How to Plan an Affordable Funeral

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I would like to know about affordable funnerals and plots also

Mary H,Barrios of AZ 3:51PM March 16, 2011

Before my Mom passed away recently, I contracted with a reputable funeral home in our area. I had been to many funerals @ the facility over the years. We trusted them! They acted kind, gracious, respectful and I went away with the thought that the simple cremation would be non stress for our family. Her wishes were for a cremation, little fanfare, just have the family attend our family church service on Sunday & have dinner together. However, we were contacted after her death(which was expected & welcomed due to age/illness) @ that time we were "encouraged" to hold the Memorial at the funeral home, have a memorial dinner @ the local restaurant, place numerous obituary listings in several local papers including pictures. The reasoning being that we would want everyone to know that our Mother had passed. Under the circumstances, we wished for a quiet, simple celebration of her life with family. Close friends were aware of her death & sent sympathies, we did not need or want what the funeral director suggested. We felt a good deal of pressure to add fanfare. Please, everyone, be aware of the "Big Business" of funeral homes. Some, including this one, I beleive, make a good deal on the upselling to a grieving family. We choose not to buy the add ons but to have a simple family activity as we had planned. Our handling our own activity was very dissapointing to the funeral director-too bad! Since that time I have heard they charge far more than the newspapers charge them and tack on much more for a picture(Don't you want to honor her with a picture?), dine at that restaurant as thanks for sending so much catering business to the restaurant(I have seen the funeral director, his wife and kids at this place routinely-they leave-always without a check.Tax free income?). We did choose to have a simple Memorial at her home as she wished following Sunday Services. We have a family member whose son owns a catering service, he served a wonderful meal and we had a fabulous day of family bonding, we laughed, watched family videos, looked @ photos & honored Mom in our quiet way. Far more rewarding to us than a stiff service. Too bad the funeral director was so greedy, he should not have been a source of stress to our family. He has lost any future business from our family. Do what you feel is best for your family, don't allow these vultures to "guilt" you into what is best for them. Big funerals are a recent thing, for generations families had just what we did. It was respectful & rewarding. We certainly could afford all of his suggestions, going the simple route was far better for our family, he had a responsibility to respect our wishes without pressure intended only to pad his pocket. Not all funeral homes are bad, but beware-just because you know them, your family has used them, does not mean that they will be fair. Had this been sudden-we may not have had the wearwithall to resist his sale tactics, thus costing us far more than it needed to cost.

Suzanne of CT 1:19PM April 02, 2010

We took your advice and shopped around when our Grandma got sick. We were amazed at the price differences between the funeral homes. We visited/called 6 funeral homes, the prices for what they called a "Traditional Funeral" we from $2,495.00 to $9,750.00. This did not include the cemetery charges. We were amazed at the diffeerences in price. We found that the Dignity corporate owned funeral homes were much more expensive. After reading your article, we did some additional research and we came across an individual that helps people negotiate funeral costs. He is known as "The Negotiator". His name is Ken Lambert and he is here on Houston, TX. We spoke with him, told him what we wanted for our Grandmothers service. Within an hour, he had someone from a local Funeral Home call us. They assured us that we can have a dignified service at a very affordable price of $2,495. Two days later when she passed, they came to our home and took her to the funeral home. We had a viewing, church service, hearse, graveside service and a beautiful dove release. The obituary in the newspaper, additional fowers and police escorts were additional. The total cost was $3,600.00 in which the funeral director told us up front the day we met. The service was very professional and comforting. I don't understand how the prices can fluctuate thousands and thousands of dollars.
Thank You ALPHA Consumer, Claire Brothers Funeral Home and "The Negotiator" Ken Lambert for all your help in our time of need.

Rhonda Billings of TX 11:35AM February 15, 2010

Hey guys, this was a great interview. Thanks for posting. I wrote a similar article. It might shed some more light on the subject. I would like to link to your article if that's ok?
Here is the article:
http://insuranceinutah.com/2009/03/02/what-does-a-funeral-cost/
Jared B.

Jared Balis of UT 10:13PM March 01, 2009

I agree with the comment about how not all funeral homes are simply out for the extra buck. Yes a handful are, but I know that I'm in this business for the right reasons. Based on what I've seen from Forethought, it does seem like an excellent idea to keep cost down tend to triple every 15 years or so.
From a pre-need sales person perspective, I'd like to know how to ethically try to schedule an appointment to see if people would be interested in pre-planning. I'd like to know what you would expect from such an appointment.

Tyler of KY 11:30PM February 25, 2009

There are many credible online casket companies. I definately did my research first. We elected to use www.dignifiedcaskets.com and were very happy with the quality and the financial savings.

Anocasio of CA 5:33PM November 17, 2008

I have more questions than suggestions or answers.
1. What does the average cemetary plot costs. 2. Does it make sense to buy a family plot or an individual plot. 3. Are there any places that offer furneral services and sell furneral plots.

Dawn of NY 8:12PM September 08, 2008

In the same way, adult children will often disagree over funeral arrangements. Making your own prearranged & prefunded funeral plans is a good way to keep some measure of control over what will be selected and what amount of money will be spent on your own funeral arrangements. The tone of your original article was very negative toward this concept, yet here you are basicall advocating it to avoid strife among family members and financial stress at the time of your death. A handful of bad funeral homes found in the US should not lead US NEWS to give misguided information about the beneficial services offered by the thousands of ethical funeral directors across the country. Funeral Consumer's Alliance is just one voice in the discussion. I also like National Funeral Director's Association website and Forethought Life Insurance Company, for helpful and balanced information.

Bill Summers of IA 7:16AM February 19, 2008