A Guide to Cremation Insurance in 2021

Cremation has quickly overtaken burial as the top choice for Americans over the last decade. As an alternative to burial, cremation leaves a smaller footprint, using fire and heat to reduce our remains to their basic elements, which form ash.

Cremation doesn’t require any real estate or permanent and ornate caskets, nor does it require a grave marker. As such, cremation is easier and less expensive than burial, contributing to its increasing popularity. There are, however, still costs associated with cremation that you’ll need to keep in mind when planning your final arrangements. There are likely to be funeral home fees and an urn to select. You may need to pay for transportation of the body between the crematorium and funeral home.

There may be other fees and costs associated with your memorial service as well. Cremation insurance, sometimes referred to as final expense insurance, comes in handy for all of these costs, by putting aside the money your family will need for them. When the time comes, loved ones will be able to pay for everything, including all the little details, if you’ve planned ahead with cremation insurance.

With this guide, we want to set you up for success when navigating the world of cremation insurance. We’ll talk about the clear advantages to getting cremation insurance as well as the disadvantages, and we’ll even go over how to choose which cremation insurance to buy. If you’re interested in preparing yourself and your loved ones for the future so you can live with more peace of mind now, this guide is going to get you started.

What's Covered in This Guide

• What is cremation insurance?
• Cremation costs
• Direct cremation
• Funeral home fees
• Cremation
• Additional cremation costs to consider
• The advantages of cremation insurance
• The disadvantages of cremation insurance
• How to find the best insurance policy
• Comparing insurance plans and policies
• Frequently asked questions

Cremation Insurance is a form of insurance that falls into the preneed or final expense category of life insurance. Unlike whole life insurance, when you purchase cremation insurance, you’re setting aside money for the cost of your cremation, memorial service and any other costs that may be associated with your final wishes. Despite the fact that cremation is often a less expensive option than burial, the costs are rising and, depending on the choices you make and the options you choose, can end up costing as much as a traditional burial. When you’re covered by cremation insurance, these costs are accounted for.

Depending on the type of cremation insurance you choose, the funds from your cremation insurance policy can be paid to a beneficiary you designate, or funds can be paid directly to the funeral home you wish to use, which takes the stress off of loved ones to handle the finances. The funds are used to cover the expenses incurred by your end-of-life wishes. Cremation insurance is designed to cover specific expenses. As such, they tend to be much smaller policies than whole life insurance.

Cremation insurance is one way to plan for the inevitable, without dropping the responsibility on your next of kin in their time of grief. It’s a compassionate way to ensure those who loved you can focus on their own healing instead of attempting to wrap their minds around complicated financial decisions.

After outlining all the costs associated with cremation, the benefit of cremation insurance becomes clear. Whether you’re opting for direct cremation or the full funeral package, cremation is a considerable expense. It’s a lot to leave in the hands of your grieving family. Planning ahead for your cremation and earmarking money to pay for it is an act of compassion for your next of kin. Cremation insurance allows you to do this at a pace that makes sense for you and your personal finances.

Taking the burden off of your family isn’t the only benefit of cremation insurance, however. There are plenty of advantages to cremation insurance that you should consider. First, unlike life insurance, cremation insurance with Everdays requires no medical exams for acceptance.

Cremation insurance is also portable, meaning you can transfer your policy to another service provider and take it with you if you’re moving out of state or to another city. On top of that, your premiums with cremation insurance are fixed, so you can rest assured that your payment at each interval will always stay the same. This makes it easier to budget for your final arrangements. Cremation insurance approvals are speedy, as well, enabling you to get your end-of-life plan done and filed away quickly. There are many benefits of cremation insurance, not the least of which is the peace of mind you’ll get from knowing everything is taken care of, just the way you want it.

While the benefits of cremation insurance are many, it also has its disadvantages. It’s important to consider the downsides as well, before making your final arrangements.

It may be said that cremation insurance doesn’t always offer the best value. That means your premiums buy you enough coverage to pay for your end-of-life plans, which is a policy worth somewhere in the neighbourhood of $10,000 or less. However, as this type of insurance policy is intended to provide peace of mind for loved ones as a means to pay for your final arrangements without any unexpected financial stress, the value is exactly what it needs to be to make sure your family is taken care of.

Often you will have to have been paying into your cremation insurance for around 24 months before there is a full payout on your policy. Just two years into your payment term, though, your family’s burden is lifted and you can rest assured they will be covered when the time comes.

Your cremation insurance includes the amount needed to pay for your final arrangements, which means your family won’t have a lot of wiggle room to change the arrangements that have been made without paying more out of pocket at the time of your passing. However, this ensures your final wishes are carried out precisely as you planned them.

You’ll also have to navigate the many add-ons and upsells that come with purchasing cremation insurance, but these things allow you to further customize your wishes and can add to the value of your cremation insurance, as well as the peace of mind it brings to you and your family.

If you’ve decided that the pros far outweigh the cons, and you’re ready to get yourself prepared with cremation insurance, you’ll need to find the best policy that suits you and your needs. This is a big decision and one you need to trust going forward, so you can rest assured your wishes will be covered and your family protected in the way that you want. Let’s take a look at how you can choose the best cremation insurance policy.

To begin, it’s important to put in the time to do your research on different cremation insurance plans. Find out what each of them will offer you, and what the terms are with each policy. Discover if there is a waiting period, what your premiums will be and what, if any, the add-ons might be. Taking a thorough look at the different plans available to you is your best avenue to finding a plan that suits your specific end-of-life plans.

While researching, you’ll want to take the following into consideration:

• Outstanding debts: Cremation insurance can be used to pay these outstanding debts as well as the fees for your final arrangements. Find out if the policy you’re looking at supports this and consider how much your premiums will be with this added coverage.
• Income replacement: You can opt for additional coverage to help your family through a difficult time. If there has been a loss of income during this time, your supplemental coverage can assist them.
• Time off work for surviving loved ones: If at the time of your passing, your family has taken time away from work to grieve and see to your final wishes, this additional coverage can replace their lost income, making this difficult time just a little bit easier.
• Travel costs: additional coverage can be added to pay for the costs of travel for friends and family attending your memorial or funeral.
• Legacy: This coverage add-on can be used to leave a sum of money to a beneficiary of your choice, including a charitable organization, almost like a much smaller death benefit.

Finally, consider the impact inflation will have on your cremation insurance policy payout. Failing to account for inflation with policies such as final expense can mean that your cremation insurance policy payout is not enough to cover the cost of all of your final wishes years from now. Leave some room in your coverage amount for some inflation so your policy will cover everything you intended it to.

There is a way to beat inflation, though - when you buy cremation insurance through Everdays, your funds are held in a preneed insurance policy that locks in the price of services at the time of purchase, securing the cremation services you want to put in place at today’s costs, and saving you and your family thousands of dollars in the future. It is a method of prepaying for your final arrangements at today’s prices so you don’t have to consider inflation or service price increases. Unlike other types of cremation insurance, with Everdays your cremation service pricing is locked in from the time of purchase.

Once you’re ready to get some potential plans and quotes from different insurance companies, choosing the best one is easy if you take the following factors into consideration:

• Always plan ahead - When comparing the benefits and disadvantages of different cremation insurance policies, it’s important to know beforehand what you want. Have your final arrangements mapped out before you go ahead with cremation insurance policy comparisons. Knowing how much coverage you need will make it much easier when asking for quotes.
• Evaluate the insurer’s financial stability - When you have some cremation policies to choose from, take into consideration the insurance company’s financial stability. There are a number of companies that give financial ratings to insurers in an unbiased way so you can judge for yourself how much you can trust a potential insurance company.
• Comparison shop - comparing the coverage and pricing of different policies will allow you to choose one that fits into your budget while also covering everything you need to fulfill your final wishes.
• Look for and read reviews - Reviews can be found all over the internet, so it should be relatively easy to search for and find helpful reviews regarding the different insurers you’re deciding between.

Now that you’ve taken a closer look at all of these considerations, a clear winner or two should emerge, making your choice of cremation insurance policies a lot easier. Taking the time to look at the differences between cremation insurance policies and the companies that offer them will help you trust that you’ve made the right financial decision.