Funeral insurance with InsuranceLine

As I approach 60, I want to work less and travel more. Many of us do. If I could I would retire today but unfortunately if I want to keep travelling then I need to keep working to pay for it.

My kids say just “do it” but they don’t think of the future where they may have to look after us if our circumstances change financially.

Most baby boomers just want to travel and spend their kids’ inheritance, but don’t want to be a financial burden to them. So, if we have spent most of our savings doing what we want to do, will we have enough funds for our funeral? None of us expect to die early but we also don’t know when it will happen. So should we be looking at funeral insurance or even a pre paid funeral?

Funeral insurance. Have you heard of it? I hadn’t until I was asked to research a company called InsuranceLine. I had heard of prepaid funerals but not funeral insurance.

According to InsuranceLine, they are “the largest provider of funeral insurance in Australia and have paid more in claims than any other funeral insurance provider in Australia.

Why would I need it? Well I guess I may live a long time or a short time, no one knows and at present I could afford to pay out for a funeral if needed. But I never thought “what if I live a very long time and I have used up all my funds from super and savings?” Is it fair to expect my children to find the funds for not only my funeral, but my husband’s as well?

None of us know what lies ahead.

I did think “why take out funeral insurance? Why not just put the money in the bank?” Well I guess we can do that but I know that most of us wouldn’t and if we did, it would be so easy to take it out if the need arose. When you do pass away, your family would have to wait before they could access the account to pay for the funeral, so that means they would have to come up with the money up front and be reimbursed later.

It would be good not to have to worry about the stress on family if they have to find the funds to pay for a funeral.

According to Choice in 2009, the average funeral in Australia will cost between $4000 to $7000.

So what are the advantages of taking out funeral insurance with InsuranceLine?

• Premiums are guaranteed never to go up - unless you make a change to your policy, so you'll always know what to budget for.
• Allows the capping of contributions to ensure you never have to pay more than your cover amount with one of their payment options - Level Advantage.
• Lifetime protection promise after five years of cover means they will pay out some benefit to help with funeral expenses - even if you've stopped paying premiums after this time.
• Pay out generally within 24 hours of receiving the completed claim.
• Covers cost of funeral or associated expenses, like travel.
• Pay fortnightly or monthly premiums.
• The benefit is paid in a lump sum.
• Choose who benefits from the insurance.
• In case of accidental death the benefit may double.

Their Lifetime Protection Promise means that after 5 years, they will pay some of your cover even if you have to stop paying premiums.  If you are having trouble paying the premiums they do state it is important to contact them so that they can help to work out an alternative arrangement.

One of the things you do need to be aware of though is that it is not a savings plan, therefore if you stop your payments you won’t be covered unless you have held the policy for five years or more. Then you may get part of the benefit.
There are no blood tests, no medicals and no health questionnaires for you to complete.

Before doing the research I wasn't sure whether I would think it worthwhile to take out this kind of insurance but now I am interested. I will be doing more research into funeral insurance.

Also, if you are unsure of what funeral insurance is? Take a look at these videos here.

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