Old Model Funeral Planning

The long existing model of pre-planning your funeral is broken.

This model mainly benefits the funeral homes. Here's how:

• You go to a funeral home and talk with a funeral director or a representative to plan your funeral

• You decide on either a traditional or cremation ceremony

• Traditional, you pick out a casket and vault

• You then make plans for your viewing and visitation, choose memorial cards, identify a burial location, choose flowers, identify music, and all other items that will be involved in your funeral

What is the New Way of Funeral Pre-Planning?

The director or rep outlines all of your wishes and then provides a "Goods & Services" contract that details the costs associated with your planned funeral.

These funeral costs may include:

• Funeral Director Services
  (retrieval of body, embalming, dressing the body, use of funeral home for services & viewing, use of limo or cars for transporting the family, and gravesite services)

• Casket/Urn Price

• Vault Price

• Cash Advance Items
  (flowers, obituary, opening/closing gravesite, multiple copies of death certificate, minister payment, permits/fees, and grave marker)

All of these costs are added together to get the total cost of your funeral. The funeral home says buy today and "lock-in" today's prices and promise Guaranteed Pricing. This guarantee is not really guaranteed not to increase, especially when it comes to the price of your casket. Many times the casket you picked out will not be available and your family may have to choose one that cost's a little more and requires more money prior to the funeral ceremony. Keep in mind that some funeral homes have marked up the cost of caskets 5 times more that their cost. So, there really isn't a need to request additional funds to make up the difference in the cost of the casket.

In fact, most funeral homes have grossly inflated the costs associated with funerals in an effort to cover their costs. Now, here is the kicker...

When you pre-plan your funeral you have to provide payments to cover the cost. By law, any money paid in advance must be placed into an irrevocable trust or a life insurance product. A life insurance policy is the most common choice. Why? The funeral director makes a nice commission on the sale of the policy, using inflated costs. The death benefit of a life insurance policy is constantly increasing or growing larger. So at your time of death, the funeral director or funeral home (who is the beneficiary) receives the death benefit of your policy. This amount of money covers the cost of your funeral and the director/funeral home pockets the excess.

What happens if the funeral home goes out of business?

Your money is safe due to the fact that the money was placed into a trust or life insurance policy, but you will lose whatever products or agreed upon prices (that were guaranteed) that were offered by the funeral home. Your money is safe, but your funeral plan is no longer locked in. Your family will have to do it all again, without your input.