<prompt> Human: So both my wife and I work and each have 1x salary in life insurance - basically enough to pay for a funeral and a couple of months to help the other get their head clear in case something goes wrong. We are both healthy, so the only real concern of death we have is an accidentact of natureetc. My issue is I feel like that is enough for us and our lifestyle but other people whose financial advice I value always freak out when they find out how little life insurance we have. Our lifestyle is set-up that the loss of income from one side wont really effect anything except our ability to pay down debt faster we currently live on less than the lower salary. We have a solid eFund in place, so we have even less concerns there as well. Plus all of our non-mortgage debt is tied individually to one party student loans so in case of a loss, the other side would not be on the hook for the rest of the deceaseds debt just their loans and the mortgage. So the normal life insurance thing is to have enough to replace the salary for x years and pay off debt - but honestly, we wouldnt need that. Wouldnt be the happiest thing, but outside of losing their spouse, the surviving party could continue the exact same life with no change. All the articlesadvice I can find is usually either comparing different types of insurance whole vs term for example or just assume that your family cant live without your income which through a lot of budgeting and living below our means, mine can. The rates on term are pretty cheap would be about 20month each for our recommended level of coverage - 10x salary but I just feel like 500yr isnt worth it considering we would survive just fine without. Our facts: late 20searly 30s, 2 kids 2 and due in a few months. 120k combined income, split roughly even. Average annual budget - 45kyr counting only minimums on student loans. Weve been focusing on debt pretty hard like over 40kyr hard and expect to have everything paid off including the house in less than 5 years.So, oh wise sages of PF - what would you do in my shoes? Eat the 500yr for the extra security, keep the self-insure mind-set we have, some middle ground?  <response>: each have 1x salary in life insuranceYou need way more than that. Term insurance isnt that expensive, there isnt much reason not to carry 3x-4x your annual income each. always freak out when they find out how little life insurance we have.Yeah, because depending on how much your annual income is and the surviving spouses ability to scale to a lifestyle living on 50 of household income, youre going to see one of the two of you go bankrupt. ability to pay down debt fasterI would not want to have a spouse die and leave the other in debt. At a bare minimum, your insurance should erase all debts.2 kids 2 and due in a few monthsThis isnt something to include in paragraph 5. You absolutely are wildly under-insured. 400,000 of term insurance for both of you is likely not going to run you more than the 500 a year that youre describing. That wont derail your financial planning but I think youre both really underestimating the financial costs associated with the death of a spouse, especially when kids are involved. 