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 Planning for That Final Moment  
The desire you have to get your final arrangements arranged is a good one. However, too much prearranging comes with its own set of problems. This article can give you the wisdom to make the right choices when planning advance funeral arrangements.

By Wayne Miller

So you go through the checklist and make arrangements for your will and your DNR (do not resuscitate) so that the medical people will know what to do in the event you cannot be brought to consciousness.

However, one level of preparation that you may not have decided about is funeral arrangements. Many funeral homes sell packages where you can pay for your casket and much of the funeral expenses well in advance. This is very appealing, because you can think ahead about how you would like the funeral to go, select the casket, and make arrangements so there is less guesswork for your family and loved ones if the moment comes up too quickly.

That is the real appeal of preplanning all aspects of what might happen when your final moments come. You do not want to leave your children to figure out your life insurance, estate issues, will and funeral if your demise comes along suddenly. Most of these preparations are pretty cut and dried, and you want all the paperwork in order, legal, and the person assigned to resolve your estate informed and legal so there is no time lost getting things the way they should be if the moment were to come.

The big step of pre-buying your funeral plot and casket, and paying for the funeral in advance is something to consider seriously. For one thing, you must be sure you are in the town where you will want to be buried. Many times later in life, a retired person wants to pack up and move to where the kids are living.

That is one of the good things about being retired and relatively unencumbered by numerous possessions. If you are living in an assisted living center, the move is just not that difficult. So you do not want to own property, even if it is just a burial plot, and have to deal with transferring all of that paperwork to another town if you do move with your kids.

However, the compelling reason not to put money into a funeral arrangement package is that funeral homes are not great at managing those funds. There are many funds mismanagement by funeral homes. Or if the company owning the funeral home is bought, many times the new company will not honor your contract with the previous owners, and your relatives find this all out just when they least need to hear about problems.

A much better option is to take the same money you would have put into funeral arrangements and deposit it into a trust set aside just for this purpose. You can name who you want to have access to the trust, and even write out in specific detail what you want the money used for and how you want the funeral to go.

That form of living will or ethical will gives your relatives the resources they need to conduct your affairs and the directions you want them to have. However, they have the flexibility to pick the funeral home and buy the plot that seems right at the time. The money can accrue interest, and it is secure because it is still owned by the family right up until it is needed.

The desire you have to get your final arrangements arranged is a good one. However, thinking through some of the problems that can come up if you do too much prearranging gives you the wisdom to make the right choices so you can enter your retirement years knowing that everything is arranged when and if, God forbid, the moment of your departure comes along.

About the Author:

Wayne Miller has written two eBooks and has traded serious money inside different stock and commodity markets. One is called The US Financial Crisis of 2007-2007 and the other eBook is called Opportunity of a Lifetime. Top Ten Books and Money Secrets. Article Source: Eulogy Site - http://EulogySite.com

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  Article added 04/22/08.


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