Who is the Harmony Plan for?
Before doing any preplanning, we recommend contacting us. We believe our Harmony Plan is a superior plan for people who do not have a lot of time and resources but wish to leave an affordable, dignified plan in place for their family and funds to pay for this plan.
Experience shows us that when preplanning, people generally fall into 1 of 3 categories…
George and Alana. George and Alana understand the value of having a plan in place for their loved ones and wish to pay for these plans but have concerns about the costs involved. They would have a difficult time paying for these costs upfront so they would require a monthly payment option. They also need to update their wills and find out what of documents and steps are needed to preplan. Research tells us most people are in the same category as George and Alana. The costs involved in preplanning, and not knowing where to start, are the biggest reasons people avoid or delay preplanning.
For George and Alana, Final Expense Solutions would help them by providing documents necessary for preplanning, which would include an estate planning guide, legal will kits as well as free consultation and a Funeral and Cemetery Plan. The option we use to offset the cost of the funeral and/ or cemetery arrangements would likely be lower on a 'per month' basis than if George and Alana had prepaid their arrangements. We would recommend that George and Alana contact us before beginning any final expense preplanning.
Some people are like John. John wants to spare his family the stress from making funeral and cemetery arrangements and paying for them at the time of his death. John is trying to decide if he should be taking money out of his retirement plan to prepay the funeral and cemetery costs ahead of time. He realizes by prepaying, his family will not have to pay for these costs when he dies or be burdened with difficult decisions about the arrangements. John also realizes that by prepaying these costs ahead of time, the fees involved in his arrangements will be protected from inflation however he knows there is also a cost for prepaying. By prepaying the funeral and cemetery arrangements, he will not have the same amount of money in his RRSP earning interest. John would benefit from a conversation about interest rates, insurance and alternative funding methods.
For John
and people like him, we would recommend contacting Final Expense Solutions for a friendly, no obligation conversation about the alternative options for preplanning. For example, we could present John with our 'Funeral and Cemetery Plan' which would solve some of his concerns about his family making difficult decisions at the time of his death. We could also give John a very good idea what it would cost if he prepaid the funeral or cemetery arrangements by showing him the prices that the local funeral homes and cemeteries charge. Then we would show Johnan option to offset the cost of his funeral and cemetery arrangements that also accounted for the expected rate of inflation. The option we present would likely have a lower cost on a 'per month' basis than if he prepaid and allow him keep his money earning interest in his RRSP.
Some people are like Marie. Marie wants to pre-select her space in a specific cemetery, next to her mother. She also wants to go into the funeral home her family has used in the past and pre-pay for her arrangements. Marie does not like making monthly payments regardless of any potential benefits of insurance or savings. She will be paying the total costs of her funeral and cemetery up-front.
For Marie
and people like her, we would not recommend the Harmony Plan. The best piece of mind she would get would come from visiting the funeral home and cemetery and prepaying her arrangements. We would still recommend Marie and people like her, contact us and talk to one of our advisors who could conduct a free assessment of her estate planning or insurance needs. Two types of assessments we sometimes use are a ‘Needs Analysis’, or a ‘Retirement Savings Stress Test’. For a better understanding of some of the other products and services we offer, please see ‘Assets and Income Protection’.
