How Much Life Insurance Do You Actually Need?
"Buy 10x your salary" is the advice you'll hear most often about life insurance — but it's a rough starting point, not a precise answer. Here's a more complete way to think about it.
Estimate your coverage needs
Enter your income, debts and existing coverage.
The income replacement approach
A common method is to estimate how many years of income your dependents would need replaced, then multiply that by your annual income — a rough proxy for how long they'd need financial support if something happened to you.
Adding in debts
On top of income replacement, add any significant outstanding debts — a mortgage balance especially — since these wouldn't disappear and shouldn't fall on your family to cover from savings alone.
Subtracting what you already have
Finally, subtract any existing life insurance or Takaful coverage you already hold — the goal is to find the gap, not to double up on coverage you don't need.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need life insurance if I have no dependents?
Don't miss it: Estimate your coverage needs
Use our free tool and get your answer with real numbers.