How does a prepayment cremation work?
I'd be wary of a "prepaid cremation" plan. I have no knowledge of the Smart Cremation company, and make no judgment about it. But no "guarantee" now can insure that any company, including a cremation company, will remain in business years from now. Further, I do not understand the meaning of having a portion of your payment "trusted." Does this mean some of your money would be put in some kind of trust account? If so, what institution would hold the account? Who would have access to the account? Who would be trustee of the account? Would you have access to it? Would you be able to obtain information about it? Finally what percentage of your payment money would be "trusted?"
In sum, I suggest that you do considerable investigation before agreeing to this cremation program. And even if you are assured that most of your money is safely protected by being "trusted," you should take into account that any business can go broke.
Smart Cremation is essentially a twin of Neptune Society (several of the founders are the same), and SC works very much like Neptune: pay up front, "guaranteed" pricing, and the payment is trusted (with the company). With Neptune, 50% of your money is immediately spent to cover Neptune's cost (and commission), with the remainder put into a trust controlled by the company. Anything that you might insist on, such as the type and style of casket, or engraved headstone, may well be delivered immediately to the company warehouse, to be put into storage until you require it, which doesn't leave much room for you to change your mind later. Further, you should certainly check with SC to find out how much of your money is refundable if plans change. It's often recommended that instead of prepayment for funeral services, you set the money aside in a bank account (with a POD -- "pay on death") notation on the ownership description, and let the account accrue interest until needed. That often equals or exceeds the return that you'd receive through the SC trust investment, and certainly leaves all of your options (relocation, vacation, etc.)within your or survivors control. One advantage to the Smart Cremation plan is that it's easily transferrable to any location where SC operates, and they do have a large nationwide presence. Hope this helps....
Use the internet to check for scams, not to say it's foolproof. Googling Smart Cremation I found this link: http://www.funerals.org/newsandalerts/consumer-alerts/89-all-about-neptune
