This year, many new years resolutions have focused on finances. To improve your finances, build more savings, plan for the future and - most of all - achieve financial freedom. The idea of financial freedom is not just enough income to live off of, but saving enough money to cover your finances for the foreseeable future. Achieving financial freedom is all about planning ahead, knowing what lies in the future, and taking care of expenses before they become a burden.

If your new year's resolution this year is to put your finances in order and secure your financial future, you're not alone. Achieving financial freedom is in the top 10 resolutions this year nationwide. Millions of people are writing out to-do lists of financial tasks to take care of now so that they are taken care of forever. One of those tasks should be pre-planning and paying for your funeral.

A planned cremation and funeral is a tidy way to tie a bow on your future plans - come what may. Whether you'll be needing those funeral plans soon or many years from now, you can make sure that the eventual time of your passing is as easy on your loved ones as possible. This overlooked task should be an essential part of planning for your financially secure future.

Funeral Pre-Planning Locks In a Lower Price

Paying ahead has always been a way to reduce overall costs by side-stepping inflation. When the market inflates - as it does steadily - the general cost of goods and services will go up. A funeral that costs $1,000 this year may cost $5,000 in five to ten years. When you pre-plan a funeral, you lock in the price on the day you purchase or begin the installment plan. Ultimately, by locking in a price years before you expect to need the funeral, you can save yourself and your family hundreds to thousands of dollars in funerary costs.

For many people, funeral concerns focus mainly on being a burden to family. The last thing you want is for your family to have to worry about funeral finances during the tragedy of your passing away. By pre-paying, you save money and relieve your family of the financial burden regarding funeral planning.

Make Sure Your Final Wishes are Easily Honored

Do you have a few final wishes that you'd like honored and respected at your funeral? Perhaps there's a song that was always deeply meaningful to you, or a special family dish you'd like served at the wake. You may want to specify that your ashes are scattered in a particular place, or buried in a cemetery. Or perhaps you would like special items cremated with you, as they were with you in life. You may want a service where your photo is displayed next to the picture of a loved one who went before you, or for a special toast to be raised in your memory.

Pre-planning your funeral makes it easy for your family to know and honor your final wishes. So often, family members don’t know exactly what would mean the most to you in a funeral, and simply stating your wishes in a will puts the burden on them to determine how to complete them. With a pre-planned funeral, everything is already taken care of, and your wishes are sure to be honored without any burden on your family to know or implement them.

Relieve Decision-Making Stress From Your Loved Ones

When someone dear has died, most people are overwrought. They don't know what to do with themselves or the strong emotions evoked, much less plan a funeral. With the average funeral, there are about 75 decisions that need to be made in a span of less than 48 hours: Where to hold the funeral, what to serve, what flowers to buy, just to name a few. Why should your loved ones have to make these decisions during a time of emotional crisis and loss when you have plenty of time to plan ahead, instead?

A pre-planned and pre-paid funeral lifts all the burden of funeral decision-making from your family's shoulders if/when the worst comes to pass. No one will have to decide which flowers to buy or what type of ceremony you would have preferred because you'll have it all taken care of. It can be your way of taking care of your family after you are no longer with them.

A Pre-Planned Funeral is a Gift to Your Loved Ones

Finally, pre-planning a funeral is like one final gift. Consider the little touches you have time to make with years to tweak and refine your funeral plans. For example, you might make sure there's a special gift waiting for your spouse and each of your children. You might ensure a traditional family drink is available at the bar. You can have a song played that shares meaning with your loved ones - and will hopefully help them remember the good times in their time of grief.

Your funeral is the last party you will plan for the people you love, and you can design it as a parting gift to help them get through a difficult time. You can plan a loving evening rich with touches of your affection for each family member and friend who attends. A planned funeral ensures that even though you may be suddenly gone from their lives one day, you love your family and have prepared one final gift to comfort them in your absence.

Planning for Financial Security in the New Year

This year, you have the opportunity to plan ahead for your family's financial security. Not only will you be charging forward on your professional goals and locking down your future financial strategy - now is also an excellent time to neatly tie up some of those long-term loose ends. Having your funeral pre-planned is one important item to cross off your to-do list - for good.

Here at After.com, we would be honored to help you pre-plan your cremation and funeral services. Give yourself the gift of financial surety and plan that final parting gift for your family.  Planning ahead shows your love even after you are no longer there to care for them directly.

Contact us today to learn more about pre-paid cremation insurance and how it fits into your financial new years resolution. With pre-paid cremation plans starting as low as $20/mo, there’s no reason to put this task off any longer.