Sure, you can. In fact, there is no restriction on how many funeral policies you can take out. If you want R50 000 funeral cover from ten different South African insurers, they are only a phone call away and will be happy for your business. The big question is can you afford all these funeral plans? Wouldn’t it make more sense to take out a much cheaper life insurance policy?

South Africans like to buy funeral cover! It’s a fact and the numbers don’t lie. It’s estimated that there are 7,6 million funeral policyholders in the country. That’s a staggering amount of people who have insured themselves for probably no more than R40 000 at a time.

Why is so much funeral cover sold in South Africa?

  • A decent burial is very important in our culture.
  • Premiums are cheap and start from as little as R40 per month.
  • No medical examinations are required.

Having a funeral policy in place makes sense when you don’t have the money to cover your own burial or if you want to cover the costs of a loved one’s final goodbye. Everyone needs a policy like this in place.

Here comes the “but”…

But far too many funeral policyholders make the grave mistake of doubling, or even tripling, up their funeral cover because they need more money on their passing. And as a result, they end up paying exorbitant amounts over in premiums, for cover they could get far cheaper with a traditional life insurance policy.

Rule of thumb: If you need more than R100k for when you pass away, you probably don’t need a funeral cover policy. You need a life cover policy.

Funeral cover is expensive insurance because the insurer doesn’t ask for any medicals or blood tests. Normally, the policyholder needs to wait 6-months before they can claim.

 

Let’s look at a quick scenario to better illustrate the point we are trying to make:

John is a 41-year old male who has taken out 4 funeral cover plans, with four separate insurance companies. John has R50 000 cover on each funeral plan and on average he is paying +/- R120 per month for each funeral policy.

That means John is paying R480 per month for R200 000 funeral cover. If he passes away, his wife will get 4 payments of R50 000 each. One from each funeral policy.

How much life cover could John get for R480 per month?

As much as R1 800 000.00

That is R1 600 000 more than the funeral cover he currently enjoys.

Not only is that 8 times more cover for the same amount of spend each month, but most life insurance companies include a R50 000 advance, on the life cover, that is paid out as a funeral benefit, within 24-hours.

If John had a life insurance policy worth R1 800 000 and passed away, his wife would get R50 000 of that for funeral expenses and the balance of R1 750 000 would be paid once the death claim was finalized.

 

Funeral cover has its place, but it should never be considered a suitable replacement for a life insurance policy.

  • You need funeral cover to pay for the funeral expenses
  • You need life cover to pay for your funeral expenses, settle your outstanding debt (like a bond on your house and cars) and provide an income for your family.

Two very different scenarios.

If you have more than one funeral policy in place, you need to ask yourself why? If you are looking for either funeral or life cover – why not chat to our bot, Monty, who will help you find the best provider for your profile!

Until next time.

The MoneyShop Team