Pre Paid Funeral Plans
A well drafted Will usually addresses your funeral wishes: whether you would like to be buried or cremated; whether a religious or humanist funeral is appropriate; and where you would like to be interred or have your ashes scattered.
But how do you ensure that your wishes are respected and, more importantly, paid for when the time comes?
The answer is to consider purchasing a pre-paid funeral plan.
Reducing the Emotional Burden
Whilst few of us relish contemplating our mortality in such detail, leaving a clear set of wishes and preferences for loved ones to follow can greatly reduce the emotional burden on the bereaved. Family and friends are often faced with the task of arranging a funeral, at short notice, at a time when they are at their most vulnerable.
But across the UK, less than half of us have made any financial provision for our deaths or even discussed our wishes with loved ones.
Although it may be a difficult conversation to contemplate, discussing preparations for your death can be a way of sharing the final steps in your life with your loved ones, and supporting them when they transition into a new life without you there.
Knowing that you have provided for your passing can be of comfort both to you and to your family – you know that you have made the proper arrangements, and they know your final wishes and that you have made arrangements to spare them the burden of doing so.
Financing Your Funeral
All but the poorest of us are expected to pay for our own funerals – and if we have not made any, or not enough, financial provision, the burden will fall on our survivors.
In 2022, only 66% of people actually made financial provision for their funerals, however only two-thirds of these provisions covered the full cost of the funeral. And the cost of funerals, be they burials or cremations, has continued to rise far beyond the rate of inflation.
As announced in 2022, the average cost of a funeral in the UK was just over £4,000, and in London nearly £5,500 (according to the SunLife Cost of Dying Report); since 2004 these average costs have risen by 121% and are predicted to continue growing to over £5,000 in the UK, in the next 4-5 years.
The Solution to Financing Your Funeral With a Pre Paid Plan
By purchasing a pre-paid funeral plan (either outright or by instalments) you stipulate the funeral that you want, in as much or as little detail as you wish, and pay – at today’s prices – for the services you wish to have included.
Your money is invested in a dedicated, independent fund whose management is regulated by the Funeral Planning Authority, a body which ensures that funeral planners adhere to the appropriate FCA regulations.
Benefits of Having a Pre Paid Funeral Plan
ο Certainty: your wishes and preferences are known in advance
ο Control: a funeral plan ensures that your wishes will be respected
ο Convenience: you relieve your loved ones of the emotional, financial and administrative burden of arranging – and paying for – your funeral
ο Cost: you pay for your funeral at today’s prices, saving thousands of pounds for your heirs
Golden Leaves Pre Paid Funeral Plans
We have been working for a number of years with leading funeral plan provider Golden Leaves to offer our clients a range of pre-paid funeral plans at competitive rates, ranging from basic services to green funerals and bespoke arrangements which can offer features such as international cover and repatriation and low-carbon options. For further details please speak to us during your consultation.
Funeral Decisions
In your Will you may like to stipulate your funeral type and whether you would like to be buried or cremated.
If you are wishing to be buried there are a number of alternative final resting place locations to consider.
Locally to Alex Truesdale Wills Limited is the natural burial ground of Clandon Wood, a nature reserve with 31 acres of grounds and an extraordinary and uplifting atmosphere. For more information please watch Clandon Wood’s video below or visit www.clandonwood.com. Alex visited Clandon Wood again in 2022 and was struck by the beauty, diversity and peacefulness of the location and the many ways in which funerals there could be made truly personal.
Alex Truesdale Wills Limited offers a professional Will drafting and estate planning service covering the Surrey, Kent, Greater London areas, the South Coast of England and Wales.
Call us on 07887 946557 or request a call back here.
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Will Writing And Estate Planning From Alex Truesdale Wills
Alex Truesdale Wills Limited offers a professional and personal Will writing service, giving you flexibility and control for the present and your loved one’s peace of mind about the future.
Contact Alex Truesdale today to arrange a free, no-obligation initial consultation, virtual meetings or face to face.