4 Smart Tips to Plan Your Own Funeral (Even When You’re Healthy in Retirement)
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Wanting to plan your own funeral when you’re retired can be a bit of a morbid thought, but plenty of older people decide to do it. It’s easy to see why, as it offers more than a few benefits. It gives you complete control over what happens and lets you make sure it’s the perfect way to remember you.
But, that doesn’t mean it’s the easiest thing to do. You’ll have to deal with a wide range of emotions, both your’s and your family’s. Then there’s the actual planning process.
Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be nearly as complicated as you could think. By focusing on a few tips and taking the right steps, it should be a lot more straightforward for you and your family. It’ll take time, effort, and working through your emotions, but it’ll be more than worth it.
Decide Between Cremation & Burial
One of the first decisions you’ll have to make about your funeral is whether you want to be cremated or buried. It’s a major decision that everyone needs to make eventually. If you don’t, your family will have to figure this out for you, but that doesn’t always mean they’ll know exactly what you want.
Cremations and burials both offer their benefits. With a burial, you give your family somewhere specific to mourn you. A cremation, however, can be more personal, and your family can keep your ashes in their home, where they’ll want it the most.
Look Into Funeral Plans
It’s always worth keeping funeral plans in mind when you’re planning everything out. These make it much easier to put everything together, and it could even take quite a bit of effort off of your shoulders. Different providers will offer different plans, so these can often be worth comparing.
Usually, this means you’ll get to pay off your funeral relatively early, so you don’t have to worry about your family paying for everything after you pass. It’s an easy way to make sure they don’t need to worry about the cost.
Decide on Viewings
Viewings are often a core part of the funeral process, but that doesn’t always mean they’re mandatory. You’ve every right to decide not to have one, if that’s your preference. But, it’s still more than worth putting the time and effort into thinking about. You’ll want to make sure you pick the right option for you.
Many families find comfort in the viewings, especially when it’s in a chapel or other place of rest. Even if you’re not pushed either way, it could still be worth having a viewing so that your family can get through the mourning process even more.
Personalize Your Farewell
Speaking of funeral plans, these can often be somewhat of a one-size-fits-all approach. You could feel like you mightn’t have much leeway in what actually happens or how the funeral goes. But, it’s still worth trying to personalize this as much as you can to make your funeral perfect for you.
You can focus on several areas when you’re doing this, from song and psalm choices to the kind of flowers placed around the funeral. Everyone has their own preferences with this, and there’s no right or wrong answer. Go with what you’d like the most.
Pick a Nice Venue
The small areas aren’t the only ones you can personalize a bit. The venue you pick for your funeral is also an area to focus on. Go with the right funeral home for you. You can focus on several factors for this, like location, how the home looks, and more. Spend a decent bit of time and effort on this from the start.
But, the actual funeral itself mightn’t be the only venue that’ll be used. Your family might want to have some form of meal or get-together for a wake and similar activities. Pick venues for these that you’d like, and that you know your family will appreciate during the funeral.
While wanting to plan your own funeral can feel a bit morbid, there are plenty of reasons why it could be worth it. It gives you control over what happens while taking the pressure off of your family after you pass. There’s no reason not to consider doing it.
But, you’ll have to make sure you’ve everything sorted. This can feel complicated and overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be. Outside of dealing with you and your family’s emotions, the process could be a lot more straightforward and more manageable than you might’ve expected.
Image Credit: Eli Solitas from Unsplash.