Guide
How much life insurance do you need?
A simple worksheet walks through the logic: income span, outstanding obligations, college costs, and what protection you already carry.
A standard approach is to total what your earnings would support minus any protection you already have. You don't need precision here: term policies come in round dollar increments, and your real objective is an amount that would sustain your household through the period when your income matters most.
Coverage estimate
Quick calculation: (yearly income × number of years) + total debts + college savings goal − existing policies and savings, then round to the nearest $5,000 increment. This gives you a starting figure to quote against; it's a tool, not financial guidance.
Why those inputs
Support timeline. Most advisors suggest covering ten to twenty years of income, depending on how old your dependents are and when they'd become independent. For Los Angeles families raising young children, the longer range often makes sense because schooling, rent or a mortgage, and childcare all peak at the same time.
Liabilities. A home loan typically represents the biggest obligation for households. Life insurance proceeds that would pay off the mortgage give your family the option to keep the home, move, or sell without money pressure dictating the choice.
College. Set aside a rough per-child estimate in current dollars. Bundling education funding into your coverage now is simpler than trying to buy additional insurance later.
Existing coverage. Include savings you could deploy and any group life insurance through your employer. Keep in mind that workplace coverage typically ends if you change jobs, so it's wise to factor in only a portion of it.
Once you've settled on a target amount, the quoting tool will show you what that coverage costs across different term lengths (10, 15, 20, 25, or 30 years) from multiple carriers. Many people purchase slightly more than their initial estimate because the monthly premium difference is modest when you're younger.