5 Reasons Even Stay-At-Home Moms Need Life Insurance

Soon after we found out I was pregnant with our first daughter we did two things – made a will (for each my husband and I) and purchased life insurance for my husband. We had already been married for two years, but prior to the pregnancy neither seemed like an urgent need to a couple of 20-somethings.  Those two pink lines changed everything!

What we didn’t do in those initial months was set up life insurance for me. Honestly, at first we didn’t even think about it. The plan had always been for me to stay at home with the baby, working freelance part time, my husband would be the breadwinner. I would need his life insurance if something were to happen to him, but we didn’t consider a policy on me.

Then one day my dad asked if I had a life insurance policy. It was the first time we thought about it, but it only took a few key points to make us both see that even as a stay at home (even if I wasn’t earning a dime), life insurance was critical for both of us.

5 Reasons Even Stay At Home Moms Need Life Insurance

1. Child Care – Stay-at-home moms provide full-time child care for their children, which means the cost of outside care never factors into their household expenses. But what if something happens to mom, who takes care of the kids? More likely than not, your family will suddenly incur the expense of child care whether that is day care, after-school programs, summer programs, etc. Even if a stay-at-home mom doesn’t earn a salary, she saves her family thousands of dollars each year in child care expenses. If for no other reason than the care of your children, stay-at-home moms should get enough life insurance to cover the cost of child care expenses. 
2. Education – Whether or not you already have a plan in place to save for your kids college tuition, a life insurance policy can help pay for future tuition in case of something tragic. Even if your policy doesn’t cover the full cost , it can provide a cushion to help get your kids started and keep their future college loans low.
3. Inheritance – If you can’t be there, would you at least like to leave your children with an inheritance to help them pay for future needs – a first car, first home, etc. I absolutely get teary eyed thinking about leaving an inheritance for my girls, but in the event of… I want to make sure every need they have is covered. If I can’t be there to see those things, at least they will know that I planned for their future.
4. Funeral Bills – It is not pretty to think about, but funerals are expensive (even simple ones). A life insurance payout can prevent the unnecessary cost burden on your family on top of everything else.
5. Replace Even A Small Income – Like me, many stay-at-home moms do some sort of work from home to contribute to their family income. Even if it is very small, your family likely becomes dependent on that additional revenue. Removing even few thousand dollars a year from your family’s household budget can be an additional new burden.

And just one more reason for stay-at-home moms to get a life insurance plan. The time to get one is while you are young and healthy, if you become ill in the future your chances of getting a cost-effective policy are drastically lowered. So lock in a policy now and protect your family just in case…