Prepaying and Arranging Your Funeral
It's an uncomfortable topic, but it's an inevitable one. Failing to confront it could potentially create a greater deal of stress and worry for you and your loved ones later down the road. While it is completely normal to feel an impulse to put off funeral arrangements and planning, it is something that would be significantly beneficial talking about early on. Neglecting to do so, has proven to be highly detrimental - especially when health related surprises are experienced and catch you off guard. Below is some basic information in regards to prepaying and arranging your funeral, in the hopes of avoiding frustration later on.
How to Prepay for Your Funeral
Before we get too far into the details on how to prepay for your funeral, let's first discuss why this is an appropriate action. Firstly, waiting until the last moment can be stressful; while most funeral homes make the steps and process easy and comforting, there are still a lot of steps that have to be met. You don't want to wait and then be forced to determine all of the funeral details when you'd rather be spending your time with family and friends. Secondly, waiting could push the arrangements on family members when they'd rather be with you. This can be an even harder scenario for everyone involved because, more than likely, your family doesn't have all of the documents and information that are initially needed to make funeral arrangements. Thirdly, in regards to finances, you may experience a great deal of medical expenses down the road; this will ultimately drain a good deal of the money that you have saved up. Prepaying for your funeral while you are comfortable enough financially to do so, would offer the most benefits.
Finally, let's talk about how to prepay for your funeral. The first thing you'll want to do is talk with your immediate family about how you want to process handled. Do you want to be buried? And if so, where? Would you like to be cremated? With which funeral home? When you have come to a conclusion, you'll want to visit a funeral home and pick out a casket, a lot, an urn, etc. Whatever is needed. Next, you need to sit down with the funeral home director and configure a contract. More times than not, your insurance will cover a great deal of the cost - so have your insurance information with you. The money that is needed to cover the costs of your purchases will then be placed into a trust with the funeral home to be used when needed. Keep in mind that most trust funds are portable; this means that if you change funeral homes later on, the trust can be transferred. By completing these steps beforehand, you have willingly taken a great deal of weight off of your shoulders.
Details About Arranging Your Funeral
We've hinted on a checklist involved with arranging your funeral, but for your convenience, we are going to take a more in depth look.
1. Accumulate all of your information such as full name, date of birth, social security number, religion, height, weight, immediate family names, address, etc.
2. Determine your final disposition (cremated or buried).
3. Choose what type of funeral service you want such as traditional, traditional plus, memorial, etc.
4. Determine who will participate in the funeral service.
5. Finally, select a funeral home. Keep in mind, though, that you can change your funeral home later down the road if you feel that you need to.
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