End of Life Planning

Helpful Tips to Think About When
Creating Your End of Life Plan

By creating your personal end of life plan, also referred to as preplanning a funeral, this gives you the ability to plan and prepare for important decisions such as your method of disposition, the exact type of funeral and memorial services you want, and most importantly, allows your family to focus on putting together a special tribute to your life, celebrating your memories, working through the five stages of grief, and coping with loss.

Another excellent advantage of creating your end of life plan in advance is that it helps you make some extremely important decisions with the benefit of a calm and clear thought process.  Emotionally speaking, it is much more likely that you will create a more rational and logical end of life plan when you can strategically work step-by-step through all of the your final plans and preferences.

Finally, once you are finished preplanning your funeral, be sure to documented this complete end of life plan by using downloading our FREE Family Record Guide.  Then, once your final plans and preferences have been documented, you can then consider ways to prepay funeral expenses as well as creating a “Love Drawer”.  These are also a major advantage for your family and loved ones, since these additions to your end of life plan can reduce or eliminate many uncertainties and tough financial decisions during one of the most difficult times of their lives.

Tips to Preplanning a Funeral:

1. Visit various Funeral Homes and interview multiple Funeral Directors
2. Choose a Funeral Home and Funeral Director you and your family feel comfortable
3. Consider bringing family members with you during this selection process
4. Be aware and informed of bereavement entitlements such as veterans, unions, fraternities, etc.
5. Consider religious and moral convictions, and discuss them with your family
6. Determine your method of disposition (burial, cemetery, entombment, cremation, etc.)
7. Plan your ceremony considering things like casket viewing, religious aspects, who should be included, etc.
8. Itemize your funeral costs and consider how they will be paid for
9. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) offers a free funeral planning guide titled “Caskets and Burial Vaults” (202-326-2222) which has made it easier for consumers to comparison shop.
10. The FTC created The Funeral Rule which requires Funeral Directors to offer pricing information over the phone, as well as provide you with a readily available General Price List if you visit them in person. This FTC Funeral Rule also allows you to purchase caskets, which are the single largest funeral expense, from outside vendors without the additional cost of a carrying charge.  Click here to learn more about The Funeral Rule.