A Mother’s Guide to Life Insurance

Let’s be honest, sometimes thinking about the positives might be the only way to keep your sanity. However, there’s one thought you shouldn’t ignore: What would your family do if you were gone?

The truth is, it’s important to consider what your family might do without you and what you can do now to protect your family’s future, especially if you’re a mother.  Life insurance can help.

Why Do Moms Need Life Insurance?

Moms need life insurance, whether you have a 9 to 5 or stay at home or an expecting mother. A common misconception about life insurance is that it pays for funeral expenses and not much more. That’s true if you only get a small amount of coverage, but we’ll get to that later. But with a little planning ahead of time, moms can ensure that their families are taken care of.

If you’re currently employed, you may already have a basic life insurance policy through your job. That typically ranges from $25,000 to $100,000—roughly equal to your annual salary. That’s a good start, but probably not enough to cover your family’s needs (more on that later).

What about stay-at-home moms? Do they need life insurance? Absolutely! From cooking, cleaning, nursing, teaching, bookkeeping, chauffeuring, and more, studies have shown that if stay-at-home moms earned a salary, they’d make $178,201 a year¹! 

Our partner, Bestow, recognizes these contributions, and is proud to offer coverage to stay-at-home spouses who don’t have a traditional income to report. Your partner and kids would definitely feel the financial effects of your loss, and a life insurance policy from Bestow can help offer them some protection.

What Can Life Insurance Cover?

Life insurance is a federal income tax-free² benefit paid directly to your beneficiaries. There are no limits to what it can cover, but here are some things moms should consider in determining how much you’ll need, aside from funeral expenses.

Loss of income

A Pew Research Center study found that in 46% of households, both parents work full-time jobs, and 17% of households have one parent working full time while the other works part time. A life insurance policy can help maintain your family’s current lifestyle, even on one income. And if you’re a single mother and are the only source of income in your household, life insurance can replace your annual salary for years to come.

Childcare

The average cost of childcare in the US is $11,666 per year. With only one parent, your kids might need more hours of childcare (whether it’s daycare, after-school care, or a nanny) to help your spouse maintain a full-time job. This is especially important if your spouse doesn’t have a flexible work schedule.

Housekeeping

There’s no shame in having help. Household chores are time consuming, and if hiring a housekeeper means that your spouse can spend more quality time with the kiddos and less time doing laundry, dishes, and dusting those ceiling fans, this is definitely worth considering.

Extracurricular Activities

The cost of sports, music lessons, and other activities is steadily increasing. The average cost of extracurricular activities per child is nearly $739 a year. And if you have a kid in high school, the number is even higher. Expect to pay about $1,124 annually. Dios mio!

Emergencies

Medical expenses, car repair costs, job loss—it’s important to pad your savings account for rainy days. A healthy savings account can turn a financial emergency into a minor inconvenience, reducing or completely eliminating stress. And who doesn’t want that for their family?

Bestow³: Fast, Affordable Life Insurance You Can Trust

There’s barely enough time in the day for you, let alone for soccer games, piano recitals, and homework assignments. No wonder moms put life insurance coverage on the back burner even though they plan to buy it.

Bestow can make shopping for life insurance easy and affordable. They’ve partnered with two of the largest insurance companies to get moms like you to confidently secure your family’s financial future. Their data and technology-driven approach removes the unnecessary hassle of buying term life insurance. It’s as simple as filling out a form. No more pushy sales calls or invasive medical exams — no time for that! (But, if you do need to speak to someone for some guidance, the Bestow Team is just a phone call away.)

Get a quote from Bestow now, and literally walk away from your computer with coverage, confidence, and peace of mind (or at least until someone spills something on the kitchen floor, again!).

*This post was originally written by our friends at Bestow. For more life insurance content, check out their blog⁴.