How the DIME formula works
DIME is the standard needs-analysis framework because it forces specificity: instead of a vague "seven to ten times salary," it totals the four obligations a death actually creates for a family.
Gap = Need − Existing Coverage − Liquid Assets
Policy = Gap (rounded up to the nearest $50,000) (underinsurance beats overinsurance)
The formula's virtue is that it prices actual liabilities rather than an arbitrary income multiple. Its known limitation is that it prices income replacement linearly — ignoring the investment returns a large tax-free death benefit can earn — which is why professional needs analyses layer a present-value discount on top. DIME answers "how much" conservatively-high, which for a family-protection decision is the correct side to be wrong on.
Why "ten times your salary" undershoots most families
The 7–10× income shortcut predates dual-mortgage, childcare-priced household economics. Run the breakdown on a typical profile — $90,000 income, 12 years of replacement, a $320,000 mortgage, two children headed to college — and the gross need approaches $1.7 million before final expenses, against a typical existing group policy of one to two times salary. The gap in that illustrative case is roughly $1.2–$1.4 million of unowned coverage. That is not an argument for buying more permanent insurance; it is an argument for a large, cheap, 20- or 30-year level-term policy that prices the actual exposure and expires when the mortgage is gone and the children are grown.
Term or permanent — which one fills this gap
The DIME gap is almost definitionally temporary: mortgages amortize to zero, children reach independence, income-replacement windows end. Temporary exposure maps to term insurance. Permanent (whole/universal) insurance serves genuinely permanent needs — estate liquidity for taxable estates, a special-needs child who will never be independent, business buy-sell funding. Buying a $250,000 whole-life policy to cover a 20-year mortgage is paying lifelong premiums for a duration mismatch; the coverage gap this tool measures is exactly the case level-term was designed to close at a fraction of the cost.
The employer group-life trap
Group life feels free because it usually is — one to two times salary, no underwriting, deducted from a paycheck. Two structural problems: it is not portable (change jobs, lose the coverage, now older and more expensive to insure privately), and it is rarely enough (one to two times salary against a DIME need that commonly runs seven to ten). Count it in "existing coverage" — this tool does — but size your owned policy so that losing the group benefit tomorrow does not leave a gap.
What a real policy costs, roughly
| Profile | $500k / 20-yr term | $1M / 20-yr term |
|---|---|---|
| Healthy 30-year-old | ~$20–30/mo | ~$35–55/mo |
| Healthy 40-year-old | ~$30–50/mo | ~$60–95/mo |
| Healthy 50-year-old | ~$80–130/mo | ~$150–240/mo |
Illustrative preferred-class ranges; tobacco use, health conditions, and hazardous occupations move these substantially. The point is the price of the DIME gap is usually far more affordable than people assume — the gap feels large because the obligation is, but term pricing for temporary exposure is not.
Frequently asked questions
How much life insurance do I actually need?
Run the DIME total, then subtract what you already own. Most working parents with a mortgage and young children land between seven and ten times gross income — materially more than the one-to-two-times group policy most people carry, which is precisely why the gap calculation exists.
What is the DIME formula?
Debt, Income replacement, Mortgage, Education: the four obligations a death benefit exists to cover. Sum them, subtract existing coverage and liquid assets, and the remainder is the coverage gap. It is the standard planner framework because it prices actual liabilities rather than an arbitrary income multiple.
Term or whole life for this?
Term, for the DIME gap: the obligations it prices (mortgage, child-raising, income replacement) are temporary, and level-term delivers the most death benefit per dollar for exactly those years. Permanent insurance serves permanent needs — estate liquidity, lifelong dependents, business succession — not a 20-year mortgage. Buying duration you do not need is how families end up underinsured and overcharged simultaneously.
Do I count my employer's group life insurance?
Yes, in "existing coverage" — with two caveats: it is typically one to two times salary, and it ends when employment does. Size your owned coverage so the group benefit is a bonus, not the foundation.
Is this financial advice — and is my data stored?
No to both. This is an educational needs model, not a policy recommendation or a quote. All arithmetic executes locally in this browser tab; inputs are never transmitted, logged, or stored.