Life Insurance Needs Worksheet
Use this worksheet to estimate the financial responsibilities you may want life insurance to help cover, then subtract existing coverage and other resources you intend to use for those needs.
The result is a planning estimate, not a recommendation for a specific policy or coverage amount. It does not account for every household, tax, investment, inflation, estate or insurance consideration.
Needs minus resources.
The worksheet keeps the calculation understandable.
Start with the responsibilities the policy would need to help cover.
A life-insurance amount is easier to think about when it is tied to specific responsibilities instead of an arbitrary round number.
This worksheet lets you estimate those responsibilities and then offset them with existing life insurance and resources you specifically intend to make available for the same purposes.
Only enter savings or assets as an offset if you actually intend for those resources to be available for the needs included in this worksheet.
Estimate your financial needs and available resources.
Enter only the categories that apply. Leaving a field blank counts it as zero.
1. Income Support
Estimate how much annual income you would want replaced and for how many years.
2. Housing & Debt
Enter obligations you would want life-insurance proceeds to help address.
3. Dependents & Future Needs
Add future responsibilities that are not already included in the income replacement amount.
4. Final & Other Planned Expenses
Include additional obligations you want represented in the estimate.
5. Existing Life Insurance
Enter coverage that you want counted toward the needs above.
6. Other Resources You Intend to Use
Count only resources you intentionally want available for these financial needs.
The number is a starting point—not a policy recommendation.
A useful life-insurance review looks at both the math and the household circumstances behind it.
If There Is a Gap
The worksheet suggests the financial needs you entered are greater than the life insurance and resources you chose to count. That does not automatically mean you should buy exactly that amount.
If the Gap Is Zero
A zero result means the resources entered equal or exceed the needs entered. It does not by itself prove that no additional life insurance would ever be appropriate.
If Circumstances Change
Marriage, divorce, a new child, a mortgage, income changes or a job change can materially change the assumptions behind the worksheet.
Employer coverage can help—but understand what happens when the job changes.
Workplace life insurance is worth counting when it is part of your current protection, but it should be reviewed separately from individual coverage.
Check the current amount.
Employer life insurance may be expressed as a flat amount, a multiple of salary or another benefit structure.
Confirm what is actually in force rather than estimating from memory.
Check what happens when employment ends.
Coverage can change after resignation, termination or retirement. Conversion or portability options may also have deadlines and conditions.
Do not assume workplace coverage will follow you indefinitely.
Keep beneficiary designations current too.
A carefully calculated policy can still create problems if beneficiary records no longer reflect your intentions.
Review designations after major family or relationship changes and confirm them through the insurer or plan administrator.
Beneficiary review points
- Primary beneficiary designation
- Contingent beneficiary designation
- Marriage or partnership changes
- Divorce or separation
- Birth or adoption
- Death of a named beneficiary
- Employer coverage beneficiary records
This worksheet only needs planning numbers.
There is no reason to enter policy numbers, Social Security numbers, beneficiary names, account numbers or other sensitive information here.
Nothing is saved.
The worksheet calculates in your browser. Your entries are not stored by this tool and will disappear when you clear or leave the page.
Keep sensitive policy records somewhere appropriate.
Use your insurer's secure systems or another appropriately protected document location for actual policy and account information.
Connect the estimate to the rest of your insurance review.
Life Insurance Guide
Review policy purpose, term and permanent coverage, beneficiaries and employer life insurance.
Review Life Insurance →Beneficiary Review Checklist
Review primary and contingent beneficiary designations across important policies and accounts.
Review Beneficiaries →Insurance Review Checklist
Review life, health, disability, home, auto and other insurance in one place.
Review All Insurance →Insurance Documents Checklist
Make sure policy records, declarations pages, contacts and backups are organized.
Review Insurance Records →Revisit the numbers when your responsibilities change.
Income, debt, housing, dependents, savings and workplace benefits can all change the amount of protection you may want to review. Treat this as a living worksheet rather than a one-time calculation.