3 Ways To Calculate Life Insurance Coverage
Life insurance is a financial product that you buy to protect your loved ones in case something happens to you. You might want to get a million dollar life insurance policy. However, it’s important to calculate how much coverage you should get before purchasing a policy. Here are three ways to help you figure out how much life insurance coverage is right for your situation:
Calculate your coverage needs
To get a rough idea of how much coverage you’ll need, you can use the multiple-of-earnings method. This method multiplies your annual income by a factor of two or three times to arrive at your total life insurance needs. If, for example, you make $50,000 per year and want to buy a policy that will provide for your family for 20 years after your death, multiply 50K by 2 or 3 (the longer the term length). This would result in an amount somewhere between $100K and $150K in total coverage needed.
Another method is to use the net worth method whereby one calculates the present value of all their assets minus debts and subtracts this figure from their current liquid net worth (money in savings accounts). The resulting figure is then multiplied by 1/10th, which represents one year’s replacement income requirement.
You can estimate coverage needs based on your household income
Another way to calculate life insurance coverage is the multiple-of-earnings method. This method is based on your household income, so it’s also called “household multiple.”
It’s simple to use: Just multiply your annual household income by a certain number based on your age and family size.
Use current debt obligations to estimate life insurance coverage needs
To calculate life insurance coverage needs, use the debt-to-income ratio. This is the amount of all monthly debt obligations divided by your gross monthly income.
The following example will show you how to calculate this figure and how you can use it to determine whether or not you have enough life insurance coverage:
- Let’s say that your monthly expenses are $4,000 per month, and your salary is $5,000 per month. Your income plus expenditures equal $9,000 each month.
- Under these circumstances, if all of your debts were paid off (including mortgage payments), then all of that money would go toward paying for living expenses like groceries and gas—and nothing else! You wouldn’t be able to put any savings back into savings each year since there isn’t anything left after covering those costs every month, even though technically speaking, most people would probably still need some kind of emergency fund in case something unexpected comes along like car repairs or medical bills (but more on this later).
Use the multiple-of-earnings method to estimate life insurance coverage needs
As per the experts at Ethos, “The multiple-of-earnings method is a mathematical way of estimating how much life insurance coverage you need.” You multiply your income by a factor of 5 or 10 and then add a few other factors to get an idea of what type of policy you should purchase. For example, if you make $50,000 per year, multiplying that number by 5 gives us $250,000 in coverage. Multiplying $50k x 10 would give us $500k total coverage. Hope this post has helped you understand life insurance better. Remember that the best way to estimate your coverage needs is to work with a financial advisor who can help you consider your individual situation and goals.
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