Five Benefits of Planning and Paying For Your Own Funeral

When you reach a certain age, the realization that you won't live forever on this earth becomes more real and you start questioning: How will I be remembered? What would my funeral be like? How will it be paid for?

When my husband, John, and I decided to take the guess work out of it recently, we discovered five benefits of planning and paying for your own funeral.

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Relief For Loved-ones
"""""""" ""Those you leave behind won't be saddled with the emotional and financial hardship of planning and paying for a funeral.

"The Death of a loved one, combined with the pressure of having to make many decisions at an emotional and stress-filled time can leave families overwhelmed and ill-prepared," says April-Dawn Drobig, a Pre-Planning Specialist at Roadhouse and Rose Funeral Home in Newmarket, Ontario. "Pre-arranging provides the opportunity to relieve your family from undue stress during their time of grief. Making decisions long before the need arises allows plenty of time to discuss options and costs with clarity of mind," she says and adds, "It is important to stop for a moment and just ask yourself who is going to arrange and pay for my funeral? Often when people take the time to think about the answer they realize it is something they do not want to leave to the one's they love."

Lump Sum or Payments?
You can choose to deal directly with the funeral home or buy an insurance plan like Purple Shield and make monthly payments. If you would like to, you can pay the funeral home of your choice in full at today's prices and the money will be held in trust until needed. No matter how much funeral costs rise in the meantime, there will be no additional costs incurred at the time of your death. But, says Drobig, "If you can't afford to pre-pay it is still important to pre-plan to make sure your final wished are respected."

"It is never too early to put a plan into place. Many are seeing the benefits in their 30's and 40's to go on small monthly payments to ensure that the inflation costs of funerals are avoided in years to come," says Drobig.

""Help With Decisions
Your insurance or funeral adviser will help you to decide on such things as cremation or burial, type or urn or casket and details for viewing so that, in a time of grief, very few decisions will have to be made by next-of-kin.

No Paper Chase
You relieve next-of-kin from having to scramble for personal information by writing your vital statistics, where you were born, etc. in a booklet provided for that purpose. There is also a place in the booklet to list important papers and where they are kept and a space where you can leave a last message for your loved-ones that can be read at the funeral or not.

It's All Up to You
You are in control of what your funeral will cost and other arrangements such as how the funeral will be conducted, where it is to be held and the type of music you want to be played.


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RELATED LINKS
Wills and Estate Plans: Seven Mistakes to Avoid
The Will: To Do it Yourself or Not to Do it Yourself


Marlene Alexander is a freelance writer and Dollar Store Diva. Visit her website to find tips and ideas for decorating, entertaining and gift-giving using items from the dollar store.



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