Funeral Pre-planning Tips

Funeral planning at the time of a funeral is overwhelming. There are several things you need to know about funeral pre-planning that will help during this exhaustive time. These funeral pre-planning tips can save you money. They can also help relieve some of the emotional stress of dealing with the financial burden during this difficult time.

Pre-planning a funeral, whether it is yours or a loved one, these funeral pre-planning tips will help answer the question regarding how final expenses will be paid and avoid overspending. Final expense insurance can help with expenses if no insurance has been purchased to take care of funeral expenses. If you suffer from health issues, you can always qualify for a guaranteed issue final expense policy.

Funeral Pre-planning Tip Number One:

The Funeral Rule of 1984

This law enacted in 1984 impacts consumer rights, it stops the funeral home industry from persuading people into buying goods, or they didn’t want or need and paying outrageously marked-up prices on the items they did want.

• General price list.  Funeral homes must provide a dated price list before arrangement discussions begin.
• Telephone price disclosure. A funeral home must give accurate prices regarding their general price list, casket price list, or outer burial container price list.
• Casket price list.  A funeral home is required to show a dated, printed casket price list that also lists alternative containers.
• Itemized statement of goods and services.  Once arrangements are determined, a funeral home must provide a statement itemizing each service product, its separate cost, and the total.
• Embalming.  A funeral home must notify you if embalming isn’t required by law in your state. Also, it may not embalm without prior consent.
• Casket.  A funeral home can’t refuse a casket bought from an outside source or charge a handling fee.
• Preservation and protective claims. A funeral provider cannot tell you that embalming, sealer caskets, or sealer burial vaults will preserve the body indefinitely in the grave. Nor can they claim such features will keep out water or dirt if it’s not true.

Funeral Pre-planning Tip Number Two:

Social Security pays a total death benefit of $255.

This amount has gone unchanged since 1952 and is hardly enough to cover the cost of the flowers. Yet estimated funeral costs have gone up from $983.00 in 1970 to $11,282 in 2010 according to the National Funeral Directors Association

Funeral Pre-planning Tip Number Three: 

With no funeral plan, survivors almost always overspend.

• There is the emotional turmoil of losing someone close to them.
• There are pressing time constraints to consider.
• Many on-the-spot decisions are made.
• Often there may be no previous experience regarding what is needed or not necessary.
• The funeral home and cemetery etc. will try to make the highest profit they can.

Funeral Pre-planning Tip Number four:

Shopping for the right funeral home can save you thousands.

Consider these price ranges.

• $150-$400        Transfer of the body to the funeral home
• $300-$695        Basic service fee of staff/overhead
• $300-$695        Embalming
• $100-$395        Other body preparation
• $250-$695        Morning ceremony at the funeral home
• $325-$1,000     Evening ceremony at the funeral home
• $275-$500        Hearse rental (half-day)
• $450-$16,000   Casket
• $300-$8,000     Burial Vault

Funeral Pre-planning Tip Number Five:

Local funeral homes offer the lowest prices.

Small locally owned funeral homes will often charge as much as $1,300-$2000 less than large independent and nationally owned funeral homes.

Tip Number Six:

Shipping remains for burial elsewhere in the U.S. can increase funeral costs by as much as $2,000.

• If a person dies overseas on vacation or business travel, it can cost as much as $12,000 to have the remains shipped back home for burial.

Funeral Pre-planning Tip Number Seven:

Life Insurance Makes Money Appear When People Need it the Most!

Your life insurance policy is an active living presence, holding out hope on one of the most tragic days of your loved one’s lives. It is a final loving act standing in the place of your absence, holding out a future for a spouse or children, and lessening the pain of loss. Whether that absence is due to natural causes or accidental ones, it provides money and comfort keeping your future alive so they can continue to have a place to live in comfort. There are many excellent life insurance companies to choose from

A whole life insurance policy or a term policy for a larger death benefit can pay mortgage balances, provide for home expenses, cover education costs for your children, outstanding loans, health insurance, and non-covered medical expenses.

It can provide monthly income replacement requirements; provides a financial safety net for those you care about the most at a time when they need it the most. It provides for all the expenses related to your funeral and final expenses. It provides for their future and gives them a place of rest even though you are no longer here. It may not be everything needed, but it keeps the dreams you shared alive and extends your love for your family.

There are two reasons to purchase life insurance. The first, a debt is owed. The second reason is to protect someone you love. Calculating adequate life insurance coverage is an excellent choice to protect your family.

It is a simple solution to leaving a large amount of coverage and creating money where there was none before during a difficult time, at a low monthly cost. Whether you are looking for a small death benefit or a large death benefit, life insurance is one of the few areas where you can still find guarantees in today’s challenging economy.

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