There’s very little free in life, and that includes dying. Whether you prepare for it or leave the burden entirely to your friends and family, someone is going to have to pay for your final expenses and funeral. And if nobody does, then you will be subject to a pauper’s funeral courtesy of the state.
That is why we took the time to rank our favorite final expense and burial insurance companies—we do the research, you reap the rewards. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for you to get the insurance in place to take care of your funeral and pay for your burial.
How Much Does Each Aspect of a Funeral/Burial Cost?
Embalming
Most people in America choose to have their body embalmed before burial. This procedure involved draining the body of fluids and filling it with formaldehyde-based chemical solutions. This helps keep your body to look normal up until the time of the funeral, and is particularly necessary if you are having a body viewing.
Total Cost: $300-800
Cosmetic Preparations
In addition to embalming, most people choose to do cosmetic preparations to a body prior to the viewing. This involves make up, hair styling, and cosmetic reconstruction if you have been in an accident or had a degenerative illness.
Total Cost: $200-500
Headstone
A headstone is an important marker for your burial plot. It will be the place your loved ones come to remember you. The price range for this varies greatly, depending on how immaculate of a headstone you want.
Total Cost: $500-5000
Casket
Just like a headstone, the price of a casket varies largely, depending on how opulent you want yours to be. In fact, did you know that some caskets now even have an oxygen tank and cell phone inside of them in case you’re accidentally buried alive? Okay, supposing you’re not going to go that far, caskets still have a wide range.
Total Cost: $500-5000
Funeral Costs
There are many different costs that may be associated with the actual funeral. Here is a rough breakdown of potential costs:
| Item | Cost |
| Flowers | $200-700 |
| Officiate and staff services | $1000-3000 |
| Transportation of Body & family | $30-600 |
| Viewing (funeral home rental fees) | $300-600 |
| Funeral staff at graveside | $300-500 |
| Chair set up graveside | $100-200 |
| Food for reception | $500-2000 |
Refrigeration
Your body will wait in a refrigerator until the day of your funeral. You will be charged per day for this. On average, funerals happen 5 days after someone dies.
Total Cost: $375 ($75/day)
Cemetery Plot
This definitely depends on the location of your burial plot. If you want to be buried in a cemetery that is in high demand, you can expect to pay a premium.
Total Cost: $1000-4500
Opening/Closing fees
Opening and Closing fees refers to the actual amount it costs to dig the grave and lower the casket.
Total Cost: $500-800
On the high side, we’ve already reached $24,275 and that’s before we take into account the cost of things like: obituary, lost wages, final care hospital bills, travel expenses of out of town guests, and so on. We haven’t even added the cost of the plot of land where you’re going to be buried!
Prepare In Advance
If you don’t know how you are going to afford a funeral, consider your options.
You can run final expense and burial insurance quotes to find out how much either simplified issue vs guaranteed issue life insurance will cost.
Burial insurance for seniors does not have to break the bank.
A small $10,000 whole life insurance policy should more than cover burial costs.
Your loved ones will thank you for taking care of your final expenses and burial costs.
How We Can Help
We can shop from over a dozen different final expense insurance companies to help you get the best coverage available based on your specific needs.
Give IBUSA a call today to see how we can help.
