The primary purpose of life insurance is to replace the earnings of a family’s main income earner. However, today it is far more likely that both spouses work to support the family’s expenses, and it is probably a good idea that both spouses in a household have life insurance. Even if one member of a couple is primarily a homemaker and caregiver, you should still consider having life insurance on that spouse, because if they should die, you may need life insurance to help defray the cost of child care, or hiring someone to take care of the home. The spouse of a non-working partner suddenly left to deal with a grieving family may also need to take time off from work to ease the emotional burden on his or her children over the loss of a parent. Life insurance can help here too. Generally, a rough rule of thumb for determining the amount of life insurances required for a non-working spouse is to consider his or her annual income as if it were at least 40,000.00 per year. While the death of a child is often unthinkable, you may want to add life insurance for your children as a rider to either your wife’s or your own life insurance policy – it can help with final costs and burial expenses in this most tragic event.