Answering Two Important Questions Regarding Pre-Paid Funerals Plans

Often people counter the idea of pre-planning the funeral ceremony, but this is a fact that this gives an immense peace of mind to the family. Moreover, the person opting for pre-paid funerals plans can also be relaxed thinking that the family will not have to take this burden of funeral arrangement and that all the desires related to this last ceremony would be fulfilled in an appropriate manner.

A number of questions are there in the minds of the readers and here in this post, let us find answers to some of them.

What Are The Benefits Of Preplanning?

Pre-paid funerals plans as well as prearranged cremation services, both come with a whole plethora of benefits for the deceased as well the family of the deceased.

The first immediate benefit is related to the cost that status right inside the budget and then, hassles related to making arrangement also get over with pre-planning. Apart from this, the person can be relaxed because all the wishes regarding post-death ceremony are recorded in the contract letter and they will be implemented. The contract holder can go for deciding like –

• Your Choice Between Cremation And Burial
• Your Choice Of Service (Ex: Gathering, Visitation, Funeral And/Or Memorial Services)
• What Items You’d Like (Ex: Casket, Headstone, Cremation Urn)
• Personal Touches (Ex: Music At A Funeral Or Your Favourite Photos Displayed)
• This Ensures That Your Final Wishes Are Documented For Your Family To Carry Out

Can I Prepay?

In terms of making the payment, often people have to pre-fund it, but if you are planning to do so, it’s important to have a clear understanding of some factors.

The entire concept of prepaying depends upon the funeral home chosen by you and if there is a flexible payment plan, you can go for it. Apart from this, there will also be some terms and conditions to abide by in terms of prepayment for pre-paid funeral plans.

Important Funeral Services and Role of Funeral Directors in Them

When we talk about funeral related arrangements, the first thing to come to mind is the funeral services that we can avail from funeral directors. These professionals can be immensely helpful in terms of making funeral related arrangements, but mostly people fail to get the most out of them since they are not aware of their rights.

They are not aware of the services that funeral directors are responsible for rendering.

In this post, we have summed up some important funeral services that these professionals can offer.

Types Of Services Where They Can Be Immensely Helpful-

Experts say that apart from helping you arrange prepaid funeral plans, these funeral directors can help you in several other services such as –

• A gathering or visitation
• A religious ceremony
• Burial or placement in a final resting location (committal)
• A luncheon, brunch, or wake

Amongst all these services, gathering is something that can be held on the evening before the service or on the same day, but before the services. As far as the religious part of the ceremony is concerned, experts say that it can be held at the funeral home or at the desired place of worship of the family of the deceased.

Once religious services are over, the role of the funeral director is to direct the procession to the graveside, where the casket is lowered and the body is buried. If the family had opted for cremation, the ashes also known as cremains have to be buried and this can also take place right at that time only. With cremains, the family has some other options to keep the ashes at the home or scatter it in the fields or what the deceased wished for.

In all these events, the attendees can be a part of the funeral ceremony by sharing the memories of the deceased and this can be submitted in the form of a eulogy as well.

IMPORTANT FACTORS TO UNDERSTAND RELATED TO PRE-ARRANGED CREMATION SERVICES

The society in the west is getting liberal day by day and one sign is the way they have accepted cremation as a form of funeral.

Another sign is the ever-rising popularity of pre-arranged cremation services that allow the deceased to document down the wishes that he/she want to be completed after the departure.

The process can be very simple to complete provided that you go through the steps discussed here in this blog.

Choosing a Provider-

• In terms of funeral services, there is always a necessity of a service provider to help in the smooth completion of the process.
• This would mean that you will first have to choose a reliable funeral home and you can pick the best one by placing the following questions and seeking answers that pacify you.
• If you move from the area or are travelling when you pass away, is the provider responsible for handling the arrangements?
• What type of memorial service you want and what they can arrange for you in prearranged cremation services?
• Can they arrange traditional pre-arranged funeral services, a small private gathering or another customized event?

• Determine what is your wish for the final disposition of your ashes and what they can do for you?

Communication is Key –

• According to the experts, in the process of selecting a funeral home for prearranged cremation services, communication between you and shortlisted funeral homes would be the key.
• Therefore, regular communication is important as this will grow the understanding between two parties and this way, avoiding confusion will also become easier.
• In terms of pre-arranged funeral services as well as prearranged cremation services, it is also important that you note down all your wishes separately too, other than in the contract letter.
• This way, things would become easier for the family members to handle and arrange a successful event that would make its mark in the hearts of the attendees.

Did you know? Important Things to Plan Along with Pre-Arranged Funeral Services

Some Crucial Tips for Choosing and Using Pre-Paid Funerals Plans

Upon getting in touch with the staff of a funeral home, you will come across a w whole plethora of pre-arranged funeral services. Now the point is that those looking to make money will try and convince you to avail all of them as this way, they will be in profit.

However, you need to be very selective and ensure that you get only those needed by you rather than opting for a particular package made by them.

In fact, the rules too say that you have the right to get only the services needed by you rather than the entire package.

However, there are some tips for choosing and using pre-paid funeral plans and here in this post,

we have a look at some of them. These tips are basically the questions to ask to the funeral homes and some of them are –

Does the plan allow you to choose your funeral director?

• According to the experts of pre-arranged funeral services, a good funeral plan allows you to make this choice.
• Other than this, you need to ensure that the plans offered to you include a contribution to third party costs and this could also include disbursements.
• This would mainly include the fee of the doctor or the minister and here, an important thing to know is that these costs are outside the fee of the funeral director.
• Experts say that if the plans offered too you are restricting you from making contributions to the third party fees, you will have to rethink about choosing it.

Where Is Your Payment Held?

• According to the experts of pre-arranged funeral services, you need to make sure that the money is fully secure.
• Experts say that you need to further ask as to what if the funeral director goes out of the business or what if the person dies abroad.
• Furthermore, as a user, you also need to check whether you are able to transfer your plan to a new funeral director.
• You should check carefully that you have the appropriate level of cover depending on your travel needs.

Understand the Concept of Non-Religious Funerals and Reasons Behind Its Popularity

Planning a funeral for a loved one has always been one of the hardest tasks and this becomes even harder when the case is of non-religious funerals. The reasons that there are no hard and fast rules and this makes the organiser, the proprietor of everything or the final decision-maker.

Here in this post, we have covered some important aspects of non-religious funerals and the top inclusions in these events.

What Are Humanist or Non-Religious Funerals?

• According to the experts of pre paid funerals, just like any other event, it is a very personal funeral event, where the family celebrates the entire life of the deceased.
• There are some differences and one major difference is that there isn’t any reference to religion included and the entire focus would be on the funeral services.
• This means that these non-religious funerals focus entirely upon the life of the deceased rather than the religion followed by the same.
• Other than this, it can be said that this would include a focus on life, nature and creative ways in which, we may say our final goodbyes.

Why is This Type Becoming More Popular?

In the past one decade, this type of funeral service has become hugely popular across the globe. This has got numerous reasons behind this and this segment of this blog post discusses some of them.

• The first reason is that you will not have to class yourself as a humanist or a non-religious human being while using non-religious funerals.
• There will be no challenges related to choosing a hymn, holding the funeral service in a church and conforming to saying religious words.
• With this service, the celebration of the life of the deceased can be done in a number of ways.
• This is the only option that people have who don’t have faith in any religion.
• The arrangements can be made just the way you would like to remember them.

What Features To Look For In a Pre Paid Funerals Company

At the time of selecting a funeral home for pre paid funerals, you need to research on a number of topics and experts say that out of all of them, the most important is the options offered to you. The company chosen should be determined to make the entire process as simple as possible and there should also be a financial as well as emotional sense added to it.

What Features To Look For In A Company?

• According to the experts, as mentioned above, there should be an emotional as well as a mental sense present in the plans offered to you regarding pre paid funerals.
• At the same time, they need to offer protection to the loved ones from unnecessary hassles and stress during hard times.
• One more point is that the company chosen by you should be in a position to ensure that the wishes are carried out in the prescribed manner.
• They should also be able to deliver all the services related to non-religious funerals and they should be capable of delivering as per the rules and laws, rituals, etc.

Pre Paid Funerals Plan – Key Benefits and Features:

There are a number of benefits to avail be going for pre paid funerals and here are some of them.

• The first thing is that you select the type of funeral service that you want.
• There will be a formal contract describing all the points, terms and conditions and options chosen by you.
• You will pay for the plan at today’s prices and this will ensure that the finances stay well inside the control at the main event.
• You can choose to pay in a lump sum or in instalments over a fixed time period.
• Your funds are secure as your investment is held independently by the company and interests would be added to the amount offered by you.
• You can obtain a pre-paid funeral plan regardless of your age or condition of your health.

Important Points on Selecting a Funerals Services Partner

When it comes to selecting funeral directors and their funeral services, there are a number of things to decide upon. According to the experts of reputed funeral homes, for this, any person would require their services as a matter of fact that the arrangements are very complex and require a number of things. In this post, we will initially have a look at the things to decide and then, we will see the areas where funeral homes should specialise in.

The First Thing to Decide

• As soon as a person passes away, the first step you need to take is calling the chosen funeral home, if the deceased had already chosen it for funerals services.
• Now, if there is no will or wishes as such regarding the type of the last ceremony, you will have to decide which one to pick from a funeral and cremation.
• At the same time, you will be given this duty of deciding where this last ceremony would be held and the options would be at the crematorium, church or any place of worship.

In all these things, you will require the assistance of the funeral director as he will have hands-on experience conducting funeral services adhering to Christian, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu, Orthodox, Sikh, Islamic and several other beliefs. A very notable advantage of choosing a reputed partner for funeral services is that with the, you will avail the most expert services related to funerals. Whatever cultural themes your deceased may have opted to, they will make sure that the wishes of the deceased are met and they will also help you in whatever selection, you are required to do.

Their Specialized areas should be –

Arranging Funeral

• The funeral services partner should assure you about a meaningful funeral ceremony by creating the desired environment to say finally the “goodbye”.

Funeral pre-planning

• They should help you save money by helping you make decisions related to pre-paid funeral services and so on.

Religious Service

• They should be the experts in conducting compliant funeral arrangements adhering to specific belief.

Why Have Funerals Become so Expensive These Days?

More and more people these days are seen opting for pre-paid funerals plans because of a number of reasons. Firstly, they simply cannot overlook the benefits that these plans come with. Another reason is that these days, the cost of everything is rising and this industry has not remained untouched and because of this, there has been a steep rise in the cost of funerals. Here in this post, we take a look at the factors that have played their roles in increasing the cost and what can be done to prevent yourself from paying so high prices.

Funeral Industry Price Regulation

• A very important fact that continues to influence the costs of services offered by this industry is that mostly, it is an unregulated sector and there are no set parameters regarding price setting.
• In some states, no doubt funeral directors have unanimity in terms of setting up the price of products and services, but in whole, this can be said that the sector is fairly unregulated.
• The biggest mark-ups are on coffins, which can drive up the cost of a funeral by up to 30%.

Hidden Extras

• According to the experts of pre-paid funerals, it is very demoralizing to hear that in this business too, some professionals are solely concerned about making more and more profit.
• For this, what they are very commonly found doing is adding several hidden charges in the quotation that they offer to their clients.
• In such cases, those in disguise, i.e. the family members of the deceased have no other option than to keep paying until the entire ceremony is over.
• As far as these hidden extras are concerned, the top inclusions could be flowers, death notices, catering, music, casket upgrades and more.
• In this regards, those offering pre-paid funerals plans to say that before picking up any service provider, just make sure that you ask and get in writing that whatever quote has been offered to you is the final price.

Some Etiquette That You Should Know About Funerals and Christian Cremations

Visiting Christian cemeteries for cremations and funerals is a serious affair and something that you should never take seriously. There are a number of etiquette’s to follow and at the same time, it has to be ensured that nobody’s sentiments are jolted by your actions. To make sure that no offence is done, it is important for you to read this post that has some tips and etiquette’s to follow.

What to Wear?

• According to the experts, whether they are funerals or Christian cremations, the best option in terms of colour is black or something dark.
• This could include a number of other shades as well like blues, greys, browns, etc., but at the same time, you have to be dressed really simply and conservatively.
• As a man, you should ideally flaunt a jacket and a tie paired with dress shoes.
• But if you are a woman, your best options are a simple dress or just a simple suit and the jewellery should be really simple and minimum too.

What to Say?

• Some people don’t really find the right words to show their sympathy to the breed family or it is simply not getting the right feel or mood to express their grief over this loss.
• This is a very common and a serious problem and therefore, we have tried to address it here and experts from Christian cemeteries say that to begin, offer your condolences to the family.
• However, if you are comfortable, share a memory of the deceased that you have in your mind.

What Not to Say?

• The bigger question is what not to say at funerals or Christian cremations and the answer is really simple that you should not speak anything that could hurt the family or increase their pain.
• Condolences are alright, but you should stop yourself from saying that the passing away was good because the deceased was so much in pain or he/she was suffering from an incurable disease.

Tips on Funerals Services Attire

If this is the first time that you are attending funeral services, getting confused about a number of things is very obvious. One of the biggest confusions lies regarding the attire to wear in the event and in this regards, experts from funeral homes have different recommendations to make. The post that you read here will give you an idea of what options you have in terms of funeral attire.

The First Guideline Is What Does the Family Want

• In case, you have received some recommendations or guidelines about the dress code, the things would be very clear to understand.
• In some cases, it happens that along with the invitation, there comes some guidelines regarding the dress code and it is expected from you to follow it without fail.
• Often, the dress code is something that deceased loved to wear or something related to the profession of the deceased or dresses based on his/her favourite colour.
• Sometimes, when the family thinks that it is an occasion to celebrate the life of the deceased, they will send instruction to wear clothes of bright colours rather than plain black or traditionally used colours.

The Second Guideline Is To Be Respectful In What You Wear

• Experts say that if you have received no instructions related to dress code, you are free to wear anything, but the attire chosen should be respectful.

The Third Guideline Is Don’t Draw Attention to Yourself By What You Wear

• Showing respect to the deceased during funerals services is one thing and it can also be done by wearing clothes in a formal manner.
• The idea is to avoid wearing anything fancy or bizarre or something that will pull everybody’s attention during funeral services and this again brings us to choosing traditional attire over any type of experimentation.