Life Insurance Coverage Calculator
Find out how much life insurance coverage your family would need.
Result
How to use
- Enter your values in the fields above.
- Press Calculate to see your result instantly.
- Use the Share button to copy a link to your result.
About this calculator
The DIME method is a widely used rule of thumb for estimating how much term life insurance coverage a family actually needs. Its name is an acronym for the four costs it adds together: Debt (everything owed besides the mortgage, like credit cards, car loans, and student loans), Income replacement (typically your annual income multiplied by the number of years your family would need support), Mortgage (the remaining balance on your home loan), and Education (the estimated cost of your children's future schooling).
Those four figures are summed and then any existing coverage — savings, investments, or life insurance you already hold — is subtracted, leaving the additional coverage gap you would need to close to fully protect your dependents.
Financial planners, insurance agents, and individuals shopping for term life insurance use the DIME method as a starting benchmark before buying a policy, since generic advice like 'buy 10x your income' ignores your specific debts, dependents, and financial obligations.
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