The Capital Needs Analysis - Determing Life Insurance Needs

This calculator walks you through a Capital Needs Analysis (a fancy term for figuring out exactly how much life insurance you should have). The more you know about your current financial situation, the more accurate your results will be. If you don't know the answer to a question, use the calculator's default answer, which is a best-guess estimate based on the average person's finances. Begin by adding the costs of death:

Funeral costs:
Final expenses:
Estate taxes:

Add One-Time Expenses (enough money to pay for the following one-time expenses):

Mortgage balance:
Misc. debts:
College fund:
Special needs:

Living Expenses

Figure out how much your death (and lack of income) will affect family expenses:

Current living expenses:
Surviving spouse's projected income:
Social Security survivorship benefit:

Years of Need

Without your work income, your family could face an annual shortfall. Insurance will be needed to cover this shortfall until circumstances change (as when your children become employed).

Years of need:

Subtract:

Other Assets
Other assets may be sold to help pay for your survivors' well-being.
Insurance proceeds:
Income-producing assets:

This will give you a ballpark figure of how much life insurance coverage you need.