It is always time to think about expenses down the road such as funeral expenses. No one is getting younger so you want to make sure you are prepared for this unfortunate event. You do not want to leave the burden for funeral costs on your children, especially if they were not prepared to pay for your burial in the first place.
Unfortunately, your Medicare will cover a good bit of diagnosis while you are still living, it is not considered a medical cost when you die. Social Security benefits will offer a little help, however, probably not more than $255 dollars. If you have lost a loved one in the past in which you had to make funeral arrangements for, you know that funeral expenses can exceed so much more than a couple of hundred dollars.
You will need to start thinking about a plan of action to pay for your funeral before it is too late. Funeral proceedings can cost upwards of $30,000 dollars and somewhat of $2,000 dollars for the least expensive. So, the first thing to consider would be cutting some costs. Some of the things you could think about opting-out of are:
You may have already gotten a sense of where I am heading with these three major cost cuts. They are better known as burial alternatives. Burial alternatives that would fit the list of cost cuts are to be cremated instead of buying a plot and being buried. That way you skip embalming costs and a need for the gasketed casket. These are, indeed, three smart ways to cut funeral costs.
However, maybe you don't want to be cremated? You have a lot of friends and family buried in a sacred spot where your children will be able to visit and bring flowers in remembrance. So, how will you ever save up the money for that when all you have is Medicare and Social Security? Well, the easy and probably the most obvious answer would be to start preparing now. Get your plan in order: plot, casket, funeral home, and start paying for it now. Treat it no different than your cable bill.
Another way would be to look into purchasing a funeral insurance policy. If you feel that it will be too much for you to pay for all the things by yourself, pay for a set policy your family beneficiary can cash in when the end is near.
There are several policy plans nowadays that will fit into anyone's budget. A pre-need insurance can be purchased through a licensed insurer who has a direct association with a funeral home. And another would be a final need insurance (burial). This is purchased and paid for through an insurance provider that carries a whole life plan.
The difference between the two are; with pre-need, you pick out your funeral items yourself and then everything is all taken care of when it is time. The second option of purchasing through an insurer that doesn't have a direct connection with a funeral home will leave it at your beneficiary's decision on everything from the casket to the plot and any other type of expense that may come up during the planning process after you are gone.
With plans in place, make sure you share the information with your family so they will know exactly who to contact when the time comes. Then, you can relax knowing that you have done everything necessary to prepare for that day.
Finally, it is a fact that we will all perish and leave this earth one day, and it is also a fact that as we had to pay to be born we shall have to pay to die. I hope this article provided some valid tips on how to prepare for future inevitabilities.
