Women need life insurance

4 Reasons Women Need Life Insurance

Women make up nearly half of the US labor force, and in close to 40% of US homes they’re the primary breadwinner too. Yet when it comes to life insurance, women are often significantly under-insured, or not insured at all. In fact, it’s estimated that only 57% of US women have life insurance coverage — and that those who do actually have life insurance commonly carry only a quarter of the coverage they actually need. Here are 4 reasons women need life insurance:

1. Single mothers are the center of their family’s universe

It’s said that more than half of single mothers don’t have life insurance, but if you’re the only parent of a dependent child or children, then having life insurance in place is nothing short of essential to secure their future. If something unexpected were to occur, your life insurance could provide for your children and could cover everything from everyday expenses to a college education.

Getting life insurance in place can also provide you with another serious benefit: the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your family will be fully taken care of, no matter what.

2. Stay-at-home moms do the work of multiple people

Life insurance isn’t only for the family breadwinner. It’s a smart move to have stay-at-home moms covered as well. Taking care of your family in this capacity is more than a full-time job, and Salary.com has estimated that all of the roles you play and your contribution to the household are equivalent to a $162,000-a-year salary.

So, if something unexpected should happen to you, and your family needed to hire a housekeeper, childcare professional, driver, cook, and others to take care of even just a fraction of all you do (didn’t someone once say “it takes a village”?), it would be very costly. That’s why having your own life insurance is such a wise decision. We wrote a separate blog about why stay-at-home parents need life insurance.

3. Married women working outside the home may need more life insurance

With most families needing two salaries to pay the bills these days, it’s more important than ever for women to be covered. When discussing life insurance with your partner, you should consider whether or not your family would be able to maintain its same standard of living on just one salary. If the answer is “no”, then that’s a strong indication that full coverage (enough to replace both sources of income) is the right approach for both adults in your family.

Note that even if your employer provides life insurance, it may just be 1-2 times your salary, which simply isn’t enough for the long-haul. As much as 10-20 times your salary is sometimes needed if you forecast out the costs you’d need to cover, especially if you have young children. If the life insurance offered by your employer is free to you, you should absolutely take advantage of it, but don’t let that stop you from getting what you really need to be sufficiently covered. Ladder makes it easy to “ladder up” (increase your coverage) or “ladder down” (decrease your coverage) online in minutes.

4. Family caregivers need to provide for their special people 

If you’re someone who provides care for ailing elders or special needs family members, you’re a candidate for life insurance. If you weren’t able to care for your family member, your life insurance could be used to cover the costs of their care, including things like adult day care, wheelchair-enabled transportation, occupational therapy, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and more.

The cost and logistics of caring for someone who needs a little more attention can be significant and the caregiving relationship can be difficult to replace. If you want your loved ones to be well taken care of, should you not be able to play your caregiving role, it’s important to have a financial plan on which you can rely.

Ready to consider your life insurance options? Follow these simple steps:

1. Understand how much coverage you need.

The best way to estimate your coverage is to use a life insurance calculator and answer a few quick questions. It only takes a few seconds, and it’s extremely helpful to see how cost effective life insurance can be.

2. Get covered.

The process to apply for coverage can take less than 10 minutes and you’ll get an instant decision. If you accept an offer, coverage will begin immediately and you can cancel your policy at any time, no questions asked.  Also worth noting is that Ladder’s life insurance is dynamic — so you can apply to ladder your coverage (and payments) up or down as life evolves and your needs change.  

Life insurance is important, and it’s especially critical for women who play such an important role in their families’ lives. See for yourself how affordable it can be to have life insurance in place.  We think you’ll be surprised at just how easy it is to fit the monthly payment into any budget.