Are burial life insurance policies a good idea?

Burial insurance, sometimes also called a final expense policy, can be an affordable way to spread the expense of a loved one’s death over a number of years. Morbid idea? Not when you think it through. All of us reach the point of final expenses sometime.

Final expenses can be anything from a simple burial to hospital bills, attorney’s costs to administer a will, or gifts left to children or grandchildren. Depending on your personal desires, a burial or final expense policy might be as small as $5000-$10,000 or as large as $50,000-$100,000.

Most folks don’t really put a lot of thought into this kind of  life insurance until they start to see “final” kind of off in the distance. Generally at that point most of us don’t want to be bothered with exams and people poking around our medical history so we opt for a guaranteed issue life insurance. We just want to sign up without any hassle. There are some good and some not so good products out there for those who want to  take the easy route.

If you are in good health and just don’t want to take an exam, ask your independent life insurance agent about simplified issue life insurance. There will be a few health questions, but it is generally very easy to qualify for, comes in both term insurance and whole life, and is usually less expensive than guaranteed issue.

If you have some fairly serious health problems, guaranteed issue life insurance is a good option. Again, employ an independent life insurance agent to do the shopping for you. They will be able to get through the fine print and find a good match for you.

Are these types of policies a good idea? You know, they really are unless you have $10,000 in a box marked final expenses.

Mind your own business!!

My mother never told me running a small business was easy. In fact it went something more like, “wouldn’t you be better off getting a real job?”

Whether you are in business for yourself, or work for someone, your future can be in jeopardy if you, or they, have not adequately protected the business with business life insurance. The untimely death of an owner, partner, or key person in a business when there is no business life insurance such as a buy/sell insurance policy or key man insurance in place can be the beginning of quick end.

We often think of life insurance just in terms of protecting our family from the loss of income if a parent should die, or in terms of final expense or burial life insurance. The unexpected death of a business owner or key person can have a dramatic impact, not only on their family, but on the employees of the business and their families.

If you own a business and don’t currently have business life insurance, meet with an independent life insurance agent soon and review the structure and financials of your business. The agent can then make recommendations and provide insurance quotes that help your business become a legacy to your family and your partner(s) and employees, rather than a loss to them all.

In most cases you will want to look at term insurance or possibly return of premium term insurance rather than universal life or whole life. Why term insurance? The truth is that most businesses change too rapidly to make locking in even the longer terms or permanent insurance. A more prudent approach is to look at each aspect of your business and consider the proper term length. It may take more than one life insurance policy, but with term insurance being as affordable as it is, you should certainly be able to protect your business without significant impact on your budget.

So, mind your own business! A good steward of a business will ensure that the business will survive them.