How much life cover do you actually need?
The usual answer is ten times your salary. It is a shortcut that ignores what you owe, how long your family would need support, and what cover you already hold, which means it is wrong for almost everybody. Here is how to build the number from what the money actually has to do, with a calculator that does the arithmetic.
Pocket Nerd editorial · Checked 27 September 2026 · 7 min read
Why the usual answer is wrong
Ten times your salary is the figure everyone repeats. It is easy to remember and it takes nothing about your life into account.
Two people on the same salary can need wildly different amounts. One has a paid-off house, no children and a working partner. The other has a bond with twenty years to run, two children in primary school and a household that runs entirely on their income.
A multiple of salary gives both the same answer. It will be far too much for one and nowhere near enough for the other, and the one it fails is the one who needed it.
The better method is to start from what the money has to do, and add it up.
The four things it has to cover
The bond
Usually the largest single item, and the one that decides whether your family keeps the house. Use the settlement amount, not the monthly payment.
Everything else you owe
Car finance, personal loans, credit cards, store accounts. Debt does not die with you: it comes out of your estate before anyone inherits anything.
Years of running the household
The gap between what would still come in and what it costs to live, multiplied by the number of years your family would need that gap filled.
Education still to pay for
School and university for everyone who depends on you. It is easy to leave out because it is years away, and it is one of the biggest numbers on the list.
Then subtract what you already have, including cover through your employer. That last step is the one people skip, and it is the difference between buying the right amount and buying it twice.
Work out your number
Fill in what you know. You do not need every field to get something useful out of it.
Not your salary. What it costs to run the household, after any income that would continue.
The settlement amount, not the monthly payment.
Car finance, personal loans, credit cards. What would still be owed.
School and university for everyone who depends on you, in today's money.
Include cover through your employer, and any policy already in force.
Start with what your household would need each month. The rest builds on top of it.
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A guide, not advice. This works in today’s money and does not adjust for inflation or for what a payout might earn if invested, since both need assumptions we would have to invent. It gets the shape right, which is what most people are missing. Life cover explained.
Two things that matter more than the amount
You can buy exactly the right cover and still have the claim declined. These are the two reasons why.
Tell them everything
The health and lifestyle questions decide whether the policy pays. Insurers check medical records at claim stage, and non-disclosure is the most common reason large life claims are refused. Declare everything, including anything you were investigated for even if nothing came of it, and including the things you think count against you. A slightly higher premium beats a refused claim by an enormous margin.
Check who is named on it
The payout goes to the beneficiary named on the policy, not to whoever is in your will. If the two documents disagree, the policy wins. This is how estates end up in dispute between people who were both told they were provided for, so check that the name on the policy is the name you mean today rather than the one you gave when you signed.
Age-rated or level premiums
The question that changes what this costs you over thirty years, and it is rarely explained at the point of sale.
An age-rated policy starts cheap and climbs every year as you get older, sometimes steeply in later life, which is exactly when you are least able to replace it.
A level premium costs more at the start and stays flat. It looks like the worse deal on the day you buy it and frequently is not.
Ask which one you are being sold and ask what it will cost at sixty. If the answer is vague, that is itself the answer. Our life cover page has the full list of what to ask before signing.
Questions people ask
- How much life cover do I need in South Africa?
- Add up what you owe, including the bond, the cost of educating anyone who depends on you, and the income your household would need for as many years as it would need it. Then subtract cover you already have, including through your employer. That total is your target, and it will be very different from someone else on the same salary.
- Is ten times my salary enough life cover?
- It might be, by coincidence. It is a shortcut that ignores your debts, how many years your family would need support, and what cover you already hold, so it is right only by accident. Building the number from what the money has to do takes about five minutes and is far more reliable.
- Do I still need life cover if I have it through work?
- Usually yes. Employer cover is typically a multiple of salary, which is rarely enough on its own, and it almost always ends when the job does. That is the worst possible time to shop for new cover, because you will be older and any health issue since will now be on the record.
- Does life cover pay out if I have debt?
- The payout goes to your named beneficiary. Your debts are settled from your estate, which can force the sale of assets your family was relying on. This is why the amount you owe belongs in the calculation rather than being treated as somebody else's problem.
Now go and check what you are paying
Knowing how the cover works is most of it. The rest is not overpaying for it. You choose which insurers get your details, and nobody else does.
Where this comes from
No published figures are used on this page. The amount of cover a household needs depends entirely on that household, and any national average would be a number to ignore rather than a number to use.
The calculator works in today’s money. It does not adjust for inflation or for what a payout might earn if invested, because both require assumptions we would have to invent.