When someone dies, they don’t have to worry about money anymore, but there is a surprising
amount of money involved with dying.
Why is it so expensive to die?
The costs start racking up before death.
Sure, there are those people who die suddenly and without any other associated costs - for
instance, someone who drops dead of a heart attack suddenly without any other health problems,
or someone who is out for a jog and has a piano drop on their head.
Someone’s going to be shelling out a lot of money for that, but it’s probably going
to be the piano company.
But for many people, death is a much more drawn-out affair.
For those who die of serious illnesses or at an old age, the odds are there are going
to be a lot of medical expenses associated with dying.
Dying can involve long-term hospital stays, time in an assisted living facility or nursing
home, or specialized in-home hospice care.
These are all expensive services and medical costs can be high in the United States and
other countries without a universal health care system - as anyone who ever got a surprise
bill after they got their finger stitched up can attest.
While insurance will often pick up a large percentage of the medical bills if not all
of them, someone who is uninsured or underinsured when they die might leave behind a massive
bill to be taken out of their estate.
And that’s before a whole lot of other costs.
In seventeen US states, the cost of dying averages over $20,000.
In the UK, where high health bills are unlikely, it can still cost several thousand pounds.
While heirs of the deceased can’t be held responsible for medical bills if the estate
can’t cover it, many other costs have to be paid for out of pocket by the family - which
means that families dealing with the loss of a breadwinner may often have another challenge
to deal with.
So what are all these hidden costs?
Well, the big one is something almost everyone who has said goodbye to a loved one will deal
with - the funeral.
The funeral industry has come a long way from when disposing of bodies was mostly a utilitarian
industry, and today it’s a twenty billion dollar industry in the United States alone.
Many funeral home providers offer full service from the moment of death to the conclusion
of the burial ceremony, customizing services with mourners.
And personalized services don’t come cheap.
Planning a funeral is a big feat, and often families are not up to managing it themselves
- especially after a sudden and unexpected death.
That means the funeral home and director will manage dozens of moving parts and help them
select every part of what can be a very large event.
For people with a lot of friends and family, a funeral can often resemble a wedding in
what is needed.
You’ll need a large event facility, either indoors or outdoors, enough to hold everyone
who wants to come.
You’ll want flowers and decorations, often personalized.
And in many cases, families want catering for a memorial dinner.
And that’s before getting into one of the most important parts of a funeral.
Gone are the days of a coffin essentially being a pine box.
The coffin industry alone is worth over half a billion dollars in the United States today,
and shopping for one offers a lot of choice.
Coffins are often made from fine wood, and insulated with high-quality fabric.
While this may seem like a waste given that it’s going in the ground, many families
want the coffin on display at the funeral - and see a fine coffin as a testament to
their love.
An average coffin will cost at least two thousand dollars, with high-end ones reaching five
digits.
And that’s not the only preparation needed for a funeral.
Funeral homes have someone on site trained in treating bodies and preserving them for
funerals and burial.
This is especially important for many people who want an open casket funeral.
Have you ever been to a funeral where everyone is commenting that the deceased looks so natural,
and looks like they’re just sleeping?
This isn’t an accident - this is the work of a trained mortician who uses chemicals
and makeup to keep the body from starting to decay too quickly, and cover up any obvious
injuries when possible.
Not every funeral involves this - some people choose a more natural burial, usually with
a closed casket - but if you want the deceased to get the full makeover, it’ll come with
a cost.
But that’s not the biggest cost associated with funerals.
Two words - real estate.
The most important choice people will make when planning a funeral is where they want
the deceased to be buried.
This isn’t just a physical choice - the burial plot will likely also become a gathering
spot for the family in years to come.
But many cemeteries are facing a major challenge - lack of space.
The population is growing, and the cost of getting a burial plot is getting higher and
higher.
Smaller plots can be as little as $500 at a public cemetery, but can go up to $5000
for sought-after locations.
For those who want a mausoleum burial, it can be as much as $10,000 at high-end places
And that’s before you decide what to put on top of it.
It’s long been tradition to have a marker memorializing a gravesite.
Sure, no one is going to go as over the top as the ancient Egyptian pharaohs - although
it may be tempting to build a pyramid for your beloved childhood dog Sparky - but gravestones
can be pretty ornate.
If you wander through a cemetery, the odds are you’ll see a few towering obelisks or
carefully sculpted angel statues.
If you want a highly decorative gravestone, the cost can vary wildly, but standard headstones
with a personalized inscription will start at a cost of $1000 or more.
This can add up to a lot.
Is there a cheaper way?
For many families, if the deceased didn’t leave a big estate behind, it’s time to
make some tough decisions.
While holding a proper tribute for their loved one is ideal, there are ways to make things
more affordable.
Smaller funerals or graveside services are ideal to cut costs, and many families decide
to have an online component where family and friends who can’t attend in person can pay
their respects virtually.
Flat metal or marble markers on the ground can be a lower-cost alternative to headstones,
while still paying proper tribute with an inscription.
But there’s one choice that many people make to cut costs - sometimes.
Cremation.
The burning of remains instead of burying them has become a massive industry in its
own right, with many funeral homes also hosting a crematorium.
We all know a friend or family member who has grandma’s ashes sitting on the mantelpiece,
and we probably give it a wide berth - and stare warily every time the cat gets a little
too close.
And for those who want the simplest and lowest-cost option, a basic cremation can be had for as
little as eight hundred dollars.
But that doesn’t mean that many people don’t find surprising costs.
Cremation is a specialized service, with crematorium workers dealing with extremely hot and powerful
ovens that can reduce a human body to bone ash in a short time.
The cost of the equipment and the training adds up - and so does the equipment it comes
with.
The standard urn that is at constant risk of spilling ashes everywhere is mostly a thing
of the past, with most urns sold by funeral homes coming with specialized seals to prevent
accidents.
And there are many specialized and artisan urns available that can cost more than $500.
But some families want a more permanent option.
Some families choose the best of both worlds.
Cremation - and a burial plot that gives them a place to visit and pay their respects.
These plots are smaller and can be marked with a marker or headstone, but can still
be expensive - at least $350 at a public cemetery, and as much as $2,500 for a prime spot at
a private cemetery.
Because urns or cremation vessels can be held anywhere, it’s also common to choose an
above-ground spot in a mausoleum, which is usually more expensive.
Well, at least the deceased doesn’t have to worry about any of this...right?
Not exactly.
Because the funeral industry has become so big and expensive, many people are starting
to think about these questions long before they’re gone.
It’s like planning in advance for a vacation no one wants to take.
No one wants to put their loved ones into debt to pay for their funeral, so they’re
starting to take some common-sense measures to make sure that expensive funeral costs
don’t throw the family for a loop.
But those usually involve some costs of their own - paying for their own death in advance.
The first step is to get life insurance.
This will ensure your loved ones a payout if you die under most circumstances.
This is especially important for breadwinners in single-income families - even if they don’t
expect to die anytime soon.
Of course, the problem is that insurance companies don’t want to pay out - so life insurance
becomes more and more expensive as people get older.
A ten-year policy on a ninety-year-old probably isn’t a good investment for the company.
Whole-life insurance is available - but can be very expensive.
But if you don’t want the family to have to pay any death-related costs, that can be
achieved too.
Most of the time, the people walking into a funeral home are the family of the deceased.
But sometimes, it’s a healthy and happy person looking to arrange a funeral - their
own.
Most funeral homes will arrange end-of-life plans for people years or even decades before
it takes place - down to the slightest detail.
Want to Rick Roll the guests?
They’ll put that in the funeral plan and file it away - although it may not seem as
funny when you’re 85.
And you can pay in advance too - over installments for many years.
If you go before it’s fully paid off, your loved ones will only have a fraction of the
costs, but in many cases there’ll be nothing left to pay.
Of course, some people make more unconventional arrangements to dodge the costs.
With cremation, many families choose not to keep the ashes forever.
They take them home in a simple container without a formal ceremony or burial, and a
while later, once the entire family and extended circle can get together, they meet at a meaningful
location to scatter the ashes.
While this may seem disturbing to some - after all, it’s human remains being sprinkled
in a public place - bone ash is biodegradable and considered harmless to the environment,
so it’s legal in all public places unless there are security issues.
Private locations are dependent on the permission of the owner, but that doesn’t always stop
people.
A particularly popular spot is Disney’s Haunted Mansion, as Disney-loving fans try
to add a 1000th to the famous assortment of 999 grim grinning ghosts.
But that’s not the only low-cost option for burial or cremation.
Some enterprising companies have started offering unconventional ways to use cremation ashes,
as they pose no health hazard and mix into things easily.
Did Grandma always love to paint?
Her ashes can be mixed in with paint and used to create a work of art.
Did Uncle Billy like to live it up?
A company specializing in fireworks can create a custom batch including a pinch of his ashes
to send him off in style.
There are even biodegradable urns that are meant to be buried, and contain a tree seed
along with the ashes to create a tree out of a loved one’s remains - a living headstone
far bigger than any obelisk.
Many of these options aren’t cheap, but they’re usually a fraction of a traditional
funeral and burial with all the frills.
And it’s likely to just continue going up.
People are living longer, and that means they’re more likely to need health care before they
die.
Cemeteries aren’t easy to maintain, and the demand for burial plots is growing as
the population does.
And with many funeral homes offering digital services like online memorial walls, it’s
becoming a more skilled and versatile position all the time.
That adds up to one thing - a growing and complicated sector that will fetch a high
cost for its services.
There are only two things certain in life - death and taxes - but until scientists manage
to cure the first, the high cost of death may be the third certainty.
For another unconventional way to dispose of remains, check out “Composting Humans
Is Now Legal in These US States”, or try this video on for size instead.