Your Funeral Guy in National Press on Funeral Costs and IFDA Scam

Your Funeral Guy quoted in National Press.

Your Funeral Guy has been quoted in the National Press on Funeral Costs and the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Scandal.  This has proved helpful in helping folks do a lower cost funeral.

In the March 16th Edition of Newsweek an associate editor referred his readers to this blog.   This blogger was quoted on the increased number of folks who are requesting low cost funerals a growing national trend, a subject often written about here.

“There’s a major movement toward low-cost options right now,” says R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in Wheaton, Ill., who writes an industry blog called Your Funeral Guy. “Those businesses that adjust will do fine—and those that don’t will be gone.”

Back on January 16th 2009  Your Funeral Guy AKA R.Brian Burkhardt was featured in World Net Daily on the other  scandal of  Senator from Illinois Roland Burris Scam-the Illinois Funeral Directors Association. World Net Daily first reported Burris’s connection to the IFDA Ponzi Scheme.

“R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in the state and the author of a book on saving money on funeral costs, told WND he noticed a year ago that the fund set up under the license granted by Burris had reported a $40 million loss – $59 million at the most recent reporting.

“One of the complaints that have been made against the IFDA is that excessive fees were paid to lobbyists,” Burkhardt told WND.”

I am thankful to  Newsweek  for mentioning  low cost funeral options and sending readers to the Your Funeral Guy Blog. Thanks to World Net Daily for mentioning my book on funeral costs and exposing  the Roland Burris,the IFDA Ponzi Scheme(IFDA PRENEED TRUST).

Funeral Cost|Funeral Industry Blog by Your Funeral Guy aka R Brian Burkhardt

Be sure to Check out Your Funeral Guy’s Book Rest in Peace Insiders Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral

roland burris

Statistics ILLINOIS FUNERAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION LAWSUITS by Your Funeral Guy

Any time anyone misapplies trust funds the members suffer. In the Funeral preneed/industry this is compounded by the fact that funeral directors have to cover expenses by raising prices. Funeral Cost is raised.

Here are numbers  on the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Lawsuits. These come from articles in the Springfield paper the State Journal Register, and the Chicago Tribune.  These articles appeared on February 4th 2009. If statistics come from yourfuneralguy it will be noted.

Illinois Funeral Directors Association Statistics:

From the Tribune Article:

IFDA Preneed trust Fund Value before mark down $300 Million

Six Funeral Directors plaintiffs in one lawsuit.

Two Preneed contract holders in another lawsuit that seeks class action.

IFDA told the Tribune February 3rd that it wrote down the Fund by $50 Million USD+.

$190 Million was applied to 300 Key Guy insurance Policies for Funeral Directors around the State (from Your Funeral Guy)

49,000 Illinois residents participate in the trust fund.

Average individual contract is $6,000 USD.

In a Five Year time frame the Illinois Funeral Directors Association took 8.5 million USD in excessive management fees.

From the  and the State Journal Register Article February4th.

Since 2006 The IFDA Fund deficit has grown by 20 Million USD.

Quoting from the article:

” Since 1996, the IFDA and its political action committee have contributed nearly $263,500 to politicians and political parties. Nearly $98,000 of those contributions took place after June 2006, when the comptroller’s office sent the warning letter to the IFDA.”

IFDA’s latest  tax return shows.

$24,600 for board meetings,

$68,000 on automobiles,

$22,000 for lobbyists.

Actual figure of the IFDA Preneed Trust write down last fall is 59 Million.

Quoting from the Article.

“House Speaker Michael Madigan has been among the group’s biggest beneficiaries, collecting $16,000 in contributions, twice what he collected from the IFDA and its political action committee during the previous decade.”

The IFDA has not opened it’s books to anyone but the Comptroller of the State of Illinois. They were ordered to do that. The question remains How much was Senator Burris paid by the IFDA?

Blog by Your Funeral Guy

Newsworthy-Illinois Funeral Directors Association Lawsuits-Your Funeral Guy.

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association Lawsuits are newsworthy on the average cost of a funeral. Every time a preneed trust fund misapplies your funeral money it costs you the consumer. Funeral Directors lose and they pass the cost on to you.

Recently News Articles, Feb.3,4 2009 have appeared.

These articles name more facts. -Chicago Tribune

• 6 Illinois funeral directors sue own trade group
• and Springfield,IL Newspaper the State Journal Register:
  

• Tax records: Funeral trust fund officials spent money on themselves

The Chicago Tribune Article names places,and  the Illinois Comptroller.

The Springfield Journal Register article names $$, who was paid out of the fund and who may have been paid out of the fund-Senator Roland Burris (D-IL)

There is also a years worth of backgound research available on the Illinois Funeral Directors Association at

http://www.lowercostfuneral.com/rbrianblog

I have declared the average cost of a funeral in 2009 to be $8,500 USD.

Check out my blogs for more information on this.

Your Funeral Guy.

Your Funeral Guy: Folks asking for less than Average Funeral Cost

The economic downtown turn has more folks requesting low cost funeral options and green funerals.

The lack of cash, unemployment, and credit crunch is giving folks the courage  to ask to pay less for funerals. The average Funeral Cost is just too much. The NFDA has said the average cost of a funeral in 2006 was $7,323.00 USD.

I have estimated the average funeral cost in 2008 to be 8,000 USD. The Chicago Tribune has  stated in the States as far north as Minnesota folks are asking about the low cost Green Burial option.

Lower cost funerals are putting the squeeze on traditional funerals. Because of economic pressures and self regulation  there  has been two scandals The IFDA Preneed Trust Mismanagement Scandal,(40 million gone, Illinois Funeral Directors Association) and the National Prearranged Services theft (500 million gone).

Folks generally pay for funerals three ways, life insurance, preneed and credit cards.
The credit card option is slipping away. The preneed option is slipping away because of scandals.

Funeral Homes are having difficulty collecting funds for funerals. In response the National Funeral Directors Association partnered with a national collection company,CCR America making the service available to member funeral homes at a lower fee.

Main Street is finding the courage to negotiate low cost funeral options because of a lack of cash. Funeral homes that adjust by offering lower cost funerals will do well.
Those that do not adjust will fail.

Be sure to find a successful low cost funeral home. Check out more information on low funeral expenses and costs:

Rest in Peace: Insider’s Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral

Your Funeral Guy, R. Brian Burkhardt, Funeral Director.

Your Funeral Guy: Lower Cost Funeral Blog Featured at Funeral Wire.com

This funeral cost blog has been featured in funeral wire.com This is a website for funeral directors and people seeking information on funerals.

here is the link:

http://www.funeralwire.com/external_news.php?linkId=2199

The main point of the blog post mentioned here is that the NFDA- national funeral directors has issued a rise in the average cost of a funeral for 2006 to….

$7,323

Here is the full blog post.

http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2008/11/05/your-funeral-guy-nfda-no-lower-cost-funeral/

Your Funeral Guy, R Brian Burkhardt, Funeral Director, Author, Blogger, State of Illinois

Be sure to watch for a future blog that shows how funeral cost is going up and down at the same time as we move into 2009.

Your Funeral Guy: Five Reasons For a funeral Industry and cost Tsunami Like Wall Street.

Will there be a funeral cost credit crunch like Wall street? Here are five warning signs.

1. Every month we hear of the funeral  homes either taking money or breaking the law. Here is one of the latest:

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Nov03/0,4670,FuneralHomeInvestigation,00.html

2. In  the UK bodies are piling up do to the credit crunch.  The article on this pile up of dead bodies is referenced here:

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hmsIReYtM60fZi_y5jdOCkZpIk6Q

Quoting from this article: “This distressing aspect of the credit crunch shows that the hurricanes blowing down Wall Street have the power to affect us all in unexpected ways,” the newspaper wrote.

“The sad story of the unburied dead should alert us to the much worse things that lie ahead if we do not pull out of this dive.”

3. The funeral industry is rocked  with scandal. Specifically the preneed scandals of this year.

The IFDA Preneed Trust deficit and Scandal is witnessed here.

a-http://yourfuneralguy.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/your-funeral-guy-ifda-preneed-trust-40-million-deficit-funeral-cost-scandal-fades-with-fannie-and-freddie-takeover/

b-http://www.progressiveu.org/075616-key-month-funeral-cost

This was a 41 million dollar loss but is nothing compared  to  the 500 million dollar loss of NPS.

4. NPS or National Prearranged Services shut down and had a 500 million Loss-theft.

http://ifda.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/ifda-will-the-ifda-have-a-low-cost-funeral-like-nps/

This caused more expense for many funeral homes which also pass the cost on to the folks, and more lack of trust for preneed and the funeral industry.

5.    According to  Fox News Broadcasts on November 7^th and November 8^th 2008 it was reported that credit card companies  at the Direction of the Federal Reserve are to put higher standards in place for credit even lowering the limits for and raising interest rates for people with good credit.

Most likely it will go the way of Great Britain for the funeral industry as well.

How will this affect  funeral cost in America? Folks simply will not have the money to pay for the Family Funeral. Honest funeral directors will tell you that the lion’s share of their people pay for the funeral on a credit card.

Will there be a Funeral Cost Credit Tsunami? Your Funeral  Guy says yes.

Will there be a bailout for the Funeral Industry. Probably it will happen.

But not just for the five warning signs mentioned above. The FTC, the United States Treasury, and The National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) all have policies in place to make it happen. Yes before advocating a lower cost funeral a government bailout may occur. This will be covered in a later blog post.

Your Funeral Guy

Your Funeral Guy:SLAICO and SCI Form High Funeral Cost Alliance Partnership

Your Funeral Guy: Service Corporation International-SCI-Forms High Funeral Cost Alliance Partnership. SCI along Stewart Enterprises are the high cost funeral corporations. They are the high end. They Charge the most $$$$.

Whole life insurance (SLAICO)is not the best in any type of final expense insurance. What is acceptable and wise is term life insurance which is more cost efficient. This situation is not good for the folks and does not permit the lower cost funeral.

This according to the Press Release on Fox News.

“Service Corporation International, through its Dignity Memorial network is North America’s largest provider of funeral, cremation and cemetery services, including a network of funeral homes and cemeteries in 43 states, eight Canadian Provinces and Puerto Rico.

Standard Life and Accident Insurance Company has been a leader in the insurance industry since 1948 and is part of the American National family of companies. They have been assigned a rating of A+ (Strong) from Standard and Poor’s, and rating of A (Excellent) from A.M. Best Company.”

View the whole Fox Business Report Here:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/retail/slaico-sci-form-partnership/

Service Corporation International and Standard Life and Accident life Insurance only contribute to raising your funeral cost. It does not contribute to the lower cost funeral as the funeral book does.

Rest in Peace: Insider’s Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral by R Brian Burkhardt and Matt Bacak. #1 International Best Selling Author Jason Oman also gave thumbs up to this book. This book is published by  Morgan James Publishing.This is your funeral cost book.

Your Funeral Guy, R Brian Burkhardt, Funeral Director, Author, Blogger, State of Illinois

Your Funeral Guy: NFDA No Lower Cost Funeral

This is from the NFDA’s June Press Release.  These numbers show no lower cost funeral.

National Average Cost of an Adult Funeral: 2006 vs. 2004  from the NFDA

Regular adult funeral costs (for funeral with a viewing and ceremony) include the following general items. Costs do not include cemetery, monument or marker costs, or miscellaneous cash-advance charges, such as flowers or obituaries.

· Non-declinable basic services fee

· Removal/transfer of remains to funeral home

· Embalming

· Other preparation of the body

· Use of facilities/staff for viewing

· Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony

· Hearse

· Service car/van

· Basic memorial printed package

· Metal casket

Item	2006*	2004*
Non-declinable basic services fee	$1,595  (+8.46%)	$1,460
Removal/transfer of remains to funeral home	$233  (+16.31%)	$195
Embalming	$550  (+9.45%)	$498
Other preparation of the body	$203  (+13.79%	$175
Use of facilities/staff for viewing	$406  (+16.50%)	$339
Use of facilities/staff for funeral ceremony	$463  (+14.69%)	$395
Hearse	$251  (+10.36%)	$225
Service car/van	$120  (+16.67%)	$100
Basic memorial printed package	$119  (+20.17%)	$95
Subtotal without casket	$3,930  (+11.40%)	$3,482
Metal casket (average charge for most frequently purchased item)	$2,255  (+6.87%)	$2,100
National Average Cost of an Adult Funeral	$6,195  (+9.90%)	$5,582
Vault (Average charge for most frequently purchased item	$1,128  (+11.52%)	$998
Total with Vault	$7,323  (+10.15%)	$6,580

The details on how to lower your average costs of a funeral are in this funeral cost book. There is also lots of information on your lower cost funeral in

Rest in Peace Insiders Tip to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral.

“National Funeral Directors Association” -NFDA numbers -show no Lower cost Funeral. These numbers are on the low side of high. Low cost funerals are quite doable. Follow these 5 Steps to lowering the average cost of a funeral and then look at the funeral book that can help you on this matter.

5 Steps to lowering the average cost of a funeral.

Step 1: Choose Cremation and have the service somewhere other than the funeral home.

Step 2: Obtain your casket or urn from an alternative source. Suggestion Order it on the internet.

Step 3: Refuse Embalming- in most cases but not all you may do this.

Step 4: Do Everything at the church or at the cemetery as was the case with Walt Disney.

Step 5: Have a green burial.

Rest in Peace: Insider’s Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral by R Brian Burkhardt and Matt Bacak. #1 International Best Selling Author Jason Oman also gave thumbs up to this book. This book is published by  Morgan James Publishing.This is your funeral cost book.

Your Funeral Guy, R Brian Burkhardt, Funeral Director, Author, Blogger, State of Illinois

Your Funeral Guy: Funeral cost on election day-dead voters voting

Yes there funeral cost on election it is corpses voting- it is funeral cost gone wild. It is finding dead voters voting. This is is costly and illegal. Cuyahoga county in Ohio. it is a crucial state with dead people voting!

http://www.newsnet5.com/investigations/17859950/detail.html

“Now, on the eve of an historic election — when every vote in Cuyahoga County is considered crucial — our NewsChannel5 investigation has once again uncovered thousands of dead voters still on the rolls, and ballots still being cast from beyond.

The exact number of dead voters is difficult to say this time because Ohio’s Secretary of State issued a directive to Boards of Elections across the state to withhold dates of births in public records requests. That information is important in positively identifying dead voters.”

Your funeral guy has also witnessed preneed folks signing people up for a Second Funeral.

Dead people voting does not make for a low cost funeral.

Your Funeral Guy

Your Funeral Guy: 7 steps to a low cost funeral

The average cost of a Funeral is now 8,000 to 10,000 USD. This according to my last blog post and frugalpigs.com

http://frugalpigs.com/2008/10/27/average-funeral-costs-in-the-us/

Step 1: Choose Cremation and have the service somewhere other than the funeral home.

Step 2: Obtain your casket from an alternative source. Suggestion Order it on the internet.

Step 3: Refuse Embalming- in most cases but not all you may do this

Step 4: Do Everything at the cemetery as was the case with Walt Disney

Step 5: Do as much as possible at church, not the funeral home.

Step 6: Do a home funeral

Step 7: Have a green burial.

A home funeral and a green burial may be not doable in certain parts of the USA today. They will become available to all in the near future.

The details on how to lower your average costs of a funeral are in this funeral book. There is also lots of information on your lower cost funeral here:

Rest in Peace: Insider’s Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral by R Brian Burkhardt and Matt Bacak. #1 International Best Selling Author Jason Oman also gave thumbs up to this book. This book is published by  Morgan James Publishing.This is your funeral cost book.

Your Funeral Guy, R Brian Burkhardt, Funeral Director, Author, Blogger, State of Illinois