Co-Founder, Coastal Financial Partners Group, California
Conventional methods center on a capital needs analysis (how much do I need as a lump sum at my death to create an income for my family). Other methods look at Human Life Value. There are variations on these as well.
Ask a life insurance professional to provide a customized analysis for you and your family.
There are a wide variety of online calculators such as this one:
The amount of life insurance that each person feels is enough depends on what they want their life insurance to accomplish.
E.g. Do you want it to pay off your house so that your spouse could handle the rest of their living expenses on their income? Then you policy is enough if it lasts as long as your mortgage, and is of a sufficient face amount to pay your mortgage off.
Or do you want your life insurance to enable your spouse to be able to live the rest of their lives without having to work outside the home? That would take a substantially larger policy, and at least some of it would need to be in permanent coverage.
It can be helpful to discuss this with an experienced life insurance agent who can help you determine what is most important, and be sure to get enough life insurance to cover that.
.JPG){kind=avatar}
Ask a life insurance professional to provide a customized analysis for you and your family.
There are a wide variety of online calculators such as this one:
http://www.myconfidentfuture.com/insurance/Calculator_01.aspx
These calculators can help get your arms around the problem and better prepare you for a planning discussion with your agent.
E.g. Do you want it to pay off your house so that your spouse could handle the rest of their living expenses on their income? Then you policy is enough if it lasts as long as your mortgage, and is of a sufficient face amount to pay your mortgage off.
Or do you want your life insurance to enable your spouse to be able to live the rest of their lives without having to work outside the home? That would take a substantially larger policy, and at least some of it would need to be in permanent coverage.
It can be helpful to discuss this with an experienced life insurance agent who can help you determine what is most important, and be sure to get enough life insurance to cover that.