Compare All Three Methods Side by Side
No single calculator agrees with the others — that is the point. Enter your numbers once and see the DIME method, the income-multiple rule, and Human Life Value next to each other, then use the range as your planning band.
DIME Method Calculator
The financial-planner standard: Debt + Income × years + Mortgage + Education, minus existing assets.
Income-Multiple Quick Check
The 10–15× rule of thumb, adjusted for your age and dependents. Fast sanity check for "how much life insurance do I need".
Human Life Value (HLV) Needs Analysis
The advisor's life insurance needs analysis: your projected lifetime earnings, minus future family expenses and existing assets — your economic value to the household.
Tip: "future family expenses" should cover what the household would spend without your income — housing, food, childcare — over the same horizon. When in doubt, estimate generously, then sanity-check against DIME.
Term Life Insurance Calculator — Premium Estimator
This life insurance premium calculator — a life insurance calculator by age and gender, smoker status, health class and term length — estimates term life insurance cost per month. This is a relative estimate from public multipliers, not a quote. Real rates require medical underwriting and vary by insurer. Works as a life insurance calculator for seniors too (ages up to 75).
Seniors: rates rise steeply after 55 — a 60-year-old typically pays ~10× a 35-year-old for the same term. Smokers pay ~2–3× non-smoker rates. Women pay ~15–20% less than men.
Decreasing Term Schedule
Decreasing term life insurance starts at full coverage and shrinks each year — ideal for covering a repayment mortgage. Uses the same age/gender/smoker/health factors above.
Year-by-year schedule
Term vs Whole Life Comparator
Whole life insurance typically costs 5–15× term life for the same death benefit. Compare the lifetime cost — and what happens if you buy term and invest the rest.
Illustrative life insurance cash value
This life insurance cash value calculator shows illustrative cash value growth — cash value lags premiums for years, and these are illustrative fractions of premiums paid, not a policy illustration.
Term Life Insurance Buyout (Life Settlement) Estimator
A term life insurance buyout calculator: selling an existing policy for a lump sum — typically relevant at 65+. Illustrative payout range only; real offers depend on health, age and policy terms.
That is roughly of face value after illustrative fees. Consult a licensed settlement broker — never accept the first offer.
International Modes
The math is universal — the currency, terminology and local guidance are not. Pick your country to switch currency and see local notes.
How the numbers are calculated
DIME (Debt, Income, Mortgage, Education)
A financial-planning rule of thumb documented across planner literature (see e.g. the DIME explainer on lifeinsure.com and theinsurancenerd.com): add non-mortgage debts, income × years of support needed (commonly 10–20), remaining mortgage balance, and projected education costs; subtract liquid assets and existing life insurance. It is a planning shortcut, not underwriting.
Income multiple (10–15×)
Coverage = annual income × factor. Factor starts at 15 under age 40, 12 at 40–54, 10 at 55+, plus ~0.5 per dependent (capped at 17×). Quick check only.
Human Life Value
HLV = (annual income × working years remaining) − projected family expenses − existing assets. An advisor-style economic-value measure; pair it with DIME rather than using either alone.
Term premium estimator
Base rate per $1,000/year is interpolated from an illustrative age curve (male, non-smoker, preferred, 20-year term; 35 ≈ $0.35/$1k/yr), then multiplied by public relative factors: term length (10yr 0.65× … 30yr 1.60×), gender (female 0.82× ≈ −18%), health class (preferred-plus 0.88× … substandard 1.75×), and tobacco (2.5×, within the published 2–3× range). Relative factors are consistent with published term-rate tables (Policygenius, ValuePenguin); the absolute level is an estimate, not a quote — actual premiums depend on full medical underwriting and vary by insurer.
Term vs whole & cash value
Whole-life premiums are typically 5–15× term premiums for equal coverage (industry rule of thumb). "Invest the rest" compounds the annual difference at your assumed return. Cash-value figures are illustrative fractions of premiums paid (10yr: 25%, 20yr: 45%, 30yr: 60%) — real cash values depend on the policy, insurer dividends, and fees.
Sources & further reading
Method references: LIMRA (life insurance industry research association); DIME method — financial-planning literature; relative premium factors — published term life rate tables (Policygenius, ValuePenguin); decreasing-term structure — standard mortgage-protection design. This page is educational and cites methods, not any insurer's proprietary pricing.