Free human life value calculator
Calculate your human life value — the present value of your future after-tax earnings net of self-consumption — from your income, working years and a discount rate, the economic worth Solomon Huebner argued every earner can insure, updated live, as you type.
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Hypothetical projection at fixed rate. Actual savings returns vary. Excludes taxes.
Results are estimates. Consult a professional.
What is human life value (HLV)?
Human life value, or HLV, is the economic worth of a person's future earning power: the present value of all the income they would have earned, after tax and after their own living costs, over their remaining working years. This human life value calculator returns that figure the moment you enter your income, the years you have left to work, and a discount rate. Where a needs analysis asks 'how much will my family need?', HLV asks a different question — 'what is the income-earning life of this person worth today?' — and answers it with a single discounted figure.
The concept comes from Dr. Solomon S. Huebner, the insurance economist who founded what is now The American College of Financial Services and made the case, in the early twentieth century, that a person's earning capacity is an economic asset that can — and should — be valued and insured like any other property.
The human life value concept was developed by Solomon S. Huebner, founder of The American College of Financial Services, the institution that still teaches the method today.How the human life value is calculated
The calculator treats your future earnings as a stream of equal annual payments and discounts them back to a single value today. It is the present value of an annuity: each future year's income is worth a little less than the year before because money in hand now could be invested.
How to choose the three inputs
- Annual after-tax income. Start from take-home pay, then subtract what you spend on yourself alone (your share of food, clothing, transport and personal costs). What remains is the income your family loses if you are gone — that is the figure to enter.
- Years remaining to work. Count from your current age to your expected retirement age. A 35-year-old planning to retire at 65 enters 30.
- Discount rate. The annual return you assume on a lump sum, typically a conservative 3%–5%. A higher rate produces a lower present value, because future income is discounted more steeply.
A worked example: valuing 30 years of earnings
A 35-year-old expects to work for 30 more years. After tax and after their own personal consumption, the income their family depends on is $80,000 a year. They use a conservative 4% discount rate.
Step 1 — Find the present-value annuity factor
With r = 0.04 and n = 30, the factor is (1 − 1.04⁻³⁰) ÷ 0.04 = 17.292. In plain terms, 30 years of $1-a-year income is worth about $17.29 today at a 4% discount.
Step 2 — Multiply by the annual income
HLV = $80,000 × 17.292 = $1,383,363. That is the present value of the earner's future contribution to the household.
How the discount rate moves the answer
The discount rate is the single most influential assumption. Holding $80,000 of net income over 30 years, the human life value swings by hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the rate you choose:
| Discount rate | PV annuity factor (30 yrs) | HLV on $80,000 income |
|---|---|---|
| 3% | 19.600 | $1,568,035 |
| 4% | 17.292 | $1,383,363 |
| 5% | 15.372 | $1,229,796 |
| 6% | 13.765 | $1,101,186 |
Factor = (1 − (1 + r)^-30) / r. A higher discount rate assumes the lump sum earns more, so less is needed today to replace the same income.
Human life value vs. the needs-based (DIME) approach
There are two schools of thought on how much life insurance to buy. The human life value method values the earner; the needs-based method (such as DIME) totals what the survivors must pay for. They answer related but distinct questions and often produce different numbers.
| Human life value (HLV) | Needs-based / DIME | |
|---|---|---|
| Core question | What is the earner's economic value? | What will the survivors need to spend? |
| Starting point | Future after-tax earnings | Debts, mortgage, education, income gap |
| Key assumption | Discount rate and working years | Years of income replacement and obligations |
| Strength | Objective, ties coverage to earning power | Concrete, tied to real bills and goals |
| Blind spot | Ignores specific debts and existing assets | Can undervalue a high earner's full economic loss |
Many planners run both and reconcile them. Sources: economic life-value theory (Huebner) and the III needs-analysis framework.
Human life value definitions
How accurate is this human life value estimate?
The present-value math is exact, but the result is only as sound as the three assumptions behind it. Real earnings are not flat — they usually rise over a career — and this model holds income level across all the years, so it can understate a young earner with strong raise potential and overstate someone near a pay plateau. It also relies on you having already netted out taxes and self-consumption from the income you enter; skip that and the HLV is inflated.
Use the figure as an economic benchmark for a coverage conversation — not as financial advice or an insurance quote. A licensed agent or fee-only advisor can reconcile it against a needs analysis and your actual budget.
Human life value concept: Solomon S. Huebner, founder of The American College of Financial Services.NAIC — Center for Insurance Policy and Research: life insurance.Frequently asked questions about the free human life value calculator
About this Human life value calculator
This human life value calculator runs entirely in your browser — the income, years and rate you enter are never stored or sent anywhere. It computes the present value of your future net earnings (Solomon Huebner's economic life-value method) from your after-tax, after-self-consumption income, working years and a discount rate. It is a planning benchmark, not financial advice or an insurance quote.
For the survivors-need view instead of the earner-value view, see the DIME life insurance calculator, browse more insurance calculators, or open the complete calculators directory.