coverage = funeral plan + debts + travel + cushion − money already available
− $255, rounded up to the nearest $1,000.
The rounding is not cosmetic. Final expense policies are sold in face amounts, usually in $1,000 or $5,000 steps between $5,000 and $25,000, so a precise figure of $13,400 is not purchasable — you would buy $14,000 or $15,000.
The line that changes the answer most is "money already available immediately." People count savings that their family cannot actually reach. When someone dies, individually held accounts are frozen until probate grants access, and probate takes months. A joint account with right of survivorship passes straight away; a solo account does not. If the money is not reachable in the first week, it does not belong in that box.
Buying more than you need is a real cost. Coverage is priced per thousand dollars, and the premium is level for life. An extra $10,000 you do not need is a bill you pay every month for decades. Sizing to the actual job is the point of this tool.
Answer 3 quick questions to find out if you qualify for affordable final expense coverage.
Check If You QualifyBetween $10,000 and $20,000 covers the great majority of situations: a funeral or cremation, some outstanding bills and a small cushion. Policies are commonly available from $5,000 up to about $25,000. Buying materially more than the job requires means paying a higher level premium for life on coverage nobody needs.
Only if your family can actually reach it in the first week. Individually held accounts are frozen at death until probate grants access, which takes months, while the funeral home wants paying in days. A joint account with right of survivorship passes immediately and does count. A solo savings account effectively does not.
Barely. There is a one-time lump-sum death payment of $255 to an eligible surviving spouse, or in some cases a dependent child. That is the entire federal contribution, and it has not changed in decades. It is included in this calculation so the number is honest.
Then final expense is the wrong product. Above roughly $25,000 you are into small whole life or term territory, which is usually cheaper per thousand dollars of coverage because it is medically underwritten rather than simplified or guaranteed issue.