There are two honest answers to this question. One comes from a formula. The other comes from you. This page runs both, side by side, and shows you where they agree.
Enter your figures once. The formulas work down one side, your own answers work down the other, and step five shows you where the two meet.
Enter these once. Both tracks read from the same figures, so the two answers are always comparing like with like. Your figures stay in your browser: nothing you enter here is sent to us, saved, or shared.
The marker on the slider shows where your income would be replaced all the way to your planned retirement age. It moves when you change your age or retirement age above. Left unticked, the replacement period stops there, since there is no paycheck left to replace.
Each method asks a slightly different question, which is why they rarely agree. Seeing the spread is the point — a single formula gives you a number you have no way to judge.
A wide spread is normal and it is diagnostic. If human life value sits far above the rest, your earning years are doing the work. If the survivor income gap sits far below, your household already has more income than you think.
The same nine for everyone, so your answers can be compared with anyone else's — or with your own, two years from now. Tick what must not change. Each one is priced from the figures above.
Counted once, at the end, so every method above stays directly comparable — and checked against the age each policy actually runs to.
Enter what is in force today. It is kept outside both tracks and subtracted once, at the end, so the offset is applied to every method at the same time.
Coverage that ends before your need does is not really an offset — it is a countdown. Put in the age each one runs to and the shortfall is mapped out year by year below.
Five results, the band where the middle of them agrees, and what is left once your existing coverage is taken off.
All figures below are gross — nothing netted out yet. The band marks where the middle of the pack agrees, ignoring the highest and lowest method.
then, once, for all five
An estimate based only on what you entered — not a recommendation or a suitability determination.
Educational tool only. It is not an offer of insurance, a quote, an application, or a recommendation to buy, replace, or change any policy, and it is not a substitute for personalized advice. Figures are based entirely on what you enter and are not verified. The calculations do not account for taxes, inflation, Social Security survivor benefits, existing savings and investments, employer benefit rules, or state-specific requirements, and product availability varies by carrier and state. Your own situation may point to a very different number.
Income multiple multiplies your gross income by 8, 10, or 12. It is a conversation starter, not an answer — it ignores your mortgage, your children's ages, your partner's earnings, and everything you already own.
DIME adds your debts and final expenses, a chosen number of years of income, your mortgage balance, and your education target. It is easy to explain and easy to check, which is why it is the most widely used method. It makes no allowance for existing assets.
Human life value discounts your future earnings to today's dollars, net of roughly 30% assumed to be spent on yourself, over the years remaining to your planned retirement, at a 3% discount rate. It usually produces the largest figure of the four.
Survivor income gap takes the annual shortfall between household costs and the income that would still be coming in, and discounts it over the years you have chosen to replace, again at 3%. It is the most accurate of the four and the most sensitive to the inputs you give it.
The consensus band is not a method of its own. It drops the highest and the lowest of the five results and keeps the middle three, and the headline figure is the middle result of the five. It is a way of ignoring outliers, not a calculation of what you need.
The two layers, shown only if you choose to keep coverage past retirement, split the gap in two. The lasting-needs layer is your final expenses figure plus whichever of the dependent parent, business obligation and legacy lines you have ticked. Everything else falls into the income replacement layer.
Availability is not modeled here. Issue ages, maximum maturity ages and term lengths vary by carrier, product and state, and the age limits used on this page reflect what is commonly available rather than any particular carrier’s rules.
The checklist is priced from the same figures. Nothing on it is a formula — each line is a promise, converted to dollars. Where a line has its own amount, you set it yourself.