Life insurance can help provide protection for your family in the event that you are no longer able to provide for them. Your income plays an important role in maintaining your family's standard of living. It's important to take the time to prepare now to help ensure that your family will be set financially in the future.

Take a few minutes to enter information to help you determine your approximate life insurance needs.

The following calculator can help you determine the total amount of life insurance that you need. You should rerun this calculation each time you have a child or other significant life changes.

Expenses
Living expenses:
Using the Cash Flow Calculator determine how much money your family will need to maintain their current standard of living each month. Adjust this number up or down to account for things such as expenses that would increase or decrease in your absence, such as child care costs or, health insurance coverage
Funeral expenses:
Funeral and other expenses generally run between $4,000 and $10,000.
Estate administration expenses:
Your spouse will be charged perhaps 5% of your family's asset value to handle the estate. Use the Net Worth Calculator to determine your asset value (not the net worth - the asset value). Multiply by 5% to determine estimated administration expenses.
Estate Taxes:
For 2009
If your taxable estate is under $3,500,000, it will not be subject to federal estate tax if you were to die in 2009. If your taxable estate exceeds $3,500,000, it will be subject to federal estate taxes with a marginal rate of 45% (on the portion of the taxable estate that exceeds $3,500,000). Your state may impose an estate or inheritance tax even if your estate is not subject to federal estate tax.
Mortgage and other loan payoffs:
It would make life much easier for your family if all loans were paid off.
College Costs:
If you plan to send your children to college, enter the amount returned from the College Costs Calculator for each child.
Other expenses:
Enter any other one-time expenses you may wish to cover, such as emergencies, cars for the kids, etc., in today's dollars.
Income
Spouse's Income:
Enter your spouse's annual income after taxes.
Social Security Income:
Enter the amount of money your spouse will receive annually from Social Security. Social Security benefits are paid immediately if you have children under age 16 and they remain in school. Go to ssa.gov or call the Social Security Administration to get an exact reading based on your contributions and number of children. If you have children and want to enter a rough but fairly accurate number use $20,000. If you do not have children enter 0.
Other Income:
Enter the total annual income your spouse will receive from any other sources.
Other Information
Years of social security:
Enter the number of years until your youngest child reaches age 16. If you have no children enter 0 here.
Spouse's age:
Enter your spouse's age.
Existing Life Insurance:
Enter the Face Amount of any existing life insurance policies you have.
Total Life Insurance:
This is the additional amount of life insurance you may need.

If the Total Life Insurance figure is negative, then you do not need additional life insurance.

This calculator makes the following assumptions:

This life insurance calculator is not intended to provide a comprehensive analysis. Please speak to a professional insurance agent for an analysis of your personal circumstances.