Life Insurance Calculator
Find out how much life insurance coverage your family actually needs - based on your debts, income, mortgage, and children's future costs, not a generic guess.
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Send Money NowWhat Is the DIME Method?
DIME stands for Debt, Income, Mortgage, and Education - the four categories most financial planners use to estimate a household's life insurance need. It adds up what your family would owe or need to replace (debts, years of lost income, the mortgage balance, and future education costs) and subtracts what you already have saved or covered. It's more precise than flat rules of thumb because it's based on your actual numbers.
Term vs. Whole Life Insurance for This Coverage
For pure income replacement, term life insurance is almost always the right tool - it's designed to cover a specific period (like the years until your mortgage is paid off or your kids are through college) at a fraction of the cost of permanent insurance. Whole life insurance can make sense for estate planning or specific tax situations, but it's rarely the efficient choice just to replace lost income.
When to Recalculate
Your coverage need isn't static. Recalculate after having a child, paying off (or taking on) a mortgage, a major income change, or roughly every 3-5 years as your debts and savings shift. Many term policies also let you convert or ladder coverage as your needs shrink over time.