As the dreaded April 15 deadline approaches, we are reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s adage, “…nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
In addition to the certainty of their eventual visitation, death and taxes have other common factors. For example, each year, CPAs encourage taxpayers to engage in proactive tax planning to mitigate the pain of the following year’s burden. Memorial counselors in the cemetery industry offer similar advice: preplanned burials can significantly reduce added emotional and financial pain families suffer when arranging a loved one’s burial.
“Cemetery planning should not be bequeathed to loved ones,” said Raymond J. Smith, founder of Convenient Pre-Purchase a national company that partners with a number of Pittsburgh-area Convenient Pre-Purchase affiliated Cemeteries to include Mount Royal Memorial Park, Allegheny County Memorial Park, and Mount Lebanon Memorial Park. “Unanticipated burial costs could indebt a family to a high interest loan, and in some cases, force a retired widowed spouse back to work.”
Burial Preplanning Prevents Overspending at a Time of Grief
Smith points out families often overspend as a result of quickly trying pull together cemetery arrangements.
“Surviving spouses and families who scramble to organize mom or dad’s cemetery arrangements at a time of deep sorrow and stress often spend thousands of dollars more than survivors whose deceased loved one preplanned,” said Smith.
“Parents who preplan their cemetery arrangements not only safeguard the surviving spouse or families from added financial hardship, they also position themselves to provide their children a greater inheritance,” said Smith. “Preplanning enables parents to invest in their burial space and related items at today’s prices rather than at the higher costs inflation will cause their children or surviving spouse to bear many years later. This in turn allows parents the opportunity to pass a greater financial inheritance onto their children.”
Families that Pre-Plan Together Remain Together
Cemetery preplanning presents another important advantage: the guarantee of keeping the family together. Spouses and families who preplan their cemetery arrangements ensure they will not be separated, even by death.
Convenient Pre-Purchase affiliated Pittsburgh cemeteries provides a unique opportunity for families to effortlessly own cemetery space by mail, phone, or in-person through the “Convenient Pre-Purchase” program. For tips and information about cemetery preplanning, visit Learn More section.
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