Thursday, August 07, 2008

Go Gentle into the Good Night

Within the past ten years, I have personally been involved with several unexpected deaths among in-laws and friends. In each case, the deceased, whether he or she knew death was near, did not prepare for their passing. Consequently, the family was left scrambling to make final arrangements.

My mother-in-law died within a week of her diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. Of course, the family was devastated. To ease their pain, my family donated burial space in our family plot and she was laid to rest. Two years later, her husband died suddenly and we buried him next to her, also in our family plot.

As we cannot predict or control the manner of our death, we should leave a financial buffer to help our families while they are grieving. The purchase of final expense insurance, better known as funeral insurance, will protect your family against the expenses of an unexpected burial or cremation.

There are other insurance products that are helpful to have, like mortgage life insurance that pays off your home mortgage upon your death. Purchasing mortgage protection insurance will make your house payment if you suddenly become disabled. Last, but not least, term life insurance will pay a set amount of money directly to your beneficiary upon your death. This is money to live on while the will is probated and the home and other assets are sold.

While nothing is going to make your passing easy for your family, do not add to their grief by leaving debt that must be paid or funeral arrangements to be made.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My mom is one of those types that doesn't like to talk about things like this. My grandmother is a strong woman, and has made it through a lot, but my mom just can't seem to get it in her head that now is the best time to talk about the inevitable, especially since my grandmother has been getting weaker lately. I understand her not wanting to think about her mother being gone, but it is going to be much harder if it happens suddenly...