Are you thinking about monthly funeral plans? Your interest in freezing your funeral costs at today’s prices may have been piqued by press reports about the rising costs of funerals.
A story in the Telegraph newspaper on the 1st of June 2018, for example, talked not only about the soaring cost of a funeral in the UK (the total average is currently some £5,000) but also the rising cost of cremation fees, too.
Monthly funeral plans
The soaring costs of funerals may make the purchase of a prepaid funeral plan a sensible option – by paying at today’s prices, you are able to beat at least some of the inflationary effects of steadily rising costs in the future.
However, your problem may be one of finding the cash for the purchase of a prepaid funeral plan.
Monthly funeral plans may help you resolve any such problem.
Whilst payment upfront of the total cost of any prepaid funeral plan is almost certain to be the cheapest option in the long run, by spreading that cost over a number of months you can make the purchase affordable in the first place.
Monthly options
When considering any monthly installment plan, it is vital to consider exactly what more you may be paying for the facility. In the case of monthly funeral plans, those costs may vary significantly.
By choosing carefully, for example, you may find that a number of funeral plan providers add in no further credit charges if you opt to pay for your plan in 12 monthly installments – although bear in mind that some providers may still require a deposit before the first installment is paid, but that others may not.
If you want to reduce your monthly costs still further, some providers offer installment plans extending for five years right up to 25 years. Of course, there are costs involved in such credit arrangements – but, once again, those costs may vary widely from one provider to another, so it is vital to understand exactly how much you are paying for the facility of any longer-term installment plan.
Funeral insurance
If budgetary constraints are more critical, you might want to consider what is often referred to as funeral insurance but is actually a life insurance product. This is quite distinct from any prepaid funeral plan since it is over 50s life insurance – a whole of life insurance policy for the over 50s which pays out an assured death benefit when you die (as long as the premiums are up to date).
Depending on the size of that assured death benefit, monthly premiums are likely to be considerably cheaper than the installments you pay for monthly funeral plans and acceptance is guaranteed, without the need for any medical declaration.
Since premiums are payable for the rest of your life (or, with some policies, until you reach the age of 90), you need to be aware of the possibility of having paid more in premiums than the eventual death benefit.
Unlike monthly funeral plans, over 50s life insurance offers no guarantee that the death benefit payable will cover the funeral costs you may have hoped it to – whereas prepaid funeral plans typically inflation-proof the cost of any funeral directors’ costs.
Whatever decision you make, there are affordable options available for covering some – or all – of your future funeral costs.