Why Stay-at-Home Parents Need Life Insurance

Does a stay-at-home parent need life insurance? The answer is yes.

Why? Because, should the unthinkable happen to the stay-at-home parent, the other parent – the primary or sole breadwinner of your household – would have to continue working to support the family and also pay other expenses, such as childcare, to replace your at-home contributions to the family.

The work contribution of a stay-at-home parent should never be discounted when determining life insurance coverage. It’s also not a question of “if” a stay-at-home parent should have as much, or more, or less, life insurance coverage as a working parent. Instead, determine the need for life insurance for a stay-at-home parent based on his or her contributions to your household.

Putting a Value on the Contributions of a Stay-at-Home Parent

The payroll solutions company Salary.com, in its 14th annual Mom Salary Survey, attempted to calculate the hypothetical salary of a stay-at-home mom. Survey results found, on average, that stay-at-home moms juggle 96.5 hours of work each week and would make an annual salary of $118,905 if employed. This of course was a lighthearted rather than scientific way to value the contributions that stay-at-home parents provide.

Among the tasks that stay-at home parents address:

• Childcare
• Cooking
• Cleaning the home
• Running errands / grocery shopping
• Doing laundry
• Serving as family chauffeur

To determine how much insurance coverage a stay-at-home parent in your home might need, simply ask: If something were to happen to the stay-at-home parent, how much would it cost the bread-winning parent to hire someone to take over the work load?