You must take many things into consideration when determining how much life insurance you need, and everybody’s circumstances are different – so there is no fixed answer to this question. However there are ways to help you figure out the minimum amount of life insurance you should purchase. It all starts with a thorough examination of your current and future financial obligations, and your current and projected income to meet those obligations.

Then you need to also consider final expenses, such as estate taxes and funeral expenses. You need to consider what resources your family will have access to other than the death benefit, and you need to determine for how many years beyond your death that they will require to make up for your annual income. Generally speaking you need to have at least 7x your annual income in life insurance, 10x if you have children. In other words, if you have kids and earn $50,000 per year, you should at least have $500.000 in life insurance protection. But again because everybody’s needs are different it is best to get the advice of a life insurance professional to determine the amount of coverage you need. You can also get a good idea by using our life insurance calculator.