Stay at Home Moms Need Life Insurance Too

Stay-at-home parents know how fulfilling, yet challenging parenting can be. The stay-at-home mom or dad is the glue that holds the family together – cooking, cleaning, running errands, taxiing the kids and caring for them when they aren’t well. As much as you care for them, there is one area many stay–at-home moms and dads often overlook. They don’t realize the value of all the things they do and what it would cost for the spouse to replace those services if the stay-at-home parent were to pass away.

With daycare for just one child running about $18,000 a year, your services are very valuable. And if you were to pass away, how would your spouse pay for the cost of caring for your kids while he or she is at work? It’s hard to think about a painful topic like this, but it’s vital to the livelihood of your family should the worst happen.

A Caregiver’s Duties

Although it’s traditionally been the role of mom to do this job, more dads are taking care of the kids while mom works too. If you’re the stay-at-home parent, you don’t really work for free. You do these things because you love your kids and spouse – you don’t expect or maybe even want a paycheck for it. You don’t keep track of what it would cost to send the kids to summer camp instead of staying home with you acting as de facto camp director. But the reality is that your services would be costly to replace.

New Moms Need Life Insurance

In the first six weeks of life, it’s almost universal that the mother stays home with the child for obvious physical reasons. And nursing mothers often stay home as long as possible because of complications caused by being away from the baby for a workday. Maybe you plan to return to work, maybe you plan to stay with the child. Either way, your spouse will need your help to raise this child. And if you should pass away, that help will have to come in the form of financial assistance. Life insurance fills that need.

Calculating Your Worth

No one can put a price on a mother’s love, but you can figure out the value of what it would cost to replace the services you provide. The cost of daycare or a nanny and a housekeeper or assistant should all be considered:

Women tend to underestimate the financial value of the work they do at home while men tend to overvalue it, so take this into consideration while you make your calculation. Getting this right will be important to paying just the right premium for just the right life insurance coverage.

Unfortunately, families fail to see how valuable the services of a stay-at-home-parent are. As a result, most of them either buy too little life insurance, or don’t buy it at all. This leaves the rest of the family in a precarious position. For most families where one parent stays home to care for the children, term life insurance is the smartest choice. It offers the most affordable coverage when budgets are tight. Other options, such as whole life insurance can build cash value, leaving you something to borrow against when your child is ready to go to college. It’s important to discuss all your life insurance options with a knowledgeable agent before making a decision and we’re more than happy to help.

Protect Your Family with Life Insurance from Driscoll

Driscoll Insurance Services, LLC is a family owned and operated agency that offers a personal touch in helping you to prepare for the unexpected. We look at your individual needs and do our best to provide you with a comprehensive plan to help you balance risk and meet your life’s goals. At Driscoll, you’re just one email, phone call, or visit away from an expert who is ready to help. Call us at 412-833-1500, or contact us online for a free quote on life insurance and other ways of protecting those you love. 

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