Most of us are planners. We’ve already starting planning for Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas celebrations and even what we will do and wear on New Year’s Eve. We plan where we will take our next vacation as soon as the last one is completed.
Some of us love planning baby showers, wedding showers, retirement parties, birthday parties and of late yes, divorce parties. We want to make it as easy for the people we are honoring as possible. We do all the planning because we don’t want those we love to be stressed out.
What about our final preparations–yes, it’s a topic that many don’t want to think of, 
but it is one that will affect all of our loved ones after we are gone. This is not a topic of conversation for most of us, but it should be. It goes along with your will, and how you want to distribute your belongings. Not leaving a will can make it complicated especially if there are a lot of people involved. So why not write it down? A will can and probably should be updated yearly or at least reviewed.
After burying both of my parents, grandparents and even a cousin I know the stress that it can put on the person(s) left in charge of making final arrangements. In all of my cases, all of those involved with the decisions were able to decide together how we should handle the situation.
In order to make it easy for your loved ones, you can already have specific instructions for them. You can have instructions as simple as what you would like to have at your last service. It would be wise to write it down, and let your family know about it. They may not follow your wishes, but they have some direction as to what you wanted.
Two of my roommates from college and a couple of other friends have made all of their arrangements. They know that their loved ones can change things, but they have 
made it as simple as they could and have told them of their plans. In fact, all of them have paid for their last service. I’m not suggesting that you go to this length, but some may choose to. You must be careful and read the fine print if you decide to do a pre-need as they can change from state-to-state.
Before you decide to prepay for your last service, please do the research and ask around. Planning for the end of time is something that takes a while to plan. AARP has some very informative articles on this subject.
Is pre-need right for you–it’s up to you to decide, but whatever you do get that will prepared. If you are not using something that you are going to leave someone in the will why not give it to them now?
Take time to talk with your family about your wishes, and then make your decision. Remember “thisisyourbestyear”. You have always helped your family so why not continue?
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