Funeral preplanning is a way to document your final wishes for your funeral services in advance. Each decision made in advance eases the burden on your family needing to plan for your arrangements at the time of death. Funeral preplanning also allows you to make sure your preferences of what you desire your final arrangement to include, or not to include, will be honored.

Preplanning your funeral services can bring peace of mind and comfort for you and your loved ones because the arrangements are made in advance. These plans ease the decisions and/or financial burden that may be placed on your family as they are grieving. Funeral preplanning also allows you the time to make the choices that are best for you and your family and honors the life you have lived. After preplanning is complete, many have shared they feel a sense of relief by having their wishes documented and prepared.

Pre-funding is not required for funeral preplanning, however, there are several benefits to doing so. The biggest benefit is that Ryan Funeral Home guarantees to not increase our professional services for any items included within our Guaranteed section for our services have been prefunded, and we do not charge an additional cost to do so. Other area funeral homes charge families to guarantee their pricing. Our funding is “Guaranteed” to grow over time, however if it does not grow at the same rate our pricing increases, the key benefit is that Your Family is Not Responsible For the Difference. Your family will not pay more out of pocket costs to Ryan Funeral Home than the original investment for the services included within the guaranteed section of our pre-fund plan.

Prepayment can be done over time in increments, as a lump sum, or within a payment plan. An Irrevocable Whole Life Insurance policy is issued to guarantee that 100% of the money set aside for funeral expenses will be applied to your final arrangement costs. It is designed to gain interest over time to offset the increases in the cost of living. You can choose what you want to pre-fund within your plan and have the flexibility to change your mind over time. If you wish to pre-plan and/or pre-fund your final arrangements, our Advance Planning Specialist can guide you through the process. It starts with a simple conversation.

Although we might have daily conversations with our loved ones, the most meaningful and deep ones don’t always happen. Having this kind of conversation can make a huge difference — it can help us see our loved ones in a different and more positive light, it can teach us valuable lessons, it can give us a clearer picture of the things they love, it can bring us closer together, and it can help us reaffirm to them how much we love them.

We could have the talk of a lifetime with anyone we value, cherish, and love. It could be our grandparents, parents, siblings, uncles and aunts, cousins, partner or spouse, children, or friends. It also doesn’t have to be done only when we feel we are or someone we love is at the end of their life. We’ll never really know what the future holds, so let us take the opportunities we still have with them while we still can.

We shouldn’t really wait for a special moment to start having these kinds of talks. We can do it anytime and anywhere, when we and our loved ones are comfortable — at home while we’re having meals together, out for a walk, or gathered as a family. We could also sometimes start with visual prompts, like a photo or an entire photo album, a memento, or a souvenir. We can open up about past experiences while we’re at a memorable place, such as a church, a favorite restaurant, or an old park. These can be great ways to start a story.