Financial
As CEO of the home, a stay-at-home parent brings significant value to the family caring for children and household while the other spouse works outside the home.
According to a survey from Salary.com1, a stay-at-home parent balances 106 hours of work as a cook, a housekeeper, a chauffeur, a life coach, and much more.
Converting all of the work the stay-at-home parent does into a salary means the parent would earn $184,8201 annually — and that’s not factoring in bonuses or overtime pay!
Salary replacement
If the stay-at-home parent passes away, not only would it be devastating emotionally, it could also cause a significant hit to your budget if you had to add in day care services, house cleaning services, time off work and other expenses.
While the total sum of these costs may not equal $184,820 per year in all cases, salary replacement of the stay-at-home parent is still an important reason to secure coverage.
Consider life insurance
Life insurance is designed to help protect and provide for your loved ones. In many families, the parent working outside the home has life insurance to help try to replace some of the income that may be lost. But what happens if it’s the stay-at-home parent that suddenly passes away?
In addition to paying for funeral expenses, the life insurance can help replace some of the 106 hours of work such as day care or carpooling services.
One cost effective option is term life insurance which can provide a large death benefit to cover the household for a specified time period 10, 15 or 20 years at an affordable premium. After the term period, many carriers offer flexible conversion privileges to permanent life insurance, providing options when the term period is up or when a particular age is reached.
Next steps
1 Salary.com Mom survey, May 2021
Products are issued by and guarantees based on the claims-paying ability of the AuguStar Life Insurance Company and AuguStar Life Assurance Corporation. Product, product features and rider availability vary by state. Issuer not licensed to conduct business in NY.
