Should I buy a Final Expense Life Insurance Policy?

Life insurance is important for everyone to have. It helps leave a legacy behind as well as cover bills related to the passing. Life insurance is useful for ensuring the home is paid off, kids can attend college, etc. thus, the ideal is a full life insurance policy, but for some they can only qualify or afford a lower cost policy. Final Expense policies are one of these easier to qualify for lower cost policy.

I should clarify that lower cost does not mean that you are getting a better rate for coverage than you would for a regular term or permanent coverage plan.  With Final Expense coverage you are buying a policy of somewhat limited benefit which means the death benefit will generally be anywhere from $5,000 to $25,000.  Most term and permanent coverage policies have minimum death benefits of $100,000 (a few may go as low as $50,000).

Because there is a difference in the death benefit between a final expense policy and the more traditional life policies, one may be a better fit than the other. If someone wants to ensure they get the home paid off, leave money behind for the spouse to raise the kids, get the kids thru college, etc…then a final expense policy would never make any sense.  But, if the person who needs coverage only needs to pay funeral expenses and other similar final expenses, one of these final expense policy is possibly a good fit.

If you only need to cover an amount between $5,000 and $25,000 (average funerals are running between $5,000 - $10,000 per burial, and that is not with many extras to make the funeral really nice, with those you can easily add several thousand more to the cost).  A lot of the recommendation to get final expense vs. term or permanent boils down to your specific needs. Someone young and healthy looking to pay costs of an eventual funeral would need a permanent product, which a final expense is, however if they are super healthy they can probably pay a bit more towards a traditional policy and get several times the death benefit.  Those in more near term need, less healthy, and with very limited financial resources probably need to look at a final expense policy as their option.  If you are looking to leave behind money for more than just getting your remains buried you need to look at traditional policies, again based largely in part on your needs. For help with life insurance in Houston have a quick look at some live quotes and give us a call to discuss the best overall life insurance strategy.