There are many benefits of having burial insurance, including funeral coverage and planning, beneficiaries, easy eligibility, and overall peace of mind for you and your family.
#1: No Need to Worry About Funeral Costs
In Florida, the average funeral costs more than $5,000 and even more, depending on your specific arrangements. To help you better understand how much your funeral may cost, here is a breakdown:
- Professional services: $1,200
- Embalming: $500
- Cremation: $250
- Opening/Closing: $1,200
- Vault: $1,000
- Hearse: $375
- Preparation: $225
- Transfer: $400
- Flowers: $600
Based on these costs alone, this total comes out to be $5,750. However, keep in mind that this cost did not include other costs, such as cremation, burial plots, gravestones, etc.
But what does all of this mean for you and your burial insurance policy? Well, one of the greatest benefits of burial insurance is that it is the perfect amount to cover your funeral and then some. You can make sure that everything is planned and paid for so that your loved ones do not have to worry about a thing.
#2: Save Your Loved Ones From Making Last Minute Arrangements
Speaking of which, having a burial insurance plan to cover your final expenses will relieve a huge burden from your loved ones. Leaving a $5,000+ expense to them may be a bit awkward and incredibly difficult to handle when dealing with such an incredible feeling of grief.
In these moments, you need more than a feel-good promise to take care of things when you’re gone. The people in your life may not realize the difficulties of planning and paying for a funeral without a burial policy and have no way to truly mourn with the fear of it looming over them.
This sounds scary, but it truly is not. Your loved ones will cover your funeral costs in one way or another, but having a burial policy set in place will simply take care of it for them without aforethought. And, this way, you can be involved in the preparations and planning to make sure that your service memorializes you in the best way possible.
#3: You Get to Choose Your Beneficiaries
A comparable option to a burial policy is preneed insurance. Preneed plans, like burial insurance, cover funeral and burial or cremation costs. But when you opt for this plan instead of a regular burial insurance policy, you will work directly with a funeral home and name them as your sole beneficiary of the policy’s death benefit.
Preneed does not, however, offer as much flexibility as a burial plan, with a lower death benefit only geared towards the aforementioned funeral costs. In general, preneed plans:
- Are bought from a specific funeral home
- Are paid ahead of time to the funeral home
- Have non-guaranteed services may need to be made up by the beneficiary
- Have preplanned, required details that are dependent on the funeral home
For comparison, final expense plans:
- Are bought from a life insurance company, not a funeral home
- You can choose who the payout will go to, such as your loved ones
- Have more flexible benefits that can be used for more than just funeral arrangements
- Have benefits not tied to a specific funeral home and are instead issued to your beneficiary
- Insurers will not change the terms of your plan, but preneed plans could vary
There are a number of concerns with preneed plans. If the cost of any of their services changes after you purchased the plan, you will not see that money returned with the death benefit. Payouts are significantly smaller and limited only to the funeral home—your loved ones will never see the money.
Preneed insurance is a great option for some. But, the benefits of burial insurance flexibility and chosen beneficiaries cannot be beaten.
#4: Significantly Easier Qualification Process
One of if not the most important benefits of burial insurance is its easy eligibility. With burial insurance, you can be significantly older and in far worse health than any other life insurance plan available.
If you have minimal health concerns, you may opt for a simplified issue burial insurance policy. Simplified issue relies on a process known as medical underwriting, in which the insurance company determines your health and whether or not they want to insure you.
This process looks a lot different with simplified issue. Rather than receiving an in-depth medical exam, you instead must answer a short 4-8 question survey on your health history. If you pass, you can receive low-cost benefits.
Or, perhaps you have a serious terminal or preexisting health condition and are ineligible even for a simplified issue burial policy. In that case, you can enroll in a guaranteed issue policy without answering any questions regarding your health whatsoever.
No matter your situation, you will almost certainly qualify for burial insurance, making it the easiest-to-enroll-in plan on the market.
#5: Have Peace of Mind for a Good Price
Above all, burial insurance provides unbeatable peace of mind. Burial policies have many intangible benefits that you may never personally witness—it will give your family immediate access to funds dedicated to covering your final expenses.
For you, it will also ensure that you receive the funeral you feel will best represent you and help your loved ones, allowing you time to think over what you want. Overall, it is simply one of the best ways to take care of expenses that affect those who matter most.
#6: You Can Work with a Good Insurance Agency—Call Senior Life Services
If you decide to purchase a burial policy, you also have the benefit of an excellent, highly-trained, professional agency to get you the coverage you need.
We will work with you to understand your exact needs and goals for your insurance plan. If you would like to learn more or get a quote, call Senior Life Services today at 800-548-3249.