Women and Life Insurance
Based on several recent studies and surveys, women tend to have less life insurance than men and there are more women without life insurance then men. There’s always been a general belief in the United States that the man in the family should be the “breadwinner” and the female should be the “homemaker.” In other words, the male makes the money and the female cares for the children and the household. However, this stereotype has long been shattered and women play just as large a role in providing for the family as men. Even if the man is the primary financial provider for his family, the women’s role as “homemaker” is just as important. Unfortunately, many people haven’t recognized these developments in the life insurance industry yet. Women are still almost universally underinsured, an oversight that’s proven to be costly for many families. Now people are quickly discovering that both men and women need an adequate amount of life insurance. Here’s a look at several family scenarios that every women should consider when purchasing life insurance.
Family Scenarios
- For women acting as the primary caretaker or homemaker for their family, it’s almost impossible to put an accurate estimate on your life insurance needs. Even though you may not be bringing in actual income, your work in raising the children and caring for the household is invaluable. You likely need a substantial amount of life insurance as your husband would be forced to either quit his job to stay home or hire a nanny for the children if anything happened to you.
- If you and your husband both work full-time jobs and bring in close to equal income, you’ll need enough life insurance to make sure your family can comfortably replace your income without substantially changing their lives. Would your family be able to remain in your home? Could the children still attend college? These are the types of financial scenarios you’ll need to consider.
- One of the typical groups of women that completely neglect life insurance are the single women with no children, either divorced or never-married. It’s easy to forget that even though you may not have children to provide for, you could leave behind thousands of dollars in debt or other financial obligations should anything unexpected happen to you. These burdens could fall upon your family, so you’ll want to make sure you have enough insurance to take of them.
- Finally, for women that are single with children, you may have the largest life insurance needs of anyone. Sadly, recent studies show that single women who have children are the most underinsured out of all groups of women. Your life insurance needs are crucial for your family’s future and should be addressed accordingly.