Historically men were the breadwinners of the family. If something happened to the man, his family was facing extreme economic hardship as it was merely impossible to fully replace his income. No wonder it was mostly men who purchased a life insurance policy to make sure their loved ones were protected if the worst happened.
As the gap between male and female workforce narrowed, more and more women would acquire a life insurance plan through their employer or insurance company directly. Yet many women today are not adequately insured because they erroneously think that it’s the husband who needs to carry life insurance the most.
Make sure you thoroughly review your family budget and financial needs. Women in the following categories (some of them may surprise you) should consider obtaining a life insurance plan to protect financial well-being of their family –
Women who are part of a two-income family. If the family relies equally on both the paychecks, losing one income would make it hard to sustain the family. Today more than 60% of married women are employed – putting food on the table is no longer a male-only prerogative. Both the working spouses need to carry life insurance to protect the family against a financial loss should something happen to one of them.
Single women who are head of a house-hold. It’s crucial to provide financial security for your children if you are a sole breadwinner. Being the only source of income, you make your family financially vulnerable if you fail to obtain life insurance: there’s simply no other source of income to compensate for the loss of yours.
Stay-at-home wives and mothers. So maybe there’s no risk of monetary income loss, but the work you put into making your household function well is enormous. If something happens to you, external help will need to get hired to care for the children, do cleaning, cooking and shopping for the family. These services may run a few tens of thousand dollars a year – one income might not be enough to cover them.
Single women with no kids. There’s no need to carry a high-amount life insurance policy, but you still need to consider obtaining some coverage. If anything happens to you, the funeral expenses will be the obligation of your parents or other relatives – you want to relieve them of this financial duty as much as you can. Besides, purchasing a term or whole life insurance now that you are young and healthy is beneficial for your future insurability. If you apply for life insurance coverage for the first time 10 or 20 years from now, you might be turned down because of the health condition, or you might be quoted higher premiums associated with older age.
Source: Newyorklife.com
