Being a stay-at-home parent is no easy job. You’re responsible for every detail of your child’s life. Each day your child or children or cared for, bills are paid, the house is cleaned, dinner is on the table; the list goes on and on.

It makes sense that the wage earner of the family should have life insurance protection. After all, how would the family survive without that income? But what if something were to happen to the stay-at-home parent? Although they don’t have a tangible income, it would cause a huge financial burden to the family.

The stay-at-home parent takes on the role of daycare, personal shopper, housekeeper, and car driver, to name a few. The cost of daycare alone quickly adds up. In New York State, the average cost of full time daycare ranges from $1,300 – $2,500 per month. At most, that could cost $30,000 a year! How would the primary wage earner afford to send their children to daycare?

Even if the children are a little older and in school, a stay-at-home parent does the cooking, cleaning, driving, food shopping, money managing, etc. The primary wage earner would have to take on these roles, or hire someone to them. Those costs would also quickly add up.

What is the financial value of a stay-at-home parent?

A stay at home parent doesn’t earn a salary, but if you did pay someone to do everything that parent does, what would that cost? Salary.com determined that the job of “Mom” would translate to roughly $165,581 for the year 2018! That’s taking into consideration 90+ hour work week and the tasks of housekeeper, dietitian, teacher, bookkeeper, psychologist, laundry manager and more. If your spouse made a salary of $165,581 you would definitely make sure they had life insurance, right?

So how much life insurance should a stay-at-home parent buy?

There’s not one standard rule for this as all families are different and have different financial needs and resources. One rule of thumb is that the appropriate amount of coverage should equal an individual’s annual salary times the number of years before the youngest child is out of college (depending on other available income or resources.) When calculating that for a stay-at-home parent, the annual financial value of the services they provide would be used. Again, that amount would vary among families.

So as an example, let’s say that it is determined that the stay-at-home spouse contributes an “income” of $50,000 per year. If their youngest child will finish college in 15 years, the appropriate amount of insurance protection needed for the stay-at-home spouse would be $750,000 ($50,000 x 15).

You should talk to a licensed financial professional to determine what amount of coverage is right for you or your spouse. Other things to take into consideration are funeral costs, medical expenses, and estate taxes. Your insurance agent can help you determine how much life insurance is right for you and offer you different life insurance options.

Don’t forget the stay-at-home parent in insurance planning.

It’s easy to overlook the financial contributions a stay-at-home spouse provides, until they are gone. If you or your spouse decides to stay at home to care for your kids, don’t forget that those contributions can add up to tens of thousands of dollars a year. The loss of a parent is hard enough on the family. Purchasing life insurance coverage now will ensure that you won’t have to deal with any financial hardships as well.