Funeral preplanning is when you plan your own funeral before your death. You work directly with the funeral home to plan your final arrangements, and you pay for the services upfront. This option has grown in popularity, so you may want to consider funeral preplanning for the following reasons.

1. Preplanning Lets You Make Decisions Calmly and Comfortably

Generally, after someone passes, their loved ones plan the funeral on their behalf. Whilst planning, family and friends are in the midst of grief, and the process can be emotionally tiring. In contrast, when you opt for funeral preplanning, you get to make decisions about the process while you are calm and collected.

As time is on your side, you can carefully go over every element to ensure that you get exactly what you want and need. For example, depending on your preferences, you can ensure that death notices and flowers are included in your price.

In contrast, when a grieving family plans a funeral, they may not notice every detail. They may accidentally book a package that doesn’t include exactly what they want, and they may face unexpected charges for certain incidentals.

2. Funeral Preplanning Allows Your Family to Focus on Grief

Losing a loved one is devastating, and that’s especially true when the death is sudden and unexpected. Unfortunately, dealing with the estate and planning the funeral can interrupt the grieving process for some adults. When you plan your funeral, you lift this burden off your friends and family and allow them to truly focus on the grief of losing you.

3. Advance Planning Ensures Your Wishes Are Followed

Planning your funeral doesn’t just help your family — when you plan your own funeral, you get to ensure that you have the funeral you want. You can elect whether you want to be cremated or buried. You can arrange for your final resting place. You can even decide where you want the service to be, which music you want to be played and whom you want to deliver a eulogy.

Note that when you select people to be involved in your funeral, you should always choose a couple of alternatives. Then, if your first choice is unable to attend, the funeral director can reach out to the other people on your list.

Establishing what you want is especially important if you have different spiritual beliefs than your loved ones or if you just truly want a funeral that reflects your unique spirit.

4. You Get a Final Goodbye

Grief feels like undelivered love. Usually, the grieving people just want more time to love the person they lost. Because of that, they may dive into old photo albums, look through the deceased’s social media feeds, read old letters or find other ways to connect with the deceased. By planning your own funeral, you get to stage a final goodbye to your loved ones.

You get to share the hymns or songs you loved the most with them. You get to select poems or verses that say goodbye in a meaningful way. You may even select pictures that you want displayed at the funeral. Then, when they come to the funeral, they get to feel your presence again, which can be incredibly healing.

5. You Get Flexible Payment Options

Finally, in addition to all the emotional and logistical benefits of funeral preplanning, you also get to experience some financial benefits. In particular, when you preplan, you can pay in a lump sum or pay by instalments. The option to pay in instalments can make the funeral costs more manageable.

Additionally, the Australian government usually does not consider prepaid funerals in your asset tests for government payments. In contrast, if you left the funds in a different type of investment, you may have to consider them when applying for benefits or government pensions.

At Cremations Only, we offer a range of different cremations and funeral services to meet all kinds of preferences. To talk more about the benefits of preplanning, contact us today. We can guide you through the process.