Funeral

[Jondel]

I know this isn't a nice subject, but I was wondering if any one out there, have ever thought of prepaying their Funeral expenses, or do they know of anyone who has, because what cost �3000, to day , could be an awful lot more in ten or twenty years time, so by prepaying now , it would not cost you or your family a penny more, What do you think.

PS, I think it would be a hard thing to do, ??

[GypsyGSD]

Hi, my mother-in-law went into one of these schemes late in life, the trouble was she passed away a year into the scheme,we had to as a family continue to pay the installments or give balance in full, i feel that if she had took out a life insurence it would have been better for her and her monthly payments to a insurence company much cheaper,but i think that if a younger person had one may be it could work but not one hundred percent sure as the company she used had set schemes, and as you said costs are rising

[Ethel]

Life insurance could be very costly if you are relatively young and are paying for many years.

Also very expensive if you are over 70 and live in to your 90s.

If you have money to spare so would not miss it - then look in to ithe pre-payment plan. It is no good struggling to pay for a funeral you hopefully won't need for many years though.

Funerals can be very costly but bear in mind that payment is usually suspended until probate, so you have a few months to pay.

And with inflation the cost is not going to be any more expensive real terms in 30 years than it is now.

I have a low rate credit card for such emergencies so do not intend to worry about it at all.

[Jondel]

I agree with Ethel,

If one can afford to pay up front, then pay it and forget about it,

The only thing is, Is it trusting providence.

[GypsyGSD]

I agree if your young life insurence is costly over time ,but there are ones availble that you can join if your over 50 for as little as ten ponds a month,in our experience this would have been better than paying 40 pound a month out of a widows pension as my mother-in-law did,and in the end no benifit to anyone which was not her wishes, but it all comes down to personel choice i suppose, and it is something we will all have to face at sometime

[rescuer]

Funeral directors have you 'over a barrel' when it comes to their charges. What your dependants should do is get at least two quotations. But they know that people don't wish to be seen as being mercenary at such a time.

The minimum they charge for a coffin is �300 yet most are made from simple chipboard and are factory made. They probably cost �50 at most.

Of course you could leave your body to medical science for trainee doctors, then there will be no cost at all and your remains will have been used to some purpose.