BUYING BURIAL INSURANCE FOR YOUR PARENTS

BUYING BURIAL INSURANCE FOR YOUR PARENTS

If the responsibility of paying all burial expenses of your parents falls all on you, you may want to consider buying burial insurance for them. Discussing this with your parents may be a very sensitive topic, however making the right choice of buying burial insurance will not only protect you, but your siblings from the financial burden and stress that comes along with funeral related costs. The cost of funerals, burials or cremations are currently at an all time high, and unfortunately during unexpected deaths, it may be difficult to cover these expenses. However purchasing Burial Insurance will help ease this burden. 

The benefit of purchasing Burial Insurance for your parents is that it covers the costs of all funeral expenses during a time where you will find yourself to possibly be in the most vulnerable state of mind. Even with the thought of the unexpected death of your parents, will you have the financial ability to cover all of these costs? According to magnifymoney, in 2019, the average American consumer agreed that an ideal emergency savings should be that of $10,000, however combined with their savings and checkings, more than half stated they only had $3,000 saved. That is not even half of what a funeral cost. How would these people be able to afford an unexpected or even expected death of a parent? The average cost of a funeral is $6,000 to $12,000, all depending on funerals, burials, cremations, headstone, and other funeral related expenses. It is obvious that funerals are expensive, and unfortunately they are one of the most expensive events that we can have in our lifetime. For example, according to the National Funeral Directors Association, in 2014 the average funeral cost $8,508. The cost of a funeral in 2019 was $9,135 which is $627 difference, meaning a 7% increase in a matter of 5 five years. It is unfortunate to see how funeral prices will continue to rise in years to come. 

PREPARING FOR THE WORST

If you are not willing to go through this financial burden, and want to prepare yourself, purchasing burial insurance is right for you and your family. You may want to consider purchasing it as soon as possible because the health of your parents is a major factor at the time of acquiring their policy. The healthier your parents are, the more affordable the premiums or cost of the policy will be. As their health worsens, and you wait to purchase a burial insurance plan for them, the premiums will be more expensive. As you are considering buying burial insurance, one of the most disturbing parts of this is having this conversation with your parents. Even if your parents may be hesitant speaking about death, it is important to cover the financial difficulties your family may face. However the sooner you speak to them about burial insurance the more comfortable they may be in proceeding to this. 

Because Burial Insurance is a form of Life Insurance there are protocols, rules and regulations to follow. This being said, the insurance companies require Insurable Interest if you are going to acquire a funeral policy on your parents, meaning that if your parents pass away you will have a financial loss. In other words, the $10,000 debt in funeral expenses will evidently bring a financial loss to your household income if a parent of yours passes away. There is no company that will ever question or request information from you to address the relationship between you and the insured, afterall you are related and that satisfies this requirement. 

The other requirement in order to proceed with your plan includes the assessment of your parents health. With this medical assessment, they will be able to determine their eligibility for the coverage you are seeking. They will be asked questions regarding their health and will have to agree to have the insurance companies access their medical records in order to set them up with the best plan that suits them based on their health. Considering that insurance companies will seek medical records, your parents must provide full consent, again, only the insured can do that. If your parents do consent to have companies access their medical records this will guarantee lower rates and immediate coverage. On the other hand, the benefit of a burial expense insurance is that your parents will not go through any medical exams nor physical evaluations. 

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS

It is very important to acknowledge that if your parents do not consent to give life insurance companies access to their medical records, you may not be able to acquire life coverage insurance that will immediately cover them at the time of their death. If this is the case, a Guaranteed Issued plan will be a great alternative for you. Guaranteed Issued plans are basically a no questions asked policy. The premiums for these types of plans will be noticeably higher and the only drawback to this, is that there is a waiting period. The policy does not pay out if the insured passes away within two years of acquiring the policy. 

The age of your parents is something to also take into consideration. Typically, burial insurance is often meant for seniors 55 and older. Recall that as we age our health tends to decline, but some companies may even be able to insure your parents, or even grandparents at the age of 80. It is evident that the premiums will be much higher, but they will have to be medically qualified for them to be eligible to purchase an immediate coverage plan. 

When purchasing burial insurance for your parents, you will always want to consider all the funeral expenses that will flood you when they pass away. Take into consideration the death benefit amount, as these typically may range between $2,000 to $50,000. Depending on the death benefit your premium will vary, but the huge factor again will be your parents health, age and if they consent to have companies access their medical records. If they do not, your only alternative will be a Guaranteed Issued plan. No matter what policy you plan to have, you can rest assured knowing you will be protected.