The weighted average cost of capital for MetLife Inc. at 2026-06-30, calculated using the Baratelli Institute methodology and sourced to the most recent public filings. The number below is a practitioner reference — free to use, free to cite, refreshed quarterly.
| Component | Value | Source / Assumption |
|---|---|---|
| Risk-free rate (Rf) | 4.25% | 10-year US Treasury yield at snapshot date |
| Equity risk premium (ERP) | 5.55% | Damodaran implied ERP, June 2026 update |
| Beta (β) | 1.00 | 5-year weekly regression vs S&P 500, Blume-adjusted |
| Cost of equity (Ke) | 9.8% | CAPM: Rf + β × ERP = 4.25% + 1.00 × 5.55% |
| Pre-tax cost of debt (Kd) | 5.20% | Current-yield estimate on senior unsecured debt at issuer's rating |
| Marginal tax rate (t) | 20.0% | Blended federal + state; company-specific effective rate |
| After-tax cost of debt | 4.2% | Kd × (1 − t) = 5.20% × 80.0% |
| Equity weight (E/V) | 60.0% | Market value of equity ÷ total capitalization |
| Debt weight (D/V) | 40.0% | Market value of debt ÷ total capitalization |
| WACC | 7.5% | (E/V × Ke) + (D/V × Kd after-tax) |
Full WACC calculator plus 25 other Wall Street templates are in the Baratelli Financial Modeling Toolkit — $99.
Use this WACC as the discount rate in an enterprise-value DCF, the hurdle rate for value-based management analysis of MET, or the cost-of-capital anchor when comparing MET to peers in the Life Insurance industry. For equity-only valuation frameworks (dividend discount models, residual income), use the cost of equity Ke of 9.8% instead of the blended WACC.
The methodology page walks each input in more depth and explains where reasonable practitioners disagree. If your own model uses different inputs, the companion Excel workbook exposes every formula so you can substitute directly.
Financials sector peers in this reference: BRK-B (Berkshire Hathaway Inc.), JPM (JPMorgan Chase & Co.), BAC (Bank of America Corporation), CB (Chubb Limited).
All 25 companies in the Baratelli WACC reference: The full WACC Reference Library (73 companies) — sorted, filterable, exportable to Excel.
How every input is calculated: The Baratelli WACC methodology page — CAPM, cost of equity, after-tax cost of debt, weighting.
Your own inputs, live: The interactive WACC calculator — enter any company's beta, D/E, and coupon assumptions.
The applied companion: The Baratelli CFO & Controller's Guide covers WACC methodology within a full controllership framework.