Apart from religion, abortion, politics, and economics, there is another thing most of us would want to avoid talking, even thinking about, if possible: Death. Paradoxically, the more we age, the deeper the topic of death permeates our consciousness. It stays there and reminds us that no matter how much we try running away from it, one day, it will come and take us whole. “Hurry up, prepare for me if you don’t want to have any regret left after you die”, murmured death. Existing obligations aside, funeral costs are another thing to keep in mind, as they are rising up fast over the last couple of years.

Fortunately, for those who are near the age of 65 and no longer eligible for traditional permanent life insurance, traditionally designed to cover death benefits, there is still hope. Final expense insurance is what you are looking for. Not only that, affordable final expense insurance is possible, too.

Why do you need final expense insurance?

Contrary to popular beliefs, when it comes to final expense insurance, people usually think that it is a ripoff, another unnecessary insurance plan sold by predatory agents to the elderly. At bestinsuranceonline.ca, we believe that basing the entire value of an insurance plan on its cost is reductionist at its best while sweeping its more-than-just-money benefits under the rug.

In essence, final expense insurance will pay for all of your funeral-related costs, typical to beneficiaries designated by you. In Canada, the average cost of a funeral is going to range from $2.399 to $13.616 in 2019. There are many variables that make up the final cost for a funeral, but the largest factor that affects the latter is the type of funeral: burial or cremation. As you may already know, burial costs a lot more than cremation as the lack of cemeteries is on the rise. That said, a funeral consists of cremation and a memorial service can cost up to $9000. On the other hand, if you are someone who cares about the environment and is cost-conscious, no doubt a cremation service will be a preferable choice.

Pre-need funeral insurance is a risky choice

Another popular option to take care of the final expenses is pre-need funeral insurance. This type of insurance is typically sold by funeral homes. Face amount in the event of your death will be paid directly to the funeral home that will host your funeral. Nonetheless, there have been many cases where people lost payouts to funeral homes going out of business, which is a situation you would never want to be in.

I can save up $10,000 to cover funeral costs instead of buying insurance!

Final expense insurance coverage can be as broad as your needs permit. If you still have debts, mortgages, and taxes, the coverage can be large enough to pay for them as well. Coverage for this type of insurance can range from $10,000 to $100,000 and more. Escalating medical expenses can also be paid off with the right type of insurance plan.

Designed as an alternative to traditional permanent life insurance for those who cannot qualify, some final expense insurance doesn’t require a medical examination, but this results in higher premiums. Another advantage is that the payout will not be taxed, compared to other types of life insurance. And if you are worried about inflation, rest assured that this class of insurance is shielded against inflation with a gradually increasing face amount. Moreover, premiums are kept fixed during the period of paying, with rates can be as low as $80/month, or approximately $1,000/year.

Okay, show me how I can get cheap final expense insurance online

The bad news is that the majority of Canadian insurance companies selling final expense insurance are not very upfront about quotes. They tend to prefer to keep quotes behind a contact-us-for-free-quote wall, which can make things frustrating when you don’t know roughly how much coverage you will need and for what premium rates. (Tip: You can get competitive rates from insurance brokers.)

Surveying websites of some of the biggest insurance providers, Bank of Montreal seems to be the only insurance company that offers a quick quote calculator for final expense, but pages upon pages of questions before showing an estimated quote will make you want to close the tab right away.

When searching for final expense insurance, LSM Insurance would often show up in search results and as widgets on many websites. They claim to work with more than 20 insurance providers across Canada and offer the best insurance life quotes, but when we decided to get a quote for final expense insurance on LSM insurance’s website, we could not receive any estimate as “an experienced agent will contact you in 48 hours”.

Fortunately, Insurance Direct Canada offers a quote calculator that actually displays quotes. We chose a 60-year-old smoking man of regular health class with $25,000 in coverage as our example to demonstrate how the calculator works. The results are shown below:

Company	Rating	Monthly	Annually
Manulife	A+	$80.93	$948.72
IA Insurance	A+	$85.41	$949.00
SSQ Insurance	A	$86.04	$956.00
Wawanesa Life	A	$87.14	$1,013.25
Canada Protection Plan (Foresters Life)	A	$97.70	$1,085.50

Table 1: Final expense insurance quick quotes from Insurance Direct Canada

As you can see, premiums for final expense insurance don’t surpass $100/month, provided that you don’t have any serious medical conditions. On a different note, our process to search for an affordable final expense insurance plan has proved that it would be extremely difficult to compare quotes from various insurance providers should you contact only each/some of them. Luckily, insurance brokers can work to find and negotiate insurance plans for you on your behalf.

Closing remark

The topic of death and how to handle it will always be a delicate issue to deal with. Final expense insurance has been designed to take some of that burden off your shoulder. Whatever is preventing you from getting the help you need, don’t hesitate to contact a trusted, reputable broker to assist you in choosing an affordable final expense plan that will surely meet your expectations.