Complimentary tool · Your numbers, not ours
Is your work coverage actually enough?
Most people know they have life insurance through their job. Very few know the number, that it is usually capped near one year of pay, or that it ends the day the job does. Put your own figures in and see three things: what the money has to accomplish, how much of your coverage your employer owns rather than you, and what your shortfall becomes if the job ends.
What the money has to do
How long would your household need your paycheck to keep arriving? Until the youngest is grown is a common answer.
Add up the years each child has until 18. Two kids aged 10 and 14 is 8 + 4 = 12. Figured at roughly $12,000 per child-year; change the number if that is not your life.
What you already have
The amount your employer pays for. Often one year of pay, and frequently capped. Your benefits portal has the real figure.
Supplemental or optional group coverage deducted from your paycheck. This ends with the job too.
Any individual policy in your own name. This one follows you.
The gap
—
—
- The job the money has to do
- —
- Total coverage in force
- —
- Gap if the job ends
- —
- Work coverage removed
- Income replacement
- —
- Mortgage and debt
- —
- Raising the kids
- —
How much of it is actually yours
of your coverage belongs to your employer.
That is — that exists because you work there, and stops existing when you do not. It is worth having. It is not the same thing as being covered.
Why this number surprises people
A floor is not a plan.
Employer life insurance is a genuinely good thing. Your company often pays for it, nobody asks about your health, and it arrives whether you thought about it or not. We would never tell someone to turn it down.
But three facts about it are almost never explained at the same time as the benefit:
- It is usually capped well below what a household needs. One year of pay is a common formula, and large employers frequently cap the company-paid amount at a flat figure no matter what you earn. A family with a mortgage and two children at home does not need one year of pay.
- It is rented, not owned. Group coverage is term insurance priced in age bands. The cost of any supplemental coverage you buy through work climbs as you get older, at exactly the point in life when the need has become permanent rather than temporary.
- It ends when the job ends. Not at retirement, not eventually — on your last day, with a short window to act. Most plans allow porting or conversion within roughly a month of separation, and most people find that out after the window has closed. We wrote a whole page on that, because it is the most expensive thing nobody tells you: what happens to your coverage when you leave a job.
The number that matters is not the one on your benefits statement. It is the third box above — your shortfall on the day the job is no longer there. That is the one worth building around, because the coverage you own is the only coverage that cannot be taken away by a layoff, a restructure, a career change, or a resignation you were happy about.
No quote, no pressure
Want the gap priced, in writing?
Send the numbers over and one of our agents will come back with what it would actually cost to close the shortfall you just calculated — and what it would cost to close only the part of it you think is worth closing. Those are usually different conversations and you are entitled to both.
If the honest answer is that your employer coverage plus what you already own is enough for your situation, that is what we will tell you. We are an independent agency; no carrier tells us what to recommend.
This calculator works only from the figures you type in. It is general education, not advice, not a recommendation, and not a quote, illustration or offer of any insurance product. It makes deliberate simplifying assumptions: it does not adjust for inflation, investment returns, taxes, Social Security survivor benefits, existing savings, or a surviving spouse's income, and it values each remaining child-year at a flat figure you can change. Real need analysis accounts for those things and will produce a different number. The amounts, caps, age bands, portability rights and conversion windows of any employer plan are set by that plan and its carrier — your own certificate of coverage and benefits portal are the only authority on your coverage, and you should confirm every figure there rather than relying on typical values. Bullard Financial is a private independent insurance agency and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any employer, employer-sponsored plan, or group insurance carrier. Any coverage you apply for requires underwriting and is not guaranteed to be available or affordable. Replacing existing coverage is a regulated transaction; never cancel coverage you have until replacement coverage is issued and in force.
Questions people ask
How much life insurance does employer coverage usually provide?
Most employers provide company-paid basic term life equal to one year of pay, and many cap it at a flat amount regardless of salary. Caps of $50,000 are common at large employers. Supplemental coverage you pay for yourself can often be bought up to $200,000, and higher for salaried or higher-paid classes. Your own plan documents are the only authority on your numbers, and they are usually in your benefits portal.
Does my life insurance end when I leave my job?
Group life insurance through an employer almost always ends when employment ends. Most plans give you a short window after your last day to either port the group coverage or convert it to an individual policy, and that window is commonly around 31 days. If you miss it the coverage is gone, along with whatever insurability you had while you were employed and healthy. Check your certificate of coverage for your plan's exact window.
What is the difference between portability and conversion?
Portability generally lets you keep group term coverage after leaving, usually at a higher rate and often with an age limit. Conversion generally lets you exchange the group coverage for an individual permanent policy from the same carrier without answering health questions. Both are contractual rights with deadlines, both are frequently unmentioned at exit, and the right choice depends on your health and how long you need the coverage.
How much life insurance do I actually need?
There is no universal multiple. The honest method is to add up what the money has to accomplish: the years of income your household would need replaced, the mortgage and other debt you would not want left behind, and the cost of raising any children still at home. Then subtract what is already in force. What remains is the unfunded job. That is the arithmetic this calculator does.
Is employer life insurance bad?
No. It is coverage your employer often pays for, it requires no underwriting, and it is worth having. The problem is that people treat a floor as a plan. It is usually a fraction of what a household actually needs, it is priced by age bands so it climbs as you get older, and it belongs to the job rather than to you.