You work all your life and then some clever person reckons you've got to pay for your own funeral, coffin, burial... is that good or bad? I'd like
You work all your life and then some clever person reckons you’ve got to pay for your own funeral, coffin, burial… is that good or bad?
I’d like you to give me £5 a month for the rest of your life and when you die I’ll pay for your funeral. Bargain, no? I’ll throw in some flowers and and a choice of funeral homes.
The payments you have made will most likely be double, triple or quadruple the amount you’d pay in cash right now. More bargains! I’ll even let you join the funeral procession in the back of the hearse instead of making you walk.
Considering the mood, you may have to pay every month forever or up until a certain duration is completed. Oh don’t you just love me! If you take the Gold Plan, I’ll let you choose the route to the Cemetery.
Depending how good or evil I am, I may suggest that if you die within the first year or two of a funeral plan, I’ll probably ask your family to make up the shortfall. Oh yes I’m Mr Nice!
I am fast approaching fifty years old but due to pension changes in the near future I may not gain access to my personal pension until a later date and my public pension is already on hold until I’m 67. The average age people die in the UK is in their 81st year. Aren’t I the lucky one to only have 14 years to enjoy my pension free of the daily grind.
The age I die could be 103, 68 or it could be tomorrow or I’ll just get cryogenically frozen and skip the dying and funeral process altogether. However, as I am getting shocked and upset at not having enough money to afford my own funeral whenever that may be, I don’t think finding £150,000 to get chucked in with the frozen peas is likely.
How Can I Live On £7000 A Year?
Retirement is supposed to be about playing golf, going on holiday to exotic locations and baby sitting your children’s children isn’t it? Or was it, starting and owning my own business and enjoying the comfort of being my own boss after an influx of cash? State pension and death seems to be irrevocably entwined with a little dreaming in-between.
The facts remain that once you stop work the only income you can receive is benefits or pensions and investment returns. Quite these days I might be able to have my cash and invest as I see fit, boosting that £7000 a year which several million British pensioners are currently receiving but then I have to think long term about all the bills too.
From that money I have to pay the obvious and any remaining payments on a mortgage, my health will only get worse so going private might be better than relying on the NHS for a quick turnaround. A new Hip, new teeth, new legs, foot and waggly finger so can tell the youth off quicker and more sternly.
After all of this, I’m told that I am now expected to pay for my own funeral and that it could cost £10,000 in 2031? No my children didn’t turn up and say “Hey Dad, you know our inheritance… well it would be good if you’d take care of your own dying costs in advance…” but these news articles and television adverts about paying for funerals in advance has got me thinking, there’s also the missus, the old ball and chain.
Dig Deep To Find The Funeral Costs At Age 93 Darling
I love her and while I joke about her being a noose a round my neck, a heavy weight on my ankle and a woman who fell over in a glue factory and got stuck to me as I walked past, I do worry about her finances when I’m gone. Sure the new generations are all about equality and if you’re a man reading this you might get lucky and your Wife might be the higher earner.
But in a decade or two, as Husband and Wife it’s your partner who will have to see to all the bills and ensure that your funeral costs are paid too. I don’t wish to be in a situation where she’s selling the house, downsizing (not like Matt Damon) and going through all that worry just because she finally got rid of me and I kicked the bucket.
Having read a lot of gumph about pre paid funerals and weighing how anyone will afford my funeral when I die, it’s actually good to find out that not all these offers of a future funeral service are out to rip me off. They don’t all have endless payments, they don’t all make your family pay the remaining costs and not all are triple or quadruple but that pension is still less than I thought it might be but there’s time to act on that information too, thankfully.
Returning to the subject of being cryogenically frozen, would it not be a worthwhile financial product to sell a house to fund currency and income needs when I’m woken up in 200 years time? No? Ok then, let’s just make sure I get the best funeral at a cost I’m not paying while I’m still being rolled up the aisle. Please. And perhaps find a Church that will play Kiss songs as I’m cremated.
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