A stay-at-home parent fulfills many roles

A stay-at-home parent is many things rolled into one – childminder, teacher, nurse, life coach, cook, domestic cleaner, laundrette, taxi service, gardener, dog walker, financial advisor, personal shopper, interior designer……the list goes on and on.

Are you a stay-at-home mum or dad? Do you and your partner appreciate your value to the family unit, both emotionally and financially? Do you both have life insurance?

Think about what your average day might look like:

• 3 hours cleaning, tidying and washing up
• 2 hours preparing and cooking food
• 1.5 hour cleaning and ironing clothes
• 1-hour shopping
• 1-hour taxi service (to and from school/college)
• 30 mins gardening
• 15 mins managing finances
• On call for the children (and spouse) 24/7.

Have you ever wondered how these roles would be fulfilled, and what the cost implications might be, if you were no longer around?

According to an article published in the Mirror^[1], drawing on research by Bidvine^[2], a stay-at-home mum could be worth as much as £80,000 a year.

Myth: I don’t work, therefore I don’t need life insurance

If you are a stay-at-home parent and don’t earn a regular salary, it’s easy to think you don’t need life insurance.

You might think that life cover is designed just to protect the family breadwinner, be it mum or dad?

After all, they earn the money to pay the mortgage, utility bills and family living costs. Right?

WRONG.

A stay-at-home parent makes an enormous contribution and we believe should be protected with life cover too.

Think about it. Any family would be massively impacted, both practically and financially if the stay-at-home parent was no longer around.

Who would step in and help support the family? If you needed to hire help, could you afford this expense?

According to a report from The Money Charity^[3], the average cost of raising a child, from birth until 21, is now £30.23 a day.

That is £11,034 a year, or a staggering £231,713 over 21 years, (per child).

Take childcare, for example

The Money Advice Service^[4] reports that the average cost of full-time childcare is £223.36 a week and £277.84 per week for those in London (2017).

That equates to £11,615 or £14,448 a year, for 1 child under 2 years of age. What if you had more than 1 child?

Protection probably costs less than you think, (especially if you are young)

Most people can set up life insurance cover to protect their family for just a few pounds each month.

For the price of a chocolate bar a day you and your family could be comprehensively covered, should the worst happen.

Another cost effective option, popular among young families, is family income benefit (or FIB).

In contrast to traditional life insurance which pays out a lump sum pay out, family income benefit ensures your dependents receive a tax-free monthly income if you were no longer around.

This ensures your loved ones do not have to manage or invest a large lump sum, which can be difficult and problematic. Making long term family budgeting easier.

You are unique and can never be replaced

No one can ever replace a mum or a dad. Whether you work full-time, part-time or are a stay-at-home parent, the role you fulfil is invaluable.

However, ensuring you have adequate life cover in place and receiving a pay out could one day help you financially, at a time when you are grieving.

If you are one of the millions of parents in the UK who doesn’t have life insurance, why not do something heroic and take out cover?

Freeing you up to get on with the important things in life, like enjoying your family, safe in the knowledge they are fully protected.

This is a guest post from life insurance brokers, Reassured.

---

Sources:

[1]http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/family/mums-would-earn-80000-year-10067907/

[2] https://www.bidvine.com/blog/mum-salary/

[3] http://themoneycharity.org.uk/money-statistics/september-2017/

[4] https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/childcare-costs/