Final expense insurance is a growing market opportunity because seniors want affordable, simple coverage to ease the financial burden on their families. With straightforward underwriting, guaranteed-issue options, and strong demand from aging baby boomers, it’s one of the easiest and most meaningful insurance products to sell. Agents who understand senior motivations - and who use empathetic, trust-building tools like screen sharing - can shorten sales cycles, build long-term client relationships, and grow a predictable book of business.

Death, and the costs that come with it, aren’t exactly topics that make for a lively, engaging conversation with clients, yet the reality of death doesn’t go away. 

That’s why final expense insurance matters. 

Final expense insurance can be tough to sell because of the sensitivity surrounding the topics of death and dying. Yet, that’s precisely why it’s one of the most rewarding insurance products to sell. You’re filling an essential need for someone and their family with every issued policy. 

Low premiums and face amounts, along with simplified underwriting, can help you start a conversation with clients about final expense insurance. 

Stay tuned, we’re covering why you should sell final expense insurance and help you understand the senior insurance market. We’ll also provide insight into final expense underwriting and give you tips on how to earn your client’s trust and credibility, and outline solid strategies for selling final expense policies.

Shortcuts:

Why Sell Final Expense Insurance?

• Is Selling Final Expense Insurance Right for Me?

Understanding the Senior Life Insurance Market

Selling Final Expense Insurance: Understanding Underwriting

• Graded or Modified Final Expense Policies

Strategies for Selling Final Expense Insurance

Selling Final Expense Insurance: Prepping the Presentation

Why Sell Final Expense Insurance?

Final expense insurance, also called funeral, burial, or preneed insurance, is a specialized coverage that helps people pay for anything related to final expenses, including:

• Medical expenses
• Cremation expenses
• Caskets and urns
• Funeral costs
• Burial costs
• Memorial services
• Personal debts

Is Selling Final Expense Insurance Right for Me?

One way to look at final expense insurance is to consider that the final day of life eventually comes for all of us. That means 100% of the population could benefit from final expense insurance. The market for final expense insurance is all-encompassing. Many people just don’t realize they need a final expense policy, unless you tell them.  

Every agent has their own reasons for selling their specialized products. If you’ve lost someone you love and the deceased person’s final expenses became a burden to others, your personal story will resonate with clients. 

To help you determine whether selling final expense insurance is for you, let’s look at some common reasons brokers and agents choose to sell final expense insurance. 

1. Growing Demand for Final Expense Insurance

As your clients enter the senior season of life, they start thinking more about financial security during their retirement years. 

According to a recent LIMRA/Life Insurers Council Preneed Survey Report, the demand for final expense insurance is growing. The gross face amount of preneed policies was $3.04 billion in 2024, and preneed sales rose 4% year over year. 

Most of the baby boomer generation has already officially retired or will be within the next several years. As they’ve gotten older, they’re starting to realize how important it is to buy end-of-life insurance coverage. This generation should definitely be on your radar as a target market for final expense leads. 

2. Pros of Final Expense Insurance

Unlike traditional life insurance products, everyone can get final expense insurance. The underwriting is straightforward and simple. 

If insureds don’t qualify for a final expense policy, they can always apply for a guaranteed acceptance policy. Even people with chronic health conditions can qualify for a final expense policy. 

The coverage amounts are low, and the premiums are affordable. The applications typically only consist of a few health questions and generally don’t require a medical exam. 

All these features make final expense policies easier to sell. Your sales cycle will generally be shorter. You can also expect higher conversion rates and faster commissions. 

3. Set Your Own Schedule

A great benefit of final expense sales (and in all forms of life insurance) is that you can work according to your own schedule. You can work during regular business hours or put your time in in the evenings or on the weekends. The flexibility of final expense sales can give you the quality of life and work-life balance you want and need. 

4. Meeting Clients’ Future Needs

While you may earn a good living selling final expense insurance, the main reason for doing so is to impact people’s lives in the future. A final expense policy gives your clients’ families the means to cover their funeral, burial, and other final expense costs. 

A payout could also relieve the family of extensive medical bills during a difficult emotional time. Most insurance agents and brokers feel that this aspect of the job is gratifying, as a life insurance payout at the right time provides financial protection for the future. 

5. Consistent, Predictable Income

Your commissions may vary, depending on the products you sell. Yet, consistent marketing and a full schedule of appointments will yield stable, predictable income. Affordability, practicality, and a growing demand for final expense insurance mean you should be able to build a good client base over the years. 

The stability that final expense insurance provides can help establish your insurance career or give an established agent additional financial security. 

6. Building Lasting Relationships That Lead to Retention

The relationships you build will establish trust not only with your clients but with their family members. As you learn about their unique needs and guide them, they will come to rely on you as a trusted resource they can rely on for financial planning. 

Ongoing relationships will enhance client satisfaction, which will translate into retention, referrals, and repeat business.

If the idea of helping people plan for the future, simplifying sales, and building your business appeals to you, selling final expense life insurance may be a good investment in your time and money. 

Understanding the Senior Life Insurance Market

To sell in the senior life insurance market effectively, you must understand how older adults think and feel. 

As seniors enter their golden years, they start to view life differently. They reflect on the past and want to make the most of the days they have left. Priorities may change. New perspectives and vast life experience motivate them to make decisions differently than in the past. 

Here’s a snapshot of senior trends in the life insurance market:

• Aging U.S. population: All baby boomers will be over 65 by 2030.
• Economic insecurity: 5.9 million seniors live below the poverty level.
• Final expense sales rose during COVID: Life insurance sales were highest in 2020.
• Retirement planning: Seniors aim to reduce their financial burdens as they prepare to live on fixed incomes. 

Life typically slows down later in life. Seniors find greater enjoyment in the simple pleasures of life. They have more time to research issues that will impact them and their families. 

These are some of the factors seniors will consider when making decisions about life insurance:

• Transparency: Factual data speaks volumes. 
• Affordability: Price for premiums is a top factor.
• Long-term stability: Seniors may be less likely to take risks.
• Personal connections: Mass, impersonalized communications may be a turn-off.
• Professional advice: Expert advice enhances the knowledge they’ve already acquired.

Final expense insurance may attract clients who want manageable premiums that fit easily into their fixed budgets. They’ll appreciate the simple application and minimal underwriting process. 

Guaranteed acceptance policies open up life insurance options for all, regardless of age or health. At a minimum, a guaranteed acceptance policy means their families will at least have enough funds for an appropriate burial or memorial service. 

Selling Final Expense Insurance: Understanding Underwriting

Simplified underwriting is a key feature of final expense insurance. What does this mean?

This means that the applicant won’t have to take a medical or physical exam. Height, weight, bloodwork, and other health markers don’t matter. Some applications may ask a few minor health questions. 

The process is simple, and the applications don’t take long to complete. 

Depending on the policy, it could be issued the same day. Other policies may take up to a few days before they get approved and issued. 

As an agent, you’ll generally be able to determine whether the various companies will accept a senior’s application just by asking them a few health questions. 

Certain health conditions may flag an application and send it off for underwriting review. 

Common conditions are:

• Congestive heart failure
• Heart attack or stroke within 12 months
• Oxygen use
• Cancer within 24 months
• AIDS/HIV
• Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS)
• Nursing home care
• Inability to perform all activities of daily living (ADL)

While some companies may decline an application where a senior has or has had a serious medical condition, you can still help them get life insurance by offering a guaranteed issue life insurance policy. 

Some guaranteed acceptance policies will even allow insureds to add a chronic illness rider. For example, let’s say that 73-year-old John had a stroke when he was 65. He recovered nicely and has been healthy since. John purchased a guaranteed acceptance policy with a $25,000 death benefit and added a chronic illness rider. 

When John turned 74, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. John could draw down funds from the death benefit to use for medical expenses while he was still living. The funds received would be subtracted from the death benefit. John’s beneficiaries would receive the remainder of the death benefit after he died. 

Graded or Modified Final Expense Policies

Beyond simplified issue or guaranteed acceptance, some life insurance companies offer a graded or modified final expense policy. 

A graded or modified final expense policy is a whole life insurance policy that has a waiting period before the full death benefit can be paid. The waiting period is typically two years, but some policies can take a bit longer. 

If the insured dies during the waiting period, the beneficiaries would get part of the death benefit. Typically, insurance companies will pay the premiums paid plus interest, or a percentage of the death benefit. Some policies will pay the entire benefit only if the insured dies in an accident. 

Insurance companies may accept applicants for a graded or modified policy who have less serious conditions, such as diabetes, COPD without oxygen use, or those who take narcotic pain medications. 

Each insurance company has its own underwriting guidelines that outline the types of medical conditions the company will accept. By consulting with underwriters and learning each company’s appetite, you will be better able to assist your clients in getting the best policy. 

Strategies for Selling Final Expense Insurance

How do you go about selling final expense insurance when no one wants to talk about dying? Sometimes it has to do with hitting the right timing. Other times, it may have to do with your approach. 

The best approach requires you to educate people and earn their trust. Because of the topic’s sensitive nature, an empathetic tone is a must. 

A great way to earn trust and express empathy is by sharing your screen. It’s effective for in-person and virtual appointments.  

Successful agents look for outreach opportunities where seniors are in abundance. Pay attention to community events such as trade shows, home fairs, county fairs, and more to get in front of the right audience. Public-facing events allow you to get in front of many people at once. 

Here are some other tips for digital marketing strategies for selling final expense insurance:

• Be accessible: Offer seminars or Q\&A sessions in the community.
• Be visible: Volunteer in the community and get acquainted with seniors.
• Build from other books of business: Tap into your book of health insurance, property, and casualty insurance for final expense leads.
• Ask for referrals: Nearly everyone needs final expense insurance, so ask for referrals from siblings, friends, adult children, and others. 

Whether meeting people for the first time or developing relationships, a good way to build rapport is to share a personal story that people can relate to. You could tell a story of your own about a family member or friend who passed away and the financial difficulty the family went through as a result.  

You can follow that up by asking them how the family members’ lives would have improved if they could count on a final expense policy payout to support the deceased person’s wishes. 

It’s an open-ended question that will get them thinking through a similar scenario in their own lives. 

Selling Final Expense Insurance: Prepping the Presentation

The beauty of final expense insurance is that it gives you opportunities to build or expand your business while helping people fill an essential need. 

You’ll have to overcome seniors’ misconceptions about cost and accessibility. You may also have to convince them you have their best interest at heart to help them overcome their fear of scams. 

A personalized slide presentation shared in real time using CrankWheel will emphasize the urgency of buying a policy and help them choose the best one. With CrankWheel, you can even record the session so they can view it later.  

With patience, repeated touchpoints, and a well-planned presentation, you’re sure to gain their trust and win the sale. 

For a free trial of how CrankWheel’s screen-sharing tool can help you sell more final expense insurance policies, contact us today! 

Selling Final Expense Insurance FAQ

1. What makes final expense insurance easier to sell than traditional life insurance?

Final expense policies have low premiums, low coverage amounts, and simplified underwriting, often requiring only a few health questions and no medical exam. This accessibility speeds up approvals and shortens the sales cycle.

2. Why is the senior market such a strong opportunity for agents?

The aging U.S. population, combined with increased financial insecurity and a desire to reduce burdens on loved ones, makes seniors highly receptive to end-of-life planning. Baby boomers, in particular, are actively seeking affordable coverage that fits fixed incomes.

3. Can people with serious health conditions still qualify for final expense insurance?

Yes. If they don’t qualify for simplified-issue policies, they can often purchase guaranteed-acceptance coverage or graded/modified plans, which provide benefits after a short waiting period.

4. What strategies help agents build trust when discussing final expense insurance?

A compassionate tone, relatable personal stories, and transparent explanations go a long way. Screen-sharing presentations (especially download-free tools like CrankWheel) help agents educate clients clearly and build credibility in a sensitive conversation.

5. How can agents consistently generate leads in the final expense market?

Successful approaches include community outreach, seminars, referrals, targeting existing books of business, and being visible at local events. Seniors value accessibility and personal connection, so repeat touchpoints and ongoing support lead to strong retention and referrals.