Mommy Talk Show Candid Conversation with a TV Mom
Disclosure: This post is presented by Genworth Financial where you can learn more about mortgages and planning ahead for your family’s future.
All thoughts & opinions are 100% my own.
Google the “stay at home moms salary” and you’ll find an array of articles and news stories estimating what we’re “worth.” The number will range anywhere from $90, 000 to $130,000 a year. Wow, I wish I could start getting paid yesterday! Part of the formula for creating this figure includes all the tasks stay at home moms (and dads) do. It was something I had to consider when I estimated how much life insurance I needed. Have you ever wondered what it would be like if stay at home moms got paid a salary?
As A.J.’s primary caretaker, if I died my husband would not only have to cover my funeral expenses, but he’d need to pay someone for all the things I do without a salary.
Consider these expenses:
- Full-time nanny search & salary
- On call babysitter for last minute needs & nanny vacations
- Preschool tuition
- Family therapy
- Home cleaning service
- Personal shopper
- Replacing my part-time income
Once I did some mental calculating, I realized my current life insurance policy may only be enough to cover one year of those expenses.
The same hold true for moms who work full- time because they earn a salary and in most cases, do as much as stay at home moms.
How do you calculate how much life insurance you’ll need?
Do you think you’re under-insured over- insured?
Wow, it looks like I’m under insured!
Isn’t that a scary thought.
I’m realizing I need just as much insurance as my husband even though he brings in a salary!
Very sobering calculations. It is so easy to look at the dollar figures and not think through all of the other costs, thanks for laying this out.
I’m sure I could think of 4-5 other things I do that you’d have to hire someone to do if I wasn’t here 🙁
Job titles
I take issue with this to some extent. I still have to do all those things- cleaning, driving, cooking, etc. even though I work PT from home and PT at the office. I’m not disagreeing with the fact that SAHMs are hardworking. In fact I don’t think that you can put a price on what they do! BUT, I think that it’s a bit unfair to say that moms who work outside the home don’t do those things, too.
As it pertains to life insurance, that’s exactly why we have me covered at the amount we do.
I hope you saw that I wrote in this post that working moms do the same amount of work inside the home…
actually I didn’t. Read it on my phone w a sick and crying baby in my lap!! I need to be more careful!
I have life insurance and so does my husband, but I often worry whether or not we have enough!
We have life insurance policies but I highly doubt they are enough. We definitely need to revisit them soon.
You know, I really need to think about this. We need to re-evaluate our current life insurance this year – thanks for the reminder!
My insurance wasn’t really based on anything other than what I could afford to pay that day for insurance. I will rework the figures. Should I include Social Security (that’s rhetorical and political. I could have left it out, but I’m at home and need to chat!). But realistically we do need to make sure that whoever takes our children doesn’t have any financial worries.
You could include Social Security, but with the current political climate – do you want to bank on it?!
The kids and I have life insurance but my hubs does not we will be working on getting him some in the new year these are some scary numbers.
Kita,
You can find some affordable term life insurance for your husband.
I have AAA and bought a group policy for about $100 a year.
But now I’d like to double the value of my policy – at least!
This is eye-opening. We are clearly underinsured. Thanks for posting this – not something we’ve been prioritizing.
Thanks Darlena.
Now you’ll have two children to focus on – so I can only imagine.
SAHMs are worth more than even what google states. That’s great that you are bringing to everyone’s attention to evaluate life insurance. Awesome post!
My husband and I have been thinking about this lately, too. We’ve got life insurance through our employer, but we realized that it’s barely enough to cover funeral expenses, really.
I follow Suze Ormon’s advice. Calculate what needs to replaced on an annual basis and then multiply by 20. This way you can withdraw 5% per year and leave the principal intact.
Life is insurance is so important. I have a lot of friends who are stay home moms who have opted not to have insurance which I think it is critical for both parents.
I think this was really interesting because my spouse and I were having a conversation a few weeks ago about my worth and what I contribute to our household. It was interesting because I told him that I was thinking about returning to work. He said if you do our expenses will increase. I never thought it about that way becasue working we will need housekeeping, nanny for before and afterschool care as well as childcare during school breaks. My husband does put money in my personal account twice month with a note, mom’s salary. I will say with the figures that you have calculated, I am feeling a bit under paid.
Great Article
Cynthia
I honestly have no idea how to calculate that.