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The number a fee-only planner would start from.
Most people buy life insurance by round number or by the 10×-income rule, and both miss the actual obligations. The DIME method adds what your family would actually face — debts, years of replaced income, the mortgage payoff, and education costs — then subtracts the coverage and savings you already have. The gap is the death benefit worth shopping for, and for most families it is hundreds of thousands away from the rule of thumb.
New parents and new homeowners use it before the first agent call, so the coverage conversation starts from their obligations instead of a sales script — the DIME-vs-10× gap is the moment people realize the rule of thumb was never about their family. Fee-only planners use it as the client homework that makes the first meeting productive.
DIME with typical numbers — $15k debts, 10 years of income ($750k), a $250k mortgage, $100k per child education, $15k final expenses — totals $1,215,000 gross. Subtract $25k of savings and the coverage to shop for is about $1.19 million. The 10×-income rule says $750k — roughly $440k short for this family.
It is a starting benchmark, not a needs analysis. It ignores the mortgage (usually the largest single obligation), education costs, and the savings you already have. For families with young kids and a big mortgage it routinely underestimates by $300k–$600k; for a single renter with no dependents it overestimates. DIME costs you five minutes and lands much closer.
For most families the need is large but temporary — it peaks while the mortgage is big and the kids are young, and shrinks as both wind down. A 20–30 year level term policy covers exactly that window at a fraction of whole-life cost, which is why fee-only planners default to term for income replacement. Permanent insurance fits permanent needs: final expenses, estate liquidity, lifelong dependents.