Parents lack insurance coverage, study finds

The majority of Canadian parents don’t have enough life insurance to cover the costs of raising kids, according to a new study released Monday.

The TD Insurance Parents and Finances survey found that while 42% of parents believe it will cost more than $200,000 to raise a child to the age of 18, the majority of parents with life insurance don’t think they have enough to cover those costs if something were to happen to them.

Others could find themselves in a more serious situation. Twenty-one percent of parents in this country don’t have any life insurance whatsoever.

"Life insurance is a hard topic for parents to talk about; no one wants to think about not being around to raise their kids," Dave Minor, vice president, TD Insurance, said in a statement.

"Just like everything else we do to protect our children, we need to consider the worst case scenario and plan for it."

According to the survey of 1,006 Canadian parents between 25 and 45 years-old, 80% of moms and dads worry they are not saving enough money to be able to afford sending their child away to university for instance.

About 8% reported they spend more money each month than they earn, 30% are living paycheque to paycheque and 41% say they are saving a little, but not enough.

Only 13% are saving about 10% of their earnings each month and just 9% are putting away more than 10%.