How to use this calculator
- Enter the yearly income your family would need to replace, after tax, and how many years they would need it. For a parent at home, enter what the childcare and housework they do would cost to pay for.
- Enter the mortgage balance if the payout should clear it, and your final expenses and other debts.
- Choose how many children depend on you, enter each one's age, and the cost of four years of college for each.
- Enter the life insurance you have through your job, any you own yourself, and the savings your family could spend, leaving out retirement accounts your spouse will need.
- Read the cover to buy and the term length. "How the need falls" shows the need for a death in each later year, and the findings show a two-policy ladder where one covers the same years with fewer cover-years.
Under More options you can change what the payout earns (5% a year after tax by default) and inflation (2.5%), the mortgage's rate and years left, your age and the age you would retire, and turn on Social Security survivor benefits with the amounts from your Statement. The numbers already filled in are an example. Replace them with your own.
How it's calculated
1. The need if you died today
Every amount is in today's dollars. The payout earns 5% a year after tax and prices rise 2.5% a year, so a payment due a number of years after a death is discounted at the real rate, (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1, or 2.44%, never the return minus inflation. The income is paid at the start of each year, the first at once: in the example, $48,000 now, then $46,857 for the second year's $48,000, and so on for 20 years, which comes to $770,964. Without the discounting it would be $960,000. College is $47,800 per child, needed in full when the child turns 18: $32,507 today for the child aged 2 and $34,944 for the child aged 5, $67,452 together. The mortgage is its balance, $250,000, and final expenses and other debts are $30,000.
Those four parts make the need, $1,118,416. Your savings and the life insurance you own come off it, $20,000 in the example, leaving a gap of $1,098,416. Life insurance through your job is left off, because it generally ends with the job; counting the $100,000, the gap would be $998,416.
2. The need in every later year, and the term
A term life insurance policy pays only if you die during its term, so the calculator also asks how long the need lasts. A death later needs less: fewer years of income are left, the children are closer to college or past it, and the mortgage balance is lower. The calculator works the same sum out for a death on January 1 of each later year, at that year's ages, balance and years left. The mortgage is paid on schedule, $1,688 a month at 6.5% over 25 years, and each later balance, a fixed number of dollars, is deflated to today's dollars.
What is left once every need that ends with time has ended is the final expenses and debts your savings and cover do not reach: $10,000 in the example. The term is the shortest of 10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 years that covers every year whose gap is larger than that. In the example the gap is $62,649 in 2046 and $20,814 in 2050, the mortgage's last year, and $10,000 from 2051, so the term is 25 years. The cover is the largest gap during the term, here the gap today, rounded up to the next $10,000: $1,100,000. When Social Security pays more in the early years, the largest gap can come later, and the answer names that year.
3. The ladder
A ladder splits the cover into a policy for the whole term and a shorter one of 10, 15, 20 or 25 years. The longer policy is the largest gap after the shorter one ends; the shorter policy is the rest of the largest gap before then, each rounded up to the next $10,000, so together they cover every year the single policy does. The calculator shows the ladder with the fewest cover-years, amount times years, and only when that is fewer than the single policy's. Or ladder two policies: $420,000 for 25 years and $690,000 for 15 years. That is 20,850,000 cover-years against 27,500,000 for $1,100,000 over 25 years.
4. Social Security survivor benefits
With survivor benefits turned on, each year's benefits are worked out month by month and come off that year's income before it is discounted. Each birthday is taken at mid-year, so a child is paid for 12 months of each year until the year they turn 18 and for 6 months in that year, and the parent raising them is paid for 12 months of each year until the year the youngest turns 16 and for 6 months in that year. When the benefits in a month add up to more than the family maximum, each is cut in proportion, the rate rounded down to the dime and the payment down to the dollar. The earnings test withholds $1 of the parent's benefit for each $2 they earn above $24,480 a year (the 2026 amount for someone under full retirement age), charged from January, and the children's benefits are re-figured without the withheld amount before the family maximum is applied. In the example, the parent's $40,000 of earnings means $7,760 withheld, but the family loses $4,365, because the children's benefits rise in the months the parent's is withheld. The family gets $50,247 in the first year, and the cover to buy falls to $520,000 for 25 years.
5. Human life value
The human life value line sizes the income another way: the yearly income you entered for every year from your age to the age you would retire, discounted the same way. At 35 retiring at 65, it is $1,037,575, against $770,964 for the 20 years your family would need the income. It does not change the cover to buy.
6. Rounding
Every amount is worked out in cents, and each discounted amount is rounded once, to the cent. Social Security rates are rounded down to the dime and payments down to the dollar, as Social Security rounds them. The cover and the ladder are rounded up to the next $10,000. The page shows whole dollars.
Assumptions and limits
- Everything is in today's dollars. The income, college costs, final expenses, savings and cover are held level in today's dollars; a mortgage balance is deflated by inflation. The payout earns one return after tax and prices rise at one rate, 5% and 2.5% unless you change them.
- A death is assumed on January 1 of the year, and each year's income is paid at its start, beginning the year of the death. College for each child is needed in full at 18, or the years left of four for a child aged 18 to 21, at today's cost growing with inflation; if you expect college prices to rise faster than inflation, enter a higher amount.
- Savings and the cover you own are held level. Cover through your job is left out of the cover to buy, because it generally ends when the job does; the findings give the gap counting it.
- The mortgage is paid on schedule at the rate entered; extra payments would make that part smaller. Final expenses and other debts are held level in every later year; a loan paid down over time would shrink that part.
- Up to four children. With more, enter the four youngest and add the older children's college costs to final expenses and other debts.
- Social Security uses the amounts on your Statement, held level in today's dollars, because benefits rise with the cost-of-living adjustment. It leaves out a child's benefit to 19 while still in high school, a disabled child's benefit after 18, the surviving spouse's own widow's or widower's benefit from age 60, the $255 lump-sum death payment, and a benefit for a former spouse who is not raising the children. A year in which benefits pay more than the income need does not reduce any other year's need.
- The earnings test uses this year's exempt amount, held level in today's dollars (in law it rises each year with average wages), assumes the parent is under full retirement age, and charges the excess from January. Social Security may instead hold back whole checks during the year and settle after the year's earnings are reported; the year's total is the same. The first-year monthly test is not modeled.
- No premiums, quotes or underwriting, and no tax: a death benefit is not income to the beneficiary, and the return you enter is after the tax on what the payout earns.
- It does not cover permanent (whole or universal) life insurance as an investment, estate tax, business uses such as key person or buy-sell cover, disability insurance, a state's tax, or working out a Social Security benefit from an earnings record.
Input field details
What to enter in each box, where to find the number, and how this calculator treats it. When two calculators give different answers from the same numbers, it's usually because they handle one of these differently.
Yearly income to replace
The part of your pay your household lives on, after tax and in today’s dollars. Leave out your own income tax, your own spending and the retirement saving that would stop if you died. For a parent at home, enter what the childcare and housework you do would cost to pay for.
Where to find itYour take-home pay on your pay stubs, less what you spend on yourself. The default, $48,000, is about three-quarters of the median weekly pay of full-time workers, $1,232 in the third quarter of 2026 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Usual Weekly Earnings), times 52; the three-quarters is a round illustration, not a measured share.
How this tool treats itPaid at the start of each year, beginning the year of the death, for the years you enter below, and held level in today’s dollars. If you count Social Security, each year’s benefits come off that year’s amount first.
Allowed range$0 to $2,000,000 a year
Years they would need it
How many years your family would need that income: until your youngest is 22, say, or until your spouse would retire.
How this tool treats itCounted from the year of the death. The default, 20, is the years until the default youngest child, aged 2, turns 22.
Allowed range0 to 60
Mortgage to pay off
The balance on your mortgage today, if you want the payout to clear it.
Where to find itYour latest mortgage statement.
How this tool treats itPaying the mortgage off at death is a choice. If the yearly income above already includes the mortgage payment, counting the balance here as well counts it twice. In each later year the balance is the one left after paying on schedule, in today’s dollars. The default is an illustration.
Allowed range$0 to $10,000,000
Final expenses and other debts
Funeral, burial and estate costs, plus debts to clear at death: car loans, credit cards, student loans.
How this tool treats itHeld level in today’s dollars at every later year; a loan you pay down over time would make this part smaller. The default, $30,000, is an illustration: $15,000 of final expenses and $15,000 of other debts.
Allowed range$0 to $10,000,000
Children
How many children depend on you, up to four. With more than four, enter the four youngest.
How this tool treats itOnly the children counted here get a college amount and, if you count Social Security, a benefit. With more than four, add the older children’s college costs to final expenses and other debts.
Allowed rangeNone to 4
Child 1 age
Child 1’s age today, in whole years. Enter the children youngest or oldest first; the order does not change the answer.
How this tool treats itEach child is a year older in each later year, with the birthday at mid-year. College is counted from 18 to 21. With Social Security counted, a child’s benefit runs to 18 and the parent’s while the youngest is under 16.
Allowed range0 to 30
Child 2 age
Child 2’s age today, in whole years. Enter the children youngest or oldest first; the order does not change the answer.
How this tool treats itEach child is a year older in each later year, with the birthday at mid-year. College is counted from 18 to 21. With Social Security counted, a child’s benefit runs to 18 and the parent’s while the youngest is under 16.
Allowed range0 to 30
Child 3 age
Child 3’s age today, in whole years. Enter the children youngest or oldest first; the order does not change the answer.
How this tool treats itEach child is a year older in each later year, with the birthday at mid-year. College is counted from 18 to 21. With Social Security counted, a child’s benefit runs to 18 and the parent’s while the youngest is under 16.
Allowed range0 to 30
Child 4 age
Child 4’s age today, in whole years. Enter the children youngest or oldest first; the order does not change the answer.
How this tool treats itEach child is a year older in each later year, with the birthday at mid-year. College is counted from 18 to 21. With Social Security counted, a child’s benefit runs to 18 and the parent’s while the youngest is under 16.
Allowed range0 to 30
College for each child
Four years of college for one child, in today’s prices.
Where to find itThe default, $47,800, is 4 years of the average published tuition and fees at a public four-year college, in-state, $11,950 a year in 2025-26, before grants. Source: Ma, Jennifer, Matea Pender, and Xiaowen Hu (2025). Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2025, New York: College Board (Table CP-1). Housing and food are left out because the yearly income above pays for living costs.
How this tool treats itNeeded in full when each child turns 18, at today’s price growing with inflation; a child already 18 to 21 needs the years left of the four. If you expect college prices to rise faster than inflation, enter a higher amount.
Allowed range$0 to $1,000,000
Not includedGraduate school, and children past the fourth.
Life insurance through your job
The life insurance your employer provides, from your benefits summary.
Where to find itYour employer’s benefits enrollment page or summary, often stated as a multiple of your salary.
How this tool treats itLeft out of the cover to buy, because it generally ends when the job does and a term policy runs for decades. The answer also gives the gap counting it. The default is an illustration.
Allowed range$0 to $50,000,000
Life insurance you own
The death benefit of any policy you own yourself, which you keep if you change jobs.
Where to find itEach policy’s declarations page or annual statement.
How this tool treats itSubtracted from the need in every year, held level in today’s dollars.
Allowed range$0 to $50,000,000
Savings your family could use
Savings and investments your family could spend if you died. Leave out retirement accounts your spouse will need for their own retirement; include them only if your family would spend them, after the tax on taking them out.
Where to find itYour bank and brokerage statements.
How this tool treats itSubtracted from the need in every year, held level in today’s dollars. The default is an illustration.
Allowed range$0 to $50,000,000
What the payout earns a year
The yearly return you expect on the payout while your family draws on it, after tax and before inflation.
How this tool treats itEach later year’s income, college cost and the like is discounted to today at the real rate, (1 + return) ÷ (1 + inflation) − 1, never return minus inflation. The default, 5%, is a 7% return less tax at a 22% rate, 5.46%, rounded down; a higher rate shrinks the cover, so an error upward runs against your family. Returns are an assumption, not a forecast. Over the long run the S&P 500 returned about 10.2% a year nominally (January 1926 to September 2023, computed from Robert Shiller's series, dividends reinvested, before taxes, fees and any advisor cost), while consumer prices rose about 3.0% a year (1926 to 2024, computed from the CPI-U). Neither is what any single decade delivered, and a real portfolio is not an index: you cannot invest directly in one. Every figure this tool produces is a hypothetical illustration of the assumptions you entered.
Allowed range0% to 20%, in steps of 0.1%
Inflation
How fast you expect prices to rise each year.
How this tool treats itIncome, college, final expenses, savings and cover are held level in today’s dollars, so inflation enters through the real rate above; a mortgage balance is a fixed number of dollars, so inflation alone shrinks it in today’s dollars. 2.5% unless you change it.
Allowed range0% to 10%, in steps of 0.1%
Mortgage rate
The interest rate on your mortgage note, such as 6.875%.
Where to find itYour mortgage note or monthly statement.
How this tool treats itUsed only with a mortgage above $0, to work out the balance left in each later year. The default is an illustration.
Allowed range0% to 20%
Years left on the mortgage
How many years of payments are left on your mortgage.
Where to find itYour mortgage statement: the payments left, divided by 12.
How this tool treats itThe balance is assumed paid on schedule in level monthly payments over these years, interest first; extra payments would make the mortgage part smaller. Used only with a mortgage above $0. The default is an illustration.
Allowed range1 to 40
Your age
Your age today.
How this tool treats itUsed only for the human life value, with the age you would retire.
Allowed range18 to 80
Age you would retire
The age you expect to stop working.
How this tool treats itThe human life value is the yearly income above for every year from your age to this one, in today’s dollars. An age at or below your age gives no income years.
Allowed range40 to 85
Count Social Security survivor benefits
Turn on to count the monthly benefits your children, and the parent raising them, could get if you died.
Where to find itThe survivors section of your Social Security Statement, in your my Social Security account at ssa.gov.
How this tool treats itBenefits are counted only in the years they are paid and only against the yearly income; a year in which they pay more than the income need leaves no credit for another year.
Not includedA child’s benefit to 19 while still in high school, a disabled child’s benefit after 18, the surviving spouse’s own widow’s or widower’s benefit from age 60, the $255 lump-sum death payment, and a benefit to a former spouse who is not raising the children.
Each child’s benefit, a month
The monthly survivors amount your Statement shows for a child.
Where to find itThe survivors section of your Social Security Statement.
How this tool treats itPaid for all 12 months of each year until the year the child turns 18, and for 6 months in that year (each birthday is taken at mid-year), held level in today’s dollars. The default, $1,839, is 75% of an illustrative worker’s $2,452 primary insurance amount, not yours.
Allowed range$0 to $10,000 a month
Benefit for the parent raising the children, a month
The monthly survivors amount your Statement shows for a spouse caring for your child. 0 counts none.
Where to find itThe survivors section of your Social Security Statement.
How this tool treats itPaid for all 12 months of each year until the year the youngest child turns 16, and for 6 months in that year, held level in today’s dollars. The default, $1,839, is 75% of the same illustrative worker’s amount.
Allowed range$0 to $10,000 a month
Family maximum, a month
The most your family could get in survivor benefits in a month, the total family limit on your Statement. 0 means no maximum is entered, and none is applied.
Where to find itThe survivors section of your Social Security Statement.
How this tool treats itWhen the benefits paid in a month add up to more than this, each is cut in proportion, the rate rounded down to the dime and the payment down to the dollar, as Social Security rounds them. The default, $4,553, is the maximum for the same illustrative worker under the formula for deaths in 2026.
Allowed range$0 to $20,000 a month
The children’s other parent is my spouse or former spouse
Turn on if the parent who would raise your children is your spouse, or your former spouse. A partner you were never married to cannot get this benefit, except where state law treats you as married.
How this tool treats itOff, no parent’s benefit is counted and the earnings test does not apply: the children’s benefits only.
Their yearly earnings from work
What the parent raising the children would earn from work in a year, before tax.
How this tool treats itAbove the earnings test’s exempt amount ($23,400 for 2025, $24,480 for 2026, $25,560 for 2027, for someone under full retirement age), $1 of that parent’s benefit is withheld for each $2 earned, charged from January. The children’s benefits are re-figured without the withheld amount before the family maximum is applied, so the family’s loss can be smaller than the amount withheld. The exempt amount is held level in today’s dollars, and the parent is taken to be under full retirement age throughout.
Allowed range$0 to $5,000,000 a year
Questions
How much life insurance do I need?
Is 10 times my income enough?
How long should a term policy last?
Does life insurance through work count?
How much life insurance does a stay-at-home parent need?
Do Social Security survivor benefits replace life insurance?
Is a life insurance payout taxable?
What is laddering?
Version history
- October 31, 2026 (version 1.0.0): First version: the cover to buy and the term length, the need by year, a two-policy ladder, Social Security survivor benefits with the family maximum and the earnings test, and the human-life-value line.