunks, and the goal is enough to keep things steady during the years that count.
Coverage estimate
Estimate = (annual income × years needed) + debts + education fund − what you have covered, rounded to the nearest $5,000. Use this as your starting point, not as financial guidance.
Why those inputs
Income years. Most advisors look at ten to twenty years of income replacement, but the right answer depends on how long your family would need that support. Families with young children in Culver City often lean toward the longer timeframe because childcare, rent or mortgage, and school costs all peak together.
Debts. For most families, the mortgage is the biggest one. Enough coverage to pay it off lets your survivors choose whether to stay in the home or move without money being the forcing factor.
Education. Set a rough amount per child using today's dollars. It's easier to cover it now in one policy than to add another one afterward.
What you already have. Count savings available for emergencies, and group coverage through your job. Note that group coverage stops when you leave the job, so a lot of people count only a fraction of it.
Once you pick a number, our quote tool shows the monthly cost for that amount over 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years from each carrier. Many people go a bit higher than their estimate because the monthly cost difference is modest when you're younger.