Pre-pay funeral costs?

[tvz]

My local funeral director, who, believe it or not seems like a pretty decent sort of person, points out these reasons to prepay for my funeral expenses. What do you think?

1) Lock in today's prices: However, unless funeral costs should be particularly expected to go up faster than other things, shouldn't I be able to expect to do better by investing that $?

2) The $ for this will be "protected" if Medicaid is ever needed to pay for medical needs, nursing home care, etc.: Is this a way of saying that by prepaying, I will run out of $ sooner, and become eligible for Medicaid sooner? I don't know much about Medicaid, etc. Does this makes sense to you?

Thanks.

[disneysteve]

1) Locking in today's prices is almost never a good reason to buy something before you need it. Prepaid college tuition plans are probably a notable exception to that rule.

2) My sense would be that the vast majority of people don't ever end up on Medicaid though I don't have any stats to back that up. Of those who end up in a nursing home long term, the stats might go that way. I really don't know.

Seems to me having a healthy investment portfolio and, if appropriate, life insurance, would be the better way to cover funeral expenses.

Also, make it clear to those who would be responsible for the arrangements that you don't want all the bells and whistles. A very simple funeral need not cost the kinds of figures you always hear tossed around.

[tvz]

Thanks Steve.

Yeah, we are doing the pre-planning routine, which can be done w/ or w/out pre-paying. That way all our desires (for practicality and modesty) are all set, and our kids won't have to make those decisions.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Depends on how much money you have. IF you are not fully saved to pay for retirement then yes. If you are very old already then perhaps it makes sense. My great-grandmother prepaid for her funeral expenses but she was 95+ at the time. She did live quite a bit longer but still I don't think it was all that nutty to pay for a lady that age.

[FrugalTexan75]

I don't know. Until my father died recently and I've been having to deal with the vultures at the cemetary where we plan to inter his body on the 5th, I think I would have said it isn't a good idea. However, now I am starting to lean towards the idea of pre-paying - if only for the fact that you yourself won't be so emotionally invested as your family members may be later, so you *can* haggle and scour for the best prices and make the decision as to how important it is to you where you are buried/how you are buried/if you are cremated and ashes spread, etc.

As we have found recently, the cemetary people will jack up the price expoentially and call it "required" stuff ... all you have to do is say, "No thanks, I'll look at other options" and they will start backpedalling fast. I think this would be much easier to do when planning your own funeral expenses - it feels icky to do it as a left behind loved one.