Emotional

There are so many emotional benefits to pre-planning. Just ask anyone who has recently lost a loved one...chance are if they did not have any plan in place, they wished they did.

1. 1.) Your family doesn't have to make decisions on who to have participate
2. 2.) Your family doesn't have to choose the type of service
3. 3.) Your family can grieve and honor you knowing that your wishes were honored
4. 4.) Your family doesn't have to choose merchandise to "honor you" and emotional overspend

Financial

Although the emotional toll is greatly reduced by pre-planning, there are also several very important financial reasons as well.

1. 1.) You can pay for your funeral over time
2. 2.) You can lock in the cost and avoid inflation
3. 3.) You can minimize or remove the burden of unexpected funeral expenses

Other Benefits

1. 1.) Allows you to get the "house" in order...pre-planning should be a part of your regular estate planning
2. 2.) You and your spouse/partner can plan together instead of having them taking care of it when you are gone
3. 3.) You eliminate arguments and hurt feelings amoung family memebers

The final step, whether you use a funeral plan through a funeral home or some other avenue, is that you need to have a plan on how to pay for the funeral. There are several ways people think they will pay for a funeral.

1. 1.) Social Security: The only thing Social security pays is a $255 death benefit to a surviving spouse. In the 1930's they would have paid for something but now wouldn't even cover flowers in most cases.
2. 2.) Veteran Benefits: Unless you die in battle there really isn't much they will cover. You can get a burial in a veteran cemetery and a headstone, but they don't cover much more.
3. 3.) Savings/Investments: This often times is hard to access for payment of a funeral. Often people find that their savings or investments are not enough to live on and pay for a funeral.
4. 4.) Life Insurance: Typically it is to replace income, not pay for a funeral. Usually it pays out too late to actually cover the cost of a funeral. Many funeral homes will request payment before services are performed.

While all of these are a good thought, most never pay for a funeral. Most of the time these benefits pay well after a funeral is done.

A better option is utilizing a specific funeral home’s trust to lock in pricing and funeral planning. However, the one downside is that many funeral homes do not allow for a transfer of funds if you should ever move from the area.

Introducing Another Option From FuneralDecisions.com...