Funeral Cost Calculator - Can I Afford It?

Funeral Cost Calculator | Plan Ahead

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Historic old Jewish cemetery with rock tombs in Prague and broken monuments by the passage of time

How much does an average funeral cost?

Gas prices aren’t the only thing increasing in price. Our team has created a funeral cost calculator that you can use to get a baseline idea of how much a funeral in your state is going to cost.

Whether you are looking for funeral costs in California, Georgia, or New York, we have included all 50 states so everyone can plan for the future. To get a funeral cost, visit our article on funeral cost.

Funeral Cost Calculator

State Funeral Cost Calculator
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These figures were obtained from the NFDA and are estimates only. For a detailed quote, please contact an agent. Rates are based on one $9.95/month unit. 

Now that you know what your average funeral cost is using the funeral cost calculator, it’s time to plan.
 
The last thing anyone wants is to leave their family with a financial burden of that size. Luckily, you can get insurance for final expenses.
 
These plans are specifically designed for seniors and help pay for the cost you calculated above. You can even leave your family some extra money.

Help With Funeral Cost

As the funeral cost calculator may have shown you, we know that funeral costs are unexpected and expensive. Most folks we help are seniors on fixed incomes and simply can’t afford it. A lot of our customers ask if they can get assistance from Social Security to pay for their funerals. The reality is that Social Security only provides $255 for qualifying funeral expenses. That might cover your flowers. 
 
          – There is still hope to get help with funeral costs.
 
Life insurance for funeral costs can cost you less than $1 per day and provide you with enough to cover funeral, cremation, and burial costs. 

How Much Are Funeral Costs?

We know how much your funeral might cost, now let’s see how much it costs to cover your or a loved one’s funeral expenses. Considering that the average funeral costs around $10,000 (as per the funeral cost calculator), we are going to base the rates we found off that much in coverage. $10,000 is usually the most common face amount.
 
The average burial insurance rate is approximately $45-$100 per month. Your specific premium might be different depending on your age, health, and the amount of coverage you decide on.
 
It’s great to shop around but you need to be careful. You may see advertisements online or on the TV for free burial insurance for seniors or the popular $9.95 life insurance from Colonial Penn.
 
Often, those advertisement premiums are calculated based on a healthy individual and only $1,000-$2,000 of coverage. So next time you see an advertisement and it says “Coverage starting at just $9.95” or “Coverage for just pennies per day,” you can’t believe them. For example, the $9.95 plan offered by Colonial Penn provides just $717 for a 70-year-old male. Their advertisement makes you think you will be getting more than just $717.
 

Funeral Cost Breakdown

There’s a lot of different routes one may take when attempting to mitigate funeral costs, such as if you wish to cremate the body, bury them, or some other unique way of funeral such as a tree pod burial.

Burial Caskets

Although specific to a traditional funeral service, Burial caskets can range greatly in price from each other, with the low end potentially costing you as little as $50, and the high end remaining towards the higher end of $3,000.

The big discrepancy in price comes from the fact that metal caskets can come in very extravagant forms, sometimes containing traces of gold/metal and embroidered with high-quality materials.

The lower-end caskets forgo these features, sometimes even existing as a cardboard casket in the case of cremation caskets.

Burial caskets tend to be much higher than cremation caskets due in part to the fact that cremation caskets are burned/vaporized in the process of cremation, whereas a traditional burial casket remains intact indefinitely wherein the remains of the deceased stay.

Funeral Home Service Fee(S)

preparing for final expenses with a prepaid funeral plan

When hosting a funeral service, the contracting location has to support your funeral in a variety of ways. As a result, there are a few residual funeral home fees associated with the cost of burial. This fee may include labor costs, the cost of the facility, paying staff, transportation, and even embalming in some cases.

As a result of adding all of these fees together, the funeral home service fees can reach $3,000 considering all of the above are covered. Even though it is one of the most expensive aspects of a funeral, at least you can feel secure in the fact that this facility and its team are here for you and your service in these unfortunate circumstances.

Embalming

Embalming, or the process of preserving the human body, is associated specifically with a memorial service. Within said memorial service, especially in the case of an open casket burial, the deceased body is preserved and made to look as presentable as possible.

Within this process, a specialized team is sent to address the diseased corpse in which they use a plethora of beauty tricks and techniques to create a presentable appearance. This is meant to serve those viewing as a fond reminder of what once was. The cost of this process can be up to $1,000 depending on the burial service and the extent of embalming required.

Burial Plot Cost And Headstone

Depending on the state in which the cemetery is located, as well as the desired extravagance of the burial, the price of a burial plot and accompanying headstone can be between $1,000-$4,000 for the plot, and up to $10,000 for the most expensive headstones.

These features and those like these are generally what drive up the cost of burial services the most as a result of the massive variation in price.

What is Funeral Insurance?

Final expense insurance is the type of insurance that’s in place to cover the funeral costs after your passing. This is the type of coverage that you can apply for, and once you’re approved, your family will be entitled to the payout immediately, no matter how early or late your passing might be.

Final expense coverage usually exists as a simplified issue plan, meaning that you are approved regardless of any previous medical conditions, 99% of the time. The premiums are also generally low (depending on the condition of the applicant) and whole life, meaning that your rate does not change within the span of your lifetime.

Additionally, these plans can coexist with Medicaid, depending on your total assets. If said assets are too high to qualify, one may withdraw and use these funds to purchase additional coverage or what have you, maximizing your beneficiaries’ payout.

While final expense coverage is generally used to cover funeral/burial costs, one may use the funds in any way desired. 

Final Expense Insurance comes in one of two forms, with those being simplified issue and guaranteed issue. 

Simplified issue – Simplified Issue Final Expense Insurance aims to shorten the underwriting process by removing the need for a medical exam and instead choosing to administrate a brief set of medical questions to those applying for coverage. They then use their own tools to discern the rest of the necessary information, usually involving your medical/criminal records (if they exist) 

Guaranteed issue – Guaranteed Issue Final Expense Insurance is just that, one that accepts all applicants guaranteed. This type of final expense insurance is generally for those that can qualify for other policy types, or if their rate would be the same/higher anyway.

What Are The Benefits of Funeral Insurance?

There are a lot of benefits to Funeral Insurance, usually revolving around the fact that this policy provides you with security for a relatively low monthly premium. 

  • Prepares you and your family for unexpected expenses for a low monthly premium.
    Funeral expenses are not cheap, averaging over $8,000 in 2022 depending on the type of funeral you choose to use. Final Expense Insurance usually exists in $25,000 amounts, sometimes going up to $50,000. $25,000 is a lot more then $8,000, with beneficiaries able to keep any excess funds and use them how they please. 

 

  • Holds a cash value that grows over time.
    Final Expense Insurance also holds a cash value that can grow over time, possibly leading to you reaching the faster maximum or exceeding the maximum coverage amount. This cash value may also grow simultaneously with other policies, doubling up in your earnings. 

 

  • Premiums are locked in for life, so long as premiums are paid. With Final Expense Insurance, premiums are locked in upon qualification, meaning that regardless of economic status your monthly premium will never increase, nor will your maximum amount ever decrease. 

 

  • No restriction as to how the money should be used.
    Unlike most other policies, this one does not actually state what the money must be used for. The policy is paid out to beneficiaries in the presence of untimely circumstances digitally via your bank, or via other payment methods such as a check. Past that point, it’s on the beneficiary to spend the money however they wish. 

 

  • No medical exam most of the time. 
    In the case of simplified vs guaranteed final expense insurance, both do not contain a medical exam, but rather a medical questionnaire and a background check. This means that qualification under these policies are easy.

Funeral Insurance Rate Charts

$10,000 Burial insurance costs by age and gender (monthly rates)

Company 50 y/o Male 50 y/o Female 60 y/o Male 60 y/o Female 70 y/o Male 70 y/o Female
$34
$27
$51
$40
$73
$58
$39
$34
$52
$41
$86
$65
$30
$24
$43
$32
$74
$53
$36
$30
$47
$37
$81
$60
$55
$38
$68
$53
$106
$80

$15,000 Burial insurance costs by age and gender (monthly rates)

Company 50 y/o Male 50 y/o Female 60 y/o Male 60 y/o Female 70 y/o Male 70 y/o Female
$49
$39
$74
$59
$107
$85
$58
$49
$76
$60
$127
$96
$44
$34
$64
$47
$110
$78
$51
$43
$64
$53
$119
$88
$82
$56
$101
$79
$158
$119

$20,000 Burial insurance costs by age and gender (monthly rates)

Company 50 y/o Male 50 y/o Female 60 y/o Male 60 y/o Female 70 y/o Male 70 y/o Female
$65
$51
$98
$77
$142
$112
$76
$64
$100
$78
$169
$127
$58
$45
$84
$62
$146
$103
$67
$56
$89
$69
$157
$116
$109
$79
$149
$118
$232
$176