Life Insurance Needs Calculator
Work out how much life insurance you need in 2026 using income replacement, debts and existing cover — with a freelancer mode for lost group benefits.
US Social Security does pay survivor benefits to a deceased worker's dependents, but the amount is modest relative to income replacement and, unlike many salaried W-2 roles, self-employed/1099 workers almost never have an employer-provided group life insurance policy to fall back on — a gap this default (a common 10x-income planning rule of thumb) does not itself subtract unless the user supplies an existing-cover figure.
How Much Life Insurance Do Freelancers and Contractors Need?
Life insurance needs calculators built for a typical W-2 household often assume a steady paycheck and existing employer group coverage — neither of which applies to most 1099 workers. This calculator uses a standard income-replacement approach but flags the specific gap self-employed workers usually have to fill themselves.
Why the self-employed calculation is different
- US Social Security does pay survivor benefits to a deceased worker's dependents, but the amount is modest relative to full income replacement
- A W-2 employee often has some baseline group life insurance through their employer to fall back on; a self-employed or 1099 worker almost never does, so the full need typically has to be self-funded
- This calculator defaults to a common 10x-annual-income rule of thumb for income replacement, which you can adjust — it does not automatically subtract any existing coverage unless you enter it
- Debts, dependents' future needs (like education costs), and existing savings all factor into a fuller needs calculation beyond the income-replacement multiple alone
