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How much coverage you actually need

Most people pick a round number. Ten thousand sounds about right, so they buy ten thousand. Sometimes that is correct and sometimes it is thousands out in either direction.

This page works through the arithmetic. It does not sell insurance, does not quote rates, and is not a recommendation of any amount.

Start from the real total, not the headline

The published medians describe what the funeral home charges. Sizing a policy against that figure alone under-covers almost every burial, because the cemetery bills separately.

Build it up in three parts instead: what the funeral home will charge, what the cemetery will charge, and the cash advance items. What a funeral costs breaks down what belongs in each.

Then subtract what is already there

Coverage you need is the gap, not the whole bill. Before choosing an amount, count what already exists:

Existing life insurance. Any policy still in force counts, though check whether group cover through an employer ends at retirement — a great deal of it does, which is precisely why people find themselves shopping at seventy.

Savings earmarked for it. Money that is genuinely set aside and will still be there, not money that is notionally available.

A prepaid or preneed arrangement already bought from a funeral home, if one exists. Check what it actually covers and whether it is portable if the family moves or the home changes hands.

Veterans benefits. Eligible veterans may receive a burial allowance, and burial in a national cemetery with a government headstone at no charge to the family. Eligibility rules are specific and worth checking with the VA directly rather than assuming.

Social Security. There is a lump-sum death payment of $255 for an eligible surviving spouse, or for a qualifying child where there is no eligible spouse. It must be claimed within two years of the death, and it is easy to miss for that reason. The figure itself has not changed in decades and is worth naming plainly: it covers a rounding error on a funeral, not a funeral.

Decide what else the money is for

Final expense policies are often used for more than the funeral itself, and that is legitimate — the benefit goes to the person you name, to use as they see fit. Common additions:

Outstanding medical bills not covered by insurance. Small consumer debts a surviving spouse would otherwise carry. The cost of settling an estate. A month or two of household running costs so the survivor is not making decisions about money in the first fortnight. If any of those apply, size for them deliberately rather than hoping the funeral figure stretches.

The two ways to get it wrong

Too little is the obvious failure, and it lands on whoever is handling the arrangements, usually within days.

Too much is the quieter one. Every additional thousand dollars of cover is a permanent addition to a monthly premium, on a fixed income, potentially for decades. And a policy that becomes unaffordable and lapses pays nothing at all — the worst possible outcome, after years of payments. A smaller policy you will certainly keep beats a larger one you might not.

What about inflation

These policies have a level death benefit: the amount you buy today is the amount paid out whenever the claim is made. Funeral costs, meanwhile, have risen steadily. Someone buying at sixty-five for a claim that may be twenty-five years away is not covering tomorrow’s prices with today’s number. There is no neat solution, but it is an argument for sizing at the upper end of what you can comfortably sustain rather than the lower, and for reviewing it if circumstances change.

A sensible way to arrive at a figure

Call two or three funeral homes in the area you expect to be used and ask for their price lists — you are entitled to prices by telephone without giving your name. Call the cemetery separately for plot, opening and closing, and marker. Add the cash advance items. Subtract what is already in place. Add whatever else you want the money to do. The number you land on will be specific to you, and it will be better than ten thousand chosen because it sounded about right.

What a funeral actually costs — the medians, and the cemetery and cash advance items the headline number leaves out.
How final expense underwriting works — level, graded and guaranteed issue, and what each one means in the first two years.
Burial insurance compared with the alternatives — how it compares with term, group cover, preneed and simply paying from savings.
The Funeral Rule and your rights — the prices a funeral home must give you, and the fees it is not allowed to charge.

Sources: funeral cost medians, National Funeral Directors Association General Price List Study, 2023. Lump-sum death payment amount, eligibility and the two-year filing deadline, U.S. Social Security Administration. Burial benefits and eligibility, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Pricing disclosure rights, U.S. Federal Trade Commission, The Funeral Rule. Nothing on this page is a recommendation of a coverage amount or of any product; individual circumstances differ and benefit eligibility should be confirmed with the relevant agency.

Last reviewed September 2026.