Your need isn't a number. It's a shape.
Every calculator gives you one figure, as though it were permanent. It isn't. Your mortgage shrinks every month, your children get closer to independence, and the years you'd need to replace income run down. This draws what actually happens.
Built by Yertai Tanai, a data-analytics professor and licensed California insurance advisor (#4472033). For the single-number version, use the coverage estimator.
Your numbers
Balance falls slowly at first — early payments are mostly interest. This chart uses proper amortization rather than a straight line.
Counted from today. It runs down year by year as your household gets closer to standing on its own.
California's statewide average per year. Drops sharply once school starts — that cliff is why the chart bends.
Food, clothing, activities — until 18.
Shown as the dashed line. Where it sits above the shaded area, you're covered.
Future costs are worth less than their face value today, because a lump sum can be invested while it is drawn down. Leaving this on lowers every figure, and keeps this tool consistent with the coverage estimator.
What you'd need, year by year
View the numbers as a table
| Year | Mortgage | Income replacement | Child costs | Total need | Gap |
|---|
This worksheet is educational and general in nature. It illustrates how an estimated need changes over time; it is not financial, tax, or insurance advice, and it does not recommend any specific product or company. Mortgage balances use a standard level-payment amortization; income replacement and child costs are shown as the remaining obligation at each year, discounted to present value at the rate you choose. California childcare figures are from Child Care Aware of America's 2024 Price & Supply Report. Individual situations vary; consult a licensed professional before making decisions.