These last two years have placed a lot of people under additional financial pressure to either find additional income or cut back on expenses.  For some people it is easier to cut back on spending whilst for others with an entrepreneurial flair, it is easier to make more money.

Today I am going to focus on ways you can save money.  Particularly on saving money on your funeral policies.  As a financial planner and adviser, I have seen firsthand what makes a difference in premiums and what doesn’t.

Go through underwriting when buying funeral cover

We all need funeral cover.  Whether we like it or not, we are all going to have to face the reality of passing away someday.  Putting the burden on your family members to pay for your funeral will put unnecessary stress on them.  You also don’t want to put unnecessary pressure on yourself to make provisions for that day.

Many times funeral benefits require little or no underwriting. This in essence means that you don’t need to go through the process of answering medical questions and going for medical tests.  Although this is convenient it will cost you in terms of a higher premium.  The reason for this is that the insurer does not know what risk they will have to accept when insuring you.

How to get underwritten when buying funeral cover

Get life cover for yourself and then attach immediate expenses to your life cover.  If you are healthy, this is the best way to save on funeral cover.  For life cover, you will have to go through medical tests in order to get insured.  Once you have life cover you can add immediate expenses at a very low price.  Although it is not funeral covered in the traditional sense of the word, immediate expenses get paid out within 48 hours and the money is not limited to just funeral expenses.  Therefore, you can use the money you need for funeral expenses and the rest can be used for the other expenses that arise after death.

I have seen in many instances to be more affordable than just getting a traditional funeral policy on its own.

Get someone to do the shopping for you

It’s always a good idea to shop around.  Unfortunately, it takes time and there might be technical details that will catch you off guard.  Things like premium patterns – some policies will look cheap, but their premium will increase a lot each year making them unaffordable over the long term.

It is, therefore, a good idea to have an independent financial adviser who you can trust to help you navigate the path to finding the most affordable and suitable cover.