When you’re helping your clients plan for later life, pensions, lifetime mortgages and tax-efficient savings probably feature regularly in your conversations. But do you help them plan for their funeral?
This year, funeral poverty has been on the news and debated in parliament making it a key current issue, raising awareness amongst the general public. You may not be aware but the cost of a basic funeral has gone up by 103% since 2004, far outstripping general inflation. Last year 49% of deceased had either made no financial provision or insufficient provision to cover funeral costs and the average funding shortfall was £2,334.1 Without a plan in place, the financial burden of a funeral – plus making the arrangements themselves – falls to loved ones.
At this rate, in another 10 years, the average cost of a funeral could be more than £7,000. 2 These figures give pause for thought – a pre-paid funeral plan makes good financial sense and is a subject you should be talking to your clients about.
What is a funeral plan?
A pre-paid funeral plan allows your client to pay the cost of the funeral director’s services included in the plan at today’s prices and gives them more control over their funeral arrangements.
The opportunity
The pre-paid funeral market has more than tripled in size since 2006, with over 183,000 plans sold in 2015 and there are now more than 1.1 million plans live. 3 But given that only there are Over 23 million people over the age of 504 and only 5% of over 55’s have a funeral plan, the scope for growth is still massive. This is a great opportunity for you to start a new conversation with your current clients and can also open the door for new business.
So why should you be having this conversation with your clients? A pre-paid plan means that they are purchasing their funeral at today’s prices and safe guarding against any future rises in price and Golden Charter offer a range of affordable payment options. A funeral plan does make financial sense but there are also emotional benefits that are difficult to quantify. It can give your clients peace of mind knowing that their wishes are known and that their funeral arrangements are taken care of in advance.
Why Golden Charter?
Golden Charter has been a funeral plan provider since 1990 and is owned by an association of independent Funeral Directors – SAIF Charter Association. We are a member of the Funeral Planning Association meaning that we have to adhere to a strict set of rules and code of practise offering a level of protection for you clients.
We work with over 3,000 independent Funeral Directors giving us unrivalled coverage in the UK. If your client chooses a funeral director that we don’t currently work with, we are happy to approach them and try and obtain their services for your client.
We also allocate the plan to a Funeral Director at the time of sale. This means that your client will know in advance who their funeral director will be and get the opportunity to check that they are happy with the funeral director chosen. Some providers don’t allocate until the funeral plan is needed. This means that the client will never know which funeral director will be chosen, if the funeral director local to them will accept the plan, or how local to them they are.
To find out more please contact your Regional Account Manager or Sales Support 0800 145 6520.
Sunlife Cost of Dying Research 2016
Projections by Golden Charter based on Sunlife Cost of Dying Research
Funeral Planning Authority Statistics
Age UK
