Guide
How much life insurance do you need?
A tool plus explanation: how to think through income replacement, existing financial commitments, college funding, and what you've already secured.
The standard approach: total what your income would support, subtract existing protection, get your number. The math doesn't have to be perfect—term is sold in increments, and what matters is a rough figure that works for the seasons of your family's life.
Coverage estimate
Ballpark estimate = income × years + debts + education − existing protection, rounded to $5,000 increments. A starting point for comparison, not financial guidance.
Why those inputs
Income years. Advisors typically work with ten to twenty years as a baseline; the exact number reflects how long your dependents need assistance. Families with young kids in Pasadena tend to go longer because the years when childcare, housing, and education bills pile up are the same.
Debts. For most households, a mortgage is the largest financial obligation. Choosing coverage that settles the mortgage means the choice to relocate or stay stays with your family, not with their bank balance.
Education. A conservative per-child estimate, in current-year dollars. Adding it now avoids the need to increase your coverage later.
What you already have. Accumulated reserves you could use, and employer-paid group policies. Keep in mind: group coverage ends when your employment ends, so many families count a percentage of it.
Once you've calculated a target, the quote tool will show the cost of that amount through 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30-year periods across all available carriers. Most people find that picking a bit higher than their estimate costs very little extra at earlier ages.