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Why Pre-Plan?
1
Making funeral arrangements at the moment of passing is much more expensive than
pre-arranging your funeral plans. If one has not made arrangements at the time of passing, there are several fees for expediting the process, and 51% of 70+ yr old's haven't saved any money or written a notarized document for their will or funeral preferences. The average life expectancy in the U.S. is 78.6 but if people aren't saving money for their preferred service, arranging payment for a funeral can take longer depending on the financial security of the next-of-kin. Preparing the appropriate paperwork and services beforehand is financially beneficial.
Pre-planning saves money
78yr
78.6 is the average US life expectancy
51% of 70+ yr old's haven't saved any money their final arrangments
2
The confusion following the passing of a loved one can add another level of stress to an already intense situation. A large majority of people requiring funeral home services have no verbal or notarized funeral plans, which leaves the family to organize the funeral. Make your preferences know beforehand with a funeral home to ensures your wishes are met, all the appropriate paperwork is filled out, and your loved ones are able to grieve without the stress of planning the memorial.
Less stress during bereavement
95%
95% of people seeking services are dealing with planning a funeral for the first time and the deceased left no notarized instructions
3
Washington University in St. Louis did a survey of what family members think their parents would want in terms of funeral arrangements and end of life medical care, and their perditions were pretty far off from what they thought their parents would want and what their parents actually wanted. If you have a preference for your disposition and don't talk about it or put it in writing, your family is left guessing about what you'd want.
Ensure disposition wishes are met
4
Unfortunately the possibility of not being able to make ones medical wishes known may occur in the case of coma, incapacitation, or physical impairment. In these cased if a living will, physician orders for life-sustaining treatment (POLST), or durable power of attorney have not been written and notarized, than decisions about treatment are up to the next-of-kin.
Ensure end of life health care needs are met
Why Don't We Talk?
1
Dept, no savings, or uncertainty about how loved ones would manage financially without us can keep us from discussing death or preparing for it by writing a will.
Don’t feel prepared
2
The finality and uncertainty that surrounds death can be frightening and lead us to more closely examine our lives and what we've accomplished so far. Sometimes it's easier to put it out of our minds so we can focus on the now of life instead of its natural conclusion.
Contemplating mortality
3
We believe that discussing our death will be unsettling to those around us. We typically care a great deal about those closest to us and don’t want to see them upset or sad, so not discussing one's disposition plans may feel like the easiest way to not upset them. Everyone's different, but not talking about your plans with your loved ones can be more detrimental down the road.
Traumatize loved ones
4
Talking about death with your family is a tough conversation because it brings up topics like end-of-life planning, inheritance matters, funeral wishes, etc. Perhaps have a funeral preference or you don't want to be resuscitated during your end of life care, and your family disagrees with you. Matters involving money such as inheritance can make tempers flare and hurt feelings if we're not carful. That's why its so important to be on the same page with your family when it comes to what your plans are.
Family dispute
5
Thinking about and discussing our mortality forces a self-evaluation process and life review that is unnerving for many of us. What haven't we done? What do we still want to do? What kind of a memory are we leaving behind? This kind of critical self-evaluation can prompt anxiety, sadness and, in some cases, even depression. Those big existential questions are simultaneously the most important and the hardest to reconcile so for most people it's easiest to focus on the here and now and not think that broadly into the future.
What have we accomplished
6
Loved ones working on our behalf
Talking about death can inevitability lead to discussing the work to be done afterward. Who will deal with planning the funeral arrangements? Who will deal with their physical belongings? Who is in charge of the estate and finances? Besides the funeral, there is a lot of paperwork to be done if you wish to make a trust which can require a tremendous amount of time and energy. Many of us feel badly about handing off all this work to someone, especially because we won’t be there.
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