--- title: The Fastest Way to Shore Up Your Safety Net description: You can make sure you have enough life insurance in less time than it takes to make a sandwich authors: - name: Ismat Sarah Mangla url: https://money.com/author/ismat-sarah-mangla/ at_money_since: 2010 articles: 10 covers: - Insurance - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Lifestyle - Personal Finance social: - https://x.com/ismat former_staff: true published: '2015-02-27T14:00:48.000Z' modified: '2024-04-02T05:06:35.000Z' section: Insurance tags: - 7-minute workout - coverage - financial fitness - Insurance - insurance coverage - insurance workout - life insurance - total financial fitness word_count: 322 canonical: https://money.com/insurance-checkup-financial-fitness/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Treadmill screen with dollar sign on it](https://img.money.com/2015/02/150227_ff_fitness_insurance.jpg?crop=0px%2C202px%2C4064px%2C2286px&quality=85) *As part of our 10-day series on [Total Financial Fitness](https://money.com/financial-fitness/), we've developed six quick workouts, inspired by the popular exercise plan that takes just seven minutes a day. Each will help kick your finances into shape in no time at all. Today: The 7-Minute Insurance Check-Up* You'll need some financial info for this one. Pull together an overview of your investments, what you owe on your mortgage, the amount of life insurance you currently have, as well as saving and debt numbers. **0:00** Visit [lifehappens.org](http://www.lifehappens.org/), and select "Start calculating your life insurance needs." **0:21** The first part asks about the expenses your family will incur if you die. Life-Happens suggests budgeting $15,000 or 4% of your estate. A funeral typically costs about $10,000, so if you won't leave major debts, $15,000 is fine. **2:30** Next, you'll calculate the money your family would need if you died today, and how much your spouse might earn. While your clan won't need to replace 100% of your income, you will want to cover regular expenses. **4:19** Step 4 asks for an estimated inflation rate (pre-populated with 3%) and after-tax net investment yield (pre-populated with 6%). To be more conservative, decrease the yield. **5:00** Now the site will spit out a suggested amount of coverage. This is a good starting point but may miss some details. Say you'd like to cover a portion of your kid's tuition; the calculator doesn't allow for partial payment. **5:59** Go to [intelliquote.com](http://www.intelliquote.com/) for instant quotes on term-life policies from a range of insurers. (Don't be surprised if you get some sales calls.) Easy, right? Next you'll want to do an [insurance inventory](https://money.com/collection-post/do-an-insurance-inventory/) to check the health of all your policies. Not only will you be better protected, you might save some money too. **Previous 7-minute Workouts:** - ***The Easiest Way to Check Your Credit—Fast*** - ***[How to Start Tracking Your Spending](https://money.com/track-spending-budget/)*** - ***[How to Catch a Recruiter's Eye](https://money.com/get-attention-recruiter-linkedin/)*** - ***[Become a Better Bargain Shopper](https://money.com/best-shoppping-apps-tools/)*** ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/insurance-checkup-financial-fitness/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Insurance", "item": "https://money.com/insurance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Insurance Policy", "item": "https://money.com/insurance-policy/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Fastest Way to Shore Up Your Safety Net" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/insurance-checkup-financial-fitness/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/insurance-checkup-financial-fitness/", "name": "The Fastest Way to Shore Up Your Safety Net", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-02-27T14:00:48.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/insurance-checkup-financial-fitness/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/insurance-checkup-financial-fitness/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-02T05:06:35.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "The Fastest Way to Shore Up Your Safety Net", "articleSection": "Insurance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/02/150227_ff_fitness_insurance.jpg?crop=0px%2C202px%2C4064px%2C2286px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "150227_FF_Fitness_Insurance" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ismat Sarah Mangla", "url": "https://money.com/author/ismat-sarah-mangla/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/ismat-sarah-mangla/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/ismat" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-02-27T14:00:48.000Z", "description": "You can make sure you have enough life insurance in less time than it takes to make a sandwich", "abstract": "You can make sure you have enough life insurance in less time than it takes to make a sandwich", "@id": "https://money.com/insurance-checkup-financial-fitness/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-02T05:06:35.000Z", "wordCount": 322, "keywords": [ "7-minute workout", "coverage", "financial fitness", "Insurance", "insurance coverage", "insurance workout", "life insurance", "total financial fitness" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Insurance", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Insurance policy", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurance_policy" ] } ] } ] } ```