Checklist for planning your own funeral
Funerals are an important part of every culture. For many people, they’re an opportunity to say a final goodbye and to come to terms with losing a loved one.
Should you plan your own funeral?
While it may feel morbid to plan your own funeral, especially at a relatively early age, it’s an act of kindness for the people who will need to make the arrangements.
Whoever organises your funeral will probably know you better than anyone, but if you’ve not left them a clear plan they’ll need to make decisions while grieving, which is particularly difficult if you die unexpectedly.
For that reason, a common life admin task when you reach the age of 50 is nailing down some of the details you’d like at your own funeral.
Writing down what you want can help take some of the pressure off when the time comes. This could be part of your Will or it could be as simple as a note left in an envelope.
How to plan your own funeral
Whether you plan to have a funeral that’s as simple as possible or a grand wake that represents your personality, your funeral is in many ways the final memory of you that you’ll leave your loved ones.
There’s a few things worth thinking about when you’re deciding how you want your funeral to take place:
Paying for your funeral in advance
According to analysis by OneFamily and data from MoneyHelper, two out of every five (42%) funeral plans and life cover policies won’t pay enough for even a basic cremation. Even more worryingly, 68% of people over 50 in the UK don’t have any life cover or a paid funeral plan at all.
While many people expect to pay for their funeral out of their savings, some have no plan in place. It’s also worth bearing in mind that all of your accounts will be frozen when you die until your Will is sorted out, so whoever is organising your funeral might not be able to access any savings you’ve put aside for some time.
You could consider taking out a funeral plan or over-50s life insurance policy to cover the cost.
Over-50s Life Cover
Taking out an over-50s life cover insurance policy could mean at least some of the cost of your funeral is taken care of.
You pay an agreed amount every month and your loved ones will be given a lump sum when you die. Unlike a funeral plan, this gives them the option to decide how best to spend the money, such as to pay off debts.
Some policies, including OneFamily's Over 50s Life Cover, give the option to add a funeral funding feature. This means payment can be made directly from the policy to your chosen funeral director when the bill is settled, so there's no need for the cost of the funeral to be found up front.
OneFamily’s Over-50s Life Cover also pays out if you’re diagnosed as being terminally ill.
Please be aware that the amount that your policy pays out after you die may not be enough to cover the full cost of your funeral, depending on the details of the ceremony.
Funeral plans
A funeral plan is designed to pay the full amount of your funeral as you’ll make a detailed plan when you set it up.
Like a life insurance policy, you pay an agreed amount into the funeral plan every month and when you die the policy pays for your funeral. The money that is released when you die goes straight to the funeral director.
OneFamily’s Over-50s Life Cover
Our award-winning Over-50s Life Cover is a guaranteed acceptance policy, which means everyone can take out this insurance as long as they’re aged between 50 and 80. You don’t need a medical check and the only thing we’ll ask you about your lifestyle is whether or not you smoke.
It also includes terminal illness cover, so as long as you’ve had the policy for at least two years you’ll receive the pay-out if you’re diagnosed as being terminally ill.
This type of insurance isn’t guaranteed to cover the whole cost of your funeral. Your loved ones will receive a set amount of money so it depends on how expensive your funeral is.
As the policy has no cash value, it’s really important that you keep paying the agreed amount every month – if you miss payments then your policy could be cancelled.
Find out more about our Over-50s Life Cover.

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