LIFE INSURANCE
Life insurance is often used as a method to pay for funeral services. Many people feel that if they have life insurance, everything will be taken care of because their loved ones will have the means to carry out their wishes.
There are several considerations when funding with insurance.
Unfortunately, over time, life events occur that can jeopardize the death benefit we once felt was sufficient.
While insurance policies are very helpful, it is wise to ensure they are kept up to date from time to time by confirming the benefit, the owner, and the beneficiary.
We may forget that we took a loan out, thus reducing the death benefit. Policies sometimes lapse due to other economic needs requiring our attention. Confirm your policy is not just an accidental policy, or a policy that terms out at a certain age. Ensure that over time inflation has not eroded the value and that it will still provide that for which you have planned.
PRE-NEED
Insurance policies can provide funding, while pre-need policies combine both funding and the arrangement. Creating your arrangements involves deciding on your final disposition (burial, or cremation) and selecting goods and services based on how you wish to memorialize your life. Once that step has been completed, funding options for an arrangement through a policy designed to work in concert with your arrangement are available. These types of arrangements are referred to as pre-arrangements, or pre-need.
Pre-need insurance is a special policy that has been created for funeral homes to fund in the exact same amount of your funeral pre-arrangement.
If your policy is assignable, you may want to discuss your funeral/cremation expenses at the funeral home. You may want to discuss the benefits of assigning your policy to the funeral home and how to protect the funds for those purposes.
While insurance is certainly a way to fund funeral expenses, it is important to understand what can happen to policies so that you are able to ensure the policy performs as you wish at the time of need.
Life insurance provides funding, but unless you make your wishes known, your family may not necessarily know, or agree. It is important to pre-plan your final wishes, as much as it is important to fund your final wishes. We can assist you in making your arrangements to complement the funds in your policy.
The policy is generally irrevocably assigned, so that it is no longer considered a cash asset. This protects the policy for the purposes it was intended for.
The policy can be purchased in a simple single premium, or in monthly payments, through the funeral home. Funds are held by the insurance provider.
The pre-need policy is structured to pay the funeral home directly for the goods and services originally selected. The cost of goods and services will be covered by the benefit amount in your pre-need policy and there will not be any additional cost to your family.