According to Statistics SA, in South Africa, almost 43% of South African households are female led and, also, in the instances when women aren’t the breadwinners, they’re still working – taking on the undervalued role of raising the nation’s children.

Could you put a price tag on motherhood?

Have you ever stopped to think about how much this position would be worth if it were a paid one? According to Insure.com, studies in America have done just that and reckon a stay-at-home parent should be paid as much as $133,440 per year (yep, that’s over R2 500 000!) for the myriad of often thankless tasks they perform daily.

While this amount seems wild, when you start to break it down, you can see how the money adds up. For starters, if a stay-at-home mom - or any stay-at-home parent - wasn’t available to perform all this work for free, how much would it cost to pay others to do it? You’d be looking at daycare, aftercare, a live-in cook, a cleaner, a driver and a night nurse. Even someone who could fulfill several of these roles, like a full-time au pair, would still only work 40 hours per week and could request a monthly salary in the range of R10 000 to R15 000 per month. That alone is R180 000 per year.

Life insurance is a must – even for stay-at-home moms

Clearly, the role of stay-at-home home and even working mom is an undervalued one. This is why life insurance is important, not just for the family breadwinner, but for any parent who plays the valuable role of care giver. Think about it. If you’re the family breadwinner but have a life insurance policy, should you pass away, your loved ones would receive a lump sum payout. While this can go a long way towards covering the cost of daily bills and even ensuring big financial goals, such as paying for your children’s tertiary education, the loss of one income may force the surviving parent to enter the workforce. In this case, would they still have the time to perform all the tasks related to child-rearing? The other scenario is that, if the non-working parent had to pass away, what would it cost to pay someone else to help with that?

Consider including your spouse as a life insured

This is why it’s a good idea to insure the lives of both parents, not just one. Many don’t realise that, even though one parent might not be earning a salary, their absence would create a costly void. Happily, MiWayLife makes it easy to include your spouse as well as extended family to your life insurance policy. Many couples go this route – having one life insurance policy that covers both of their lives and listing each other and their children as beneficiaries.

Better yet, as MiWaylife offer a 4-in-1 policy, this means you’ll get comprehensive whole life insurance plus a terminal illness benefit, a funeral benefit and funeral cover for your family members that can be covered as additional lives by your policy – all for one low monthly premium.

At the end of the day, a mother’s worth is priceless, but you can protect your family financially with life insurance. So why not get a quick quote from MiWayLife today?

Did You Know:

You can now take out life cover with us online in a few simple steps. No calls and no agents! Make sure to take care of those you love today by buying MiWayLife cover online.