Ray Barragan Jr.
Founder & CEO, Golden Memorial Insurance
About Ray Barragan Jr.
Ray Barragan Jr. is the Founder and CEO of Golden Memorial Insurance, the nation’s leading final expense insurance agency. Based in Chowchilla, California, Golden Memorial is licensed across 16 states and has helped more than one million families secure coverage for end-of-life costs through its partnership with Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance Company.
Ray grew up in the insurance industry. His father, Ray Barragan Sr., founded Barragan Insurance Marketing in 1963 — one of the earliest dedicated final expense agencies in California. Ray Jr. took the company forward, incorporating Golden Memorial Insurance in 2009 and building it into the largest final expense agency in the United States by volume of families served.
Under Ray’s leadership, Golden Memorial developed an agent platform that combines same-day commission advances, an in-house lead system, and hands-on field training — the same system that helped agent Adam Hale generate over $121,000 in new business in his first nine months. The agency now supports more than 2,000 active agents nationally.
Areas of Expertise
Why Ray Writes About Final Expense Insurance
Ray has spent his career watching families navigate the financial shock that follows an unexpected death — funeral homes requiring payment within 48 hours, estates tied up in probate, and surviving spouses left managing costs they never planned for. That firsthand experience shapes everything Golden Memorial publishes.
The content on this site reflects more than three decades of working directly with families, agents, and underwriters in the final expense space. Ray’s goal is simple: give families clear, accurate information so they can make the right decision before a crisis forces one.
