4 Easy Steps To Add Up How Much Life Insurance You Need

If you have a family, the responsible thing to do is purchase inexpensive term life insurance. Although life insurance is very affordable especially for young people, it provides a huge upside. Life is unpredictable, but young people do not always think about the bad things that can happen in life. For example, parents can get sick and die young or could be in an auto accidents which can be life altering and unless young people have been exposed to those kinds of things during their childhood or teen years, they rarely think about life insurance. Having term life insurance, especially when you have children, is a financially responsible thing to do.

Here are four steps to determine how much life insurance coverage you need:

STEP 1
Estimate burial expenses. You do not want to leave the burden of burial costs and other end of life expenses to your family. You should budget at least $10,000 for this expense.

STEP 2
Pay off your mortgage. If you own a home and have a mortgage, add in the remaining balance to your life insurance coverage. This will relieve your family of their largest monthly budget expense and give them all the time they need to sell the house if they want to do that. For this example let's assume the mortgage balance is $200,000.

STEP 3
Provide ongoing living expenses. To figure this, follow these mini-steps:
Step 3a. Estimate the amount of expenses that would go away if you die (for example, your car payment, your cell phone). Let's assume this is $1,000.
Step 3b. Subtract your monthly income that you take home from the figure in 3a. For instance, if you take home $3,500 per month then $1,000 minus $3,500 is negative $2,500 cash deficit that your family would face without you.
Step 3c. Determine how much time you want to cover the cash deficit in 3b. For example, if your youngest child is 5 and you want to cover your family until the child is 18 you would multiple 13 years by 12 months per year which is 156 months.
Step 3d. Multiply your figure from 3c by your answer to 3b. In our example, 156 months multiplied by $2,500 monthly income deficit is $390,000.

STEP 4
Add it all up and purchase your family's life insurance policy. Comparison shop for the best term life insurance. In our example, the totals from steps one through three is $600,000 ($10,000 + $200,000 + $390,0000).

Term Life Insurance Is All You Need
Insurance salespeople may offer you other types of insurance policies like universal or whole life. You do not need these more expensive policies to get the coverage your family needs. A healthy, non smoker in their 20s or 30s can purchase $600,000 in coverage for about $20 per month. So, for less than a dollar a day you can have your family protected from financial distress in the event that you die at a young age.