Planning your funeral

Dealing with the death of a loved one is hard. But when it’s the passing of someone you’ve looked up to for most of your life like a parent or grandparent, it can be particularly hard. They have a lifetime of stories, life experience, and share a lifetime of memories with you.

When they pass away, it can be a difficult thing to come to terms with, causing us to reflect on our time with them, and where we are in our own lives. This emotional time can be made more stressful when having to organise a funeral and the financial arrangements that go with it.

Organising your funeral ahead of the time of your death can help take away some of the stress for your family at this emotional time, and it will help your children and grandchildren to give you the exact farewell that you want.
The two most common options for paying for your own funeral are a pre-paid funeral or taking out funeral insurance.

Benefits of a pre-paid funeral

A pre-paid funeral (or a funeral plan) is planned and paid for by you in advance, and it allows you to choose the type and style of funeral that you want—from burial or cremation, coffin or casket options, flower arrangements, to music, catering and order of the service. The main benefit of this is that you can pay for the funeral at today’s price rather than what it might be in the future. The payment of a funeral is registered with an independent funeral fund.

The benefits of a pre-paid funeral:

• Saves your family from having to make decisions at a difficult time
• Takes away the financial cost of your family having to pay for your funeral
• Cheaper as the price will be fixed at today’s funeral prices
• Ability to choose exactly how you’d like your funeral to be
• Payments can be made in instalments over a period of 1-3 years
• Pre-paid funerals are exempt from assets tests for Centrelink, meaning you can still maximise any pension payment you might receive

Benefits of funeral insurance

Funeral insurance is a policy you can take out now, and the payout will be paid to your family in the event of your death. Your beneficiaries will be paid a nominated amount that they can use to pay for your funeral or any other final expenses such as credit card debts, bills, and other things needed to settle your affairs.

The benefits of funeral insurance products offered by Choosi:

• All Australian residents aged 40 – 79 are guaranteed acceptance
• Simple to apply for, with no medicals or blood tests required
• Takes away the financial hardship that paying for a funeral can have on your family at an emotional time
• 30-day cooling off period
• For an accidental death, your family receives triple your chosen cover amount (up to $45,000)
• Cover from $3,000 up to $15,000

Read more about funeral insurance. If you’re considering funeral insurance as an option, Choosi can help you compare quotes from a range of Australian insurance brands.