What’s a stay-at-home mum worth in 2013?

We all know that the hard yakka that stay-at-home mums (and many dads, too) put in, is vital to keeping families and the domestic front running smoothly. Aussie mums often take, ‘time off’ work to put in twice the hours for none of the pay, looking after kids, cleaning the house, managing the family finances and taking care of a hundred other chores on any given day.

So what’s it worth?

While a lot of this work goes unseen and sometimes unappreciated, the true dollar cost of what mums do often only shows up when they get sick or have an accident and the price of replacing these services, with a cleaner, babysitter or housekeeper, while mum gets back on her feet, starts to add up.
Research suggests that the total cost of paying someone to do the work many mums do for free would be $75,000 per year1! That’s a good sized salary, and one that has spawned a growing industry of ‘Mummy Insurance’, or income protection for stay-at-home mums and dads.

Mum = priceless

And if you’re thinking it’s a bit over the top to have income protection for domestic duties, it’s a good idea to first ask the question, “What would be the repercussions for our family if mum or dad couldn’t take care of the household anymore due to a serious injury?”
If mum (or dad, but statistically it’s going to be mum) trips over the vacuum cleaner, breaks her ankle and needs months of physio and occupational therapy and can’t walk or drive for at least three months – what would you do?
The kids still need to be taken to and from school, dinner still needs to be cooked and the house still needs to be cleaned, but on top of the added costs of medical treatment for mum’s injuries, the family now has to fork out for all the jobs that used to be done free.

Safety net

Contrary to popular beliefs, income-protection-style products are available for home-makers, even though they are not earning a dollar-value income. With about 1.2 million Australians performing home duties on a full-time basis, an income-protection-style product for home-makers can give peace of mind for families.
For families who fear that these kinds of products would be out of their price range, it may be interesting to know that cover for a 30-year-old stay-at-home-mum can cost around $380 per year, which is a little over $1 per day.
Calculate your own stay-at-home pay check with this fun tool from salary.com

Source: BT Financial Group

1. Paula Bourke, claims manager for Life Insurance at BT