Guide
Sizing the policy
Start with what stops
The question is not "how much life insurance should I have." It is "what would my household need if my income stopped permanently tomorrow." Everything else follows from that.
Write down the annual figure your income currently covers — housing, food, childcare, transport, everything. Then decide how many years the household would need that covered for. If you have a newborn, that is likely eighteen to twenty-two years. If your children are in their late teens, it may be five.
What to add
Outstanding debts you would want cleared: mortgage balance, car loans, any personal debt that would otherwise fall to your partner.
Costs your income was going to fund but has not yet: college, if you intend to fund it. Childcare, if your partner would need to pay for what you currently provide.
Final expenses. Funeral costs in the United States commonly run five figures.
What to subtract
Liquid savings and existing investments your household could draw on.
Any life insurance you already have, including group coverage through an employer — though be careful here, because group coverage usually ends when the job does.
Your partner's income, if they work and would continue to.
Why the rules of thumb break
"Ten times income" is a reasonable opening number and a poor final one. It ignores whether you have one child or four, whether your mortgage is nearly paid or freshly taken, and whether your partner earns nothing or earns more than you.
Run the arithmetic once, properly. It takes twenty minutes and it is the only part of this decision that is genuinely specific to you.
A note on buying more than you think you need
Coverage is priced per thousand dollars of benefit, and the marginal cost of going from $500,000 to $750,000 is usually much smaller than people expect — nothing like a 50% increase in premium. If you are uncertain, the cheap error is buying slightly too much while you are young and healthy, not slightly too little.
Reviewed July 2026. This is general information, not insurance advice.