Built a Life Insurance Calculator Because Adulting is Hard

Okay so real talk - I'm 25 and the concept of life insurance felt like something for "real adults" with mortgages and kids. But then I started thinking: what if something happens to me? Who's gonna pay off my student loans? (Spoiler: not the loan fairy.)

My initial reaction was probably like yours: "I'm young, I'm healthy, that's future me's problem." But then I stumbled across some financial planning stuff and realized I was being kinda dumb about this.

The thing is, life insurance isn't about getting rich or anything fancy. It's about not leaving people financially screwed if something unexpected happens. Like, who's gonna handle that education loan? Or help out family if you were contributing?

But here's the problem: how do you figure out how much coverage you actually need? Most people just guess or go with whatever the insurance agent suggests (which is usually way too much because commissions).

So I did what any reasonable developer would do - I built a calculator. Because spreadsheets are therapy.

Here's how it works:

1. Monthly income replacement: What would your family need to cover basic expenses without you? Rent, food, bills - the essentials.
2. Time horizon: How long would they need that income? A few years to get back on their feet? Longer?
3. Inflation factor: Because expenses don't stay the same. I used 6% annual inflation (being realistic here).
4. Investment returns: Assuming they can invest part of the money at 7% returns (index funds, etc.).
5. Current coverage: Whatever life insurance you already have through work or whatever.
6. Usable assets: Savings, investments they can actually access.
7. Debts: All the stuff that needs to be paid off (student loans, credit cards, etc.).

The calculator spits out the total amount needed and subtracts what you already have. In my case, it came out to around ₹30.80 lakhs, which honestly seemed reasonable.

The key insight? Just get simple term life insurance. Not the fancy investment-linked stuff that insurance agents love to push. Just basic coverage that pays out if something happens.

Real talk: Doing this calculation was weirdly reassuring. It took the guesswork out of a decision I was avoiding and gave me a concrete number to work with. Plus, term insurance is surprisingly cheap when you're young and healthy.

Moral of the story: adulting sucks, but spreadsheets make it suck less. And maybe don't wait until you're "old enough" to think about this stuff. Future you will appreciate the planning.

Now if someone could build a calculator for "how much coffee is too much coffee," that would be great.