When Buying Burial Insurance:
Buy it ASAP (premiums can get very high later in life)
They may not be able to sell it to you if you are past 85 or the median life expectancy
If buying burial insurance through a funeral home, make sure they are not the named beneficiary
Find out if the product is an immediate benefit or graded (delayed full benefit) payout
Buy enough burial insurance to complete your funeral arrangements
Don't buy burial insurance if you are healthy
Make sure you can't get into a group life insurance plan first
Try to increase coverage on your current life insurance policy
If you have the cash up front, a pre-paid funeral MAY be cheaper
You have to have to keep in mind how the death benefit is paid out and if it fits the insureds situation.
Is the proposed insured near death?
You can get a no questions asked policy for almost anyone, but is your time better spent with a gravely ill person, making final arrangements, or other important things you can't do once that person passes?
If they proposed insured is very sick, they have to apply for a no questions asked policy, not just a policy with no physical exam. Those are referred to as guaranteed issue or graded life policies because they pay little or no benefit the first year, slightly more the second year, maybe half the face amount the 3rd year, etc. If you loved one is really on their last leg, they will most likely expire before you can get a benefit that justifies your time. But people do get better sometimes miracles do happen. Below is a chart / example to illustrate on a $10,000 policy how much you could get:
| Policy year | % of face or death benefit paid to the beneficiary | $ amount paid |
| 1st year | Full premium refunded, no death benefit paid. | $0 |
| 2nd year | 25% of death benefit paid. | $2,500 |
| 3rd year | 50% of death benefit paid. | $5,000 |
| 4th year | 75% of death benefit paid. | $7,500 |
| 5th year | 100% of death benefit paid. | $10,000 |