Life Insurance For Burials and Final Expense
Author: weissheiss
What Is a Burial Policy?
There is a product that is called a burial policy, or sometimes final expense or funeral insurance. These are actually small whole life policies that have been designed for people in middle age or retirement years who with to plan for the cost of final expenses. Insurers have developed them so they are simple for older people, even those in imperfect health, to apply for. They can be a valid part of some older people’s financial planning.
Whole Life Insurance
Whole life means that a life insurance policy will cover a person for their whole life, as long as it is kept in force. By being kept in force, it usually means that the policy is paid for or paid up. Contrast this to term life which expires after a set amount of time.
Now you can convert some term policies to whole life before the expiration date. This is one way that many people get a burial policy. For example Mr. Jones may have a 30 year term policy with an option to convert. He purchased the policy when he was 35 to make sure his growing family would be secure. A little over a year before the policy expired, when Mr.Jones was 63, he started thinking about retirement. He could convert the larger term policy to a smaller whole life policy without having to prove his heath. That was in the terms of his contract.
He decided to convert his original $250,000 term life policy to a $25,000 whole life policy so that he could be assured he could provide his grown kids with money to handle final expenses when he passed away. This is one example of how people’s life insurance needs may change, but some products have been developed to help them make that change.
What If An Older Person Has No Life Insurance?
If an older person, from their fifties to eighties, lacks any coverage, they may still find a good final expense policy at an affordable price. Simplified issue plans ask very few health questions. Many seniors can qualify. Guaranteed life policies do not ask any health questions, so almost everybody can qualify. It is important to understand the difference between these choices so yo find the right one for you.
In general, you would probably want to purchase a simplified issue policy before a guaranteed issue policy if you can. The rates will be lower, and you can take advantage of an immediate death benefit. Guaranteed issue policies can be useful for many families if they cannot qualify for simplified issue.
Do You Need A Burial Policy?
If the family, or the older person, have no problem coming up with the cash for a funeral, you may not need to purchase this type of insurance. But funerals can get very expensive, and it can be hard to come up with thousands of dollars to pay for a burial plot, funeral, and other associated expenses. A burial policy may be an affordable way to plan for this.
It can be a tough subject to bring up. But many older people are happy that this matter is taken care of. Sometimes they buy a policy for themselves. Sometimes grown children will pay for the policy. It is a family decision. The right choice depends upon your own situation.
Posted in Final Expenses Insurance | 
Tags: Burial Policy, Eighties, Financial Planning, Funeral Insurance, Growing Family, Retirement, Seniors, Term Life Policy