Funerals come at a cost. Burials start around $5,000 for the most basic service, but can easily top $25,000. Items such as flowers, the service, viewing and casket all add up quickly!Cremation with a service and extra disbursements (obituary notice, viewing, funeral flowers, etc.) cost in the region of $4,500. Cremation costs vary depending upon your province, but generally cost much less than burials.
Either way, the last thing anyone wants to be thinking about when a loved one passes away is how much the funeral will cost; and making financial decisions about caskets, urns and flowers is hard enough when all you want to do is grieve.
Do you have a special fund in your budget marked “money to pay form my funeral”? If so, congratulations. You are rare and you can stop reading now! If you are like the millions of Canadians, however, that live paycheck-to-paycheck, or that rely on credit cards to fill budget gaps, you don’t have upwards of $5,000 sitting around for your family to use on your funeral.
Even worse, you may not have any financial provisions to take care of your family’s needs after you pass away – and you certainly don’t want to leave them with a legacy of debt.
Enter, life insurance.
Life Insurance is an essentail component of a sound financial plan, and with three simple steps, you can protect your family’s finances long after you pass away.
Step One:
Get a needs assessment from a qualified broker. He or she will determine the financial impact your death will have on your family. This impact will change over time. The woman that passes in her 30’s and leaves young children and a mortgage behind bears more financial impact than the senior man that passes when his children are independent and the mortgage is paid up.
Assessments are necessary to ensure you are not over paying for coverage, and that you get the appropriate policy and riders in place.
Step Two:
Discuss your options with a broker – fully underwritten with a deep dive on your personal and medical history vs non medical simple issue or even guaranteed issue that anyone can qualify for.
Term insurance is a temporary solution to a permanent problem and would not be suitable solution for funeral expense planning.
Permanent insurance is the correct way to ensure your family receives cash after you pass. Your beneficiaries are guaraneed to receive ab life insurance benefit.
Step Three:
Investigate what kind of funeral you want to have and what it will cost. Discuss your decisions with your family and beneficiaries, and include your choices in your will and personal directive. When you die, your beneficiaries will know if you want to be buried with a full ceremony, cremated and scattered in a garden, your flower of choices, etc.
They will also know how much of your life insurance benefit you have set aside for your funeral, and how much goes to cover debt or ongoing expenses.
You may have a term policy with a payout that takes care of the immediate needs, or a universal life policy that is rolled over to your spouse where she surrenders the cash value to pay for your funeral and keeps the policy in place to continue to build up cash for future needs.
Life insurance is an affordable tool that can save your loved one’s financial future and allow them to grieve without added stress. Take the time today to address how life insurance can cover your final needs.It’s one more way to responsibly take care of your family and plan your estate.
For more information, please call toll free to 1.888.498.5288