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Stay-At-Home Military Spouses and Life Insurance Thumbnail

Stay-At-Home Military Spouses and Life Insurance

Insurance

Life insurance is an essential part of providing for your spouse and  children in the event of your unexpected death. Not only can funeral  costs place a burden on the family finances, but additional money is  usually needed to get through day-to-day life, cover bills and help  accommodate large expenses such as college tuition. When it comes to  deciding on a life insurance policy, in most cases, the amount of the  policy will be based on the wage earners income to ensure that expenses  can still be covered if they pass away. So what about stay-at-home  spouses?

Often military families forget to take out life insurance  policies on stay-at-home parents, due to the fact that at least on  paper, they are not bringing in the money necessary to cover the bills,  but what many people fail to realize is the financial contribution that  stay-at-home parents actually make to the household.

The Financial Contribution of a Stay-At-Home Parent

While  most will agree that being a stay-at-home parent is often one of the  toughest jobs in the world, many fail to actually put a monetary value  on how they contribute to the household.  If the stay-at-home military  spouse was to suddenly pass away and all of the duties that they usually  performed had to be outsourced, the annual total could be as high as  six figures. Listed below are just some of the expenses that a  stay-at-home parent provides for a family and how much it would cost if  you had to hire others to complete these tasks.

Childcare

The  most significant expense that would need to be replaced in the event of  a stay-at-home parent's death is child care. According to the 2017  Parents and High Cost of Childcare Report, researched by Childcare Aware  of America, the report shows that Americans average 7 to 12 percent of  the average median salary in America providing the cost of child care  for their children. This can vary from state to state with some states  running higher than 12%. On average, a household will spend an estimated  average of $900 per month or $11,000 per year, per child on childcare.1 And in the case of a military family the cost may be more due to  increased need during exercises and deployments.  It is this expense  alone that often causes one parent to decide to stay at home in the  first place.

Household Chores

Cooking and  cleaning are the primary functions in the household that one might have  to outsource in the event of a stay-at-home parent's passing. House  cleaning rates can run an average of $9.00 to $15.00 per hour with  cooking duties adding on to that cost. Additionally if instead of hiring  out a cooking service you were to outsource grocery shopping, meal  prep, or food delivery services you can expect an added expense for that  as well.

Miscellaneous Duties

Stay-at-home  parents are often the bookkeepers, repair people, gardeners, and  personal assistants that help maintain the household. While these duties  could fall to the remaining parent, it would be difficult to fit in  these additional hours while still providing for the family through your military job and taking care of children after work hours and extended  hours during exercises. Outsourcing these tasks can add hundreds of  dollars to your monthly budget.

Buying a Life Insurance Policy for a Stay-At-Home Parent

Purchasing  a life insurance policy for your stay-at-home military spouse can be a  little more complicated as there is no income level to set the amount by  and you will need to create an estimate of the duties your stay-at-home  spouse performs and what it would cost to have those tasks replaced by a  third party to help determine what the spouses income actually would  amount to.

Additionally, you may want to follow the same rule of  thumb that you would with a wage earner by determining what five times  the value of their income would be to help establish the amount of life  insurance that should be carried for them. If you have multiple, or  really young children, you will want to be sure to include enough to  cover them for child care up through school age.  Of course, a detailed  insurance analysis will provide a more accurate results.

Don't  wait until it's too late to realize how much your stay-at-home military  spouse contributes financially. Protect yourself and your children by  protecting them with a stay-at-home parent life insurance policy to  ensure your family's future in the event of your spouse's death.




1 https://usa.childcareaware.org

This content is developed from sources believed to be providing accurate information, and provided by Twenty Over

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