21 Nov Funeral finances
One of the largest expenses of your life behind your house and car is…a funeral. While a house and a car is something we typically celebrate and think through carefully before purchasing, funerals are often planned very quickly and – due to the emotions involved – can cost much more than they need to. Although this is not the most uplifting topic, it’s best to think it through ahead of time.
I recently had to help plan one on a strict budget and wanted to share some tips with you. During times of grieving, especially if a death is unexpected, bereaved families often make their decisions based on emotion. That’s why it’s always good to think and talk through what you and your loved ones want before you or they pass away.
Below are some of the issues to think about, each of which greatly impacts the bottom line you will pay:
- Casket – a casket is one of the largest costs you will encounter. The caskets at the funeral home we used ranged from about $1,300 – $20,000. However, by law, you do not have to buy your casket through the funeral home. You can get caskets at Costco, Amazon, and even Wal-Mart, and many mail order companies as well, for much less than you would pay a funeral home, and most include shipping in the cost. Your funeral home cannot refuse to accept a casket from elsewhere. However, you need to be sure that the casket you order will be delivered on time, so check delivery dates very closely before ordering. After researching caskets online, we opted to purchase one from the funeral home since we didn’t have the luxury of time to wait for delivery. We purchased the least expensive casket and it looked absolutely fine for the few hours it was out. You also may need to purchase an outer liner for your casket – the purpose of these is to prevent the ground from caving in as the casket deteriorates. For the most part, a cement liner will satisfy any cemetery requirement and can cost somewhere in the vicinity of $600 – $1,000. However, the funeral home might also have you consider a basic, standard, or premium protection burial vault, all of which are much more expensive, and likely not needed by the cemetery.
- Along with the choice of the casket, you also need to determine whether you would like it open or closed. Besides being a matter of preference, there’s also a cost difference. An open casket typically requires embalming, bathing, dressing, and cosmetics, which costs more money. As I like to remember people the way they were before they passed away, all who were involved in the decision opted for a closed casket, which saved us over $1,200.
- Calling hours – if you have your calling hours on a different day than the actual service, you will pay more as you are using the funeral home’s time for two days rather than one. For the service we planned, we had calling hours from 9:30 – 11:00 am and the service immediately after, all at the funeral home.
- Offsite service – If you use different locations for the calling hours and service, you will also pay extra. Keep this in mind if you are having calling hours in the evening, followed by a church service the next day. Expect to pay from a few hundred to a thousand dollars or so to have calling hours and a service on different days or to have the calling hours at the funeral home and the service elsewhere, such as a church.
- There are also incidentals such as thank you cards, prayer cards, and a guest book – If you have the luxury of time, you can order these online and save money. However, we found that the funeral home charged reasonable prices for these items so we did not order elsewhere.
- Obituary – in an effort to generate income, newspapers started charging to print obituaries a number of years ago. The charge is typically based on the length of the obituary. An obituary for a loved one can very quickly cost $1,000 or more! We opted to place the full obituary in a town paper and on the funeral home website, and a short death notice in our statewide newspaper. To make this stressful time easier, it’s helpful to have your loved one write out important information while they are still alive so you do not need to run around gathering information while working on the obituary. We did this and it saved hours of time and made the writing much easier.
- Cremation is another option and generally costs less than burial, so that is another option, but one where the deceased should definitely be consulted in advance to determine their wishes.
Paying for a funeral can really hurt your financial situation so it really helps to think things through in advance. Many people pre-pay their funerals. While this generally makes things easier for those left behind, it can also hurt you greatly in terms of what you could have made investing that money over 20-30 or more years, so think that through before doing so.
If you would like to speak with someone about your financial situation, you can set up a free consultation today.