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13 Key Facts On Black Americans Increasingly Buying Life Insurance Policies, More Than Other Racial Groups

13 Key Facts On Black Americans Increasingly Buying Life Insurance Policies, More Than Other Racial Groups

Black life insurance

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3. Covering burial costs

Traditionally, Black Americans have looked at life insurance as a way to cover burial costs.

Historically, life insurance was often sold to African Americans as burial insurance — minor, cheaper policies covering the bare minimum. “Those door-to-door salesmen weren’t always truthful with them,” Jessica Smith, an insurance agent in Marietta, Georgia, told Nerd Wallet.

Black people are now buying more than the bare minimum in life insurance to cover burial coats.

There has been an influx of policies acquired by clients since the pandemic began, according to State Farm agent McGowan. Such policies, he said, represent “a level of security that, ‘I can at least bury my loved one with dignity and without worry.’ That’s the low end of what life insurance can do. There is so much more to help families. But the biggest problem in our communities is the lack of education around life insurance, especially around its cost.”