Decide on an amount that will keep the family going for a couple months then take away any accessible savings already in place. If there is a shortfall you'll need insurance to make it up, and that is the first figure for your reckoning.

What about income? Unless every family member is already earning a good salary your income will be missed and insurance should be taken out to cover its loss. Use the following steps to give you a rough idea of how much cover you need.

•  Add your net monthly income to extra expenditure your family would need to make, this might be taxi fares or paying a child-minder for example, to see what income your family needs per month. Call this 'the required amount'.

•  Find out about any benefits your family might be able to claim on your death and take that amount away from the original 'required amount' figure. Information about bereavement benefits are available online from government websites, or pick up information leaflets in your local library.

•  A further calculation is when you add up any expenses that would no longer be payable on your death, such as your personal mobile bill, travel to work, and of course the mortgage repayments as you will almost certainly have cover to ensure that it is paid off. Take this amount away from the required amount and it gives you the final required amount sum.

Think about how long your family will need this support. It could be that your children are still young in which case it might be for several years. Or maybe they are just embarking on their own careers so the need would be for a shorter period.

Multiple the final monthly required amount by 12 to get the sum for a year, then by the number of years you decide on.

Add together your first figure and your final required amount figure to get your base amount.

The next thing to do is to take away any cover that is already in place should you die. You may already have a policy that is not linked to your mortgage, or you could be eligible for a company scheme which would benefit your dependents.

You will now have calculated what your family will need to live on and therefore what level of life insurance cover you need to consider.

In practical terms you may not be able to afford the ideal amount of cover, as the end figure could be alarmingly high. It's better to leave them some insurance than none at all, so just buy cover as close to your target as you can manage.

Of course we all know that hindsight is a wonderful thing, but if you can start a life insurance policy when you are relatively young and your demise seems too far off to think about, it will be less expensive.

One final word of advice, don't neglect life insurance if you are a carer and don't work outside the home. You family would face considerable expense in paying for the care you were providing for free.