Protecting a Family Nest

Have you ever thought of purchasing life insurance as a way to insure your love and protect your family? You work hard to start a family and provide your loved ones with what they need and desire to keep them happy. What happens if you have to leave them to their own devices for good? In an effort to raise awareness about the importance of life insurance, Allstate Insurance has teamed up with SocialMoms on a new blogging program. Be one of the first 50 bloggers to share your ideas for protecting a family nest in a thoughtful post and you will be rewarded with a $50 Amazon gift card!

Here are some thought-provoking stats provided by Allstate:

Half of Americans say they are under-insured? That’s 58 million of us. And 70% of people with kids under 18 say they would be in serious trouble if something happened to the primary breadwinner.

Experts say a good rule of thumb is to insure 5 to 10 times your income. It sounds like a lot, but it’s really not. Think about what you’re really worth. Life insurance will help cover the cost of your mortgage, medical & funeral expenses, continuing childcare, living expense and college tuition.

How many people would have to be hired to do all the things you do for your family? Salary.com estimates the average stay-at-home mom would earn $117,867 per year if she were paid for all the work she does.

It's fortunate that my husband's employer covers a considerable portion of his life insurance premium. As he is the primary breadwinner of our family, we find it extremely necessary to have him insured so that in case of a life-threatening situation, the rest of the family will be able to maintain our current lifestyle and keep future plans on track. Not only will life insurance help the beneficiaries meet important financial needs, but will also provide them with tax-free income (life insurance benefits are exempt from federal income tax).

Most people feel overwhelmed when they think about life insurance. An experienced Allstate agent can talk you through your situation and help you plan for the future today. Allstate and their agents have been helping customers protect their families for over 50 years.

Besides life insurance, we have also set aside an emergency fund to prepare for the unforeseen. We've opened multiple savings accounts with different financial institutions as part of our financial safety net. If anything happens to one bank, there's at least one other for backup. We also have a 401k account to save for retirement.

Life insurance is not the only type of insurance we use to protect our family. Car insurance, health insurance, and home insurance are all important ways to help our family survive accidents, serious illnesses, and other unfortunate life events.

Another way I deem important to protect our family financially is to stick to a budget and not to overspend. We always pay our credit card bills in full and avoid getting into debts whenever possible. The fewer liabilities you build up now, the lower the risk you will have to deal with in the future, when a significant source of income is suddenly lost.

Do you have any good suggestions for protecting your family net? Please share and we could all benefit!

Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Allstate blogging program, for a gift card worth $50. For more information on how you can participate, click here.