Final Expense Insurance and What People Use Instead
Four ways households cover a funeral, how each is structured, and what to check before committing to any of them. Includes the comparison nobody selling a policy shows you — total premiums against the death benefit — and the VA burial allowances that families routinely fail to claim. Estimate only; no insurer is named.
Works offline — your inputs never leave this device. How that works
What this page is, and what it is not
The four things people actually do
Setting money aside in a dedicated account
A payable-on-death account at a bank or credit union. You name a beneficiary, keep control of the money while you are alive, and it passes to them outside probate — usually within days, on a death certificate and identification. There is no medical question and no premium.
What to check: It only holds what you have actually put in, so it protects nothing if you die early. It may also count as an asset for Medicaid eligibility, unless it is set up as an irrevocable burial fund, which is a different arrangement with its own rules in each state.
A pre-need contract with a funeral home
You choose and pay for specific goods and services in advance, at a price agreed now. Some contracts guarantee the price against future increases; others simply hold the money against a bill that will be whatever it is on the day.
What to check: The two questions that decide whether it was a good idea: is the price guaranteed, and what happens if you move, change your mind, or the funeral home closes or changes hands. Get both answers in writing. State law on how the money must be held varies considerably.
Life insurance you already have
An existing policy, a group policy through a former employer, or a veterans policy. Many people are covered and have forgotten, and unclaimed policies are one of the commonest things a family discovers years too late.
What to check: Check whether an employer policy continues after retirement and at what level — many drop sharply or end. Make sure someone knows the policy exists and where the paperwork is, which is the single cheapest thing on this page to fix.
A final-expense or burial policy
A small whole-life policy, typically with a face value in the low thousands, sold without a medical examination and sometimes without health questions at all. The premium does not rise and the coverage does not expire while premiums are paid.
What to check: Two structural features do most of the harm when they are not understood. Many policies are GRADED: if death occurs in the first two or three years, the payout is a return of premiums plus interest rather than the face value. And because premiums continue for life, someone who buys young and lives long can pay in more than the policy will ever pay out — which the arithmetic below shows with your own figures.
Premiums paid against the benefit
The comparison nobody selling a policy puts in front of you, and the one that usually decides it. Enter what you have been quoted. Nothing here is sent anywhere.
What you would pay every month, for life.
The face value — what the policy pays out.
| If you live to | Total premiums paid | Benefit minus premiums |
|---|---|---|
| 75 (5 years of premiums) | $3,600 | $6,400 |
| 80 (10 years of premiums) | $7,200 | $2,800 |
| 85 (15 years of premiums) | $10,800 | −$800 |
| 90 (20 years of premiums) | $14,400 | −$4,400 |
| 95 (25 years of premiums) | $18,000 | −$8,000 |
Past age 85, the premiums exceed the payout
What this arithmetic leaves out, in both directions
If the person was a veteran, some of this is already paid
These are maximum reimbursements rather than grants: VA pays documented costs back, up to the amount, to whoever actually paid them. Families routinely do not claim them.
| Allowance | Up to | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Burial allowance, service-connected death | $2,000 | The veteran died on or after September 11, 2001 of a service-connected condition. For deaths before that date the maximum is $1,500. |
| Burial allowance, non-service-connected death | $1,002 | The veteran died on or after October 1, 2025. Earlier deaths are paid at the rate in force at the time, which VA publishes going back to 2013. |
| Plot or interment allowance | $1,002 | The veteran died on or after October 1, 2025 and is NOT buried in a national cemetery. |
| Headstone or marker allowance | $441 | The veteran died on or after October 1, 2025 and is buried in a private cemetery with a privately purchased headstone or marker. |
- These are maximum reimbursements, not grants: VA pays back documented expenses up to the amount, and the person who paid the costs is the one who claims.
- Burial in a VA national cemetery is provided at no cost to the family, including the grave, opening and closing, a headstone or marker, and perpetual care. That is often worth far more than any allowance on this list.
- A government headstone, marker or medallion is furnished at no charge for a burial in any cemetery, private or national.
- There is a time limit on some of these claims, and it differs by allowance. VA states the current deadlines on the page this pack is sourced from — check it rather than assuming.
- Social Security also pays a one-time lump-sum death payment to a surviving spouse or child. We do NOT print that figure here: SSA's own pages refused every automated request during verification on 2026-08-03, and this site does not publish a figure it has not read at the source. Ask SSA directly on 1-800-772-1213.
Before any of this, get the price list
Who to ask next
We publish figures and explain how they work. We do not decide anything, and nobody who does is on this website. These are the people who can, and the first four cost nothing.
- Eldercare Locator — 1-800-677-1116 ↗Free
Run by the federal Administration for Community Living. Give them a ZIP code and they connect you to the area agency on aging that covers it, which is the office that knows what exists locally.
- Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program ↗Free
One-to-one counseling on Medicare, Medicare Savings Programs and Extra Help, from someone paid by a federal grant rather than by commission. The local name differs by state — HICAP in California, SHINE in Florida, SHIBA in Washington.
- Medicaid.gov — eligibility policy ↗Free
The federal rules Medicaid long-term care sits inside. Your own state agency administers them and is the only body that can decide your case.
- VA — find an accredited representative ↗Free
VA's own search for accredited Veterans Service Organization representatives, attorneys and claims agents. VSO representatives help with pension and Aid and Attendance claims at no charge.
- National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys ↗Directory is free; the attorney is not
Where to find a lawyer who does this work full time, if a transfer, a trust, a house or a second marriage is involved. Attorneys charge; asking one before you move money is usually cheaper than asking one afterwards.
Our own who to ask page sorts these by situation, and the paying for care hub holds the rest of this wing.
Verified 2026-08-03 against U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — Veterans burial allowance and transportation benefits, current rate tables (effective 2025-10-01)
Estimate only — not financial, tax, legal, or insurance advice. Only VA can determine your actual amounts.
Official source: VA — Veterans burial allowance and transportation benefits ↗
🎓 Understand this tool
What it is
The four ways households commonly cover a funeral — a payable-on-death savings account, a pre-need contract with a funeral home, life insurance already held, and a final-expense policy — with how each is structured, what to check, and the arithmetic of premiums against the death benefit.
How it works
The only calculation is deliberately simple: the monthly premium multiplied out to ages 75 through 95, set beside the benefit. There is no discounting and no assumed rate of return, because either would import an assumption the reader cannot check on a page whose whole point is that they should be able to. The VA figures are transcribed from VA's own rate tables, which reindex each October 1.
Getting the most from it
- Read what each of the four options actually is before comparing prices. They are different kinds of thing, not four versions of the same thing.
- If a policy has been quoted, put the premium and benefit into the table. The number to look at is where total premiums pass the payout.
- Ask whether the policy is graded, and get the answer in writing. If it is, the first two or three years pay premiums back rather than the face value.
- If the person is a veteran, read the VA section. A national cemetery burial is provided at no cost, which is frequently worth more than every allowance combined.
- Get an itemised price list from two or three local funeral homes. Federal rule requires them to provide one and to quote by telephone, and you may buy only the items you want.
Reading your result
A negative figure in the last column means the premiums paid by that age exceed what the policy pays out. That is a fact about the arithmetic and not a verdict: a policy is in force from day one and savings are not, which is the whole thing being bought.
What it can't tell you
It cannot price a policy, does not model the graded period, and ignores inflation — which erodes a fixed death benefit over a long retirement. It assumes premiums are paid without a break, and a lapsed policy generally pays nothing. It names no insurer and compares no products, so it cannot tell you whether a particular quote is a good one.
Frequently asked questions
That depends on facts a web page cannot see, and this one will not answer it for you. What it will do is show the arithmetic: enter the premium and the benefit you have been quoted and see the total paid in at 75, 80, 85, 90 and 95. A policy pays in full from the first day, which savings never do; over a long life the premiums can exceed the payout. Both facts are real.
Related calculators
Funeral Costs
The national median for a funeral with viewing and burial, and for one with cremation, from the industry price survey — plus what those medians leave out and the federal rule that entitles you to an itemized price list you can keep. Education only: we do not sell, quote or refer burial insurance, and never will.
Aid and Attendance
Aid and Attendance is paid as the gap between a maximum yearly pension rate and your income for VA purposes — and unreimbursed medical expenses above five percent of that rate come off your income first. This estimate shows both figures, so you can see why people in assisted living qualify. Not legal advice; accredited representatives help free.
Look-Back
Medicaid examines a five-year window before an application, looking for gifts and property transfers, and one found there creates a penalty period that starts only once the money has already run out. Here is how that works, how fast a spend-down happens, and a printable worksheet. Not legal advice — your state agency decides.
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