Are you a stay at home parent who’s looking to protect your family? We have life insurance for that!

 For stay at home parents, there are three considerations:

• How much life insurance?
• The best type of life insurance.
• The best life insurance company for the desired amount and type.

How much life insurance for a stay at home parent?

 There are two ways to determine how much coverage you should have.

 Often when insuring a parent who is earning an income, we use a  How Much Life Insurance Do I Need? calculator that determines the amount based on income and time. With stay at home parents, there’s no specific income so instead we replace income with an estimate of the costs to replace household tasks – things like housecare, childcare, etc. If we estimate a replacement cost of about $25,000-$30,000 over about 20 years, we generally end up with a coverage amount of $500,000-$750,000. So one choice is to select a coverage amount you feel comfortable with in that range.

 The second way assumes that the ‘value of life’ of both parents is the same whether or not one is earning and income and the other isn’t. If this is your assumption then you should have the same amount of coverage as your spouse,determined using the calculator I linked to in the previous paragraph. You can also use this calculation if you assume that should you pass prematurely that your income-earning spouse would quit work and look after your children – in that situation your premature passing results in the loss of income of your spouse and thus you need the same amount of coverage.

Best type of life insurance for stay at home parents?

 Generally the correct choice is Term Life Insurance. Term life insurance is low-cost life insurance coverage that’s suitable for a specific period of time such as 10,20 or even 30 years. Choose a term length that closely matches how long you expect to need the life insurance coverage for – if you’re 35, you might consider a 30 year term to last you until age 65. If you’re 45, a 20 year term would be more appropriate.

The best company for the desired amount and type.

 Once you know how much coverage and the best type of life insurance for you, you can use our online life insurance quotes calculator to start comparing premiums from over a dozen of Canada’s best term life insurance companies. Just enter your information into the form, and instantly see what your premiums would be. From there, you should consider the various policy benefits for each company that we also provide with your quotes so that you can determine both the best and the least expensive company for you.

 If you need any help with any part of this process, feel welcome to call us at (416) 642-6820.