An Important Topic - No One Wants to Discuss

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thirteen ten wui B Money in motion with Coss Financial
don't forge. You can learn more online thewebsite Coss Financial
dot com. That's class Klaas Financial dot com. There telephone
number six O eight four four two five six three seven.
No charge for the initial get to know you appointment
tech Coss Financial. It will be complimentary to you again

(00:20):
their number six O eight four four two five six
three seven. Joined this week by CJ Closs and Eric Schwartz. CJ,
how you doing this morning?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm doing great. How are you? Sean?

Speaker 1 (00:30):
I'm doing really good. Great to talk with you. Eric,
how have you been?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Not too bad? Sean? Good to talk to you today.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
It's great to talk with you. And I will start
off the show thanking you guys for doing this for
folks that probably know I'm off on vacation, which means
this week's show is pre recorded. But the good news
is still have a chance to win a fantastic prize
with our Class Quiz Question the week. Chance to win
a twenty five dollars gift card UH with our with
our prize and the Class Quiz Question the Week. So

(00:56):
little tip. If you pay close attention to the program,
it's about every time the question and answer come up
during each week's program, and again you can learn more
online classfinancial dot com. They're telping Mrs six so week
four four, two, five, six, three seven. This week we
are going to be talking about kind of a topic.
It's an important a topic but a lot of folks
don't always want to talk about, which is funeral planning.

(01:16):
We're going to get into that in just a moment.
But first I mentioned the class quiz question the week.
Let's actually take a look back at last week's program
and get the question an answer there as well.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, thank you to our winner and everybody else for
listening last week. And our question was what is the
earliest you can generally apply and receive your Social Security
retirement benefit? Is it age fifty nine or age sixty two?
And the correct answer is, of course age sixty two.

Speaker 1 (01:44):
Oh fantastic, And I have you missed any part of
that Programnever You can always listen back to it at
classfinancial dot com. While you're there, you can listen back
to this previous shows podcast. You can also sign up
for the weekly Market Pulse newsletter. It's a fantastic weekly email.
A little snapshot of what's been going on market. Also
link as well to this podcast again right at clossfinancial

(02:05):
dot com to scroll down towards the bottom you can
get connected right there. As mentioned, we're going to be
talking about funeral planning and of course when you guys
are working with folks in retirement planning, it's a big
important topic that comes up. Can you tell us why
it's something folks should be considering ahead of time?

Speaker 2 (02:21):
CJ? Yeah, absolutely so. As you know, Sean, we work
with people to try to plan appropriately for retirement, and
that includes things like tax and insurance, and it also
includes estate planning. And as part of that kind of
estate planning element, we often will run across people that
we work with who pass away suddenly or unfortunately, and

(02:44):
then their families are kind of left trying to figure
out what's going on now. Obviously, one of the benefits
of working with a good financial advisor is that hopefully
they are keeping track of your kind of big picture
finances where everything is approximate values of all of it.
So that certainly helped the family. But you know, if
you think this through, that's an element that the family

(03:06):
will care about. But if you suddenly pass away and
there are no funeral arrangements. I will just tell you
this is another one of those areas where your family
can end up infighting. Right, You've got the one child
who says, well, I think mom and dad would have
just wanted us to cremate them and like, you know,
just move on. And then you've got the other child

(03:27):
who goes, I don't know what they wanted. I never
talked to them, but we need to do something. And
then you've got the third child who said mom and
dad had so much money, we can just pay for
the thing ourselves, and even if it's eighty thousand dollars,
let's just do it. Well, I mean, imagine if that's you.
Imagine if you're one of those children. That's tough because one,
you know how relationships are inside of families with siblings.

(03:49):
It's like one is like the penny pincher and the
other is the spending on everything, running out of money.
And so I think you get the idea. It is
important to not only focus on getting your basic estate
planning documents, order wills, trust, powers of attorney. Those are good,
and we have entire shows we have dedicated to that topic.
But beyond that, it is the actual structure of what

(04:11):
you want to have play out when you die. I
think funeral flowers, even I've seen people do music and
pictures and everything. All of that is predetermined so that
when you pass away, it is just the children carrying
out those wishes, which is typically most of this has
already been paid for by then, instead of having the
children have to make all those decisions on your behalf. Now,

(04:36):
I don't know about you. I don't love the idea of,
you know, pre planning my death and what that what
that service is going to look like. However, I will
tell you now from working with people and getting to
see this play out, unfortunately, it is another one of
the best gifts you can give to your children is
just to say, you know what, we want to be

(04:56):
buried here here, We've already got the plots. We either
want to be cremated or we don't want to be cremated.
We want you know, we've already pre paid for the
funeral arrangements with the food and the flowers and the stuff.
And here's a couple of songs we want played. You
guys figure out the rest. You get the point that
is eighty percent of it right there, Okay, Now, with
all this being said, we're going to go through some

(05:18):
practical steps you can take to actually plan for your
funeral arrangements. But I should begin by giving you a disclaimer.
We are not funeral directors. Obviously, we know a lot
about estate planning and financial planning, but we don't handle
the actual contracts to establish a funeral plan with a
you know, a plot and a headstone and all of that.

(05:40):
So you will want to actually talk to good local
funeral homes or funeral directors, advanced planning specialists. There's a
lot of different names for them, but they can actually
help you pre pay for these items. So within this context,
let's give you some steps to take. Step number one
would be on deciding on final arrangements, like would you

(06:00):
like to be buried, cremated, or donate your body to science.
Each option comes with some choices. If you want to
be buried, you'll need to decide on a casket, a
burial plot, and service details. If you want to be cremated,
think about where your ashes will be kept or scattered.

(06:21):
As you know, some people will take their ashes to
a particular country or a state, or an ocean whatever
that can be nice or generous for you to have
planned out prior to your death. A twenty twenty four
National Funeral Directors Association Consumer Preferences survey found that cost
effectiveness is like fifty four and a half percent, simplicity

(06:45):
is forty two and a half percent, and personal preference
twenty four percent were among the top reasons people choose
cremation over a burial. So different percentages attached to different
things here, but you get the idea. People will often
choose cremation because they view it as cost effective, simple,
or it's just a personal preference. In twenty twenty four,

(07:06):
the cremation rate was expected to be sixty one point
nine percent compared to a burial rate of thirty three
point two and so and by the way, by the
year twenty forty five, they expect cremations to reach about
eighty two point one percent. So listen, I think there
used to be burial rates where you know, buried in

(07:27):
a casket was super super high and very few people
got cremated. We're actually seeing those numbers start to shift,
and funeral homes and funeral directors are aware of this
and they can accommodate all of those elements based upon
your wishes. We're also seeing things like donation to science.
This requires arrangements way ahead of time with an accredited program,

(07:49):
but that's another great option. We've seen people who get
cremated and then actually are buried in an urned that's
part of a tree, and so there's like these kind
of organic tree farms that are actually people's ashes that
were put and it's pretty cool. I think all of
these things are great options. You see the idea, don't
you just on the final arrangements of what's to happen

(08:12):
with your body. We've talked about four different options. I'll
bet each one of your children has their own strong
opinion about which one that should be. Don't leave it
to them to make that decision. Try to plan some
of this on your own.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
So one of the other benefits of my son being
an only child. Let's arguing though. I'm talking this morning
with our retirement planning professional CJ. Class and Eric Schwartz.
Of course, they come to us from Class Financial online.
Class Financial dot com. That's Class k l a A
s Financial dot com. Great website. I mentioned earlier the
opportunity to stop on by to subscribe and listen back

(08:45):
to this podcast. I also mentioned the weekly Market Pulse newsletter.
It's a great weekly email. Got a little snapshot of
what's going on in the markets. Also linked to the
most recent podcasts I get it. You should subscribe as well.
Just head on over to classfinancial dot com. That's Class
k l a A s FI finance dot com. You
can also learn more about the team there. You can
also learn about the separate divisions of Coss Financial how
they can help you or if you an employer. Again,

(09:06):
all that information available to you at Cossfinancial dot com.
There telephone number six soh eight four four two five
six three seven. No charge for the initial get to
know you appointment at Coss Financial. It will be complementary
to you again. Their number six oh eight four four
two five six three seven looks in your conversation with
c gen Eric. We'll do that next as Money in
Motion with Coss Financial continues right here on thirteen ten

(09:28):
wi b A. This is money in Motion with Coss
Financial right here thirteen ten WUIBA chatting this morning with CJ.
Coss and Eric Schwartz, a retirement planning professionals from Coss Financial.
The website costs Financial dot com. That's COSS k l
aas Financial dot com. Great website. Hope you get a
chance to check that out. If not, head on over
there later today. While you're there, sign up for the

(09:50):
weekly Market Pulse newsletter. There telephone number six oh eight
four four two five six three seven. No charge for
that initial get to know you appointment at COSS Financial.
It will be complementary you again their number six so
eight four four two five six three seven. Talking this
week about the importance of planning ahead when it comes
to making funeral arrangements. And I got that first step
of course, putting together those final arrangements from CJ and Erica.

(10:13):
Let's bring you in on this conversation. I see the
funeral market is valued. It hits some substantial number twenty
billion dollars annually. That means understanding cost and options pretty important.
What do people need to know there, Well.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
Sean, I would say what people need to know is,
like everything in life, it is not cheap to die, unfortunately,
but I'm just kidding. We see about two point four
million funerals take place each year in the US, so
obviously being informed can help you make really really good
for the best decisions for your family before I get

(10:48):
into costs, So I wanted to just kind of touch
on some of the trends we're seeing in funeral planning.
CJ was just talking about one of those, and that's
green burials. So about sixty eight percent of Americans and
twenty four which was up from sixty percent just the
year before, are now interested in environmentally friendly options such
as biodegradable caskets and other natural burials. CJ was talking

(11:12):
about these these places where people who a group's people
that are interested in this are are kind of coming
together to be to be laid to rest in similar
places working on sustainability. There's a large center out in
Verona here locally that does that. So that is a big,

(11:34):
a big shift in the industry that we're seeing. The
other one that's that's pretty common and probably won't surprise
people is virtual services. So since COVID nineteen, many funeral
homes now offer live streaming options. This just makes it
easier for you know, distant family members to participate, and
it's definitely something that we're seeing grow in popularity. But

(11:55):
let's talk about those costs. Costs can obviously vary widely.
The median cost of a funeral in the US in
twenty twenty four was eight thousand, three hundred dollars, while
average burial costs were between seven and ten thousand dollars. Now,
if you're talking about cremation, that's more like between fifteen
hundred and five thousand. But as you can see, not

(12:18):
not cheap. In Wisconsin, the average burial costs around eighty
two hundred dollars, while a full service cremation is about
sixty one hundred dollars. Some of the things you need
to be thinking about, you know, when it comes to
you know, we see these big numbers, it's like, well,
what is that actually paying for? What is that covering
that's going to be covering things like the funeral home fees,
the casket or the urn, the burial plot are hearsed,

(12:43):
flowers and staff services, and what we actually see, and
this may not surprise people, but we see many families
kind of unintentionally overspending because they're you know, they're in
they're in a time of greef. They feel that it's
the time pressure to get things figured out. So it's
just another reason that's planning a head can only help
the situation and The other thing that we see a

(13:04):
lot is generally in an effort to whether make things
more efficient or easier to pull together, or you know,
maybe it's even earn some more money. We see a
lot of times funeral homes will sell things in packages.
And what this can do is, yes, it may make

(13:25):
things a little bit simpler, but it also ends up
putting people in position to pay for a lot of
things that maybe they didn't want or need. So consumers
should be aware that the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule
ensures transparency and it allows you to choose only the
goods and services you want and receive price information upfront,
and it ensures that you aren't pressured into unnecessary purchases

(13:49):
or services when you're making funeral arrangements. So it can, yes,
be more work in a time of like I said,
grief and just feeling rushed. But do you have the
option to not just buy off the shelf, you know,
the whole the whole package that maybe includes a whole
lot of things that that you don't want or need.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Really good guidances we're talking up sorry about that. Just
stalking this morning with Eric Schwartz and CJ. Closs They
are our retirement planning professionals from COSS Financial. You can
learn more online the website COSS financial dot com. That's
Coss k l A A S Financial dot com. And
they're telephone number six soh eight four four two five
six three seven. No charge for the initial gets to
know your appointment tech Loss Financial. It will be complimentary

(14:30):
to you again their number six oh eight four four
two five six three seven. Sorry about that, Eric, before
I interrupted you. I know you want to talk a
little bit about the costs, don't you.

Speaker 3 (14:38):
Absolutely, Yeah, no problem, Sean. I was just I was
about to move from the hey, here's the big bill
to Okay, how do we actually pay for that? So? Uh,
there's a number of ways to pay for for funerals.
So life insurance is an example. Many retirees will keep
older life policies to cover final expenses. Some of them
even opt for specifics final expense insurance, which offers smaller

(15:00):
coverage amounts, but they're kind of tailored to meet the
cost of a funeral. You could have a savings plan,
so just setting aside money monthly can work if you're disciplined,
but if you pass away before reaching your savings goal
your family may need to cover the difference. You can
also set aside a separate bank account that a trusted
family member could access with funds that are set aside

(15:22):
specifically for the future need. There are pre need contracts,
so some funeral homes will let you pre pay for
your services, and this is obviously very convenient, but payments
are often required within three to five years, and they
can be costly even if you're on like a payments plan.
And then finally, estate funds right, so you could rely

(15:44):
on a state assets to pay for the funeral. It's
not always ideal since you know, especially if things are
going through probate, it can take a while to access funds,
but just using funds from your estate to pay for
a funeral is also an option.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
They're really fascinating stuff. We talked this morning with Eric
Schwartz and CJ. Closs. Our retirement planning professionals from Class
Financial cover a little bit of everything on this program.
Don't forget. If you ever want to listen back, you
want to share the show, you can always head on
over to Coss Financial dot com. That's Coss k l
a A S Financial dot com. There you can learn
more about the team at Class Financial separate divisions. You

(16:18):
can sign up also for the weekly Market Pulse newsletter
again that available to you at Cossfinancial dot com. That's
k l aa S financial dot com. There tell for
what number six o eight four four two five six
three seven. No charge for that initial get to know
your appointment at Coss Financial. It will be complimentary to
you again their number six oh eight four four two
five six three seven. Put some of the stuff into action.

(16:39):
We'll also head on over to the Money and Motion
listener question corner and have the Class quiz question leak
for you. We will do that next as Money in
Motion with Coss Financial continues right here on thirteen ten
w U I b A. This is Money in Motion
with Coss Financial right here thirteen ten double U I
b A. Mention the website Coss Financial dot com. That's
Coss k l a as Financial dot Com. I'll be

(17:01):
at a chance to stop by the side. If not,
head on over there later today. Don't forget. You can
listen back to this in previous shows podcasts. Also learn
more about Class Financial again all online. That website Coss
Financial dot com that's colss hey l AA S financial
dot Com at twelve number six So eight four, four, two, five,
six three seven talking about funeral planning this week on
the program, and we talk about the costs and way

(17:23):
to pay the ways to pay? Are their steps and
what are some of those steps that folks can be
taking to complete their funeral planning and really help out
their family members. C.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Jay.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
Yeah, great questions, Sean. So, so here's six key steps
to make sure your wishes are documented and accessible as
it relates to kind of final final plans after you
pass away. So step number one would be pick a
photo and choose a high resolution image you'd like to
use for memorial programs or newspaper announce announcements. Number two,

(17:55):
write your life story so you know your story best.
Just doubt down some key facts to help your family
members with your obituary and with any kind of final
statements they'd like to make. Step number three specify burial
or cremation plans. So, if you prefer burial, consider buying
a burial plot. If you prefer cremation, then decide where

(18:17):
you would like your ashes to go. Number four, figure
out your service preferences. Do you want a formal memorial
a celebration of life or something unique. Just write it down.
Step five create a contact list, so provide names and
numbers of people who should be notified. That's a big one,
by the way, that's a really big one, right because

(18:39):
people will say, hey, you know, when I die, I'll
find everything, and then my kids will My kids will
figure it out, and you goo figure out what they
don't know who you know, they don't They don't know
who you want to have have you know, notified and
then invited. But you get the idea, So create a
conduct list, and then you know. Final Step number six
is keep documents accessible. Store these details in a safe place,

(19:00):
physical or digital, and let a trusted family no member
know where they're located. And when we say documents, we're
talking like your estate plans, wills, trust, powers of attorneys,
along with these written instructions we're talking about because every
once in a while, somebody does all the work to
do this and then the kids go, there's this safe

(19:20):
We can't help it up. I shouldn't be laughing. It's
actually very not a laughable event. It's pretty horrible. But
you get the idea. Just so just make sure those
are those are six good steps to go through. If
you don't remember them or couldn't write them down, don't worry.
We podcast this and put it up on our website.
You can go back to those six steps. But if
you just follow those six steps, you should, you know,

(19:42):
have a kind of a clearly laid out plan after
your passing.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
Really good guidance and great information. Yeah, one of those
tougher topics where you're like, you know, this kind of
makes you a little uneasy, but it's such a very,
very important things, as we've talked about this morning with
c Jan Ericus. As Eric CJ mentions, excuse me mentioned
there you a always listen back. I've missed part of
the show at cossfinancial dot com. That's Coss Klaas Financial

(20:05):
dot com. Subscribe to the podcast right outline. Speaking of
getting the website Coss financial dot com great opportunity. If
you've got a question you'd like answered on the program,
you can always email the program s. Head on over
to cossfinancial dot com and submit your question for the
Money and Money in Motion listener question corner. As a
matter of fact, Alisha, she wrote in this week, she says,
I'm forty years old and would love to retire in

(20:26):
my mid fifties. What steps should I take now to
help make that a reality.

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, it's a really good question, Alisha, and thanks again
for submitting the question through our website. Makes it a
little bit easier for us to be prepared in answering it. Although,
by the way, I do like live questions, so if
we're ever on the air and somebody wants to call in,
we do like those. But yes, Alicia, great great questions.
So I would say retiring in your mid fifties is

(20:54):
ambitious but achievable. It just requires careful planning and disciplined execution.
And this is good for everybody to hear if you
are interested in retiring early, and we would define early
retirement as anything before sixty five. Sixty five is when
Medicare kicks on. You're close typically close to your full
retirement age for Social Security, so sixty five is kind

(21:15):
of the most common retirement. If you plan on retiring early,
which is any time before that, you're gonna really need
to plan, especially Alicia, if we're talking mid fifties, that's
almost a decade earlier. As you can imagine, you're going
to have to be quite intentional. So here's some things
to consider. Number one would be define your retirement goals,

(21:35):
so estimate your desired lifestyle and retirement expected expenses, potential
income sources, consider different factors like travel and inflation and
all that. Number two would be to maximize retirement contribution.
So if you really plan on retiring early, contribute, contribute,
contribute to save as much as you possibly can into
like iras four to one case things like that. Now,

(21:56):
interestingly enough, the next step is because of oversaving into
the wrong we'll call it registration type. So as much
as we love those retirement accounts, sometimes they can have
restrictions where you can't touch them before age fifty nine
and a half without a penalty. So obviously, if you
want to retire at say fifty five fifty four, you're
going to have to think about not only saving aggressively

(22:18):
into retirement accounts, but potentially saving aggressively into what we
call taxable brokerage accounts or roth iras, things like that.
And then, obviously, Alisha, if you're forty years old, you're
going to want to think about investing for growth because
you've got about fifteen years until you want to retire.
I'm guessing fifteen years. You didn't say exactly when in
your mid fifties, but let's say fifteen years. That gives

(22:39):
you enough time to be focused on growing your portfolio,
which would be a diversified mixt of equities. Also, Alicia,
you're going to want to eliminate debt prior to retirement.
And some people don't get this, but I will just
encourage you for us. Retirement and retirement planning is not
a concept. We live it and breathe it every single day.
And what I will encourage you is I get to
retire thousands of times, meaning like with my clients, I

(23:02):
see it happen all the time. And one just undeniable
truth is that retiring without debt brings a lot less stress,
and even even being able to step into retirement with
debt is really hard for a lot of people. So
plan on eliminating your debt before you retire, and then
consider make sure you're considering healthcare related costs because obviously

(23:26):
if you're retiring before sixty five, you got to get
gap insurance up until Medicare and then finally you know,
run some projections of this adjust regularly and just make
sure you stay on top of it, so Alicia, there's
kind of are synthesized in a nutshell things to consider
if you want to retire in your mid fifties. And
I'll add one thing at the end, you're probably gonna

(23:48):
want to work with a financial planner. I know that
sounds like we're trying to, you know, push you towards
our organization. We're really not. Just you're probably going to
want to meet with a qualified financial advisor or retirement
special list because retiring that early is quite complicated, and
so you just might want to get a partner in
that process.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
Really really ambitious, really good to hear too as well
as we talked this morning with CJ. Closs and Eric Swartz,
our retirement planning professionals from Coloss Financial. The website coss
financial dot com. That's Coss Klaas Financial dot com. Great
website and resource. Learn more about Colss Financial. They're telephone
number six so eight four four two five six three seven.
No charge for the init she'll get to know the
appointment deck Loss Financial. It will be complementary to you.

(24:28):
Again the number six oh eight four four two five
six three seven. You want to hold on to that
telephone number because It's time now for the Closs Quiz
Question the Week. It works like this, just a moment,
I'll ask you the Class Quiz question the week. If
you are the first qualth correct answer, you win this
week's prize twenty five dollars gift card. Again Class Quiz
Question Week. Is this true or false? In the United States,
approximately twenty just pardon me, approximately two point four million

(24:51):
funerals take place each year. Is that true or is
that false? Telephone number six o eight four four two
five six three seven. First call correct answer win this
week's Pride Guy. I gotta tell phone number six oh
eight four four two five sixty three seven. Of course,
that's Class Financial Office right here in Madison. That number
six oh eight four four two five six three seven. CJ.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Eric.

Speaker 1 (25:10):
Thank you guys so much for doing this this week.
You guys have a great day. We'll talk real soon.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Thanks Sean.

Speaker 1 (25:16):
And again and again that website Cossfinancial dot com. That's
Coss k l aa S Financial dot com. This is
Money in Motion with Coss Financial Asset Advisors LLLC, a
registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. The contents of
this show are for informational purposes only. And should not
be considered individual investment advice. Class Financial does not offer

(25:37):
tax or legal advice. Any opinion offered during the course
of this show is the opinion of that particular investment
advisor representative and not necessarily the opinion of COSS. Financial
News comes your way next right here on thirteen ten
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