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I am just beginning to think ahead to the day I can retire and am trying to figure out my fincial needs. Although I don't even want to think about not being here I want to make sure I tuck a little away so I don't leave someone else with my final expenses.
All I really want is a cremation and a 2 hour memorial service. If I have an idea of the costs today I can take a better guess at what they will be down the road.
Thanks!
Do you want to be embalmed before cremation? You may have to be if you want a public viewing of you lying in your casket at the funeral home or church. What will happen to your ashes? Will they be scattered somewhere or buried? What kind of an urn will you want them put into? Do you have a gravesite or even just a cemetery picked out if you want your ashes buried? What kind of memorial service do you want and where? -- religious? Secular? Will there be a big bash at a local restaurant?
My advice is to meet with the funeral planner at one or more funeral homes in your area. I discovered the process isn't cut and dried with firm costs and can vary depending on what services you wish and what your survivors might want.
In the comments section when giving rep --There are urns and there are urns--plain ones and pretty ones and magnificent ones. What will become of the urn? Will it sit on someone's fireplace mantel?Quote:
Originally Posted by happy2balive
A funeral planner will go through a list of questions and come up with a dollar figure for you. At least that will give you a ballpark figure for your savings plan. Of course, you are under no obligation to sign anything with the planner.
Many funeral planners offer prepaid funerals. You can pay for it now at today's prices and be assured your plans are set.
Funeral prices can also vary by area, so you are best shopping around in your area.
Thanks to you both. I am not quite ready to pre-plan but I guess it won't hurt to ask questions.
Won't cost anything to ask either.
You have to be very very careful on "prepaid" services, we had one for dad when he died, well he had bought it 20 years earlier and they would only credit him the value of the funeral at the time 20 years ago. It paid 2000 dollars toward his 10,000 funeral.Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottGem
If they do not have clauses for inflation you can still be stuck.
Also we had a aunt who had one from a funeral home that closed, not worth the paper it was written on.
You do not have to use a funeral home at all. If you work directly with the crematorium, you can save even thousands of dollars. It cost about 1100 dollars to go direct. I little more secretarial type work will have to be done yourself, but it is certainly not worth a couple grande to have someone else do it. If you have a document that contains all the info needed to fill out a death certificate, write your own obituary, leave a legal will and financial information at least available if not in order and in the green, and tell someone what you would like to have at your service, then it will be a piece of cake, no offense, for the appointed responsible party that is to care for you after your gone. You can even just have a bank account, at a bank other then your normal bank , that you have a trusted individuals name on and keep the estimated costs in it. I planned a lovely cremation and memorial service with about 100 attendees for only a Little over 2 grande including the urn and flowers! Took research, leg work and the help of ordering online and the help of my church. If you do use a funeral home, they are required by law to use any urn or casket you have sent to them if you order something for less money online and they are required by law to tell you if a cost of any part of the package is unnecessary.
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