Life Insurance for Women

Whether you are married with a family or a single working female, women definitely need life insurance. Over the past decades the role of women, even those married with families has changed drastically. Where women were primarily based in the home years ago, they are now an equal part of the work force.

With most families in America dependent upon two incomes it is surprising to hear that women today are quite often under insured especially when it comes to life insurance.

Fifty years ago women primarily worked in the home. Those who did work outside usually worked part-time and were earning significantly less money than their husbands. If the wife died, the family income was not hugely affected because the amount was a small percentage of the total household income and the husband kept on earning. Women also depended on their husbands for life insurance coverage. His life insurance coverage would be the one that would protect the family’s financial well being should he tragically die. Back then, women were not purchasers of life insurance policies because it was not needed.

Today things are completely different. Women work outside the home and are now earning salaries sometimes greater than men. Even when women take time out to have children, they eventually return to work and provide a large portion of the family’s income. Why then are so many women underinsured when it comes to life insurance? Despite all of the changes, many married women still rely on their husbands’ insurance policy to protect them not realizing that the family now could be equally impacted financially should she die.

Surprisingly, single women are also under-insured. Single women should think about their own financial security because they have no one else to rely on. If they have children then it is extremely necessary. How will the children survive financially should she not be there?

The reasoning is quite compelling but women continue to neglect their own life insurance needs. One possible reason is the costs. Previously, when buying life insurance, it was always the men that were favored. The most ideal were men aged 30-45 in good health. Times have changed again. Women can find quite favorable rates when it comes to life insurance coverage. Even though women have taken on much more responsibility in society, they still tend to outlive men. The average woman outlives men by approximately seven years and the insurance companies have gotten wise to this. The longer we live, the more premiums we pay. Some companies offer healthy thirty-year-old women a $250,000 dollar, ten-year term life policy for less than ten dollars a month. The rate only inflates slightly for a healthy forty-year-old woman.

In today’s world women need to consider their life insurance needs. Their financial contributions to the household are of a much greater value than before. All women need to consider their own and their loved ones future financial security.