During the COVID quarantine, I took to rewatching Mad Men. In my opinion, it’s one of the greatest TV series ever. It’s a show about the advertising business in the ’60s, but it’s much more than that. The main character, Don Draper is one of the most complex and greatest characters in television history. His lighter has engraved on it, “In life we often have to do things that just are not our bag.”

One such “thing” is planning for your funeral. It’s an almost taboo subject that makes people uncomfortable to discuss. I worked up a chart below that shows the percentage of people that will die. It’s quite telling. Percentage of people that die

When you pass away, your loved ones will be escorted to a room and asked what kind of funeral you want. Having lost my father last year, I know this first hand. They will need details for the obituary, a decision on cremation, if so, what urn do you like. What casket you would like, are we having a visitation, what songs to be played, pictures for the memorial, etc, etc. It’s a lot for a family that is already grieving to deal with.

You can make it much easier on them by having some of those decisions made beforehand and either written down or at the very least discussed with your spouse or loved ones. By doing this you make your transition from this world much easier on those that you leave behind.

That discussion is one that I have had with numerous clients when we discuss their financial plan. It’s not an easy talk, but it’s a talk that needs to be had. If you need help with this, get in touch with my office and we can discuss it with you as part of your financial plan.

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