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In terms of life insurance - what's best?? Term or Whole?

The person is a 54 yr old female, presently on disability with a fixed income and 1 adult child, no grands. How much is recommended if they just want to be able to cremate after death.

Public Comments

1. I have priced cremation, most are in the $1700 to $2500 range which is much less than regular burrial costs. I would go with term at that age, whole life will be very expensive. A good place to check rates is insure.com
2. Enough to cover the funeral expenses. Person is not an income provider for anyone else (from description), so no need to insure for replacement income. Term would be cheaper.
3. it would depend on how much ur looking to spend, whole of life would guarantee a payout, term only cvrs over a specified period of time. If the term runs out there is no payout. id say whole of life
4. no
5. Term will work well if she dies during the TERM of the insurance. The insurance company will check her condition (medical/physical) to make their best guess as to how long she will live - a process know as underwriting. She may have a medical condition that prevents most insurance. The insurance companies underwrite term more closely. They want to make 'place their bet' that the insured will live past the term so they don't have to pay a claim. The question(s) becomes how MUCH coverage does she need? (How much will she need to take care of final expenses (funeral etc) and final debts.) How much does she want to leave to her heir? Go talk to an independent agent.
6. How much are you talking about for a cremation, a couple grand??? If she does not have life threatening illness, chances are she will be around for a while. I wouldnt buy a term policy for this need as she will probably outlive it, and competitive term policies start at $50,000 in death benefit. You may be better off dropping the money you would pay in annual premiums into an investment instead.
7. Term life is the cheapest and is pure protection. Never buy an insurance product as an investment. Upto 90% of a whole life policy's premium can go as commission to the sales agent. Don't waste the money. There are some good term brokers out there. I just used matrixdirect and got a $2mm policy for only $900/yr for a 30yr old male client. You would pay probably $10-12K/year for that type of coverage with term. For only cremation costs you're probably looking at less than $200/year for sure. matrixdirect.com, insure.com are a couple