Focuses on after-life preparedness. Most life insurance policies aren’t designed to specifically address the many costs family members pay when preparing for a funeral. Caskets alone can cost up to $10,000 depending on the style and material. This doesn’t include other typical funeral costs like transportation, preparation of the body, grave liners, flowers, or the headstone. A final expense policy can help with these costs and protect your family from experiencing a financial burden.

Final expense insurance is a type of whole life policy. For most traditional whole life policies, the death benefit and the insurance premium remain the same for the life of the policy. Most whole life policies last for the life of the policyholder and some accumulate cash value. Whole life insurance is often called “permanent life” because the term of the policy isn’t limited to a specific time frame like term insurance.

It’s more affordable than many other insurance policies. Because it’s typically used to cover funeral costs, the coverage amount is usually much smaller than traditional policies. On average, people insure themselves for $10,000 – $20,000, making the premiums for a final expense policy more affordable than larger policies.