Top 3 reasons for planning a funeral

A recent study with participants from a variety of ages, genders, ethnicities, religions and financial backgrounds identified the three core reasons why people are interested in planning a funeral:

Sharing their final wishes: Bringing awareness to your wishes ensures your loved ones have all the information they need to arrange the farewell you envision.

The cost of funerals: Funerals with burials, or even cremations, can be expensive when not planned in advance, especially if it’s an untimely death. Planning the arrangements ahead of time can eliminate financial uncertainty.

Providing peace of mind for you and your loved ones: Knowing that everything is taken care of relieves a great deal of stress from you as you know your plans are taken care of, and relieves stress from your loved ones who are already reeling from a huge loss. This post offers a deeper explanation of the top three reasons for planning a funeral.

Pre arranged funeral plans will ease the burden your family will feel once you are gone: It’s an important yet often-forgotten component of retirement planning. Making end-of-life arrangements with one of our funeral directors ensures your wishes for your services and final disposition will be known and followed. Then, you have the option of paying for your services in one lump sum, or you can use a payment plan to pay over a time period that you control.

Ensure your wishes are known

Planning a funeral can be done at any stage of your life. Whether you’re deep into enjoying your golden years, in the early stages of planning for retirement or just sending your children off to college, it’s never a bad idea to start thinking about your final wishes.

Ever notice how the biggest events in life—a surprise pregnancy, losing a job unexpectedly, emergency home repairs, a death in the family—can cause such a financial strain when you aren’t prepared? Fortunately, you can act to get our  affairs in order. Sometimes witnessing grieving friends or family struggle to make decisions while under severe emotional or financial stress shows the importance of planning ahead.

Many of us haven’t spent a lot of time thinking about final wishes. Perhaps you could start with determining whether you want a burial or a cremation. Then, you can work through what you want your funeral or memorial service to look like. Finally, what kind of tributes you want to celebrate your life: whether those are speakers, particular music selections or mementos to display.

We encourage you to discuss and write down your wishes. We can also help you plan for those wishes through resources and personal consultations. Consider how this final, selfless act of love ensures that your loved ones aren’t burdened with decisions and costs at the worst time imaginable.

Ease financial uncertainty for your loved ones

Planning a funeral eliminates the burden that funeral costs might pose on your family. Once your arrangements have been made and paid for, that price is locked in and does not change, even if you thrive for several more decades. You won’t — and your family won’t — owe any more money. (Your estate may be responsible for some third-party costs, such as cemetery fees or obituary placement.)

The services you arranged and paid for will be provided (or as comparable a service as exists at that time). At the time of your passing, neither your estate nor your family members will need to come up with money for a traditional funeral, cremation or burial ceremony. And because your pre arranged funeral plans have been taken care of and the cost will not increase, you can leave more assets to your family after you have passed.

Provide peace of mind for yourself and your loved ones

Once someone passes, there are only a few days after the death when final decisions must be made. These are challenging times for those who have just lost a loved one. Making tough financial decisions, while not knowing exactly what your wishes were, can add a lot of stress to an already-stressful time.

Many people consider this the final, gracious gift you can offer your family members. You are granting them time and headspace to focus on their grief and celebrating your life. They are not left wondering — or arguing — about what each of them thinks you would want.

Much can be said for knowing that everything has been “taken care of”, allowing for time to grieve and comfort one another.

Planning a funeral can be a wonderful way to provide peace of mind for yourself and your loved ones so that, when the time comes, all that’s left to do is say goodbye.

This blog post answers the question:

How to plan a funeral