MONEY CLIPPED

Having recently been in the position of dealing with the death of a relative, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the how exploitative the whole funeral industry appears to be.

We have a tendency to avoid thinking of things like funeral expenses until we’re suddenly confronted with a death in the family. I decided to try to get a little perspective on things and found this interesting article on the history of the American funeral industry. I also found this entertaining little look at the business of death:

In recent years there have been more and more people expressing concerns that funeral industry exploits the grieving.

This site on funeral rip-offs was featured on the SHOWTIME series Penn & Teller’s Bullshit! in an episode entitled “Death, Inc.“. This epsidode is available in three parts on YouTube and you can watch it here: Penn & Teller’s Bullshit- Death, Inc., part 1

While death and funerals is a grim topic that no one particularly enjoys discussing, its a good idea to take the time to learn something about the funeral industry and many of the funeral customs we have adopted here in America. This is one estimate I found for funeral costs:

Average cost of funeral in U.S.: $6,500
Typical cost of funeral plus burial: $10,000
Average cost of cremation, including casket/container: $1,800

Here are some of the expenses that you can face:

$ Professional Service Charge

$ Embalming

$ Other preparation (cosmetology)

$ Visitation/Viewing

$ Funeral at funeral home

$ Transfer to funeral home

$ Hearse (local)

$ Service car or van

$ Acknowledgment cards

$ Casket

$ Burial Vault

$ Cemetery Plot

$ Other expenses (digging and refilling grave)

You need to look at what type of funeral arrangements you’d like for yourself and your loved ones and then investigate the costs together. Its important to have frank discussions with your loved ones now so you or they don’t get caught unawares and are put in the position of having to make decisions about death expenses while grieving. The last thing you want is for your burial to be a financial burden on those you leave behind or to be put in the position of weighing what you can afford against what you feel obligated to spend on a loved one’s funeral.

As hard as it can be to talk about such things, once you have, you’ll find that there’s a certain peace of mind that comes with knowing that you and your family won’t have to struggle with such issues at the worst possible time.

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Dave was 39 years old.

Dave had two children under the age of 5.

Dave did not smoke or do drugs.

Dave was not obese.

Dave and his wife bought their first house.

Dave died 2 days after he moved into his new home.

Dave only had a $15k life insurance policy through his job.

Dave was my friend. When Dave and his wife bought their new home, their budget required that both of them work. Dave’s income was approximately 60% of the combined $60k income. $5,000 of his insurance policy was used to cover his funeral (cremation kept the cost down). The remaining $10k was used to pay off their mini-van. Now his widow just had to figure out how to meet all the existing expenses, plus new ones like additional childcare, with more than half the household budget gone- all while grieving. Oh, and one other thing, Dave’s $20k in student loans did NOT die with him.

If you’re in your 20’s, you may not think of 36 as being young but believe me, 36 is way too young to die. What did Dave die from? The autopsy was vague at best and they suggested he had an enlarged heart that no one knew about. Doesn’t really matter what he died from. The point was he was dead and his family was left in serious financial trouble. It was a wake-up call for us, his friends. If this seemingly healthy guy could just up and die from some vague, undiagnosed condition, it could happen to us.

If you have a family, you better think about life insurance. Why did Dave only have his little work policy? My guess is that he fell prey to one of the life insurance myths- I’m too young to need life insurance. Maybe he assumed it was too expensive. His wife said they couldn’t really afford it but the reality is they could afford to go out to dinner as a family at least once a month. That would have covered the cost of a term policy big enough to pay off their house. Life insurance is just not one of those things that seems like a high priority as you’re burning through a paycheck, but your better. If you’re not sure where to start, check out this 4 Questions of Life Insurance.

No one likes contemplating their death, especially their early death, but it’s far worse to contemplate your spouse and children left penniless by your death.

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