Human Life Value Calculator
Estimate the economic value of your future earnings between now and retirement.
This is an estimate, not insurance advice. Your actual coverage needs, plan costs, and payouts depend on your policy, insurer, and personal situation.
How it works
Human life value asks a blunt question: how much money will you earn over the rest of your working life? Insurers and financial planners use it as one way to justify a life insurance amount, since a policy is meant to stand in for those lost future paychecks.
The math here is deliberately simple. Take your annual income, multiply it by the years left until you retire, and you get the raw figure. Thirty years of a $60,000 salary lands at $1.8 million before any adjustments.
You can net out personal consumption — the slice of your income you spend on yourself rather than your dependents. If you keep 25% for your own living costs, only 75% actually supports the household, so the value your family would need to replace drops accordingly.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from the DIME method?
DIME adds up specific needs — debt, mortgage, education. Human life value instead looks at your total future earnings. It's a top-down view of what your income is worth versus DIME's bottom-up list of expenses to cover.
Why subtract personal consumption?
Because not every dollar you earn goes to your family — some pays for your own food, clothes, and hobbies. If you're gone, that spending goes too, so netting it out gives a truer picture of the income your dependents actually rely on.
Does this account for inflation or investment growth?
No. It's a straight income-times-years estimate to keep things transparent. A full present-value calculation would discount future dollars and assume raises, which nudges the number but adds complexity most people don't need for a rough figure.