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Insurance Considerations for Families with Kids

Consider these issues:

• Living expenses for children. As parents, you certainly know about the expenses related to raising kids. Beginning with babies, it's diapers, clothes, and baby food. For older children it's food and clothing - and they grow faster than you would believe possible. For teenagers, more food and clothing bills are just the beginning. So you know you must plan to provide for all of these basic expenses.

• Childcare. If your children are very young, you may also have daycare or babysitting expenses. If you or your spouse become the single working parent, these expenses are very likely to continue. Consider, too, any special needs your children have. Children with disabilities may need extra financial support - a good way to provide this level of support is to create a special needs trust into which life insurance can be paid in the event of a parent's death.

• Activities. Be sure to plan to cover the expenses related to activities your kids participate in like sports, music lessons, etc.

• Healthcare for kids. Some healthcare expenses are not covered by insurance, things like braces and glasses, for example. Consider purchasing supplementary health insurance policies such as vision or dental insurance to cover these expenses. At the same time, you may want to consider buying enough life insurance to cover these sometimes-unexpected expenses.

• Education. This is certainly a significant expense for most families - especially if your children attend private or parochial school. Annual increases in college costs are running at less than 5%, but are still significant. So when you plan to provide for education expenses, you'll need to consider what the actual costs are likely to be when your children are ready to attend private school or college.

• Family events, transportation expenses and household support.There are many other expenses associated with raising a family. Celebrations - weddings, confirmations and the like - are events that every family wants to enjoy to the fullest. Transportation is another expense to prepare for, and you may also want to be sure your surviving spouse can afford to replace the family vehicle when necessary. And you'll need to keep in mind the regular upkeep that a family home requires - maintenance like painting, new windows, and other expenses. If your spouse is alone, be sure that he or she has the financial capability to provide for the resources needed.