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'Trapped until I am 90': Rowena will pay tens of thousands of dollars in funeral insurance to protect her only asset

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-05/concerns-funeral-insurance-premiums-often-far-outweigh-benefit/102515392

Rowena admits it was a TV ad that convinced her to buy funeral insurance. She'd be happy with a "no-frills" send-off but says she feels trapped in the arrangement, which will see her pay $40,000 by the time she's 90.

8 comments

TiredSpider

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I know its not the main point of the article but I really want to bring attention to

"A lot of people don't realise that you don't need a fancy coffin, you don't need to have embalming, you don't really need a service," she said.

The funeral industry itself, insurance aside is SO predatory and will try to guilt grieving people into paying more. It's a total rip, please talk to your loved ones about death and how they would want to be remembered so some dipshit funeral director can't con you into an extravagant affair by claiming it's what your loved ones would have wanted.

Pogogunner

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This is just a lack of finance skills.

You're paying $88 dollars a month forever? Why not just put that into a savings account and easily beat the amount of the coverage without having to go through the struggle of fighting an insurance company that is clearly ripping you off.

And roping your children into the same bad deal? Why would a parent pay for an adult offsprings funeral insurance to begin with? And for more than a decade without sitting down and thinking about it.

Mountaineer

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"They do warn you but it's in the fine print … it says go to a financial advisor," she said.
"[That would] be great, if you could afford one."

That's the point of the article, that she feels that she was targetted as someone of poor financial skills and taken advantage of.

Makes me feel like having a chat with my mum about what she's currently paying to who.

RustyRaven

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The way they present everything is very predatory and designed to confuse people wiith poor financial literacy. They prey on peoples emotions about not wanting to be a burden to their children, and it is presented in a misleading way. A lot will offer the full amount of your premiums back, which makes it sound like you can't lose. But in effect people are being conned into providing a no-interest loan, which can't be retrieved if another need arises and if you can't or don't continue the payments you lose the lot.

Affidavit

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Easy solution. Unless she suffers a serious medical condition, she's very likely to live for many years to come.

Accept the loss and cancel the insurance and open a joint account both daughter and mother can access. Redirect both premiums going forward to this account. Assuming both are paying premiums, there should be enough to cover a funeral within 5-7 years.

shirro

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Permanently Deleted