If you have had to arrange a loved one’s funeral or been closely involved in the planning of a funeral, you may have some understanding of the emotional and practical difficulties of the whole process.

From sorting out the finances to choosing the flowers, there are many elements to consider, and decisions to be made all whilst in a cloud of grief.

One day, your loved ones will be doing the same for you. But what if you could somehow reduce this burden?

Even with little experience of funerals, just taking a moment to think of how your family may cope with the responsibility of arranging your funeral may be enough to take action.

In life, we do our best to take care of our loved ones, but we also have the chance to do so in death.

In the US, you may have heard it’s possible to pre-plan and/or prepay your own funeral, each with a number of ways to do so, which can be confusing.

We highlight the 5 major benefits of making either provision:

1. Pay in advance (and avoid rising funeral costs)

Funeral costs have continually risen in the last 40 years and are likely to continue to rise into the future.