How much does a funeral cost?

Funerals can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Burial cost can also be quite an expensive exercise. In my experience, we've been able to cater to all types of requests for people to have a final send-off.

There are some services which can be as cheap as $2,000 to $5,000, however, you are going to have to go without some things like a service and trimmings like the cars etc. When people ask me this question, I break it down into three parts.

Number one, how much do you want to spend on your funeral? In other words what type of funeral do you want? Do you want a cremation, or do you want a burial? Do you want a simple burial or do you want to be placed in the mausoleum?

Secondly, how much can you afford to put away? Can you afford $5 to $10 per week, do you have some money put away now that you’d like to contribute? Do you want to also incorporate the cost of funerals for people in your family?

Finally, what is your life expectancy? Be realistic, is it better to insure yourself or are you able to put a small amount aside over a number of years?

Once people have honestly answered these questions then they can be realistic about what the market provides for them. They can then look at a prepaid funeral or a funeral contribution fund or even an insurance policy. It is important to be informed and to be able to speak to somebody that you can trust. I’ve had some really honest conversations with people in their senior years who by this time really know what they want and have released the fears that they held.

Having been with families shortly after the death of a loved one I’ve noticed that the legacy that people leave behind is one where they’ve been thoughtful and had their affairs organised. In other cases, things happen suddenly and people were not organised leaving the grieving family a whole lot of work to do.

Death is not something anyone really likes to think of. However, there’s a time that the conversation about the financial side of your send-off needs to be had. Speak to us about what you want your funeral to look like so you can have the financial support ready.