Pre-Need Funeral Insurance Gives Families Peace of Mind

By Expert Contributor from DANJOLELL Memorial Homes Robert L. D’Anjolell, Jr., F.D., and Robert M. Ash, Certified Preplanning Consultant

Although your funeral may be years or decades away, getting pre-need insurance (aka pre-planning) is one of the most loving, considerate gifts you can give to your loved ones. When you plan your own service or cremation, it removes from them the worry and burden of funeral costs for those left behind. Instead, your loved ones can focus on the memories and time spent with you.

Here are the top five reasons people choose pre-need insurance:

1. When a person makes their own arrangements, they know that their expressed wishes will be carried out and honored the way they intended.

2. Pre-need insurance eliminates an emotional and financial burden for your loved ones.

3. You control funeral costs by setting a budget and sticking to it.

4. You’ll have time to decide what products and services are most important to you and avoid having your loved ones make emotional purchases.

5. If it’s prepaid, funeral homes offer locked-in prices through a pre-planning funding partner.

In Pennsylvania, funeral homes cannot keep a family’s prepayment “in house,” in case something would happen and the funeral service went out of business. That’s why pre-arranged funerals and cremations are funded with funeral insurance and the value of the funeral insurance policy is equivalent to the amount of the arrangement that is selected.

In the past, many people put money away in a bank’s reserve account. Nowadays, many financial institutions do not offer such accounts anymore, and it makes more sense to deal directly with a funeral home. You can even choose from different payment options such as choosing to pay in a single payment or on a payment plan. And no matter how much time passes, the costs are locked in, guaranteed and inflation-proof.

It’s important to note that funeral homes are unable to guarantee the prices for those providing other parts of the funeral or cremation services such as church and clergy fees, crematory charges, newspaper obituary notices, certified copies of the death certificate, flowers, funeral lunches, etc. The present-day prices of those items can be incorporated into the pre-need insurance, with the understanding that those costs will be applied as a “credit” toward the charges at the time of death.

If you’re considering planning for your funeral ahead of time, you’re making a smart choice because doing so can save your family both money and decision-making during an emotionally difficult time.

Publisher’s Note: Thanks to Bob Ash for his assistance to Rob D’Anjolell and to DANJOLELL Memorial Homes for guiding us and our families as to how we can let our loved ones know we have already chosen our “Expert” funeral provider and made all funeral arrangements. Bob Ash works with Rob D’Anjolell as DANJOLELL’s Certified Preplanning Consultant available to our magazine Readers day or night, to discuss and confirm their choices through a phone meeting or meeting Readers in the comfort of their home, to make informed decisions before the need arises. Thank you, Rob and Bob!

Expert Contributor Robert L. D’Anjolell, Jr., F.D., of DANJOLELL Memorial Homes

DANJOLELL Memorial Homes and Crematory

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