Not a round number and not an agent's suggestion. The right cover comes from your family's actual arithmetic.
Term insurance has one job: if you are not there, your family's financial life continues without collapse. The premium buys nothing else, which is exactly why it is the cheapest and most honest protection available. The only real question is the cover amount.
The arithmetic of enough
Add what the family would need: outstanding loans cleared in full, major goals like education funded, and a corpus large enough to replace your monthly contribution to the household for as long as they would need it. Subtract existing assets and any service benefits. What remains is your required cover. For most earning families this lands at ten to twenty times annual income, but your number should come from your arithmetic, not a thumb rule.
Buy it right
Buy early, because premiums lock at your entry age. Disclose everything honestly, especially health and occupation details, since claims fail on concealment, not on technicalities. Choose insurers on claim settlement record, keep nominations current, and tell your spouse where the policy lives.
And resist upgrades into investment-linked variants. Protection and growth are different missions; flying them in one aircraft compromises both.
Questions about your own plan?
A short conversation with a veteran-led team costs nothing and usually clarifies a lot.