Pre Need Overview

When to Plan?

Pre-Planning vs. At-Need Planning

There are three times when cemetery, burial, funeral and memorial decisions can be made:

⦁ In advance of the need, when pre-planning for the future

⦁ When facing an illness, when planning for an imminent need

⦁ After a death, at-need planning

The best decisions for What to Plan For and How to Plan are highly personal and depend on each person’s life circumstances, wishes, financial condition, and religious preferences, among other factors.

The best decision for When to Plan is, nearly always, now.

Planning is a sequential process of:

⦁ Step 1: Learning about cemetery, burial, memorial, and funeral goods and services

⦁ Step 2: Making decisions about these final arrangements

⦁ Step 3: Putting the plans in place

The full set of final arrangements can involve over 100 separate decisions to be made. Each of these decisions has a financial and emotional impact on the next-of-kin, family and community of mourners.

When pre-planning, before a passing, we can make the majority of these decisions in a calm and controlled manner, without any time pressure or unnecessary stress.

Pre-planning allows for us to make our wishes known for the next-of-kin to follow, to lock-in lower costs, avoid overspending, and budget in a manageable way.

Pre-planning now also allows the costs and benefits of different cemeteries and funeral homes to be compared so that the best services may be secured at the lowest possible costs.

Pre-planning now may allow prices to be frozen at their current rates, which avoids inflation and future cost increases.

Many cemeteries offer pre-planning arrangements that allow for monthly payments to be made over time with low, or in some cases even 0%, interest.

Many of our network funeral homes offer pre-need funeral arrangements that will lock in and guarantee the costs of professional services, casket and burial vault.

Funeral pre-arrangements may be made using either specialized insurance contracts or a pre-need trust, or in-house financing programs.

Not all cemeteries, funeral homes and memorial providers are set up to allow for direct pre-planning. Being able to manage and grow pre-paid funds over time in a low-risk and financially prudent manner is beyond the capabilities of many small firms.

If a cemetery, funeral home or memorial provider does not offer a protected and low-cost pre-planning option, an alternative method of pre-paying for final arrangements is through an independent final expense insurance policy, a special type of life insurance designed to cover the cost of the cemetery, funeral, and permanent memorialization.

An independent final expense insurance policy may offer lower monthly costs (depending on the proposed insured’s age at time of application).

The main drawback of independent final expense insurance is that, because the policy is not issued directly by the cemetery, funeral home or memorial provider, it does not freeze or guarantee the future cost of goods and services.

How to Pre-Plan

For the reasons described above, it is best to begin by identifying the most appropriate cemetery, and then the funeral home that will be able best to serve both our own personal wants and needs and the cemetery’s requirements.

Once these service providers have been selected, a budget can be established, and planning directly with the cemetery / funeral home can be weighed against planning through an independent insurance policy.

What is Pre-Planning?

Pre-planning is the process of making decisions about, and putting plans in place for, cemetery, burial, memorial, and funeral goods and services – collectively referred to as ‘final arrangements’ – before a death has occurred.

Pre-Need -Advanced pre-planning occurs when final arrangement plans are made for a future unspecified need (i.e., plans made in good health, years or decades before an illness or death).

Pre-arrangements may be made for oneself or for a family member and may include decisions about the type of burial, location of burial plots, cemetery committal services.

Cemetery perpetual care, funeral service arrangements including the location and type of service, casket, vault, as well as permanent memorialization.

Pre-Need / Advance Planning

Pre-planning for final arrangements is both a learning and decision-making process, beginning with gathering information about the available options. With information, decisions can be made to help balance value and cost.

Once decisions have been made about the most appropriate rites, rituals, and services, a plan can be created to document and share these decisions with the next-of-kin, family and friends. If purchases are made as part of the pre-planning process, written agreements and guarantees will be issued by the cemetery, funeral home or memorial supplier.

Pre-planning does not necessarily include the pre-purchasing of goods or services. If pre-planning decisions are to be made without purchases being made, pre-planning should result in a clear, well-documented record of the wishes and selections for whom the plans have been made.

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