Determining how much life insurance you need can feel abstract, so let me share a real example from a conversation I had just this afternoon. I was speaking with a client who is 49 years old. She had a $50,000 life insurance policy that she took out back in 2007. She thought that was enough.

I asked her to look at her current life. She has a mortgage of $500,000 and two children, one in college and one in school. I asked her, “If you died tomorrow, the bank would take your home unless that $500,000 is covered.” That is the first baseline: cover your debt.

Next, we looked at her kids. We estimated she would need about $50,000 per child to ensure they get through school. Suddenly, her need went from $50,000 to $600,000.

The problem is that buying a new Whole Life policy at age 49 is very expensive. My recommendation was to look at a Term Life policy. We looked at a 10-year and 20-year term—just enough time to pay off the mortgage and get the kids independent.

The difference in price was incredible. A $600,000 Term policy was only about $200 to $400 a year. A Whole Life policy for that amount would have been five times as expensive.

By switching to Term, she could afford to protect her family fully for the years they needed it most. It is about matching the product to your specific stage of life.