If a stay-at-home mom was paid an annual salary, what would that be?
One of the biggest rebuttals we receive as agents when we ask about life insurance on the spouse is, "Oh, she doesn't work. I'm the only one that does." That comment is not always accepted kindly by the spouse. True, the stay-at-home mom is not garnishing a wage claimed on taxes as income. But how much would that salary be if put into numbers?
Every year Salary.com releases a Mom Salary Survey. They survey thousands of mothers and use real-time market salaries to calculate how much a stay-at-home mom's salary would be.
"Moms are burning the candle on both ends it seems. The survey results show that stay-at-home moms work an astonishing 106 hours per week on average which means they are working 15 hours a day 7 days a week." says the article. This would equate to an annual salary of $184,820.
If stay-at-home moms are worth that much, how much life insurance do you have on the one in your life? After all, consider all the jobs you would have to pay somebody to replace the stay-at-home mom's job description.
The list, according to the salary.com article:
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Operating Officer
Logistics Analyst
Housekeeper
Laundry Manager
Van Driver
Public School Teacher
Facilities Manager
Meeting/Event Planner
Kitchen Manager
Assistant Athletics Director
Staff Nurse - RN
Bookkeeper
Physical Therapy Supervisor
Nutrition Director
Consumer Loan Officer
Fast Food Cook
Server
Conflicts Manager
Interior Designer
Fundraising Coordinator
All of these duties would have to be absorbed into the widower. Not to mention the toll it would play on the remaining spouse's occupation.
One of the most underinsured demographic in the United States is that of a "non-working" spouse. One that stays at home to take care of all the jobs listed above.
If we do our own study, we can see online that the average age of a mother giving birth in the United States is 30 years old. If we take that age of 30 years old and plug it into our quoting software, here are the results:
For $11 a month, you can insure a new mother for $185,000 death benefit. This would cover the one year of salary estimated by salary.com's survey. For less than $25 per month, you could insure that new mother for almost $1,000,000. For the price of Netflix and Disney Plus, you can have the peace of mind knowing that there will be enough money to soften the blow of losing a spouse. If you could just cut down on 3 Starbucks Coffees per month, you would have enough to insure her for a year's worth of her salary.
Not to mention that all of those premiums quoted above can be applied for online with no medical exam. That’s right, if the client is healthy then all of that can be achieved without ever meeting an agent, seeing a nurse or getting poked with a needle.
We all know that putting a price on a stay-at-home mom is difficult. However, we can all agree that their contribution to the household is invaluable. It is just as challenging to equate a life insurance policy to cover their responsibilities. But that doesn't mean that one should do nothing to insure their family's financial future.
The Tale of Two Families
Two similar families with two completely different outcomes. A quick two-minute read on how having life insurance on the breadwinner of the family can make all the difference. One Father and Husband planned ahead with a small life policy and the other one did not. The results can be very astonishing.