How to Understand the Best Way to Choose a Pre-Paid ...€¦ · We’ll show you: 1. How to organise your own funeral in advance 2. Why insurance policies are not the best solution

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Making funeral planning easy and affordable

PRE-PAID FUNERAL PLANS

How to Understand the Best Way to Choose a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan


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What’s in this e-book? ...help and a greater understanding about

Pre-Paid Funeral Plans. Over the next few pages we will help answer the

following questions for you:

1. What are Pre-Paid Funeral Plans? 2. How are they used? 3. How to search for the best Pre-Paid

Funeral Plan? 4. What questions do you need to ask?

5. Who can help you answer those questions? We’ll show you:

1. How to organise your own funeral in

advance 2. Why insurance policies are not the best

solution to cover your funeral properly

Enjoy reading this short e-book. Please visit our

website for more information or send us an email with your questions and we’ll be happy to provide a speedy reply to your specific questions.

You can click on those links to take you straight

to our website or to send us an email.

http://www.funeralplanadvice.com/

mailto:[email protected]

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What are Pre-paid Funeral Plans? Here’s how a guaranteed Pre-Paid Funeral Plan is

expected to work for you:

You advance a lump sum of your savings

today, or pay over several months.

You will not need to pay any more money for your funeral, whatever the cost of a funeral will be at that time, however much

inflation has affected and increased the cost of a funeral - then.

If you’ve chosen a cremation, then all of

the costs are expected to be covered.

If you’ve chosen a burial, most of your

costs will be covered by your Pre-Paid Funeral Plan, but most likely, not all.

The idea is that you save money by paying today and when your funeral is carried

out, whenever it occurs in the future, there won’t be any further cost to you or your family.

Where guarantees are included by your choice of

Pre-Paid Funeral Plan company, they may cover all of the above or only some of them.

Choose wisely. That’s where this eBook will help and guide you.

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Understanding Pre-Paid Funeral Plans? It’s important to find out what a Pre-Paid Funeral

Plan is, so that you can understand how it works and organise a plan that is right for you.

Pre-Paid Funeral Plans are designed to pay the funeral director’s fees at the time of your death,

for the funeral that you have arranged in advance.

Most plans include a payment towards cremation or burial. They are designed to cover the cost of

a cremation or put the same amount of money towards a burial. Burials are more costly.

A plan will give you the peace of mind of knowing that your funeral will be carried out in exactly the

way that you had planned it. Your family won’t be worried about guessing

what you wanted or spending a considerable amount of distressing time, worrying about

arranging your funeral, when they should be more concerned about their bereavement.

Once you have organised your own Pre-Paid Funeral Plan, your family won’t be forced into

buying extra limousines and flowers or an expensive coffin from an assertive salesperson

representing a funeral director’s business.

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How is a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan used? Instead of arranging a funeral after someone has

died, you are arranging your own or a funeral for someone else, while they are still alive.

You advance your money to buy a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan which guarantees some or all of the

funeral arrangements, depending upon the plan you have purchased in advance.

You won’t have to worry about inflation as the price you pay is fixed at the outset.

When you have fully paid for your funeral plan - even when you consider inflation rapidly

increasing the cost of funerals every year – it is better if you can choose a plan that doesn’t ask

you for any more money to cover the funeral director’s fees.

Before deciding to purchase a plan you should consider:

1. Funeral inflation rates are unknown in the

future

2. Can your savings match funeral inflation rates?

3. You might save money by buying sooner rather than later

4. The cost of an average funeral may rise to £5000 by 2018-2020

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Arranging your own funeral By choosing to pre-pay and organise a funeral plan in advance, you are effectively organising your own funeral to save your loved ones the

stress and worry of making those funeral arrangements. They can concentrate on

organising your wake, unless you’ve prearranged that as well!

You can choose:

1. the type of coffin you would prefer 2. the flowers of your choice

3. the number of limousines that you require 4. the readings at the service

5. a religious or humanist service 6. your favourite hymns, classical or popular

music for your service

7. where you wish your ashes to be scattered or buried when you’ve chosen a cremation

You may wish to choose your funeral director, but you don’t have to. You can leave that

selection to your pre-paid funeral plan company.

Some people have preferences for a green or woodland funeral. If you know what you want, you can ask for it, but there may be extra

charges if you wish to go outside of the standard plans offered by Pre-Paid Funeral Plan providers.

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How to pay for your plan? You can choose how you are going to pay for

your funeral plan, with the actual figures varying only slightly among all of the companies offering prepaid funeral plans.

You can choose to pay:

a lump sum from your savings, or a small deposit and the rest over a period

of months, with or without interest charges

without a deposit and paying for the whole plan monthly over 3 to 5 years by instalments

You should note that if your life expectancy is

significantly limited, you should not take out a monthly payment plan if you don’t expect to live long enough to complete the payments.

However, with most companies, if you should die

earlier than expected and are part way through making your payments, the executor of your will can complete the rest of your payments from

your estate; which is your home, contents and savings at the time of your death.

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Are your funeral wishes in your will? The guidelines you have written into your will

about your funeral are only considered as wishes and do not have to be carried out by the executor(s) of your will.

The reason for this is that there is an obligation

upon your executors to carry out your funeral as soon as is reasonably possible after your death.

If they cannot find your will, they may make decisions about arranging a burial or cremation

and these may be the correct or incorrect choices.

They might not find out that you would have preferred a burial, when they have already

arranged and completed your cremation. In your will, even if you include your wishes

about how you want your funeral carried out, you should also inform your executors of your

plans and perhaps some close family members, in advance.

Purchasers often insert a copy of their Pre-Paid Funeral Plan details in their will.

You will need to ensure that you DO NOT pin,

staple or paperclip the information to your will, as this may invalidate your last will and testament.

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Nevertheless, it can often be difficult to discuss

these sensitive matters with the people you care about most.

It’s one reason why people look at purchasing a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan and dealing with the

matter in advance to give them and their family, true peace of mind.

It is not essential to have an up to date last will and testament to be able to purchase a Pre-Paid

Funeral Plan.

However, for almost everyone, it is important to make sure that your will is up to date and correctly signed and witnessed to ensure its

validity. This assists those who are in charge of administering your estate after your death.

Money Some individuals choose to leave a clause in

their will, leaving money to pay for their funeral. The difficulty with this is in not knowing how much you need to put by.

Once you’ve purchased a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan,

at least you’ll know how much money you have left and can spend it how you choose.

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Consider your options

Here is a list of some of the options that you may

wish to consider when you are comparing Pre-Paid Funeral Plans. Some of these might apply to you, while others may not.

The total cost of the plan

You’ll need to understand how much you have to pay and what’s included in the plan that you

prefer.

You can pay with one lump sum from your savings or with flexible monthly payments so you can spread the costs by direct debit or standing

order. You will know in advance how many monthly payments will be required to complete

the plan purchase. How flexible is the plan?

Most Pre-Paid Funeral Plan companies have a

range of plans at various price levels with different items included within the plan to give you the opportunity to purchase the cheapest

plan possible, or a plan that suits most people, or an option for those that like to make a bigger

impression on their guests.

You may wish to choose a plan that gives you the opportunity to upgrade to another or change the plan details at a later date. For example, you

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may not have included a limousine to follow the hearse in your original selection, but later change

your mind to include one or two vehicles to transport close relatives.

What happens if you die away from home or even abroad?

You will need to understand how the plan would

deal with your funeral if you died a long way from home, which might be in another part of the world. In most cases, if you die abroad, your

travel insurance needs to include the option to fly your body home, but you’ll need to check that

those terms are included in the policy. Some prepaid funeral plans set their prices by

agreeing to transport your body across a set distance - which might be 10 or 50 miles - from

your home, to the funeral director’s business. There may be an extra charge if you die further

away from your home. Which funeral directors can you choose?

Some people have their choice of funeral director

in mind, while most will leave that decision up to the Pre-Paid Funeral Plan company. If you have a particular preference which requires the use of a

specific funeral director, you will need to check that your choice of Pre-Paid Funeral Plan

company can deal with the funeral director that you wish to select.

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Who is the Pre-Paid Funeral Plan company registered with?

They may be registered with the Funeral

Planning Authority or the National Association of Funeral Directors, or both. These professional authorities ensure that all of the funeral directors

adhere exactly to a professional code of conduct.

Your money is invested for the completion of your funeral and will be held in a specific trust fund without the funeral director being able to

make a claim on the money until they perform your funeral after having received the necessary

death certificate. This way, your money remains safe at all times.

Wherever your money is invested, it will be professionally audited to ensure that the trust

fund holds sufficient money to be able to pay for all of the funerals that they are holding in their

accounts. What if you want to cancel your plan?

It is probably best to only purchase a Pre-Paid

Funeral Plan once you know the plan is right for you.

After using some or most of your savings, you may be given a period of time in which you can

change your mind and receive all of your money as a refund, without any penalties.

http://www.funeralplanningauthority.co.uk/

http://www.funeralplanningauthority.co.uk/

http://www.nafd.org.uk/

http://www.nafd.org.uk/

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If you choose to cancel a plan after this specific time period, you may be offered a refund of your

payments to date, less an administration fee. You should make sure that you know the amount

of this potential administration fee before you purchase a plan in the first place.

What if your funeral director isn’t available when you need to use the plan?

When you purchase a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan with an authorised registered company with either the

Funeral Planning Authority or the National Association of Funeral Directors, your funeral

plan will be 100% safe because these authorities will ensure that an alternative funeral director will carry out your funeral under the same

guidelines and terms as you originally put in place if your funeral director goes out of business

or retires.

Who needs to know that you have taken out a plan?

Someone close to you, perhaps a family member or a good friend should know that you have

organised your own prepaid funeral plan so that in the event of your death, they will be able to contact your plan provider and by quoting your

policy number, the plan will then be activated and your funeral director will begin their work.

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You may choose to inform the executors of your will, or even your family doctor, who can record

the matter on your medical notes. If you work closely with a financial adviser, it is best to tell

them that you have a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan in place so they can confirm the information.

What is a joint funeral plan?

Some Pre-Paid Funeral Plan companies allow you to purchase one plan and you can decide who is going to use it, perhaps purchasing a second

plan after the first of the two of you have died.

Where you want to ensure your funeral arrangements are completed in advance and there are two of you, whether you are married,

partners, two single people (perhaps sisters or brothers), in a civil partnership, or a same-sex

couple, you can complete two applications at the same time, but your cost will be doubled because

you are purchasing two plans. Some companies allow you to complete one

application form for two people while other companies insist on a separate application form

for each person. Can you purchase a plan for somebody else?

You will need to check with the individual Pre-

Paid Funeral Plan company’s information, but it is usual that you can purchase a plan for somebody

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else, but it is best if the person knows what you have done, so you can meet their exact needs.

An example of the situation would be someone purchasing a plan for an elderly parent.

Are there any age restrictions to purchasing a plan?

No, not usually. Check with your preferred

provider just in case they’ve changed their rules. If they have, you may wish to talk to another provider that has plans that are more suitable for

your needs.

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What about insurance policies? There are many different types of insurance

policies available in the marketplace. Not all of these are designed to pay for your funeral after you have died. Most are arranged to provide

your family with a source of income when yours is no longer available, most likely after you’ve

died. There are specific insurance policies that are

designed to pay out a certain lump sum of money to pay towards your funeral. They do not

guarantee to cover the cost of your funeral, but they pay-out the specific amount that is guaranteed from the day you arranged the

policy.

When inflation increases the cost of funerals, you might be faced with a funeral that costs more than your insurance policy is designed to pay

out.

One of the disadvantages of purchasing an insurance policy to cover your funeral expenses is that you might end up spending more in

monthly premiums than the cost of the funeral, if you live longer than you expected.

An insurance policy will work to your financial

advantage if you die early in the life of the policy because your claim will be for more than you have paid in.

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Where can you buy a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan? You can purchase a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan direct from many funeral directors, but they will expect

to carry out your funeral and it won’t be easy to make changes to the plan if you wish to choose a

different funeral director or if you move to another town or city.

Where you purchase a plan from a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan company, they will transfer your

plan to a different funeral director in your new town if you move home.

You can choose to buy a plan direct from companies that specialise in Pre-Paid Funeral

Plans. Across the UK there are only a few respected companies that offer these plans.

You should be aware that some Pre-Paid Funeral Plan businesses will only allow you to organise

your funeral with one of their own funeral directors.

With the advent of technology, you can purchase a plan online without needing to meet with a

consultant (also often called an adviser or a sales person).

Equally, you may be happier having an expert meet with you at your home so you can discuss

all of the aspects of a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan

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giving you the opportunity to ask all of your questions before making a decision.

You can download brochures, complete

application forms and post your cheque without meeting anybody from the company concerned - if that’s the way you’d like to do business.

Your checklist: What’s important to you?

pay by lump sum or

pay by deposit and monthly or pay monthly

your choice of plan

do you need a hearse? do you need limousines?

crematorium fees paid? the choice of music played at your

funeral? do people need to view the deceased? plain, veneered or expensive coffin?

minister/humanist’s fee included? listing of flowers?

newspaper information? green funeral?

woodland burial? tree planted in your name?

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Not all Pre-Paid Funeral Plans are the same

You will be able to select a plan that suits your own individual requirements from one or more of the companies that offer Pre-Paid Funeral Plans

across the UK.

Not all of the options explained in this document are available from every Pre-Paid Funeral Plan company or funeral director.

The views included in this e-book are for general

information and do not form an attachment to any particular provider of prepaid funeral plans.

Make sure you read all of the small print and ask every single question you want answering, to

your chosen provider, until you are ready to make your own informed decisions.

Where you meet with a consultant at your home, it is entirely your decision if you are going to

have other family members or friends available to help you talk through such a sensitive subject.

If you don’t feel like making a decision about buying a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan when a consultant

is at your home, tell them. You don’t have to be forced into making a decision there and then.

Only you can decide if you are going to use your money and buy a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan.

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Free gifts

Do not be fooled into receiving a £50 bonus by

completing your application for a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan by a specific date. This isn’t an item in the sales that you’re thinking about buying.

For the same reason, you won’t be fooled into

buying a plan that offers you a free pen that’s only worth a pound or two!

Finally - this is your decision

Paying into a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan is a substantial and important financial decision.

You’ll be paying around the price of a funeral

today to safeguard your plans and price for the future.

It’s up to you to make your own decisions and it is not your children’s choice to make or decline

for you, whatever age they are!

This is your plan to ensure peace of mind for all of your family, as well as for yourself.

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Conclusions: Your choice Price

There is little difference in the price of the various plan providers; perhaps around fifty

pounds, but they all choose different times of the year to increase their prices, so a few pounds

shouldn’t dictate your decision about which is the best plan for you when you are spending several thousand pounds.

Flexibility

How easy is it for you to do what you want with your Pre-Paid Funeral Plan? Which plan provides

you with the most flexibility?

Changes, later Think about how your situation may change in

the future; you may move home, you may need to cash in your plan; you may wish to change

funeral director. Which plan suits you best? Choose whichever is best for you

Do not be pushed into a purchase by sales

people. Take the time to inspect any plan of your choice and choose whichever is best for you. Ask

questions about any elements that you do not fully understand and do not purchase a plan until you are 100% ready.

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Who can help you? Questions about Pre-Paid Funeral Plans

You can ask questions about Pre-Paid Funeral Plans with any of the providers. This will help

clarify any questions that you have about their plans. If you are unsure about anything within a

particular plan, then you should begin by asking that plan provider.

Questions about funerals and registering a person’s death

The government website which explains everything you need to know is:

www.gov.uk/after-a-death/overview

Do you need bereavement counselling?

Your local authority has expert contacts waiting to help you through their bereavement

counselling service: www.gov.uk/find-bereavement-services-from-

council

This eBook is free and is courtesy of:

Website: www.funeralplanadvice.com Email: [email protected]

http://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/overview

http://www.gov.uk/find-bereavement-services-from-council

http://www.gov.uk/find-bereavement-services-from-council



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How to Understand the Best Way to Choose a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan

© 2016 FuneralPlanAdvice.com All rights reserved The moral rights of the authors are asserted.

All content contained within ‘How to Understand the Best

Way to Choose a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan’ belongs to and is the sole property of the author and is reprinted with permission. Reproduction, copying or any form of use of the writing contained within this eBook is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN without the express permission from the authors themselves. Any infringement will result in

prosecution to the full extent of the law.

YOU CAN FORWARD A COPY OF THIS eBOOK, IN FULL TO ANYONE, BY EMAIL OR SHARING ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Be Green: You are allowed to print ONE copy of this eBook

for your own use. To save your ink, don’t print the front or back page. These rules have been established to protect the rights and ownership of the author and to ensure that their work is

upheld as their own.

This general guide to Pre-Paid Funeral Plans is brought to

you by FuneralPlanAdvice.com.

This business offers Pre-Paid Funeral Plans, but you are free to purchase from any company.

Website: www.funeralplanadvice.com


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Email: [email protected]

PRE-PAID FUNERAL PLANS How to Understand the Best Way to

Choose a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan

FuneralPlanAdvice.com Website: www.funeralplanadvice.com

Email: [email protected]




Documents

How to Understand the Best Way to Choose a Pre-Paid ...€¦ · We’ll show you: 1. How to organise your own funeral in advance 2. Why insurance policies are not the best solution