A calm unclouded ending, part 2: saving money for the funeral

Nobody wants to be a burden on their survivors and so the funeral insurance business prospers under the euphemism, “final expense protection.” Hubby and I are particularly drawn to the TV ad with an elderly woman dropping quarters into an expired parking meter. Time’s up!
You know there has to be a terrible catch and expense, and there has to be a better way. Savings, for instance.

Back in the day, simple funeral advocates recommended setting up a Totten trust, a simple bank-held fund that pays out to a trustee at your death. See the Wikipedia article. But since Totten trusts aren’t trusts per se but a dedicated account, and it seems like a lot of bother for what will be a scant few hundred dollars for a while, I was more than willing to follow my banker’s lead. Particularly since she had never heard of such a thing.

Banker: Why not set up a savings account, with a “payable upon death” designation?

Me: Will that work since the law doesn’t recognize Hubby and my relationship? He’d need the money pretty fast.

Banker: Sure. (But ask your banker, too.)
So when I came in the next day to set up my account, I used the lingo and said “I’d like to add a POD designation.” Easy as pie, and now I know if I’m spirited away suddenly, Hubby has fast access to some of my assets. And that does give me a little peace of mind.

By Scott Wells

Scott Wells, 46, is a Universalist Christian minister doing Universalist theology and church administration hacks in Washington, D.C.

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