Average cost of A Funeral-$7,622 per Year-NFDA|by yourfuneralguy

Average cost of the funeral is $7,622.00-National Funeral Directors Association

The National Funeral Directors Association has declared the Average Cost Of a Funeral to be $7,622.00 per year. The previous figure listed for average  funeral cost at the NFDA website was $7,323.00 per year. This figure does not include cemetery costs but does include a casket and a vault. Most Industry experts put the average cost of a funeral in the United States at $10,000 in 2009.

Snippet from the  Daily Journal .com in Kankakee,Illinois.

“According to the Wisconsin-based National Funeral Directors Association, our nation’s sluggish economy is taking a toll on the funeral industry.

The group reports that the average cost for adult funerals in Illinois that include a casket and vault is $7,622. Yet, some families are spending less than that by choosing cheaper caskets and urns, reducing services and events — for instance, shorter visitation hours, or foregoing a graveside service — and purchasing fewer flower memorials.”

The average cost of a funeral has been trending downward. Cremation has been on the rise. Still the National Funeral Directors Association Lists a  higher average for funeral expenses.

Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

News-Bizarre Twist on Funeral Cost-Dead Body Subpoena-yourfuneralguy

Chrysler Corporation gets a Court Order for a deceased person's body- burial stopped

News 3/09/09- In a bizarre twist on Funeral Cost Chrysler has subpoenaed  a dead body.  This has added Emotional and Financial funeral cost  as the body was snatched after a funeral and right before burial.  The family is fighting the court order. The trial was set to begin on March 9th 2009. The person involved has not had a burial.

In an article at The Truth about Cars:

“The trial was set to begin March 9. Unexpectedly, St. John died on February 28. Though he had undergone a painful biopsy to provide a lung tissue sample while still living, Chrysler insisted on taking the body from its burial site before it could be laid to rest.”

This approach seems to be distasteful and disrespectful. It surely shows a lack of respect for the dead. It appears that the law has no respect for persons living or dead.

From michiganmessenger.com

“Chrysler had asked the court for permission to obtain tissue samples, but the court order was not issued until the day of the funeral. The process server waited until after the funeral but before interment to serve the order, offending the grieving family who claim they caught completely unaware of Chrysler’s request.”

It was a good thing that the process server showed discretion and respect.

What can be learned from this? DEATH and the LAW are no respecter of persons.

Maybe it would have been best if the automakers did not get a bailout and had their own funeral.

Funeral Industry|funeral cost blog by Your Funeral Guy.

IFDA Lost $59 Million|Opposes Regulation Seeks Medicaid help-Your Funeral Guy.

IFDA misappropriated 59 million then came up on the wrong side of funeral legislation in Illinois istockphoto picture of IL Statehouse

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association is at it again. They misused 59 Million of their Trust Fund in an alleged ponzi scheme. Now they are opposing preneed reform and seeking medicaid aide for member funeral homes . This is beyond arrogance. Why do they not just take out a 59 Million dollar Loan and give the money back to the IFDA Preneed Trust?

State Representative Dan Brady of Bloomington , IL has proposed legislation in Springfield, IL that will regulate the preneed trust sellers in the State of Illinois. The Illinois Funeral Directors Association is not supporting the legislation. One would think that they would want to make things right. I would suggest that they give their non guaranteed funds back to the citizens who have lost monies in the non guaranteed policies.

To add insult to injury the IFDA is  supporting legislation which would give more medicaid aide to funeral homes their members. That legislation in Springfield, Il is sponsored by Bob Rita of Blue Island.

Quoting Rep Dan. Brady in  a March 7th post in the Chicago Tribune.

Brady said, “To ask for more money when the IFDA has other problems is not the message to send right now. “

It is very unsettling that the new executive director of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association is making false statements to the press . His name is Duane Marsh. In a State-Journal Register|Galesburg.com  Article he said:

‘IFDA supports Rita’s bill. Marsh says the issue is a “humanitarian thing,” but funeral home directors will still help the indigent.

“Funeral home directors are going to continue to provide the service no matter what, ” Marsh said.’

First of all as many an indigent person and funeral director know that all funeral homes do not help the indigent.

To say that directors are going to provide the service no matter what is garbage. It may be fraud.

How can Duane Marsh make this statement? He is a former funeral director from Michigan and has been in the State of Illinois for only two months and several days. I call upon Mr. Marsh to retract his statement made to the oldest newspaper in Illinois.

Funeral Industry| Funeral Cost blog by your funeral guy.

Any time  a Funeral Trust Fund is misapplied Funeral directors have to cover costs and consumer costs are raised.

Sources:

Galesburg.com Article posted March 5th

Chicago-Tribune Article posted March 7th

illinois funeral directors association
preneed

Chicago Tribune IFDA articles Fail to mention Burris-Your Funeral Guy.

The Chicago Tribune Did Significant Illinois Funeral Directors Association Scandal Stories March 1st 2009

Breaking News Feb 28th 2009-The Chicago Tribune has done several articles on the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Funeral Trust Scandal dated March 1st.

The Chicago Tribune failed to mention the big name in the situation, Senator-IL-Roland Burris. Burris was Comptroller in 1980 gave the IFDA their license for the fund. In 2007 he was a lobbyist for the IFDA involved with significant negotiations with the State of Illinois Comptroller’s Office. (Dan Hynes) This was over the IFDA Preneed Trust.

Here are the names of the two March 1st  articles with links from the Chicago Tribune:

1.Illinois Funeral Directors Association faces questions over trust’s shortfall, management

State comptroller’s office continues 3-year investigation Link HERE

2.Funeral directors, Illinois comptroller’s office at odds over trust regulation Link HERE

Article one mentions that funeral directors assets are in jeopardy.The Tribune fails to mention that future funeral costs are likely to be past on to consumers due to IFDA shortfalls.

A snippet from the first article:

“Now, the funeral directors themselves face financial hardship. For guaranteed contracts, they have to absorb inflationary increases in the cost of funeral services they contracted to provide, in some cases years ago.“

A Snippet from the second article states that  folks are outraged at the Comptroller Dan Hynes:

” The comptroller’s office discovered a $39 million deficit in the trust in 2005 that grew to more than $50 million last year.

Consumers and funeral directors are outraged at the lack of oversight“

Although the Chicago Tribune and the State Journal Register have done significant stories the story was first carried by World Net Daily on January 16th 2009.

Funeral Cost/Funeral Industry Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

(pic from istock photo)

preneed

illinois funeral directors association

IFDA Diverted Hundreds of Thousands To Funeral Museum-Your Funeral Guy

Breaking News-February 28th 2009, It appears that hundreds of thousands were diverted from the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Trust fund to the History of Funeral Customs Museum.

Late yesterday the State-Journal Register newspaper in Springfield IL posted an article about the diversion of ifda preneed trust funds to the IFDA museum.

The amount of money diverted was up to 250,000 USD dollars in 2006 and 2007. According to the Springfield Journal Register Article and Illinois Historian Schwartz.

“However, Schwartz said he assumes that the collapse of a pre-need funeral trust fund that once generated millions of dollars in management fees for the association led to the museum’s demise.

According to an IFDA-commissioned audit, the foundation that ran the museum received at least $250,000 annually in 2006 and 2007 from the association, which got more than $2 million each of those years from management fees generated by the trust fund.”

FD  Charles Childs (IFDA President 2006-2007) and Geoffrey Hurd IFDA President (2007-2008)  were active at the time the funds were transfered.

Both men have been mentioned in the Press. Childs and the press is mentioned at a February 12th post at this blog. Hurd is mentioned in the press here.

Sadly folks funeral cost is raised when funeral trust funds are misappplied.

The IFDA museum the History of Funeral Customs Museum has an excellent replica of Lincoln’s Casket Display. Thanks to the misappropriation of funds it appears that the museum may be closing. You can view a Lincoln Replica Casket like the one at the museum here.

Currently Randall L  Earl is Secretary of the NFDA and The Director of the IFDA Museum of Funeral Customs. This according to the NFDA Website.

Funeral Industry/Funeral Cost Blog

Post updated March 22, 2009 at 5:41pm.

Charles Childs and Geoffrey Hurd are public figures because they are IFDA Presidents. Speaking to the press thrust them into the public spotlight. The same with Randall L Earl who is a public figure as Secretary of the NFDA.
illinois funeral directors association

Illinois Funeral Directors Association Investigations-yourfuneralguy.

The Illinois Funeral Directors Association is now be investigated at least four different ways. There are folk working  hard to protect your funeral cost.

1. The First Way they are being investigated is through the media. The Chicago Tribune has done a story and the State Journal Register has done multiple stories as well. The State Journal Register Reporter Bruce Rushton has reported specific wrongful/fraudulent? applications of IFDA Prreneed Trust fund. Funeral Industry Reporters have done stories on the situation as well. Illinois Senator  Roland Burris’s connection to the Scam has been explored by some

2. The Second Way the Illinois Funeral Directors association is being investigated is through the Comptroller of the State of Illinois Dan Hynes. This investigation has been ongoing for several years.

3. The Third Way the IFDA is being investigated is through Lawsuits and Lawyers. Two Lawsuits one class action and another by Six Funeral Directors in the  State  of Illinois.

4. The Fourth way that The IFDA is being investigated is through bloggers. Bloggers across the internet have picked up on the Illinois Funeral Directors Ponzi Scheme and manipulations of the IFDA preneed Trust.

So there are people looking out for your funeral cost-the media, the comptroller, some lawyers and bloggers.

Funeral Cost/Funeral Industry Blog by Your Funeral Guy.
illinois funeral directors association
dan hynes
roland burris
ifda

Your Funeral Guy: Corpse Left in Hearse 2 months dead 2 years!

As mentioned before it is important to sign your Funeral (Cost) Contract. A funeral is both an emotional contract and a financial or funeral (Cost) contract. BE Sure To Sign and Understand YOUR CONTRACT! This is both for your financial and emotional protection..

According to the Associated Press and KansasCity.com some folks did not do this and there was shocking results. A cremation did not happen. Instead:

“Funeral Director Allegedly leaves Corpse in Hearse” for over 2 months,person dead 2 years!

“A funeral director faces a felony charge after police found a woman’s decomposing body in the back of a hearse. Police said the 76-year-old funeral home owner was charged Tuesday with abusing a corpse. Police said the woman died of natural causes in November 2007 at the age of 52. Relatives said they wanted her remains cremated.”

The family was negligent in that they never signed the cremation papers or paid the funeral home.

You can find out more information on your funeral cost contract either preneed or at need here.

Rest in Peace: Insider’s Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral by R Brian Burkhardt

Funeral Cost/Funeral industry Blog by Your Funeral Guy.

Source: kansascity.com

funeral cost
rest in peace insiders tips to the low cost less stress funeral

Your Funeral Guy: Exposing the Funeral Cost Scam-by World Famous Author

In March  a Creative work exposing the Funeral Industry and your funeral cost will be published by a world famous author. The story is a creative mystery and it addresses problems in the funeral industry.

‘The Undertakers Tale” will Rock the Funeral Industry with humor and creativity and expose charlatan behaviors. I have not read the story but because of the author’s world wide status it will be good. This author is very creative so I do not believe that the current Illinois Funeral Directors Association (IFDA)Scandal-Alleged Ponzi  scheme or the National Prearranged Services (NPS) scandal  will be addressed. There are rumors of another  eastern exposure of these recent events.

The best selling author has a large number books published and was at one time the most popular author in the United States of America. I am the author of a book on the funeral industry and will never be as  famous as the “Undertaker Tale” guy. Neither will anyone else alive today.

You see the famous author is Mark Twain.

Funeral Cost/Funeral Industry Blog- Your Funeral Guy.-R.Brian Burkhardt
funeral cost

Information on the upcoming story is here.

Now A Funeral Cost Last Stand-Your Funeral Guy.

In an effort to come in under the average cost of a funeral an Illinois Resident has taken her stand on  preneed for her family. She has recovered funeral cost money $1000.00 USD of the principal that was paid in 2003.

This lady successfully stood up to an Illinois Funeral Directors Association Funeral Home.  Not only did she negotiate with the Funeral Home(advocated here), she negotiated with the Comptroller of the State of Illinois, and the Illinois Funeral Directors Association-IFDA. You can view the full article here: Pre-need Funeral Investor Demands Repayment of Principal

This is a helpful example of how you can come in under the average cost of a funeral and negotiate your funeral cost.

The scenario is also instructive on why one should not prepay or purchase a preneed contract.

This is outlined in the funeral cost book.

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

Blog by Your Funeral Guy
rest in peace insiders tips to the low cost less stress funeral
preneed

NPS Scandal plus IFDA Scandal equals Higher Average Funeral Cost

NPS Scandal plus IFDA Scandal means a higher average cost of a funeral or average funeral cost.

These numbers sound like Wall Street Bailout numbers.

The final numbers are in for these two Scandals  National Prearranged Services has 1.9 BILLION  in LIABILITIES, 312 million in assets(Cash). FBI may seize officials personal assets.

This leaves 1,587,100,000 in liabilities for NPS Adding in the 59 million IFDA(ILLINOIS FUNERAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION) write down of their trust fund the number comes to  $1,646,100,00 USD loss in the funeral industry. Industry experts now put the funeral industry yearly value at 15 Billion. (Some folks say the Funeral Biz is a 22-24 Billion Industry but as far as I can tell these numbers do not come from experts)

That is a more than 10% loss for the funeral business. These numbers are staggering but in some ways not surprising. National Prearranged Services operated in 38% of the United States of America or in 19 of the 50 states.

This amounts to a Funeral Cost Tsunami on the average cost of a funeral. State Insurance guarranty Associations and generally holding back flood waters by covering peoples Funerals. Paperwork challenges and other factors generally mean a pressure on average funeral cost.

We will have to see what the final outcome will be. Long term funeral industry and government losses in the Wall Street Meltdown remain to be seen.

Scandal plus Scandal still means an upward pressure on funeral cost. Integrity, and due dilligence by funeral directors will be addressed going forward.

Blog by Your Funeral Guy.average cost of a funeral

Source: Kansas City.com

Disclaimer:This blog post asumes the figures at KansasCity.com are correct.

funeral cost