DebtFreeGuru.com's - Tip of the Week - Monday, August 30, 2004
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Attend
A Workshop
How
to plan an $800 funeral
The
death of a loved one can bring not only grief but a labyrinth of difficult
-- and costly -- choices about funerals and burial. Learn how to deflect
sales pitches, save money and spend wisely on the elements that really
matter. - By
Christopher Solomon (as seen on MSN.Com)
When a
loved one dies, the last thing on most people’s minds is money. Only
later do grief-stricken survivors find out that dying in
The
average funeral in the
You
needn’t go into debt in order to honor the dead, however. In many parts
of the country, a loved one can be laid to rest with dignity for less than
$800, by choosing cremation and exercising some creativity. Even those who
favor a more traditional funeral and burial can save hundreds or thousands
of dollars by taking a few simple steps.
Whatever
your preferences, consumer advocates recommend three steps above all
others.
Plan
ahead. Talk
about death with a spouse or parent. Know what she wants and commit those
wishes to paper. Does she want to be cremated quickly, with no ceremony?
Or, does she want a large funeral with a choir -- but absolutely no fancy
headstone? Lack of communication is costly. “There’s more
psychological baggage surrounding death than any other emotion or life
experience -- even sex. And that’s why we pay a high price,” says
Karen Leonard, researcher for “The American Way of Death Revisited,”
the update of Jessica Mitford’s landmark 1963 muckraking expose of the
funeral industry.
Know
your rights. The
Federal Trade Commission’s “Funeral Rule” is a sort of Bill of
Rights for funeral customers. Among other rules, the Funeral Rule requires
mortuaries to present a price list of services to consumers before showing
them products such as caskets. A detailed but very readable overview is
the FTC brochure, “Funerals: A Consumer Guide” (see link at left under
Related Sites). Also see the Web site of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a
national consumer advocacy group (link at left).
Shop
around. Many
survivors also don’t shop around for deals because they consider
bargain-hunting an affront to the dead. Getting fleeced, however, is
hardly a noble tribute. Even a couple of quick calls to compare prices
once a relative dies is worthwhile. “Most people choose a funeral home
for all the wrong reasons: It’s close to their house, or it has served
their family in the past,” says Joshua Slocum, the Funeral Consumers
Alliance’s executive director. “The range of prices offered by various
funeral homes for comparable services is incredibly wide." The same
funeral package that costs $6,000 at one mortuary can be $2,500 across
town, says Slocum.
The
$800 (or less) funeral
Though
prices vary widely around the country, consumer advocates say a sub-$800
funeral is very possible in most places. Here’s how:
Choose
“direct cremation.” Direct
cremation simply means that the deceased is promptly cremated, without a
funeral service or public viewing. Direct cremation usually includes
transport of the body, cremation and a cardboard or plastic container for
the ashes. Embalming -- the temporary preservation of the body by
injecting chemicals -- is unnecessary under most circumstances, if the
body is promptly taken care of. Avoiding this expense can save several
hundred dollars. Be sure to ask whether the cost of direct cremation
includes the crematory fee; that can cost an additional several hundred
dollars.
Select
the simplest casket. Buying
a $5,000 mahogany casket if a loved one is soon to be burned to ashes
makes little sense. The Funeral Rule requires a funeral home to offer a
cost-effective alternative such as an unfinished coffin, or a heavy
cardboard enclosure to house the body for its trip to the crematorium,
where it will be burned along with the body. Ask for one. No state or
local law requires a casket for cremation.
Ask the
funeral home if a casket can be rented, if the body is to be viewed before
cremation.
If the
total cost of direct cremation is more than $900 or so, even in the most
expensive areas, “that’s not a fair price,” says Slocum. “This is
not a lot of work for the funeral director.” In many places the price
should be closer to $600, adds Leonard.
Avoid
a big-ticket urn and columbarium. Vessels
to store the deceased’s ashes can easily cost hundreds -- sometimes
thousands -- of dollars. “Some funeral homes try to guilt families into
buying more expensive urns by stamping ‘temporary container’ on the
outside of the cardboard or plastic box that the remains are returned
in,” says Slocum.
Don’t
be pressured into buying a lavish urn, says Lisa Carlson, consumer
advocate and author of “Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of
Love." Or, eschew an urn for a tasteful piece of pottery or other
vessel, Carlson recommends. And scattering the ashes in the ocean or on a
favorite mountain -- or simply keeping them at home -- can save thousands
of dollars for a burial plot or a columbarium, a building that holds
ashes.
Create
your own memorial. Elaborate
services held in a rented mortuary chapel are often both expensive and
stiff, say Leonard and others. She recommends holding a memorial service,
without the body, in a place that meant much to the deceased -- a church,
a Fraternal Order of Eagles hall, the family’s beach house, a favorite
park or art gallery. Instead of lavish flowers, decorate with mementos
that evoke the person’s life -- photo albums, Dad’s golf clubs,
diplomas, perhaps some favorite foods.
Join
a memorial society. In
addition to providing information about funeral options in their area, the
118 memorial societies nationwide that are affiliated with the nonprofit
Funeral Consumers Alliance frequently arrange discount funeral services
with local mortuaries. For example, for a $25 lifetime membership in the
Seattle-area People’s Memorial Association, the nation’s largest group
with 80,000 members, a person is able to purchase a $595 direct cremation
-- about 50% cheaper than some “list” prices, says executive director
Carolyn Hayek. Members also receive discounts on more elaborate options.
To find a nonprofit society near you, see the link at left.
Look
at for-profit alternatives. Another
option is a company that performs only direct cremation services, such as
the Neptune Society (see link at left). The company, which offers
cremation only, has basic packages from $799 to $1,299, depending on
location.
Donate
to science. There
may be no cost to a family to donate a body for medical research or for
organ harvest, according to the Funeral Consumers Society. Sometimes,
survivors may have to pay only for the cost of transporting the body.
Save
on burials
If
direct cremation isn’t right for you or a loved one, there are other
ways to save money:
Direct
burial. Like
direct cremation, direct burial means that the deceased person is interred
quickly, without a public viewing. There is no need for embalming or
cosmetology services, or funeral services.
Saying
goodbye. Some
people need to physically say goodbye to a loved one. That still doesn’t
necessitate embalming, however. If relatives live nearby, “It costs
nothing to have the family gather around the body at the time of death, as
compared to a formal viewing at a funeral home,” says Hayek of
People’s Memorial Association. If the person dies at home, “You do not
have to immediately call the funeral home to pick up the body. It’s
generally accepted that the body should be picked up within 24 hours.”
Caskets.
One
of the best places to save money on funeral services is the casket. No
other single item is so expensive. In 1996 the average casket cost $1,658,
according to an AARP survey. Go to a funeral home and find an appropriate
casket, then call others in town and comparison shop. Prices can sometimes
vary by hundreds of dollars. Skip the caskets with special seals that can
raise a casket’s price by several hundred dollars; no seal will preserve
the dead.
Even
greater savings are often found on the Web, where companies will sell the
same caskets at less than half the price the funeral homes do, and ship
the casket to a funeral home overnight or in a few days. (See link at left
for two online directories of retailers).
Also
consider bypassing high-end metal and wooden coffins entirely. You can
purchase a simple, well-crafted pine casket at one-twentieth the cost of
the most opulent polished bronze coffin. It will be more kind to the
environment and, ultimately, won’t serve the dead any less well.
Clothing.
Bury
the deceased person in his favorite clothes, rather than in a new suit.
Grave
liners and vaults. Most
cemeteries require that a coffin in a grave must be surrounded by concrete
walls so that the ground doesn’t settle over time. These “grave
liners,” though simple, can cost a few hundred dollars. Call funeral
homes to find the best price. Don’t get pressured into buying a
“burial vault,” a more extensive liner that can cost much more but is
unnecessary, say consumer advocates.
Monuments.
Like
caskets, prices for headstones and monuments vary hugely. It pays to shop
around, including on the Web. (See link at left.)
Benefits.
Money
is sometimes available to help bury the dead.
-
Veterans Administration. Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces and some civilians who have worked with the military or U.S. Public Health Service are entitled to free burial at a national cemetery, including a grave liner, marker and opening and closing of the grave. Mortuary fees aren’t included. (See link at left for more information on benefits.)
-
Social Security Administration: The federal government offers a lump-sum benefit payment of $255 upon death that can be used for funeral expenses. It is payable only to a spouse or minor children of the deceased, if they meet certain requirements.
-
Pensions, societies and other benefits. Organizations built around some careers, such as the Railroad Retirement Board, as well as some social groups, unions and pensions, offer allowances to defray funeral costs.
Finally,
to pre-pay or not to pre-pay?
An increasingly popular way to
take care of funeral arrangements is to pay a funeral home in advance for
a package of services. Many consumer advocates don’t recommend prepaid
plans, saying consumers are not well protected. Only
DebtFreeGuru.com - Tip of the Week - Monday, August 30, 2004
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