How much life insurance do you actually need?

The common shorthand of 10 to 12 times annual income is a starting point rather than an answer. The better approach is to add up specific obligations: remaining mortgage balance, other debts, the number of years of income your dependents would need replaced, childcare costs, anticipated education expenses, and final expenses, then subtract existing savings, other coverage, and Social Security survivor benefits, which are meaningful and routinely forgotten. The output is usually a different number than the multiple, and it is defensible because you can show the arithmetic.

Two decisions matter as much as the amount. Term versus permanent: term insurance covers a fixed period at a small fraction of the cost and is the right choice for the large majority of people, since the need is usually temporary, ending when the mortgage is paid and the children are independent. Permanent policies combining insurance with an investment component are expensive, opaque, and heavily commissioned, which is why they get sold hard, and they make sense mainly in specific estate planning situations. Second, coverage through an employer is convenient but typically modest and disappears when the job does, so it should supplement rather than constitute your coverage. Worth insuring a non-earning spouse who provides childcare, since replacing that labor has a real cost, and worth revisiting coverage after any birth, home purchase, or major income change.