With so many choices and a wide variety of different funerals, a funeral plan can clarify how a person can arrange a funeral.
As many people do not think about their final arrangements, the questions of ‘How do you arrange a funeral?’ comes up often.
It is often easier to think about how do you arrange a funeral before the time is necessary. Without the raw emotion that death can bring, it is often easier for people to arrange a funeral and everything required for it before death actually takes place.
For those that have passed away without putting in place a funeral plan or making final arrangements, having not considered how do you arrange a funeral, their funeral is usually left to their nearest relative, next of kin or a very close friend. If the deceased person has no one close to them that has outlived them, a simple funeral is then arranged by the deceased person’s local or health authority, following any instructions that were left by the deceased person.
In order to ensure that a person’s final wishes are honoured and followed through, it is important they consider how do you arrange a funeral before their death so that they can plan everything themselves, just the way they would like, spend as much money as they feel they want, reduce the need for their loved ones or next of kin that they leave behind the stress and overwhelm that their death may bring, as well as mitigate the financial burden the cost of a funeral may bring them if nothing has been planned in advance.
Having a funeral plan is a sensible financial choice when considering how do you arrange a funeral because not only is everything in place that leads to peace of mind for a person, the investment in choosing a funeral plan will fix the cost of the funeral at today’s price.
Once a person has decided to invest in a funeral plan, they can consider how do you arrange a funeral.
There are many options to consider, a number of questions to be answered and an understanding of what requirements a person has.
Questions a person considering how do you arrange a funeral might ask themselves what will need to be answered before going any further including: what their financial budget is and how much do they wish to spend on their own funeral, do they wish to be cremated or buried, if they are cremated would they like a service (also known as an attended cremation) or would they prefer to have no one there (called a direct cremation) with their loved ones possibly having a memorial service of celebration of life service at a later date?
Appointing a funeral director can be useful to ensure that all of the services that are on offer can be relayed to the person investing in a funeral plan so they can understand how do you arrange a funeral.
Because there are many options and varieties of funerals that meet a wide range of requirements of different people, it is important for a person that is wondering how do you arrange a funeral should read the small print to fully understand exactly what is included in the funeral they are considering to invest in.
There is an option on many funeral plans for a person to pay for a funeral in one lump sum. Alternatively if a person that is in the process of learning how do you arrange a funeral might find they are offered an option to pay in monthly instalments, at a level that suits their financial circumstances at that time and what their financial budgeting can facilitate.
If a person decides to pay for their funeral in monthly instalments, it is important to remember that if they die before paying the full amount of the funeral plan, the deceased person’s relatives or next of kin will be asked to settle the difference of the funeral plan they have chosen.
Having a funeral director on board will be able to help answer a person’s question of how do you arrange a funeral, with answers to things like when the death certificate is issued, how many copies might be needed, if and when they might need to appoint a Power of Attorney, what options of funeral they have at the time of their death, and so on.
Whilst death is something that most people do not choose to discuss before it happens, there are cost advantages of doing so, as well as learning how do you arrange a funeral to ensure those left behind do not have to feel unnecessary stress, worry about making the right decisions that can be difficult or deal with the financial burden that funerals can bring.
With this inevitable life event, death can be made easier if people consider how do you arrange a funeral and act upon their final arrangements when they are mentally astute and physically well.
Planning a funeral in advance allows the necessary arrangements to be confirmed, the emotional stress caused by death kept to a minimum and it gives everyone involved peace of mind that a person’s final wishes can be carried out exactly how they had wanted.
The next article will be published next week, and the title will be What is the purpose of funerals?
