{"id":2517,"date":"2014-04-14T20:59:49","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T04:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.imortuary.com\/blog\/?p=2517"},"modified":"2014-04-21T21:05:42","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T05:05:42","slug":"5-questions-ask-start-funeral-planning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.imortuary.com\/blog\/5-questions-ask-start-funeral-planning\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Questions to Ask Before You Start Funeral Planning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.imortuary.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/iStock_000013954980Small.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2518\" title=\"5 Questions to Ask Before You Start Funeral Planning\" alt=\"5 Questions to Ask Before You Start Funeral Planning\" src=\"https:\/\/www.imortuary.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/iStock_000013954980Small-250x186.jpg\" width=\"250\" height=\"186\"><\/a>Once you&rsquo;ve made the decision to begin funeral planning, it&rsquo;s easy to become overwhelmed by all the information and options out there. Choosing cremation vs burial, picking between dozens of local funeral homes, considering funeral insurance vs a pre-plan funeral package&hellip;these are just a few of the options that pop up in the beginning of your search.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span>Because few purchases will ever be more personal than the ones you make regarding your own death, it&rsquo;s important to take a deep breath and relax as you move forward. Although time is one of the few things none of us has an unlimited amount of, you should never plan a funeral in haste. It&rsquo;s too easy to overpay or buy services you don&rsquo;t need if you feel pressured to make immediate decisions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span><!--more-->Before you sit down with a financial advisor, funeral director, or other professional hoping to get you to sign on for their product, here are five good questions to ask yourself about what you want&mdash;and how much you want to pay for it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span>What is Your Ideal Budget? Before you research funeral prices or look up how much the average funeral costs, decide out how much you want to spend. You can plan a funeral on almost any budget&mdash;the question is how hard you&rsquo;re willing to work and what you&rsquo;re willing to give up to do it. It&rsquo;s okay to adjust expectations once you&rsquo;ve done a little research, but don&rsquo;t let anyone force you into spending substantially more than you&rsquo;d like.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span>How do You Feel about Burial vs Cremation? Some people have strong cultural and\/or religious inducements to choose one or the other. Some people don&rsquo;t care as long as their family is happy. Whatever your personal beliefs, now is a good time to pick an option. (Other ideas, like resomation or donating your body to science, can also be considered.)<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span>Where Would You Like to be Interred? Is there a family plot in the graveyard where you&rsquo;ll be buried? Would you prefer to have your ashes scattered out at sea? Do you not care as long as it&rsquo;s in your hometown? Even if you don&rsquo;t purchase the actual cemetery plot, you should at least specify your final destination.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span>What Legacy Will You Leave Behind? Few people are able to leave behind millions of dollars in savings, but that doesn&rsquo;t mean your life and personal effects have no value. It doesn&rsquo;t matter whether you want to pass on the family heirlooms to your children or ensure that your remaining retirement funds go to your favorite charity&mdash;you should know what you&rsquo;d like to see happen to your legacy. Putting this kind of thing in writing early on can save quite a bit of trouble for your family later.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\"><span>How Concrete Do You Want Your Plans? This is the most important of all five questions. These days, it&rsquo;s possible to pre-plan (and pay for) a funeral from start to finish. It&rsquo;s also possible to do little more than download a funeral planning app and fill out your personal requests. Both of these ends of the spectrum are fine, as are all the other options that fall somewhere in the middle.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;\">Planning a funeral is a large undertaking, and it&rsquo;s best not to do it alone. Once you have a basic understanding of how you&rsquo;d like to proceed, sit down with a family member, financial advisor, or funeral director to take your next steps.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once you&rsquo;ve made the decision to begin funeral planning, it&rsquo;s easy to become overwhelmed by all the information and options out there. Choosing cremation vs burial, picking between dozens of local funeral homes, considering funeral insurance vs a pre-plan funeral package&hellip;these are just a few of the options that pop up in the beginning of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[215,101,10,3,4,116,28,24,12,92],"tags":[160,89,804,32,1598,396,438,8,291,805,2120,324,1599,198,216,1600],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.imortuary.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/iStock_000013954980Small.jpg","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v15.9.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 Questions to Ask Before You Start Funeral Planning<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Once you\u2019ve made the decision to begin funeral planning, it\u2019s easy to become overwhelmed by all the information and options out there. 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