The Process of Planning a Funeral

Benefits of Pre-Planning Your Funeral Arrangements

If someone were to ask you, “what’s the benefit of making funeral arrangements in advance?”, the simple answer is that “it helps prevents mistakes.” Therefore, many of us make plans in many aspects of our life. We plan for our wedding, our children’s education, family vacations, and other significant expected life events. Also, we plan for unexpected life events by purchasing home, auto, and medical insurance. 

So why don’t more people plan their funeral? Obviously planning your own funeral is morbid and does not fill you with positive emotions, but it remains very important and beneficial.

Make Sure All Your Wishes Are Followed

Making funeral arrangements in advance ensures that your family follows how you want to be honored when you die. First, you can explicitly state that you would like to be cremated vs buried. Then you can specify if you would like a ceremony to honor your life and what that ceremony would look like and include. You can get very detailed with your instructions such as detailing where you would like your ashes scattered. Preplanning your funeral ultimately gives you control and power to make important decisions.

Remove the Stress from your Family

Trying to plan a funeral immediately after a loved one’s passing is very difficult. Family members are overcome with grief and not necessarily thinking clearly. By preplanning a funeral, you can relieve your family of the burden of making these arrangements. Instead, when death occurs, your loved ones can focus their energy on comforting one another and mentally preparing for the service.

It’s also common for family members to disagree on a loved one’s final arrangements. Clearly communicating your wishes in your plans can quickly resolve disputes. Preplanning a funeral is an easy way to avoid disputes and remove the stress from your family.

More Payment Methods

Preneed funeral plans offer families more convenient payment options than those who are in immediate need. Those who choose to preplan often have three choices when it comes to paying for the service. 

1. You can pay for your funeral service in advance, which is often referred to as a prepaid funeral. Choosing this option will place your money into a trust where it can earn interest over time. This means when you pass away, your family could get a refund on the costs or have extra money to add something meaningful to the service. 
2. You can take out an insurance policy. If you qualify, when you do pass away, the policy will be used to cover some or all of the funeral expenses or estate taxes. 
3. You can pay over time. Most families are paying for the funeral costs at a lump sum after the funeral has concluded. Instead you can make smaller, incremental payments over time to start eating at the cost. In this instance, you can add these payments into your monthly budget.

Lock into a Price and Avoid Inflation

Inflation impacts every industry and funeral homes are not exempt. When you pre-plan a service and pay in advanced, you can lock into a price on the day you sign the contract and potentially avoid the impact of inflation or rising costs.