Finance & Investment · Planning
Life Insurance Cover Calculator
Work out the life cover your family would need if you weren't there: years of household expenses (or the income you'd have brought home) in today's money, plus loans, children's goals and final costs, less savings — and the gap after the cover you already have.
Your inputs
Quick start — try a typical case
₹ 6 lakh
Household spending, excluding your own personal costs and loan EMIs (loans are added separately).
Until your youngest child is independent or your spouse's retirement income starts.
₹ 30 lakh
₹ 25 lakh
₹ 5 lakh
₹ 10 lakh
₹ 25 lakh
Term plans and employer group cover (group cover usually ends when you change jobs).
Your result Live
Additional Cover to Buy
₹1,59,32,332
Total need ₹1,84,32,332 − existing cover ₹25,00,000 · round up to about ₹1,60,00,000
- Total Cover Needed
- ₹1,84,32,332
- Family Expenses (25 yrs, today's value)
- ₹1,34,32,332
- Loans + Goals + Final Costs
- ₹60,00,000
- Less Savings
- -₹10,00,000
- Living expenses · 69%₹1,34,32,332
- Loans · 15%₹30,00,000
- Goals · 13%₹25,00,000
- Final costs · 3%₹5,00,000
Buy pure term insurance for this — it's far cheaper per lakh of cover than endowment, money-back or ULIP plans.
Review the cover after big life events: marriage, a child, a new home loan or a large rise in income.
Goals are counted at today's cost, which is slightly conservative when the payout can earn more than inflation.
How this is calculated
Need = PV(expenses or income for N years) + loans + goals + final costs − savings; Gap = Need − existing cover
- PV
- E × [1 − q^N] ÷ (1 − q), q = (1 + growth) ÷ (1 + return) — a growing annuity paid at the start of each year
- growth
- Inflation (expenses method) or income growth (HLV method)
- HLV
- Human life value: income minus your own spending, until retirement
Life cover should replace what your family would lose. The expenses method asks how much money, invested safely, would pay the household's costs for the years they'd need support; the income method values the earnings you'd have brought home until retirement. Both add debts and big goals, then subtract what's already saved and covered.
Assumptions & sources
- Expenses (or income) grow every year at the rate given; the payout is invested at the after-tax return given.
- Payments to the family at the start of each year.
- Loans are repaid in full from the payout.
- 1Insurance awareness — how much life cover do you need — IRDAI — Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
- 2CFA Program Curriculum — Quantitative Methods: The Time Value of Money — CFA Institute
Calculator ID FIN-PLAN-LIFECOVER-001 · version 1.0.0
Common questions
How much term insurance do I need?
Enough to cover your family's expenses for the years they'd depend on you, plus loans and big goals, minus savings. As a quick check, it's often 10–15 times your yearly income.
Should I count my employer's group cover?
Count it, but carefully: it usually ends when you leave the job, so many planners keep a personal term plan that covers most of the need on its own.
Why is a higher return giving a lower cover?
If the family can earn more on the payout, less money today funds the same future expenses. Use a safe, after-tax return — not equity returns.