If it’s Friday night in my house, it’s pizza night. Every Friday I pick up pizza and wings for the family. If we have company on Friday night, they eat pizza with us. Recently I was in a local pizza parlor and I noticed that on the counter was a large glass jug with a picture of a woman taped to the front. When I got close enough to read the message, it was a request for donations. The smiling lady on display was the youthful wife of one of the pizza delivery drivers. She had passed away suddenly only a few days earlier. The plea was for money to help the family with funeral costs. She left behind two kids and a husband. Now whenever I see something like this, I do my best to pitch in what I can, but I can’t help thinking that this family and many others like them did not have to be in this situation. I make no judgments because I did not know their personal situation, but a $100,000 life insurance policy on a young, seemingly healthy person is usually under $10 per month. See for yourself at www.findAterm.com. The premium is insignificant. If this family had a life insurance policy in force, they would have collected dollars from an insurance company instead of pennies on a store counter. The life insurance money could be used to pay for a funeral, mortgage debt, lost earnings, put towards a college fund, etc.
Many times I’ve heard husbands say that since their wife is a stay at home mom not working outside the home, they felt that a life insurance policy would be a waste of money and they would get by “just fine” if they had to make it on their own. Rarely do wives feel the same, even if they are the only one bringing home an income. It’s hard for me to convince some of these husbands otherwise because maybe I’m seen as the salesman who has an interest in their purchasing an additional policy.
It’s easy to overlook all of the increased and new costs that occur when a non-working spouse dies, especially if you still have young kids in the house. But think about it for a second. You will have child care costs you might not have had before and less time to work yourself due to being a newly single parent. Let’s not forget the immediate cost of a funeral. The financial impact of suddenly losing a stay at home mom or stay at home dad can be substantial.
My advice is to get something in place, add it to your monthly bills and forget about it.