Discussing Burial Insurance With Family

While discussing burial insurance and funeral arrangements with loved ones seems like an awkward conversation to have, it's a crucial one which helps to plan for the inevitable and to help prevent any unwanted surprises.

Discussing burial insurance and funeral arrangements with loved ones is the last thing on your list of things to do. While you may have secretly plotted the demise of some co-workers, your boss, and your ex, your own funeral is really the last thing you want to talk about. After all, why the heck should you care? You're not going to be around to see whether it's a good time or not. But since you don't want people coming after you in the afterlife, burial insurance and funeral arrangements should be a discussion you have even if you have to get liquored up to start the talking.

Do Your Research

You don't want to start talking about coffins at the kitchen table unless you know what you're talking about. You need to prepare for your conversation with your loved ones well in advance of the doorbell chiming. Look into several different burial insurance and funeral expense companies. This will help you begin to see what you need to choose and how much of the expenses will be covered by insurance. Ideally, you want to have your entire funeral planned out before you start talking to anyone about it even if you're not dying any time soon.

Gather Your Loved Ones

Now it's time to invite people to your funeral planning party. Of course, you want your close family members there and your closest friends and anyone else you think you might want to share your funeral day with. Talk to them about the funeral insurance policy you have, where it's kept, and what it covers. If you can, try to have this meeting somewhere in public and casual. You don't want anyone to cause a scene when you tell them that you just want to be cremated or that you want to avoid a memorial service altogether.

Try to Keep Things Calm

It's always good to start off with a joke when you're talking about your death. Oh, and make sure to bring your medical records with you too in order to show the family and friends that you are not actually dying (unless you are). Then start with the joke. The idea of sitting down with your loved ones to talk about the burial insurance and funeral arrangements is to simply tell others what you want and how you want your funeral to look. This is not a time for discussion or arguments, though if your loved ones have questions, this is a time to answer them.

When you begin to feel things get too emotional, you might want to stop the strategy session until things can calm down again. Just try to pretend like this is a wedding planning session, but for death. That should keep everyone comfortable, right? That's not weird at all…