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Life insurance. It is one of those things that we never want to think about. But we must.

Life insurance provides us with money in the event that we can’t earn our own income due to illness, injury or death. Obviously, in that last case, the money goes to our loved ones – which is why we say that a parent’s job is never done, even if we are.

In August 2017, the outgoing head of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Glenn Stevens, stated that many younger Australians would only be able to buy into expensive property markets such as Sydney with the help of their parents. This from the man who spent years of his life setting interest rates for all of Australia’s borrowers. He knows as much about the Australian economy as anyone. His opinion is important.

Of course, parents helping their adult kids get a foot on the property ladder is nothing new. What is new is that such help is becoming necessary for so many more people. Housing affordability has become such an issue that even well-paid younger people find the relevant property market inaccessible.

The average Australian earns around $75,000 per year. Across a forty-year working career, including superannuation, the average Australian can expect to receive around $3.3 million in employment income. (In 2018 equivalent dollars). What would be the impact on your family if you were unable to earn some or all of this $3.3 million?

That is, of course, why life insurance exists. Unhappy things happen. Sometimes parents get sick, become injured and sometimes they even die. Each of these things means a loss of income which can have a substantial and permanent negative impact on our children’s financial well-being. Losing a parent can become a horrible ‘double whammy’ or material loss as well.

That’s why anyone with dependent children must seriously consider life insurance. Our children need us, and this need doesn’t stop just because we become unable to work. A parent’s main job – providing our kids with what they need – is never done.