- Oct. 30
- Richard Parker
When Should You Start Financially Planning for Death?
Death isn’t something that many of us like to think about. However, it can be important to confront it in order to help those that we leave behind. By making financial plans, you can reduce the costs for your loved ones and ensure that your estate goes to the right people. But just when should you start planning?
You Can Start Planning at Any Time
However, most people don’t really think about estate planning until they have kids or until they start nearing retirement. It’s possible to take out life insurance or start setting aside savings at any age. When it comes to writing a will, you need to be over 18 years old.
The earlier you start planning, the more affordable financial planning can be. Funeral costs are constantly rising and you may be able to beat rising costs by securing certain aspects now. Similarly, if you plan to set aside savings, you can save up in smaller contributions.
As for writing a will, it’s possible to write one and update it at any point. This means that if your circumstances change and you want to leave money to someone else, you can do. Each alteration will cost extra money, so bear this in mind.
Ways to Financially Plan
There are many ways to make financial plans. Below are some of the main ways of financially planning that you should consider.
Decide Who Will Inherit Your Estate
You’ll need to work out who inherits your estate – which could include writing a will, setting up trust funds or simply adding a beneficiary to your bank accounts. It’s worth hiring an estate planning attorney to help you with this process. Such attorneys may be able to advise you on ways to reduce inheritance tax for loved ones if this is a concern.
Consider Life Insurance
If you don’t have much wealth to leave behind, life insurance could be the next best option. A life insurance company pays out a sum of money to your loved ones when you die. The amount of money may depend on how much you contribute each month. Life insurance can become more expensive as you get older and could be more costly if you have health problems. By shopping around, you can find the best rates and guarantee the bex compensation payout for your loved ones.
Plan Your Funeral
Planning out your own funeral has lots of benefits. You get to plan everything from the type of service to the way in which you want your remains to be dealt with, preventing your loved ones from having to plan this for you. This reduces the stress for them and ensures that your funeral is exactly as you would have wanted it. By making payments in advance, you can also reduce the cost. Some funeral homes allow you to pre-pay your funeral. That said, you may prefer to simply set aside some savings or let life insurance pay for these expenses.