the CHALLENGES
CURRENT COSTS ARE HIGH
The New Jersey State Funeral Directors Association's own 2017 Biennial Statistical Survey of Pricing Results shows the "Typical" Funeral and In-ground Burial to cost $16,398. Per person. So $32,796 for Wife and Husband. Cremation averages $12,160. See NJSFDA Funeral & Cremation costs HERE.
What if You Could Pay One Quarter of This?
COSTS ARE INCREASING
A recent study by US News & World Report magazine (HERE) showed funeral costs have been increasing at over three TIMES the rate of inflation. That makes 2017's $32,000 cost for a Wife and Husband $57,000 in ten years and $103,000 in twenty.
What if You Could Eliminate Inflation?
OPTIONS ARE DECREASING
"The High Cost of Dying," a 60 Minutes exposé (HERE) revealed that the funeral industry is rapidly consolidating. Three large companies now own over one-third of all funeral homes, even the ones that have the same "family sign" on the lawn (i.e. "The Smith Funeral Home"). The families that have sold to these consolidators no longer report to their client families - they report to corporate sales managers. Fewer choices mean increased costs.
What if You Could Work With A Family Firm?
very difficult timing
From The New York Times' Finance Editor James Barron: "Of all the purchases that people make, perhaps none is more difficult than a funeral. Too upset to bargain as they would when making any other expensive purchase - and too rushed to do any serious comparison shopping - customers often discover, too late, how high the price of burying a loved one can be." (HERE)