spainrico

I am investigating the pros and cons of taking out a policy to pay and organise my final gig. I have an offer from Sabadell (underwritten by DKV) seems cheaper to go direct - has anybody recently taken out a policy or plan - what do you think is best pay premiums or one-off. OK depends on life expectancy etc but how did you decide?

Cats-R-Us

Our personal choice was to buy funeral plans. When we first moved over we didn't think about them so don't know if they were actually available then. Around 10 years ago we took out insurance cover which we then cancelled 4 years ago and took out the plans. The reason for this was we had a talk with neighbours and they had taken out insurance when they were around mid 50's in age. They were then in their late 70's (now nearer mid 80's) and the premiums had been increasing a lot each year. They were in the position that they had paid out far more in premiums than they would have if they had a plan or even just saved it in the bank. We felt we were at the stage where if we didn't change then, we could end up in a similar position if we lived a lot longer. We couldn't afford to pay in a lump sum but the company we went with (and I think others do the same) said we could put a down payment down and pay the rest over several years. We chose to pay it over 3 years rather than longer as we didn't want to drag it out, also, obviously, we did have to pay a bit more for spreading the cost than if paying it all up front. The insurance policy we had was only valid for Spain and would be cancelled if we ever moved back to the UK leaving us with nothing. The plan has allowed me to be able to still use it if I we ever did decide to move back. We say we never will but as no-one can say what the future holds if left on our own, this seemed the better option for us. Hope this helps you with what is best for you.

spainrico

OK, thanks more food for thought. Yes paying monthly premiums for years is not very tempting!

dmu

Hi from the France forum!
We decided not to take out a Funeral Plan after our neighbour's daughter calculated that the premiums which her mother had already paid over the years amounted to thousands of euros, much more than what a funeral would cost.
When OH passed away, his Cremation cost about 3000€ which had been put by in a Savings Account, and I'm thinking of giving my daughters that amount to put by for when it's my turn. (My Bank Accounts would be frozen and they wouldn't have access to my money to pay for the funeral).
HTH

Lynn R

Whilst we are both still alive we wouldn't take out funeral insurance or a pre-paid funeral plan, but make sure that each of us has enough in our bank accounts to pay for a funeral when one of us dies. If my husband dies before I do, I think I would then take out a pre-paid plan for myself, as I have very little family left in the UK now (no chilldren) and it would make things easier.

bobd22

Something I am considering. To date I have simply kept an amount in the bank that would cover the cost for both myself and my wife. However concern in Spain is speed of funerals, spanish rules and of course language at a time one will be under stress. To that end we are seriously considering a fairly simple funeral plan. As has been said it takes the worry out of what at some point is inevitable for all of us that may be left behind to sort out. I also like the fact that couple I have briefly looked at cover Spain and UK in case one does decide to return. For sure I have no doubt one could complete everything cheaper these companies are for profit. However something less to have to worry about contact the company and it gets sorted out. As they say funeral shrouds don't have pockets.

Lynn R

One thing is for sure, and that's that I wouldn't use one of those companies who advertise funeral plans to expats. I'd go to a local funeral director and pre-pay for a funeral with them. That would be who the large companies would be using anyway, they are just intermediaries and their profit just makes a funeral or cremation needlessly expensive. Any kind of service marketed to expats here, in their own language, is always more expensive than a local company, sometimes a LOT more expensive.

Pulaski

This is good advice - a significant number of prepaid plans are never used, especaially by expats, as they either move away (including back to the UK) or the family/ survivors can't find/ don't know about / forgot about, or just plain don't want to use, the prepaid service.

Fred James

We looked at this and decided that a pre paid plan was not needed. Just do some research locally for funeral directors, talk to them to get an idea of what they offer and when the death happens, one phone call will get them into action. As for payment, the funeral director will have a credit card machine handy. It's more important to have all the necessary personal details handy to give to them, or just get them to put it in their records.

chrisjolly

We did the same a couple of years ago and investigated several Funeral plans and policies. It is a very Spanish thing to start a plan when a baby is born but we checked out with a local funeral director how much it would actually cost. It was about 3 to 4000 euros..obviously there are several variables. We decided to put that money to one side rather than take out an expensive funeral plan. We also have his card and a file with all our details in because its the last thing you want to be doing when your partner dies is to try and find their NIE number, passport copy and other details. It sounds a bit morbid but it has given us especially my wife peace of mind. My advice is to put visit your local funeral director, talk to him and put the money to one side in cash. Bank accounts can be frozen after death so its difficult to get the cash.

Rosemary

My husband and I did that and when he died in hospital I had all of it to hand for the man who needed the details for his form, he was amazed and thanked me for making his job easier for him. At such a distressing time your mind is too woolly to think straight so this fore thought it very important. So many people shy away from discussing death but if you do this when you are both healthy and well it can be treated methodically, unemotionally and sensibly then put away in a safe place for when it is required.

As a bereavement counsellor one of the things that people have said repeatedly to me is the fact that they wished that they had talked about things more openly when death could be treated as a necessary subject. I always advise people to be well prepared whilst healthy and able to think clearly rather than wait for a difficult time as that means that you are able to fulfil each others wishes and not have regrets afterwards.

Rosemary

missile

Even a bad plan is better than no plan

dougal03

I have had a prepaid funeral plan with Golden Leaves for many years.Are you saying this is not valid?

Pulaski

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bobd22

surely they are valid for life as that's the purpose of them .