This agency only works with local, privately-owned funeral homes. This means you will be dealing with a trusted member of your community, not some distant corporation only worried about a bottom line.

Over the course of more than two decades of working in the funeral, burial and final expense industry, I have reviewed thousands of cemetery records. No one is fully prepared for the death of a young one. It is especially hard on a young couple who scarcely has any preparation for their own passing. It is usually entirely unexpected, and there is a bill due for all arrangements.

Yet some know the reality, and when making their own plans, they take into account that someone other than themselves may need what they don't currently have. When I sold cemetery arrangements for Valley View Memorial Park under the Winder family ownership, 60% of my contracts were for four burial spaces (which allowed up to eight burials possible). I noticed that many families had forestalled the possiblity of a child or grandchild death and bought more arrangements than for just two people.

When you purchase a guaranteed funeral plan, which is normally funded by a life insurance company, coverage is for one individual. However, with the National Guardian Life Funeral Expense Trust, when you pay with a single payment, you get coverage for children and grandchildren for up to $3,000 of the face amount of your policy. This is a "rider" that you only pay $10 for in addition to your single payment amount. It covers only one occurrence and is then used up, but if you are a husband and wife both buying policies and you have children in common, for $20 you get coverage for two occurrences.

The single payment plan is already the best option all by itself. You get an automatic discount off the total face amount, based on your age and health. After that, you apply the death benefit to a guaranteed pre-paid funeral plan. For the remainder of your life, you get a growing cash value. So far, with Premier Funeral Services, the cash value growth is outpacing Premier's price increases, which means death claims result in family's being refunded money the funeral home has no legal interest in. If the funeral home does raise prices beyond the death benefit, they must provide funeral services, caskets, vaults, etc. at "frozen" costs, regardless of what they are charging at the time. This makes the single payment funeral plan the best plan of all.

Most funeral homes discount their funeral services and caskets based on the age of the child. This means if you purchase a single payment funeral plan from Premier Funeral Services for $2,845 (the company I most recommend and fund for), the benefit you would get from the rider would pay for the funeral in full. If you are contemplating paying for a plan with a single payment and you have children and/or grandchildren who fall into the age category, paying the $10 is another no-brainer. NGL only began offering this rider in 2015. Hopefully they will continue it indefinitely. But to be sure, if you have been setting aside money for your funeral, put that money into the NGL Funeral Expense Trust--regardless of which funeral home you decide to use. As I explain on various pages throughout this Web site, all of your funeral funds in the Funeral Expense Trust grow tax-free for the rest of your life and are a protected asset.

The NGL Child & Grandchild Rider is an easy, understandable plan of insurance available for only $10 at the time of application. By filling out the simple application and purchasing this plan for your young loved ones, you will be providing coverage for the entire time your plan is in place.

Features of the Child & Grandchild Rider include: