Life cover pays your family a lump sum if you die, so the people who depend on you have money to live on and to settle your debts. This guide is for you if your spouse, your children or anyone else relies on your income. It shows a simple way to work out how much cover they would need.
Step 1: Add up what your family would need
Debts. List what you owe: your home loan (bond), car finance, credit cards and personal loans. Check whether any of these already have their own cover, such as credit life on a loan.
Final and estate costs. Allow for the funeral and the cost of winding up your estate. The executor’s fee can be up to 3.5% of the value of your estate’s assets, plus VAT. Estate duty is 20% of the value of an estate above R3.5 million, after deductions, and 25% on any part above R30 million. What you leave to a surviving spouse is deductible. For the 2026/27 tax year, the first R440,000 of capital gains in the year you die is also tax-free.
Income. How much would your family need each month, on top of any other income they have? And for how long? For example, you might plan until your youngest child finishes school or studies.
Education. School fees are part of monthly costs. Add a separate amount for university or college, if that’s the plan.
Step 2: Subtract what’s already there
- Cover through work. If your employer provides group life cover, check the amount. It usually ends when you leave that job.
- Your own policies. Include life cover you already have, including any linked to a loan.
- Retirement savings. Retirement fund money paid out when you die doesn’t go through your estate. The fund’s trustees decide who gets it, based on who depended on you. So it may not go exactly where you expect.
- Savings and investments. Count money your family could use, after estate costs.
Step 3: Treat the gap as your starting point
What your family would need, minus what’s already there, is the extra cover to consider. Two things to think about while you’re at it:
- Name your beneficiaries. A policy paid to a named person doesn’t go through your estate. That means no executor’s fee on it, and your family doesn’t have to wait for the estate to be wound up. It still counts towards your estate for estate duty.
- Plan for young children. Money left directly to a child under 18 may be paid into the Guardian’s Fund, run by the Master of the High Court. It stays there until the child can claim it. A trust set up in your will can let someone you choose manage the money instead.
Why “10 times your salary” is a rough guess
A multiple of your salary is quick, but it ignores the things that matter most. It doesn’t know how big your bond is, how old your children are, what cover you already have, or whether your partner earns. Two people on the same salary can need very different amounts.
In the example below, 10 times salary would suggest nearly double the family’s real gap. For a family with a bigger bond or younger children, the same rule could suggest too little.
Cover for a parent who stays at home
A parent who doesn’t earn a salary still does work that would cost money to replace. Think of childcare, school runs, cooking and running the home. The working parent might also need to cut their hours. Work out what that would cost for the years your children would need it. Insurers set their own limits on cover for someone without an income, so ask what’s possible.
Don’t forget disability cover
Your family depends on your ability to earn, not only on you being alive. If illness or injury stopped you from working, your income would stop, but your costs would carry on and could grow. Disability cover can pay a lump sum, and income protection pays a monthly amount while you can’t work. Check what you already have through work, and look at life and disability cover together.
A worked example
Assumptions: one parent earns R50,000 a month, or R600,000 a year, and is the person being covered. The children are 4 and 7. If this parent died, the family would need R20,000 a month more than the other parent earns, until the youngest turns 18. Amounts are in today’s rand. This assumes any payout is invested and grows only as fast as inflation, after tax and fees. Actual returns could be higher or lower than that.
| What the family would need | Amount |
|---|---|
| Pay off the bond | R1,500,000 |
| Pay off the car and credit cards | R250,000 |
| Funeral, executor’s fee and other estate costs | R150,000 |
| R20,000 a month for 14 years | R3,360,000 |
| University or college, R200,000 per child | R400,000 |
| Total needs | R5,660,000 |
| What’s already there | Amount |
|---|---|
| Group life cover through work | R1,800,000 |
| Retirement fund, if the trustees pay it to the family | R600,000 |
| Savings | R100,000 |
| Total available | R2,500,000 |
The gap is R3,160,000. That’s the extra cover this family might consider, before any disability cover.
A rule of 10 times salary would suggest R6,000,000, nearly double the gap. It ignores the R2,500,000 the family already has.
These numbers only show the method. Your own figures depend on your debts, your children’s ages and the cover you already have. So does the right mix of life and disability cover for your family.
This guide is general information to help you understand your options. It isn’t advice for your situation. Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year (1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027) and were checked on 28 September 2026.