Thomas Barnett Burial insurance can be a reasonable life insurance option for seniors. As always, it’s important to compare different products when shopping for burial insurance for seniors.
Choosing the right policy type could save you a small fortune. This article aims to help you choose the right burial insurance policy by covering company options, rates, and ratings.
In just a few short sections, you should have everything you need to know about burial insurance for seniors.
What life insurance companies offer burial insurance for seniors?
Burial insurance can be a valuable life insurance policy option for older adults. Unfortunately, traditional life insurance policies can become overwhelmingly expensive the closer you get to retirement age.
For seniors that may not need a major death benefit to support a loved one, burial insurance can be a more reasonable option. Burial insurance policies can help alleviate the financial burden of a funeral without a major death benefit.
Due to the nature of burial insurance policies, they are sometimes referred to as final expense insurance policies or funeral insurance. These are all essentially the same policy type.
There are quite a few companies that offer burial insurance policies. Some of those options include:
- AARP (New York Life)
- Aetna
- AIG
- American Amicable
- Americo Financial Life & Annuity
- Baltimore Life
- Fidelity Life
- Foresters Financial
- Gerber Life
- Great Western
- Liberty Bankers
- Mutual of Omaha
- Oxford Life
- Prosperity Life
- Royal Neighbors
- Sentinel Security
- United Home Life
The above list is not exhaustive, but it may help provide some insight into prospective burial insurance companies to choose from. It’s always important to compare policies from multiple companies to get the best rates.
How much do burial insurance policies cost?
Like any life insurance policy option, burial insurance rates can vary based on a few factors. For example, age, gender, and policy coverage amount can all cause fluctuations in your burial insurance rates.
The prices for a final expense life insurance plan tend to be more consistent than traditional life insurance policies due to the smaller associated death benefit. The more expensive the funeral insurance plan, the more variation there tends to be in the price.
| Age | AARP | AIG | Americo | Fidelity | Foresters | Mutual of Omaha | Royal Neighbors | Transamerica | American Amicable | Gerber Life | Great Western | Liberty Bankers | Prosperity | Sentinel Security |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $83.00 | $76.89 | $46.19 | $65.85 | $46.42 | $42.13 | $58.18 | $44.31 | $44.88 | $65.68 | $87.92 | $43.45 | $49.97 | $40.08 |
| 55 | $95.00 | $84.35 | $51.65 | $82.65 | $53.72 | $52.87 | $68.17 | $52.21 | $57.09 | $86.44 | $95.42 | $52.87 | $54.63 | $50.13 |
| 60 | $112.00 | $93.75 | $63.62 | $100.31 | $66.20 | $62.53 | $73.86 | $63.93 | $67.32 | $95.38 | $111.67 | $66.38 | $66.86 | $62.13 |
| 65 | $126.00 | $125.23 | $80.91 | $121.07 | $82.04 | $82.04 | $86.89 | $83.00 | $85.80 | $127.28 | $136.67 | $81.60 | $85.34 | $79.22 |
| 70 | $150.00 | $146.27 | $107.50 | $152.12 | $107.78 | $108.95 | $110.86 | $110.20 | $113.53 | $148.32 | $177.92 | $107.65 | $117.57 | $103.38 |
| 75 | $171.00 | $206.83 | $147.37 | $184.11 | $152.46 | $147.69 | $164.30 | $148.26 | $156.09 | $208.82 | $236.67 | $147.91 | $168.72 | $144.64 |
| 80 | $201.00 | $368.66 | $216.58 | $245.11 | $218.53 | $197.38 | $229.39 | $208.55 | $225.72 | $370.52 | $340.42 | $217.88 | $220.14 | $219.10 |
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Above, you can see how competitive many of the burial insurance rates are. Some companies, such as AIG and Gerber Life, are much more expensive than the majority of competitors.
For seniors over 70 years old, this can make a big difference financially. Based on these sample rates, a 75-year-old man would pay more than $50 per month more with AIG than with Mutual of Omaha.
Mutual of Omaha and Transamerica tend to be the most affordable burial insurance companies for non-smoking men, based on the results above. There can be some changes from company to company based on gender and smoking status.
| Age | Male, Non-smoker | Female, Non-smoker | Male, Smoker | Female, Smoker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | $42.13 | $35.40 | $53.73 | $45.54 |
| 55 | $52.87 | $41.00 | $69.30 | $55.88 |
| 60 | $62.53 | $47.70 | $86.92 | $65.40 |
| 65 | $82.04 | $59.91 | $116.88 | $82.40 |
| 70 | $108.95 | $78.26 | $158.53 | $108.92 |
| 75 | $147.69 | $107.01 | $213.60 | $146.82 |
| 80 | $197.38 | $146.05 | $288.60 | $200.50 |
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While Mutual of Omaha is clearly one of the cheaper burial insurance companies for seniors, their rates climb quickly for smokers. These rates show that smokers will pay a minimum of $10 per month more for a $15,000 burial insurance policy than non-smokers.
Overall, you’re most likely safe choosing a policy from Transamerica or Mutual of Omaha, but comparing personalized quotes from multiple companies is the best way to find out who can give you the best deal.
How to Pick the Best Burial Insurance for Seniors
Choosing the right policy comes down to a few simple concepts. Most people need to consider the price, coverage amount, and company ratings. As noted above, the price can vary from one senior to the next.
To get the most accurate price, you’ll need to figure out how much coverage to buy. The median cost of funerals is $7,848 and rising, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.
The cost of your funeral can also change depending on the services you’d like and where you live. It’s safe to say that $10,000 or more would cover the majority of costs associated with a basic funeral.
If you have specific burial plans in mind and know that they’ll be more expensive, you should invest in a policy that can cover those expenses. It’s helpful to research how much insurance coverage you will need before you commit to a policy.
Otherwise, you’ll want to invest in a burial insurance company with good ratings. You can use reputable organizations such as A.M. Best and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to get reliable information on a potential company.
For example, Mutual of Omaha has an A+ A.M. Best rating while Transamerica has an A rating. These ratings indicate that both companies are financially stable although Mutual of Omaha is superior.
Mutual of Omaha has an NAIC Complaint Index of 0.86 compared to 1.42 for Transamerica. This rating suggests that Transamerica fields more complaints than Mutual of Omaha.
While both companies had affordable rates, these findings would suggest that Mutual of Omaha is the preferred choice for a burial insurance policy.
Again, it’s a good idea to get personalized quotes from a few companies before comparing ratings. There’s no guarantee that Mutual of Omaha or Transamerica will be the cheapest in your given situation.
Best Burial Insurance for Seniors
For seniors looking to invest in a burial insurance policy, Mutual of Omaha and Transamerica may be great companies to consider. Before you commit to any policy, it could be worthwhile to compare rates and ratings from multiple life insurance companies.
Overall, choosing burial insurance for seniors could be the most affordable monthly option. Investing in burial insurance could be an effective way to deter the financial burden associated with rising funeral costs.
