Guide
How much life insurance do you need?
A tool that does the arithmetic and explains the logic: income years, debts, education, and what you have.
The standard approach is to sum what your income would handle and deduct existing resources. Exactness is not required, and it is not the point: term coverage is priced in round numbers, and the goal is a sum that sustains the household through the years when it matters most.
Coverage estimate
Estimate = income × years + debts + education − existing resources, rounded to the nearest $5,000. This is a benchmark, not counsel.
Why those inputs
Years of coverage. Ten to twenty years is the span advisors frequently recommend, but your situation sets the real number: it hinges on how many years your dependents require support. San Diego families with younger children tend toward the high end since child-related spending — child care, education, housing — clusters together.
Outstanding debts. For most families, the mortgage is the biggest one. If life insurance coverage could pay it off, your family has the freedom to stay in the home without cash flow pressure pushing the decision.
Education. An approximate budget per child in current dollars. It is simpler to bake this into coverage now than to apply for a second policy afterward.
Resources on hand. Liquid savings available, and employer-provided coverage. Group insurance normally stops when employment does, so most people account for only a portion of it.
Once you settle on an amount, the quote tool reveals the cost across 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 year terms for every carrier. It is typical to increase the estimate slightly because the extra monthly cost is modest at earlier ages.