Funeral Cost
Funerals can rank among the most expensive purchases consumers
will make. Unlike any other major purchase we make in our lives, we
spend this money with little or no research. We encourage you to
know your options, have a budget and try and stick to it.
"When people ask me what is the average funeral price, I don't
like to tell them because they use that number as a guide to see if
the funerals they planned were a good deal," says Joshua Slocum,
Executive Director of the Funeral
Consumers Alliance.
"In actuality, there are options that can cost much less than
what the average person is spending with a funeral home, but
because most people wait until they need to plan a funeral, they do
what is most familiar to them - they call the funeral home
first."
The median cost for a full-service funeral with a funeral home,
including a casket and vault, is about $7755. A direct cremation
can cost about $1500 and a home funeral can cost in the hundreds of
dollars. These costs do not include gravesite costs, burial plots,
monuments, flowers, obituary notices, acknowledgment cards or
reception lunches, which can add thousands of dollars to the bottom
line.
To get a better understanding of other types of services
available, please visit the Funeral Planning Help section on Heart2Soul.
Each page will give you an overview of what they do, what you can
expect from them, how to find them and an approximate cost for
their services.
