Final Expense Life Insurance

Eric Van Haaften Permanent Life Insurance

If you’re looking for a way to protect your family without breaking the bank, final expense life insurance may be the answer.

Final expense life insurance is a unique form of coverage that offers assistance with funeral costs in the event of your death.

We will explore the features, benefits, and potential drawbacks, so you can decide whether final expense life insurance is right for you.

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Should you buy final expense life insurance?
What is the cheapest kind of final expense insurance?
Which companies offer final expense insurance for seniors?

Why Buy Burial Life Insurance?

As you get older, planning for the future becomes increasingly important. One of the most overlooked elements of estate planning is final expense life insurance.

While preparing a will or trust are vitally important, they don’t cover certain costs that may be incurred at your death.

Final expense insurance for seniors covers these expenses after you’re gone and can help take care of onerous financial burdens for your family in times of hardship.

With inflation, the cost of burial and final expenses is constantly increasing, with the typical price for a funeral ranging between $9,000 and $12,000.

If you need help calculating the actual cost, a good place to start is with Funeral Costs and Pricing Checklist.

We encourage seniors to buy sufficient coverage for these burial costs and to pay off medical bills and other outstanding debts after they pass away.

So, if you have a shortage of available savings to cover these end-of-life expenses, your policy will provide an easy and affordable solution to settle your estate.

Plus, buying cheap burial insurance is also more reasonable than either prepaid burial plans or pre-need funeral insurance.

Types of Final Expense Life Insurance

If you are looking into burial life insurance, a significant first step is considering the various final expense life insurance types.

Many begin their search by looking at either Colonial Penn’s final expense insurance or AARP’s final expense insurance.

We encourage you to do a little homework before you purchase one of these very expensive policies.

So, what is the difference between burial insurance vs. life insurance?

Since the life insurance industry has also created many names for its products, it can often be confusing to sift through all available options.

The first thing to remember is that funeral or burial life insurance is always permanent coverage, such as universal or whole life insurance.

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How does burial insurance work?

Once you buy a final expense policy, the premiums will never increase during your lifetime.
Final expense policies also have a death benefit guaranteed to never decrease in value.
A burial insurance policy is contractually guaranteed to last your entire lifetime.

Our goal is to help you easily understand the different types of burial life insurance available in today’s marketplace.

Universal Life Insurance for Seniors

Universal life insurance is the most inexpensive way to cover your end-of-life costs if something happens to you unexpectedly.

If you are in good health and willing to take an exam, universal life can give you peace of mind while being more budget-friendly than whole life insurance.

These permanent cash-value life insurance policies offer guaranteed premiums and death benefits that last your entire lifetime.

Most individual universal life insurance policies start at $25,000 of the death benefit and can be tailored to meet your needs and budget.

Okay, I’m on a fixed income and need to know if burial insurance rates will fit into my tight budget.

If you want to compare rates, universal life offers seniors offers the cheapest burial insurance for seniors.

We suggest starting your search for coverage with our life insurance calculator with at least a $25,000 death benefit.

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Simple Issue Whole Life

If you need to secure overage quickly, a simple issue whole-life policy can be approved in just a few days!

This is because the simplified underwriting process differs significantly from the traditional life insurance approval process.

Because you will never need a medical exam as part of the application, your premiums will be higher than with universal life coverage.

You only need to be in average health to qualify for simple issue coverage, and upon approval, there is no waiting period, and coverage begins immediately.

You will answer a few basic questions about your health to qualify for this moderately priced final expense insurance for seniors.

If you think your health may cause a problem, you may want to start with an even more straightforward application process.

Two additional types of policies offer a much easier qualification process. These policies are called Graded Premium and Guaranteed Issue whole life.

Graded Premium Whole Life

A graded death benefit policy has fewer health questions and less stringent underwriting than a simple issue policy.

But, instead of providing an immediate payout, these burial policies have a 2-year waiting period.

A life insurance 2-year clause states you must live two years to receive a total death benefit.

If you pass away during the first two years, the life insurance company will refund all your premiums plus a stated interest rate.

However, if you die in an accident, a graded policy would pay the full amount of coverage regardless of when the accident occurs.

Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance

Guaranteed-issue life insurance policies are commonly referred to as guaranteed acceptance and guaranteed life insurance.

A guaranteed life insurance policy has no medical exam and no health questions.

So, a guaranteed issue policy has no underwriting and has the same tiered payout structure as a graded death benefit.

These policies are more expensive because you can qualify for life insurance with no medical questions asked.

As you might guess, guaranteed acceptance whole life insurance is not the cheapest burial insurance for seniors.

This is why we only recommend guaranteed life insurance for seniors with severe medical conditions that have not saved enough money to pay for funeral costs.

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Buyer Tip:

If you are in average health, either universal life or a simple issue whole life is always the cheapest way to help pay for burial expenses.

Final Expense Insurance Companies

Since many companies sell life insurance, finding the best final expense life insurance company is challenging.

According to Investopedia, senior citizens with decent health who can afford a more significant policy are better off buying a standard universal life policy.

Unfortunately, most insurers have a minimum death benefit of $25,000 to $50,000, which may create higher premiums than some people can afford.

However, companies like Pacific Life and Protective Life offer affordable burial insurance and smaller death benefits.

Older people with health problems will naturally pay more but can get coverage through insurers like Mutual of Omaha, Transamerica, AIG, and Gerber Life.

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Pacific Universal Life

Pacific Life is among the best burial insurance companies for people in good health and offers a no-exam option until age 69.

It would be best if you were healthy to qualify for coverage, and those 70 and older must do a quick exam to secure this cheap final expense insurance.

Universal life policies are also classified as “no waiting period” policies. If you die, the benefits are paid out from the 1st day the policy is activated.

Pacific Life’s universal life premiums can be locked until age 90 up to age 120 for as little as a $25,000 death benefit.

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Protective Universal Life

Protective Life has introduced a new universal life product with death benefits starting at $50,000.

Lifetime Assurance UL offers lifetime guarantees and predictable payments and is the cheapest permanent product in Protective’s portfolio.

Lifetime Assurance UL also offers an optional rider called ExtendCare to ease the financial burden you may experience if you become chronically ill.

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Transamerica Final Expense Insurance

Transamerica has both a simple and guaranteed issue whole-life product for the final expense market.

The Immediate Solution offer coverage up to $50,000, requiring lifetime payments or a limited-pay policy where you only need to pay the premiums for ten years.

Transamerica Life’s Easy Solution offers up to a $25,000 death benefit, but If you die in the first two years, you will not get the total face value, except for accidental death.

Transamerica’s whole life insurance is best for seniors and individuals with pre-existing medical conditions.

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Mutual of Omaha Burial Insurance

Mutual of Omaha is perhaps the cheapest burial insurance for seniors not wanting to take an exam because of pre-existing medical conditions.

Mutual of Omaha underwriting consists of a quick MIB check, a prescription drug check, and occasionally a random phone interview.

United of Omaha is also one of the few burial insurance companies with no separate classification for smokers. (That’s good news for smokers)

You are still eligible for their graded death benefit policy if you do not qualify for Mutual of Omaha’s final expense coverage.

So, any “yes” answers on the application will automatically qualify for the graded death benefit. The Mutual of Omaha guaranteed issue benefit is currently limited to a $20,000 death benefit.

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AIG Final Expense Insurance

Corebridge Financial, previously known as AIG, sells cheap burial insurance to seniors through agents and on its website.

With AIG Senior Life, people between the ages of 50-80 are guaranteed acceptance without answering health questions or taking a medical exam.

AIG guaranteed issue whole life (AIG GIWL) ranges between $5,000-$25,000 death benefits.

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Gerber Life Insurance for Seniors

Gerber Life offers a very easy-to-understand final expense policy with no health questions to answer, and you are automatically approved!

Gerber life insurance for seniors is one of the best-guaranteed-issue products for those with a few medical issues needing up to a $25,000 death benefit.

As you can see, guaranteed issue policies can be a great option if you do not have excellent health and have difficulty qualifying for traditional coverage.

Here are the burial insurance rates for a $10,000 death benefit for males with the top final expense insurance companies.

$10,000 Guaranteed Issue Whole Life

Insurer	Age 60	Age 70
United of Omaha	$56	$89
AIG	$58	$90
Gerber	$65	$94

Now that you know the best final expense life insurance companies, you probably want to compare prices to find coverage that fits your needs and budget.

We recommend beginning your search for coverage with our insurance calculator with at least a $25,000 death benefit.