Decisions to Make

• The first step to planning your final expenses is to make the basic decisions that will govern how your family proceeds with your final wishes. This means deciding on a burial or cremation, a site for your burial plot and a religious site for a ceremony or memorial service. It may also include specific details such as what type of casket you want, how you would like to be dressed, which family members you would like to speak at your funeral and what type of grave marker you want at your burial site.
  
  

Using a Budget

• Each decision you make in laying out your final wishes has a financial element. For example, burial plots vary widely in price based on the cemetery and the location within each cemetery. Funeral services also range in price based on which funeral home performs the work and how elaborate your services are. As you determine your priorities, use a budget to keep track of costs and note lower-cost alternatives in case your bottom line exceeds a value you're comfortable spending or asking others to spend.
  
  

Making Wishes Known

• Once you've made some basic decisions about your final expenses and drafted a budget, it's important that you share your wishes with your family. Even if this requires an unpleasant conversation, it's the only way your family can know what you expect and whether you have a viable financial plan in place. Put your wishes in writing, being as specific as possible. Share this document, along with how you plan to fund your choices, with your children, spouse and other relatives who will be involved in handling your estate upon your death. Keep a copy in your home and date each revised copy of your final wishes, just as you would with a will, to prevent confusion.
  
  

Setting Money Aside

• Prices for final expenses tend to rise over time. This means that it's especially important to set money aside to cover them. You can by earmarking a particular savings account or life insurance policy for your final expenses. You may also choose to gift money to your children with the understanding that it will help them cover your final expenses upon your death. Some funeral homes and cemeteries may allow you to prepay for certain services and items, such as a burial plot, which allows you to lock in a current price and ensure that your family will have that much less to pay for in the future.