Final Expense CoveragePeace of Mind for Your Family

Final expense insurance, also called burial or funeral insurance, is a small whole life policy that pays a cash lump sum to the person you name when you die. Face amounts are often between $5,000 and $50,000, and what is offered varies by carrier and age. Your beneficiary decides how to spend the money: the funeral, burial or cremation, medical bills, credit card debt or anything else.

Most of these policies are whole life, so the coverage does not expire as long as you keep paying, and the price is usually level for life. They are built to be easy to get: you answer a few health questions instead of taking an exam, or with guaranteed acceptance plans you answer none.

Prepaid funeral plans are different. They are tied to one funeral home and the arrangements you pick, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says protections for them vary widely by state. The FTC also notes that you can make decisions in advance without paying in advance.

For $10,000 of coverage, the lowest price we found was $30.67 a month for a 50-year-old man and $24.31 for a 50-year-old woman, rising to $187.58 and $135.89 at 85. Your price depends on age, sex, tobacco use, amount, health, state and carrier.

Age is the biggest driver. A 65-year-old man's $54.15 becomes $97.10 at 75 and $187.58 at 85, about 3.5 times as much. Women pay less because insurers expect them to live longer on average: at 65 a woman's lowest price was $41.01, about 24% below a man's $54.15.

More coverage costs a little less than a straight multiple. At 65, a man's lowest price was $54.15 for $10,000 and $104.50 for $20,000. For a woman it was $41.01 and $78.82.

Tobacco use matters, but how much depends on the carrier. For a 70-year-old man the lowest price stayed $70.94 in our pull whether or not he used tobacco, yet one carrier's immediate-coverage price rose from $86.07 to $147.03 and another moved him to a graded plan. Always answer the tobacco question truthfully and compare several carriers.

The national median cost of a funeral with viewing and burial was $8,300 in 2023, and a funeral with viewing and cremation was $6,280, according to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) 2023 General Price List Study. The figures leave out cemetery interment, a monument or grave marker, and cash-advance items such as flowers or an obituary, so your total can be higher.

Costs keep rising. NFDA found the burial median went up 5.8% from 2021 ($7,848) and the cremation median 8.1% ($5,810) over the two years. Because a policy's face amount is fixed, some people choose an amount above today's median.

Cremation is now more common than burial. NFDA projects a 63.4% cremation rate in 2025 against a 31.6% burial rate.

Shopping around can cut the bill. Under the FTC's Funeral Rule, funeral homes must give you a General Price List that is yours to keep, quote prices by phone, let you buy only the items you want, and accept a casket or urn you bought elsewhere without a fee. Call two or three homes and compare their lists.

Add up the funeral, the cemetery and what you owe, then subtract what you have set aside. That total is the amount to cover. The Maxout calculator at maxoutinsurance.com/calculator shows live final expense prices for $5,000 to $40,000 so you can see what each amount costs a month.

1. Funeral home. Start with $8,300 for burial or $6,280 for cremation (NFDA 2023 medians), then ask local funeral homes for their price lists.
2. Cemetery and marker. Ask for the plot, the opening and closing fee, any vault or liner the cemetery requires, and the marker. NFDA's medians do not include these.
3. Extras. Flowers, an obituary, travel for family and a reception.
4. Bills and debts. Final medical bills, credit cards and loans your family would be asked to pay.
5. Subtract what is set aside. Take away savings you have earmarked and benefits your family can claim.

Here is an example. The $8,300 is the NFDA median; the other numbers are placeholders, so use your own. $8,300 funeral, plus $3,000 for the cemetery and marker, $2,000 for extras and $4,000 in bills comes to $17,300. If you have $5,000 saved, you would look at a policy near $12,000.

Two sources can offset part of the cost. Social Security pays a one-time $255 death payment to an eligible surviving spouse or child. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers eligible veterans burial in a national cemetery, a headstone or marker, and a burial allowance.

Yes, in almost every case. Burial insurance, funeral insurance and final expense insurance are different names for a small whole life policy that pays your beneficiary in cash. The money is not tied to a funeral home.

A preneed policy or prepaid funeral plan is different, because it is tied to specific arrangements. The FTC warns that prices can rise and that businesses can close or change owners. With a regular final expense policy your family keeps the choice of where to spend the money.

It is not the only way to pay. The NAIC suggests considering alternatives to life insurance, such as savings, and warns against buying life insurance you do not plan to keep, because quitting in the early years can be costly.

There are three kinds, and the difference is when your family gets the full payout.

• Level (immediate) coverage: you answer health questions, and if you qualify the full benefit is paid from day one. It has the lowest price.
• Graded (modified) coverage: the health questions are easier, but the benefit is reduced early on. If you die of natural causes in the first two or three years, your family usually gets back the premiums you paid, often plus interest, or a share of the face amount. After that the full benefit is paid. Many plans pay accidental death in full from day one, so check your policy.
• Guaranteed issue (guaranteed acceptance): no health questions, so your health cannot get you turned down. The amount is small, the price is the highest, and the same two-to-three-year waiting period applies.

New York's insurance regulator says these senior plans pay only a return of premium or a minimum graded benefit in the first two or three policy years, and that they usually cost more than a fully underwritten policy if you qualify as a standard risk.

Guaranteed-acceptance plans cost 40% to 79% more than the lowest-priced immediate-coverage plan between ages 50 and 80 in our pull. A 65-year-old man paid at least $85.16 a month for guaranteed acceptance against $54.15 for immediate coverage.

Guaranteed acceptance life insurance accepts you without health questions or an exam, which makes it a safety net for people who cannot qualify elsewhere. In exchange you get a small face amount, a higher price and a waiting period before the full benefit.

South Carolina's insurance department warns that premiums on guaranteed issue policies can add up to nearly the amount of coverage, and that after a few years you could pay more than your beneficiary will receive. Early on, these policies may return only your premiums.

If you can answer health questions, ask for level and graded quotes first because they cost less. Guaranteed acceptance tends to make sense when you have been declined or your health makes the other plans unlikely. Age limits and amounts vary by carrier, and our tool returned no guaranteed-acceptance price at 85.

Often yes, but the plan you qualify for, and its price, depend on how severe your COPD is and how you answer each carrier's questions. No one can promise approval, and a decline from one insurer is not a decline from all of them.

Carriers decide case by case. The questions that tend to matter most are whether you use oxygen, whether you have been in the hospital lately, how long ago you were diagnosed and whether you smoke. One carrier may offer level coverage where another offers only a graded plan.

1. Answer truthfully. The NAIC warns that false answers can lead an insurer to reduce or cancel your coverage.
2. Get your details ready. Your diagnosis date, medicines, oxygen use and your last hospital stay.
3. Ask for all three plan types. Compare level, graded and guaranteed issue prices from several carriers.
4. Know the waiting period. On graded and guaranteed plans your family may get only premiums back if you die in the first two or three years.
5. Try graded before guaranteed. Guaranteed acceptance costs the most, so use it only if the other plans are out of reach.

The same approach works for other conditions, such as heart disease or diabetes.

Many insurers sell final expense policies, and prices for the same person can differ a lot. For a 65-year-old man and $10,000, five carriers in our October 10 pull ranged from $54.15 to $98.83 a month, with the highest 83% above the lowest.

The lowest price came from Americo or Mutual of Omaha at every age we checked, usually within a few dollars of each other. The highest came from a guaranteed-acceptance plan from ages 50 to 80. That is one day's data, not a ranking or an endorsement, and it will change with your age, sex and answers.

Compare like with like: the same amount, the same plan type (level, graded or guaranteed) and the same tobacco answer. A low price on a graded plan is not the same as a higher price on level coverage.

There is no government marketplace for final expense insurance. You buy from an insurer directly or through an agent or broker, and an independent agent can compare several carriers for you.

The amounts are small, it costs more per dollar than term, and you can pay in more than it pays out. Here is what that looks like in plain numbers:

• It costs more per dollar. At 50, $10,000 of final expense cost a man $30.67 a month, while $500,000 of 20-year term cost him $127.50.
• You can pay in more than it pays. A 65-year-old man paying $54.15 a month reaches $10,000 in premiums in about 15 years. At 80, $135.78 a month passes $10,000 in about 6 years. Live longer and you have paid more than the policy pays.
• Graded and guaranteed plans may pay only your premiums back in the first two or three years.
• Costs rise and the face amount does not. NFDA found cremation costs up 8.1% in two years.
• Missed payments can end the policy, and the NAIC warns that quitting early can be costly.
• It will not replace income or pay off a mortgage. For that, see term life insurance.

Final expense insurance tends to fit when you are in your 50s through 80s, want your family spared the bill, and have little set aside. It fits less well if you have enough savings, or if you are young and healthy enough to buy a larger term policy at a lower price per dollar.

Size the policy, compare live prices, apply honestly and tell your family where the policy is. A licensed agent can help you through the application.

1. Size it. Use the steps above to pick an amount.
2. Compare live prices. The Maxout calculator shows monthly prices from several carriers for ages 40 to 85, with no email or Social Security number needed.
3. Match the plan to your health. Start with level, then graded, then guaranteed acceptance if you need it.
4. Apply and answer honestly. The insurer decides approval and your final price. Make payments to the insurance company, not to an agent.
5. Use the free look. You can usually return a new policy within about 10 days for a full refund. The review period is on the policy's first page.
6. Tell your family. Say who the beneficiary is and where the policy is kept. If a relative had a policy and you cannot find it, the NAIC's free Life Insurance Policy Locator can search for it.