How much life insurance do I need?

There is no single correct number, but there is a correct method: add up what your family would need money for, then subtract what they would already have. The right coverage is the gap. This page walks through the method twice — once for final expenses and once for income protection — because the two kinds of coverage answer two different questions.

For final expenses: count the bills

The final-expense question is simple: if you died tomorrow, what would your family have to pay, and how soon? Start with the funeral itself. The National Funeral Directors Association's 2023 study gives national medians of $8,300 for a funeral with viewing and burial, $9,995 with a burial vault, and $6,280 for a funeral with viewing and cremation. Add the cemetery (a plot, opening and closing, and a marker can add several thousand dollars for burial), then the rest: final medical bills, a flight or two for family, an obituary, and a small cushion for the costs nobody predicts. Subtract savings earmarked for this and any existing policy. Most families land between $10,000 and $25,000 for burial and $7,000 to $15,000 for cremation. Our final expense calculator does this exact arithmetic and shows every step.

Source: National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), 2023 General Price List Study.

For income protection: count the years

Term life answers a bigger question: how long would your income need to keep arriving? A common shortcut is 10 to 15 times your annual income. It is a shortcut, not an answer — test it against your real obligations:

Debts: the mortgage first, then car loans, credit cards, and anything you would not want to leave behind.
Years of income: how many years until the children are independent and your spouse could manage on one income or on savings?
Children's futures: childcare and college contributions your plan assumed you would make.
What you already have: savings, investments, and any group life insurance at work (remember that group coverage usually ends when the job does).

A worked example

Consider a Texas couple, both 42, earning $95,000 combined, with two children ages 9 and 6, a $260,000 mortgage balance, and $40,000 in savings. If one spouse died, the family would want the mortgage gone ($260,000), roughly ten years of partial income support while the children grow (say $35,000 a year for 10 years = $350,000), and a college contribution of $50,000 — a total need of about $660,000. Subtract the $40,000 in savings and a $50,000 group policy, and the gap is roughly $570,000. A 20-year term policy of about $575,000 to $600,000 on each spouse bridges that gap for far less than most families expect, because term coverage during healthy working years is the cheapest life insurance there is. The exact premium depends on age, health, and carrier — request a quote and we will price it precisely.

Rules of thumb worth keeping

Round up, not down — inflation and surprises both push costs one direction.
Each earner usually needs their own policy, sized to their own income.
A stay-at-home parent needs coverage too: replacing childcare and household work has a real price.
Revisit the number when life changes — a new home, a new child, a paid-off mortgage, or retirement all change the gap.
If the budget is tight, cover the biggest risks first for a shorter term rather than skipping coverage altogether.

When you are ready, the fastest path to a real number for your family is a short conversation. Request a free quote, or start with the calculator if final expenses are the concern. You can also compare the two products directly on our final expense and term life pages.