Click below to listen to our Consumerpedia podcast episode on how to navigate planning a funeral.
Grieving for a loved one is acutely difficult just after the loss. It is not a time when you want to sit across the desk from a salesperson in a high-pressure, time-sensitive situation and make important and expensive choices. You’re vulnerable to making hasty, costly decisions that might not make sense if you had more time and perspective.
Funeral homes provide important services, but they are usually for-profit businesses that make money by selling products and services. You and your family may not want, need, or be able to afford some of the things they’re promoting.
In this section we review the many choices you have when a loved one dies. You’ll find resources for getting appropriate services at a reasonable price. Read this when there is no immediate need, to get a frame of reference should the need suddenly arise.
Also think about making advance decisions for yourself and your loved ones based both on your expressed preferences and the emotional needs of your survivors.
It’s difficult for many people to do, but pre-planning your own funeral is sensible and thoughtful. Your input for those final decisions can comfort your survivors.
Imagine the more common alternative: A grieving family must respond on the spot to a litany of questions from a funeral director who is at ease with death. The distraught family, knowing little or nothing about funerals, may be manipulated into extravagant purchases. This explains why U.S. families, on average, spend about $8,500 for a traditional funeral—and that doesn’t include cemetery costs. Expensive funerals are fine if that’s what the family wants. But many people who might prefer a simple, dignified ceremony end up with something lavish and costly.
We report our findings from our surveys of funeral home customers and what our undercover shoppers found when they priced out three typical funeral arrangements. We also review your basic choices and how to make them.
