21/01/2026
Life insurance is meant to replace income. That’s why a practical way to size coverage is:
Life Insurance Coverage = Annual Income × Years of Financial Support Needed
Here’s the logic and the math behind it.
Life insurance solves the problem of lost income. When someone passes away, dependents don’t lose a lump sum. They lose years of future cash flow. The real question is not how much you earn today or how much you want to leave behind, but how long your dependents will still need your income.
For example, if your annual income is ₱1,000,000 and your dependents will need financial support for 20 more years if you pass on today, then the computation is simple:
₱1,000,000 × 10 years = ₱10,000,000
That ₱10 million represents continuity of living. It covers daily expenses, education, housing, utilities, and gives the family time to recover and rebuild financially. This is not about luxury, it’s about stability.
Many people choose insurance coverage based on feelings instead of math. Amounts like ₱1 million, ₱2 million, or ₱5 million “sound big,” but when compared against annual expenses, they disappear quickly.
If a family spends ₱800,000 a year, ₱1 million only lasts a little over a year, ₱2 million lasts around two and a half years, and ₱5 million lasts just over six years. After that, there is no more income replacement.
That’s why multiplying income by the number of years of dependency matters. Dependents don’t stop needing support after one or five years. Children still need food, schooling, and daily expenses until adulthood. A spouse needs time to grieve, adjust, and rebuild earning capacity. The multiplier represents time, not emotion.
Relying on savings or investments instead of insurance makes the math even tougher. If a family has ₱5,000,000 in savings and needs ₱1,000,000 a year, that money only lasts five years. That assumes no emergencies, no inflation, no medical costs, and no investment losses. Life insurance transfers this risk to the insurer so savings stay intact and investments are not forced to be liquidated.
A more complete way to compute coverage is:
Life Insurance Needed = (Annual Income × Years of Dependency) + Outstanding Debts – Existing Liquid Assets
But the foundation of the computation is still income multiplied by time.
In the end, life insurance is not about death. It’s about preserving years of life for the people who depend on you. If your income is what feeds, educates, and sustains them, then your coverage should equal the income you would have earned for as long as they still need you. Anything less is not full protection, it’s only partial continuity.