Single Income Households Intro

SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you're a single household income, this is the episode for you. Listen up. Hello, Rebecca. Hello. I had to spell that out in my brain, didn't I? So a lot of clients we deal with, there could be working couples, could be two people working, but a lot of them we're dealing with as well, where only one person is working, whether it's mum or dad, depends on whoever earns more. And the other one has to stay home and look after the kids, maybe. What have you been seeing? What have you been noticing?

SPEAKER_00 0:30

It's a very interesting one at the moment.

Redundancy Fears And Wellington Reality

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Especially in Wellington right now, with the new public sector thing, losing jobs and all that. I've actually had quite a few single-income people talking to me about redundancy in particular. But that got me thinking more about in general, if something happens to the person who brings in the money to the house, you're at home, you're looking after the kids, or you're homeschooling the kids, or whatever the situation is. What happens to you and your family if the person earning first of all dies, but

When The Earner Cannot Work

SPEAKER_00 1:06

second of all, I mean cannot work? What happens then? And if you have been a stay-at-home mum for say 10-15 years, it's hard enough finding a job if you're recently, you know, have recently had a job with the same skill set. If you haven't worked for 10-15 years, how much harder is it going to be if you have to go back out into the workforce?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

Yeah. And also like a lot of those jobs are being taken away by AI. So a lot of jobs that mum used to, you know, mums or dads, those easy

Returning To Work In An AI Market

SPEAKER_01 1:36

entry jobs where you could do scanning and you know, photocopying and taking minutes or whatever admin work is now being replaced a lot by AI.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Yeah, so there's a lot less jobs out there of yeah, that like you said, entry, easy entry into. So taking that into account, the job market that being replaced with AI, depending on where you live, there's issues there around. And then on top of that, if you've got young kids, after school care, that whole side of things too, if you have to go back to work.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yeah. So what can people do to future proof themselves? Insurance.

SPEAKER_00 2:15

Shocker, I know. Look, if if you are, especially in a single income household,

Insuring Both Parents Not Just Earners

SPEAKER_00 2:22

insuring the earner is the massive one. I mean, you both should have insurance because if something happens to the person looking after the kids at home as well, who's gonna look after the kids?

SPEAKER_01 2:33

I was about to say that because you know, a lot of the time I I hear from the parent that stays at home going, No, I don't need any insurance. Let's let's insure Johnny or Mary, you know, because Johnny or Mary are the full-time workers, they're the ones earning the money. What's the value I bring to the table? I don't need to be insured. And this is where I let them just sit with it for a moment and go, Well, what happens if you're no longer here? Who's gonna look after the kids? Full-time job.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

I mean, you might not be paid for it, but you're I mean, if something happened to your partner and you are the one working, how much time can you take off to look after the kids? Really? If you need to still be bringing in that full income, you say you've got a mortgage, you've got young kids, you can't stop working. Who looks after the kids?

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

What happens to them? And I mean, on the before when I mentioned homeschooling, if they're being homeschooled or the kids are just like dumped straight into a public school, they've got no idea. Like, imagine being homeschooled your whole life and then all of a sudden you've lost your parent and you're being forced into an environment that you're not used to in the slightest

Real Life Scares And Sudden Illness

SPEAKER_00 3:41

without you know, what do you do? Like, how how do you handle that? Especially a child who some like you know, but you would struggle to understand losing your parent alone, let alone your whole life changing.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah. You know, I had a client reach out to me last week, absolutely panicking, going, Oh, am I covered? Am I am I insured? I said, What's going on? He goes, Oh, just in the last three weeks, you know, I had all these colleagues dropping either dead or having heart attacks or, you know, and really young people just getting diagnosed with stuff. He goes, Oh, yeah, I don't know what's going on, but I really want to make sure I'm insured. And that made me really think that, you know, often when we try to tell this to clients, going, Hey, a lot of things can happen. It's not us scaring you, it's actually us giving you the information that we see out there. Absolutely. And what made him think is that yeah, he is the main income earner, but his wife is at home as the kids. And if something happens to him, cool, she'll get a payout. But if something happens to her, he will have to drop the job or he will have to figure out who's gonna start looking after the kids, and that's gonna cost him more money. Can he afford to do that? Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 4:44

There's so many factors to it when you think about a stay-at-home parent, it's it's everything. Like there's all the after-school activities, there's all a whole other side of things where you all have to, if you don't have family around to support you, and you can't rely on family 24-7.

The Hidden Cost Of Childcare

SPEAKER_01 5:00

No, and it's not fair on them as well.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

Exactly. And you wouldn't, I mean, you wouldn't want to rely on them like that much. You'd like there would be the guilt factor there too. So, what would you do? And if as it is, especially, I mean, yeah, you're the single earner anyway, so the money doesn't change coming into the household, but there are all the added expenses that will come from after school care or whatever the situation is.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

I swear to God, like most of the time I feel like an Uber driver was my for. You know, there's always something happening, there's always some sort of school activity that I always sign up myself for to go and volunteer, right? There's always some sort of after-school activities that the kids are doing, like sports and stuff. And then there's on top of it, because there's four kids, usually I get a phone call from school saying one got injured, the other one got injured. Like every day there is someone that gets injured that has to be taken to the hospital, doctors, chiropractors, whatever. So all of that, like you have, you know, someone has to do exactly those things. But then also when they come home, you gotta feed them, you gotta feed them in the morning. Man, they eat a lot. So it's like it's just that never-ending cycle. And and if you don't have the other person to fall back on and you were used to working, so yeah, definitely you need to think about those things. And look, some of the covers I think we can arrange for people can cover just that, like the family assistance support, where it doesn't have to be a full-blown mortgage insurance,

Family Assistance Cover Options

SPEAKER_01 6:20

life insurance, trauma, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Could be just the family assistance support, just enough to cover that type of thing. Absolutely. Yeah, and then I mean it's I mean, we always get to talk about the fun topics because no one wants to talk about these things. Um, but people, especially with with young kids, like that that's the big thing right now. Like, once they get to teenage years, they're a lot more self-reliant. They might have a car already, they can take themselves to their own things, all of that. But when your kids are young and you are relying on your partner to be there day in, day out for the everyday things, it's a huge thing to lose. And you've got to focus on your job and getting things done still to bring in money, and you've lost your partner.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Yeah, no, absolutely. Awesome, Rebecca. Well, thank you. We've talked about doom and gloom, but um, but yeah, I think people really need to understand the importance of just sitting down as an

Budget Choices And Givealittle Limits

SPEAKER_01 7:18

advisor, reviewing everything, and if it's something that we can work within your budget, because honestly, people will always find money for takeaways, like or a coffee, or a coffee, you know, or some Timu purchase they didn't need. Like, if you've got money for that sort of stuff, you definitely have money for insurance. Like, that's always been my point in life that you're an adult, you're responsible. Especially if you have kids, you owe it to them to have something in place. Like, you can't, and I sound pr probably really harsh right now, but this is the reality. If you're bringing these humans into this world, you're taking responsibility for them. Yeah, absolutely. So you gotta make sure you look after them. You can't just rely on give a little page. Like they're great, don't get me wrong, I always donate. If I see give a little page, that you know, call to action from my friends, family, whatever. Like, if that's someone seeking money, I will always donate. No problem. But that shouldn't be your backup plan.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

No, and especially when you think about how many pages are out there and how many people are needing money. Who's to say yours is the one that people will donate to?

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Yeah, exactly. It's not a fee on your family and friends to be driving that for you.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

And how long it takes to build up the money as well.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Right? Like a life insurance policy, you get that lump sum paid out as soon as you know the claim is done, that type of thing. You can start to give a little page about how long will it actually take to build up enough to actually help the family.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

Exactly. Exactly. Well, awesome. Thank you so much, Rebecca. Lovely having you again. Thank you.