Why You Should Give Me $1.00 A Month to Promote YOUR BLOG
At work today, I had a conversation with a co-worker regarding her mother's funeral.
Her - "My mother bought a funeral plan for $300 50 years ago, and that was so smart of her! We would have spent thousands of dollars had she not bought the plan."
Me - "Yeah, that's great. It sure saves the children the heachaches of budgeting for the funeral."
Her - "They are selling the same plan now for $1,100, and I think I will buy it."
Me - "Sure, that's great planning."
So, after our converation, I started to think about whether this plan makes sense.
At an average return of 10% (stock/mutual funds), her mother's $300.00 would have been $3,5217.25 today.
An average funeral today costs approximately (according to Motley Fool):
Most Commonly Average Cost
Selected Services
Professional Charges $1,182.31
Embalming $400.51
Other preparations* $150.35
Visitation/viewing $314.42
Funeral at funeral home $356.68
Funeral Home transfering $158.66
Hearse (local) $179.08
Service car/van $87.42
Acknowledgement cards $14.47
Casket $2,176.46
Vault $757.80
Total $5,778.16
There are some additional expenses such as:
Cemetery plot can be $500 to several thousand, opening and closing the grave can be $350 to $1,500, and headstones, statues, or markers can be $500 to several thousand. On the other hand, a cremation can cost $1,500 or less.
So, at the cheap end, a funeral can cost $7,100.00, and at the expensive end, it can cost tens of thousands, depending on your selection of plots, markers, etc. From what I understand, my co-worker's mom's funeral was an average funeral, so let's say that it costs $10,000 today. Still, I think that the better choice would have been to put the $300.00 in an investment account designate it funeral expense.
As I told my co-worker about my calculators, she said that the most important thing is the $300.00 bought everyone peace after her death, and that is priceless. I am not one to argue with that line of thinking, so I let it drop.
At the same time, I started to think about this clever strategy on the part of the funeral businesses. What a smart idea! You sell something for dirt cheap, and you don't provide the service for decades later. You take that money to invest in your business or just simply invest in stocks or real estate, then when the customer wants the service, you have so much more money than what the service costs today!
