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We have found that part of the stress families feel when making funeral arrangements is the time pressure and unfamiliarity with the task. By making funeral arrangements in advance, there is no time pressure, which allows you the customer the opportunity to make better decisions regarding your funeral arrangements. Also, we find that family members appreciate knowing the wishes of their relative, relieving them of the burden of making those decisions. Sometimes, prearranging is beneficial when one's family structure is complicated and as such, knowing who might act as the decision maker is not easily known. Prearranging is popular, with as many as half of our customers making arrangements ahead of time. The reasons people prearrange include:
- Relieves surviving family members of the emotional burden associated with making funeral arrangement decisions.
- By prepaying funeral expenses, it relieves surviving members of the financial burden associated with funeral final expenses.
- Protects assets from confiscation due to long-term care expenses.
- Allows a less stressful environment in which one can make important decisions.
- Provides a record of your wishes that will be accessible by surviving family members.
- Allow surviving family members to concentrate on the memories of a lifetime rather than the details surrounding death.
- Allows the customer to determine exactly how much to spend for funeral services.
- Transfers the risk of inflation of funeral costs to the funeral home.
- Reduces the opportunity for intra-family conflict regarding funeral arrangement decisions.
- Offers the opportunity to pay for funeral expenses in installments.
Why do we recommend prearrangement? Because we've never had a family tell us that they regretted that they had prearranged. Conversely, we do serve families ill prepared when death occurs, causing potentially great burden, both emotional and financial, to surviving family members.
What about safety of your money if you pre-pay? A very important issue for our customers, we provide two important features of our prearrangement plans. First, the money should be held and managed by an excellent fiduciary whose expertise is stewardship over other's money. We use Homesteaders Life Company for this purpose, a highly regarded Des Moines insurance company in business since 1906 for the sole purpose of funding final expenses. Second, the funeral home should have no rights to use of any part of the funds until death occurs and services have been rendered. Our prearranged funeral agreements include this provision, and those purchasing our plans send their money directly to Homesteaders.
What about portability and other possibilities? While all who purchase plans from us intend to use our firm, certain contingent factors could arise that could cause them to change their mind. For example, they could unexpectedly move to another part of the country and perhaps change their view of returning to Des Moines, even after death. To protect our customers and possible contingencies, all monies normally available to us at death can be redirected for use at any funeral home nationwide. No penalty is deducted from available funds nor is any reduction of growth of the policy held back should the customer desire to use another funeral home. Our business philosophy is summed up in a No Regrets Service Guarantee, and we want the same to apply to those purchasing a prearrangement plan from us, even if ultimately they do not use our firm.
How do I prearrange?
We provide trained and licensed Family Service Counselors to assist you with making your funeral arrangements in advance. There is no cost or pressure associated with making advance plans, and it is possible to put significant biographical and arrangements information on file with us without pre-paying for your funeral expenses. Towards this end, we desire to educate you on the options available so that you can make intelligent decisions regarding what is best for you and your family. To arrange for an appointment or to ask questions regarding this service, please call the Iles Prearrangement Center at (515) 270-3800 or use the Contact Us link to send us an e-mail.
Sometime, somewhere, funeral arrangements will
need to be completed by someone.
Provide peace of mind to your family by pre-planning today
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