It can be overwhelming thinking about end-of-life decisions and it’s hard to even know where to begin. When we don’t formalize these plans, it can often leave an unintentional burden on our loved ones. In order to make sure your family isn’t left making tough decisions after your passing, here’s an easy checklist for end-of-life planning.
What is end-of-life planning?
End-of-life planning is a crucial part of estate planning that formalizes your wishes about what you want to happen once you reach the end of your life. Your plan can include end-of-life care and housing preferences, wishes for your medical decisions, funeral arrangements and more. It can also include who your beneficiaries are, how you want your death benefit to be distributed, and what assets are to be protected. By creating an end-of-life plan, you can relieve your family members of a huge administrative burden and provide them support as they mourn the loss of a loved one.
Four Steps to Prepare for End-of-Life Planning
Once you have a plan in place, you can take comfort in knowing your loved ones will not have to make tough decisions while grieving. Here are four basic steps to help you get started on your end-of-life planning.
1. Prepare Your Documents
Getting organized ahead of end-of-life planning will make the process easier to navigate. As you start your end-of-life planning, you’ll want to have the following documents on hand:
- Living Trust: Allows you to manage your assets and estate while you’re living and ensure after you pass away that they all remain in order.
- Living Will: Designates your wishes for any medical decisions in the event you become incapacitated and are unable to express them on your own.
- Last Will and Testament: Details how your assets will be handled and distributed, and what happens to any dependents after you pass.
- POAs: Power of Attorney documents designate someone to make legal, financial, medical or business decisions on your behalf.
- Organ/Tissue Donor Designation: Documents any donations of organs or tissues that you want to allow upon your passing.
2. Determine End of Life Care and Housing
Whether it’s an assisted living facility, in-home care or a nursing home, you’ll want to make arrangements for your living situation when you can no longer live by yourself and need care.
3. Plan Funeral Arrangements
While it’s not fun to think about, having funeral arrangements planned will be a great relief to your loved ones. You’ll want to determine what kind of service you want as well as the type of burial you desire.
4. Consider Final Expense Insurance
Final expense insurance is an alternative or additional coverage to traditional term or whole life insurance. It’s common for individuals to purchase final expense insurance to cover end-of-life expenses such as burial insurance or funeral insurance. With no medical exam required—only a health questionnaire—it’s easy to obtain affordable coverage with final expense insurance.
Final expense insurance is advisable even if you have traditional life insurance or savings, as the additional coverage affords you an assurance that your beneficiaries will be able to take care of your final expenses when you pass away.
What does final expense insurance cover?
Final expense insurance helps cover your end-of-life costs, including funeral expenses, credit card debt, medical bills and any other debt you don’t want to pass on to your family. Final expense plans provide coverage from $1,000 to $40,000.
How much does final expense insurance cost?
The cost of final expense insurance depends on how much coverage you would like to leave your family. Final expense often costs less than traditional life insurance, and your monthly premium is determined by the amount of coverage you’re looking for, as well as the answers to your questionnaire and/or application.
Download Our Free End-of-Life Planning Checklist
End-of-life planning is crucial to ensure your documents and decisions are in order ahead of your passing. This can help your loved ones, doctors, and financial advisors understand your wishes and honor them. Use our end-of-life planning checklist to help you plan and make important decisions in regard to your property, healthcare, finances and more.
Download the End-of-Life Planning Checklist
SelectQuote Can Help You Explore Your Final Expense Options
Final expense insurance can be a sure way to give you and your family peace of mind. At SelectQuote, we want to help remove as many barriers as possible to obtaining insurance and protecting your loved ones. Final expense insurance can remove a financial burden in the event of your passing, helping pay for funeral costs, end-of-life expenses, outstanding debts and more. Let us help you figure out if final expense insurance is right for you.
