It’s fair to say that most people aren’t especially keen to discuss their death or their plans for their funeral with their loved ones. However, the taboo nature of the subject has led to countless people dying every year with no funeral arrangements in place, and this results in their loved ones having to find the money to pay for their funeral and make arrangements with no idea of what the deceased would have wanted.

Why Discuss Your Funeral Wishes?

None of us know when we’re going to die, so it’s important to discuss your funeral wishes with your loved ones whatever stage of life you’re at. Surveys have shown that 80% of people in the US have clear ideas about what they want in terms of their funeral, and over two thirds of people believe that if death wasn’t such a taboo topic it would be much simpler to ensure those wishes were met.

Only 20% of people, however, take the plunge and talk to their loved ones about the funeral they want and this means that when the time comes a shocking third of families realise that they don’t even know whether their loved one wanted a cremation or a burial.

Making Your End Of Life Plan Known

While many of us are aware that we should discuss our wishes with our families, knowing just how to raise the subject can be difficult. One approach is to avoid surprising (or shocking) your loved ones with a discussion out of the blue, and instead tie in the conversation around a death of a friend or even of a public figure.

While some people may resist the discussion, it’s important to point out to them that they won’t find it any easier to have to arrange your funeral when they have no idea what you wanted.

Discussing our wishes can actually help us to find better peace of mind, as we know that our wishes have been understood and that everything will be carried out according to your desires. Of course, another benefit of planning ahead is that you’ll be reducing the burden on your loved ones when the time comes.

A great way to be sure that your wishes are known is to write them down and leave them with all your other important documents in your end of life deposit box.

Reducing the Financial Burden

Most of us want to simplify the grieving process for our loved ones, and one key element of that is to reduce the financial burden which can fall on your family members after your death. With the rising cost of funerals, a pre-paid funeral plan is a great way to ensure you get the funeral you’ve planned since it will all be paid for in advance.

When you take out a pre-paid plan you have the chance to pre-arrange your cremation or burial, select a coffin and specify which transport will be used. Once your wishes have been laid out, all your family need to do is make a call to your selected funeral director when the time comes.

A pre-paid plan doesn’t just offer you greater control over the arrangements for your funeral, it also ensures that you can fix the costs which is good news considering that the price of a funeral is rising year on year. Protecting your loved ones is always high priority, and a pre-paid plan is the ultimate way to do this.

Discussing your wishes with your loved ones is a key element to ensuring that everything goes as you want it to after your death. If you decide to take out a pre-paid plan, the discussions can take place at the same time so that your loved ones don’t have any surprises when the time comes.