This agency only works with local, privately-owned funeral homes. This means you will be dealing with a trusted member of your community, not some distant corporation only worried about a bottom line.

Since the 1950s a lot more people have come to believe that term life insurance is a better value for their money. But that popularity probably peaked in the 1980s, and more and more people are coming to understand the true value of whole life insurance.

Whole life insurance builds cash value, which can be particularly important to senior citizens. With term life insurance, there is no cash value built up during the entire term of the policy. What this means to seniors is that if they should have difficulty making payments at any time and are forced to allow the policy to lapse, they have nothing. There is no cash value to claim as their own. Cash value whole life, on the other hand, has "non-forfeiture options," which means at some point in the future, after making a certain number of payments, the plan has a guaranteed cash surrender value (as well as a guaranteed death benefit).

If you were paying, for example, on a term life insurance policy for five years and then found it difficult to make payments for any number of reasons, your policy coverage would terminate. A whole life insurance plan, on the other hand, would allow you to use some form of the non-forfeiture option(s) outlined in the policy to skip payments or get a loan against the policy's built-up cash value. This keeps the policy in force. But even if you are forced to discontinue payments, there will be a "reduced paid up" amount of insurance that will be payable as a death benefit, even if the policy no longer grows in cash value. And there will usually also be a cash surrender value should you need the money now. None of this is available with term life insurance.

Term life insurance compares more closely to property and liability insurance than any other life insurance contract. If a building valued at $100,000 is insured for that amount under a ten-year term policy, the insurance company will only this amount if the building is totally destroyed during the term. Similarly, if a person insures his or her life for $100,000 under a ten-year term policy, the company will only pay in case of the person's death before the expiration of the ten years. Nothing is paid if death occurs after the expiration of the contract period.

Although initial premiums are lower per $1,000 for term coverage than for whole life, premiums for term coverage can rapidly go up as the duration of the policy lengthens. Even though most term policies are "renewable" and often "convertible" to whole life plans, you don't usually get the best value for the money you pay in. Most people are better off having started with some form of whole life insurance to begin with, even if the premiums are higher.

Term life insurance has its value for younger people, who may be more concerned with temporary insurance needs with a large death benefit to replace income, for example. It could be used for business asset replacement needs, or to replace a key person in the event of an accident. But ideas such as "buy term and invest the difference" can be dangerous for older people.

Seek out the best whole life policy to suit your needs and do your best to stay with it.

AFFORDABLE WHOLE LIFE INSURANCE IS AVAILABE FOR ALL BAD HEALTH CASES

Even if you have had severe health problems or have been diagnosed terminal, there are many life insurance companies that will provide you with relatively affordable whole life coverage. This is a special category of coverage, but it is available from many companies. I recommend two companies that insure anyone: National Guardian Life and United Home Life. I can set up plans as an agent through either company. There are hundreds of others to choose from. If health is better, the rates are better; but you cannot be turned down. "Guaranteed issue" is the category that is issued and approved regardless of health. Normally, guaranteed issue coverage is provided in smaller amounts to pay primarily for final expenses, but coverage can be $10,000 to $50,000.

Search the Internet for "Guaranteed Issue Final Expense Insurance" for additional companies.

TERMINAL ILLNESS AND IMMINENT DEATH

A diagnosis of a terminal illness, such as cancer, may hasten, or make absolutely necessary, preparations such as a pre-paid funeral or cremation. Many people wait until death is imminent (certain) before they get serious about funeral planning and outlining final wishes and preferences. They make practically no preparations of any kind until then. This is not the best way to proceed, but unfortunately it happens.

The best time to preplan and prepay is when you 're not facing any serious health threat. Not only is it easier to deal with the matter objectively, you are more likely to be financially able and/or insurable. I once was asked to meet with a woman in her home in the living room where her husband was dying of lung cancer after recently having been released from hospice care. They were overwhelmed with medical bills due to his health condition, he had not been able to qualify for life insurance, and they had no liquid funds to pay for a funeral. They may have been able to borrow some money against their home, but I did not find out any details concerning how they ended up paying or for what. I wrote a plan with a $100 down payment for a full traditional funeral. They did not follow through and pay for it as scheduled (which was a 24-month plan). They had not made plans of any kind, which they should have years before.

Even in cases where insurance coverage on such plans is "guaranteed issue," which means you cannot be disqualified due to health status, the amount of death "benefit" the insurance company will pay on such plans is limited to the amount paid in at the time of death-maybe with a small percentage added to that-unless a "waiting period" requirement has been satisfied.

Funeral homes require payment in full, or a guarantee of it, before they will provide any services or merchandise. The same is true of cemeteries with respect to burial plots, vaults, and opening and closing labor. This also means you cannot "continue making payments" in most cases. Once you're gone, your family cannot continue the plan you started. It's over. Many families make the mistake of thinking a funeral plan their spouse or parent has started making payments on can continue once the person is gone. Anything that is used or is provided must be paid. In plans where arrangements are made on a contract rather than throush an insurance-funded plan, the rest can remain on a payment plan, as when four burial plots are purchased and only one is used. Otherwise, plans for a single person such, as a funeral service and casket, must be paid up.

Many funeral homes, or the insurance companies they use to fund funeral plans, will disqualify you completely if you have been diagnosed terminal or are currently confined to a hospital. They may or may not have any pre-need funding options if the insurance company rejects you. If they do, it is more than likely a trust arrangement-which may entail paying finance charges or fees on top of the cost of the plan.

The GOOD NEWS IS, if you have been diagnosed "terminal" in the past year or two, there are insurance companies that will accept you-on a limited or graded benefit basis. This "limited" period of time usually consists of the first two years, during which time you must stay alive to qualify for the full insurance benefits on a payment plan. For example, a typical long-term payment plan on a funeral funded by insurance is 10 years or 120 months. The monthly payment, for example, might be $50.00. If the insured dies in 24 monrths or less, the amount the insurance company would pay would be $50.00 times the number of payments made to that time-with perhaps a percentage of 2-5% additional. After the limited or graded benefit period, however, the insurance benefit becomes a full benefit. In other plans, the second year, or months 13-24, may be a 70-75% benefit. But after 24 months, a premature death would result in no further payments due on the plan and the full "face amount" or death benefit would be paid. Bad health cases normally qualify for most of the funeral plans offered by funeral homes-on some basis.

The National Guardian Life Funeral Expense Trust is what I use to enable families to pay for funeral expenses (including cremation). I have written this plan for people with terminal illnesses. No illness can disqualify you. You just are placed in what is the Guaranteed Issue category. It is only a slightly higher payment per month or slightly higher overall cost. If you pass away during the first year of a payment plan (3-5-7-10 years), the funeral home of your choice or your family receive the amount of premiums you have paid in plus 3%. If death occurs during the second year, 70% of the benefit is paid. After the second year, full insurance coverage is in effect. This is a limited pay whole life policy, which means you pay only for a set number of years instead of your whole life. It has an increasing death benefit as long as you're alive and builds cash value.

Traditional "guaranteed issue" whole life has a premium you must pay for the rest of your life. It pays a set death benefit, such as $10,000 and no more. There is no increase. The same is true of most term life insurance, except products such as "decreasing term." National Guardian Life offers both the whole life and limited pay whole life. The limited pay whole life (Funeral Expense Trust) is normally the better plan in terms of cost and because its cash value continues to grow. Regular whole life may be necessary, however, if other expenses aside from funeral, burial, and cremation need to be paid.



One drawback to final expense whole life insurance is that it is not a protected asset. This means creditors, lawyers, funeral homes, etc., can go after that money. And it can be counted as an asset for medicaid spend-down purposes. This is why my first choice to pay for your funeral is the NGL Funeral Expense Trust. With your funeral and/or cremation money in this fund, your money is truly "untouchable" by anyone.



When I meet with you about your needs, I do more than "rough guessing," especially with respect to funeral, burial and cremation costs. I have enough experience and fresh knowledge at my disposal to give you exactly the right plan, so the chances of your family having to come up with more money (which they may not have) are much less.

Don't buy a funeral plan that will cost you DOUBLE the cost of today's funeral costs for paying over ten years. These plans make money for the funeral home and the insurance company but they are a losing proposition for you. When you use the National Guardian Life Funeral Expense Trust, on the other hand, for say a $5,000 initial face amount (that continues to grow in cash value as long as you're alive), your ten year payment at age 65 would be $56.65 a month. The total payout for that plan, if you don't decide to pay it off early, is $6,798. That's only 36% more, with full insurance coverage the whole time--not 100% more as with Forethought, Great Western, and Security National Life. Security National Life's "Preferred Plan" for the same $5,000 face amount at age 65 has a monthly payment of $75.86 on a ten-year plan, which amounts to $9,103.50 paid for a $5,000 funeral! Forethought's calculator gives me a payment at age 65 of almost the same thing: $76.54 a month for ten years to pay for a $5,000 funeral. DON'T DO IT!!

You can prepay for a funeral with cash value growth as long as you're alive with full insurance coverage during any payment period and have a fully protected asset at the same time. Get a General Price List from your favorite funeral home, preferably one that doesn't play the game of raising prices year after year without fail, total up what it would cost for a funeral from them today, and use that as your "face amount" to invest in the NGL Funeral Expense Trust. The tax-free growth, the lower payment (by about $20 a month in my ten year example), and the full insurance coverage will give you for the most part a "guaranteed" plan with just about any funeral home. I can help you do this.

I recommend Premier Funeral Services at this point, because, among other reasons, they haven't raised their cost of services in five years. This has meant that the death benefits paid to Premier on some of my customers who have died is more than they've been charging, so Premier had to refund the families the difference. And remember, Premier Funeral Services pays me NOTHING, nor does any other funeral home I fund for. My pay comes only from National Guardian Life. I am not showing funeral plans to earn "bonus money" or to qualify for a trip.



"Choose ye this day" How Much You Want to Pay For A Funeral



Get professional, personalized service at the right price, on the best terms--not a salesman with "money in his eyes" or a person "trying out a new job."

UtahsFuneralPlanningSite.com serves the funeral and funeral planning market in the Salt Lake City, Utah area. Our goal is to help you plan a funeral in as much detail as possible well in advance. This website provides the tools you need to pay for funerals the right way, so affordable funerals don’t end up being a sacrifice but instead a more comfortable reality. We offer or point you to Utah's best funeral prices and lowest cost for funeral plans, which can include caskets and burial vaults, and final expense whole life insurance, especially for seniors with bad health and with low incomes. You will be able to not only outline your final wishes with accuracy, but you will know exactly how to calculate and control the cost of a funeral (church, mortuary chapel, or graveside), the cost of a burial, and, if applicable, cremation options. You will not become the victim of funeral rip-offs, over-priced caskets, or plans that don’t suit your family’s true needs and budget. There will be no confusion in your family at the time of need concerning arrangements. Once you have done things correctly, they will know where the line has been drawn on spending for your final expenses, and no mistakes will be made.