Your Funeral Guy: Medicaid and Funeral Cost.

Your Funeral Guy: Medicaid does not cover Funeral Cost.

Insurance and Pre need counselors often say that no matter how poor you are, you need to buy a life insurance policy or pre need policy covering your funeral.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Does_medicaid_cover_funeral_expenses

This is not necessarily the case.  If you put a little money aside and plan a lower cost funeral as outlined below that may be all you need to do. This funeral book will help.

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: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: 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

Your Funeral Guy: Average Funeral Cost Today.

The FTC United States the average funeral cost is around S6,000.00 This does not include the cemetery. A popular website gives the average basic funeral cost example again without the cemetery as $7,293.00

“Professional and administrative services (embalming, funeral home staff during the visitation, and so on) … $1,650

Facilities and equipment (preparation room, visitation room, reception room, chapel) … $850

Transportation (transfer from the place of death, funeral limousine, and cars for the family) … $450

Merchandise (casket, vault, prayer cards, temporary grave marker) … $2,515

Cash disbursements (flowers, cemetery plot, obituary, death certificates, honorariums, headstone) … $1,828

Total (not including taxes) … $7,293″

Source:http://www.funeralswithlove.com/funeralcosts.htm

This quote from an article by Mike Testa CPA gives a summary  of the average cost of a funeral today that includes the cemetery.

“Here is a reasonable “ballpark” estimate of the main costs that are involved:

• fee for the funeral director’s services: $1,500
• cost for a casket: $2,300
• embalming: $500
• cost for using the funeral home for the actual funeral service: $500
• cost of a gravesite: $1,000
• cost to dig the grave: $600
• cost of a grave liner or outer burial container: $1,000
• cost of a headstone: $1,500

In this example, total costs would approximate $9,000 ….and that’s just for the “main” items. There could be additional charges for things like placing the obituary in the newspaper, buying flowers, and limousine rental. There could also be additional charges for prayer cards, use of the hearse, and a donation to the organist, soloist, or officiating clergy.”

http://www.articlealley.com/article_679429_27.html

Above is the lower end of the average of the basics from 2 Sources other than your funeralguy. In Many cases the cost is much more.The average cost of a funeral is going up. Traditional funeral cost is rising. But at the same lower funeral cost funerals putting more pressure on the traditional funeral directors to raise funeral expenses.

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

Your Funeral Guy: Home Funerals can mean A Lower Cost Funeral with minimal mental health risk.

Your Funeral Guy: Under the best circumstances, ( with funeral cost  lower)  the home funeral offers mental health advantages that are difficult to reproduce with some of the excessive methods our commercialized society has put into action. This many times involves funeral director hand holding with excessive funeral costs. Many Funeral directors have adopted an organized, hidden, costly approach  to deal with the inconvenience of a death in a family.

Sometimes because of certain circumstances, a home funeral can add significantly to the trauma, grief and stress of a funeral. The difference between a helpful, caring (traditional or home funeral) funeral event and a funeral nightmare lies entirely with the family’s collective abilities to provide specifics in offering emotional, psychological support with connection to community.  There must be a strong family structure (family of origin, extended and other) with community ties in place so that the shared burdens of trauma,grief and stress results in a smaller individual doses of the same.

For families with a solid church affiliation, the church most often acts as an effective extension to the family with a social support system.
When there is no strong church affiliation, most churches stand ready to assist the unchurched family with the traditional and in some cases the home funeral. Almost always this church option costs less than a Traditional Funeral Home Service.

Funeral Cost Saving  should not be the reason to have a home funeral, although it is often sited in blogs and articles as a cost benefit in funeral terms. Home funerals can end up having higher funeral cost  because of being new to the public and  the intense involvement of so many folks whose efforts are sometimes ineffective from a financial funeral cost perspective.

That said if there is strong family structure, good church ties, and friends in the community the home funeral can be the lower cost funeral. Home funerals done correctly by a qualified home funeral professional can be the low cost less stress funeral. This is often the case in countries outside the USA.

Source: http://www.bartonfuneral.com/funeral-basics/home-funerals/

as well as the experience of your funeral guy

Home funerals were predicted in this 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.

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

Your Funeral Guy: IFDA Preneed Trust $40 million deficit Funeral Cost Scandal fades with Fannie and Freddie takeover

IFDA Preneed Trust $40 million deficit Funeral Cost Scandal fades with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mae  takeover.

The IFDA Preneed Trust pales by in the light of US Treasury Takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage providers.

A 40 million dollar deficit is minimized by the financial collapse of these institutions.

But it still serves as a firm reminder why you should avoid prepaying for a funeral.

This is outlined here along with more information on the average cost of a funeral, :

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.

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

Your Funeral Guy:Another Great Low Funeral Cost Video!

Business Week put out a great Low Cost Funeral Video. In the video green funerals are explained…and a low cost casket is put together with handles. It does not get much better than this.

Funeral Directors have a vested interest in keeping  a traditional things going on! That will not be your lower cost funeral. Be sure to watch this one!

http://feedroom.businessweek.com/index.jsp?fr_story=FRsupt20503

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.

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

Your Funeral Guy: Green Funeral Homes/Burials-low funeral cost- are Happening Now

A Funeral Director in New Jersey is taking the lead  in Green by selling solar pannels and advocating lower funeral cost(low funeral cost =green funeral/burial. The Director’s name is Bob Prout

“Prout is also leading the way as a proponent of natural or

“green” burials, which further protect the environment and give people

another option in the end of life planning process. “More and more people

who truly loved the earth in life are choosing to continue their conservation

efforts in death by opting for natural burials,” Prout says.”

Here is the full post and an excellent one at green Funeral Homes and Green funeral cost.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,229869.shtml

This is predicted in the work "Rest in Peace"

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.

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

Your Funeral Guy: Five ways to a lower cost funeral

Here are five fun ways to do a lower cost funeral and lower the average cost of a funeral.

Now Here Is Some Fun Stuff about Your Funeral From Your Funeral Guy.

Five Ways that will make Your Funeral Funt that are Outside the Box at Low Cost.

This post is for those who have already considered their funeral and have chosen a low cost funeral. There are actually thousands of Things that can make a Low Cost Funeral Interesting. All outside the box details of a low cost funeral promote personal freedom and broad prosperity because it puts money into people’s pockets.

Way #1 of the of the Lower Cost Funeral is : Have the funeral in Whatever location You Want. If you choose Not to have your funeral at a funeral home you immediately have lower cost. You also are one up on having the funeral ceremony you desire. If you can have it in a recreation center, a park, a country club (surprise a country club is less than a funeral home), a church (costs even less) a park, a room, a nursing home, or even at the cemetery the cost is much lower. When you have a location in a facility other than a funeral home you maintain (naturally) more direct control over your funeral ceremony.

Way #2 of the Lower Cost Funeral: is have the funeral in Multiple Locations Wherever You Want. Many people have a cremation, have a ceremony at a church (location #1), and a celebration at a room in a restaurant (location#2) and scatter the ashes at another location (#3), some scatter ashes at a favorite ride at Disney World. When thinking outside the box on funeral cost, there are thousand of location combinations.

WAY#3: of the Lower Cost Funeral is to have a funeral where you can Serve Whatever Drink You Want. One does not have to be limited to the coffee and water which is the general drink of a funeral home. By having the funeral away from the funeral home and at a your private location you can serve whatever drink you want alcoholic or non-alcoholic.

Way #4 of the Lower Cost Funeral follows from #3. All you need is a location with access to a caterer or a kitchen and You Can Serve Whatever food You Want. Examples are a cafeteria, a restaurant or a cafeteria , etc. Serve your favorite dish if you like. Have them eat whatever you desire.

Way #5 of the Lower Cost Funeral is that( again at a private Location) where you can have the guests at your funeral Smoke Whatever You Want. It should be legal smoking. You do not need a Police Raid at your Funeral! No longer do you have to put up with smoking cigars or cigarettes outside the funeral home. At a private location you can allow “Your Friends” to smoke right beside your casket. I do not recommend that they use your casket as ashtray however.
To some these “Ways” of the low cost funeral may seem like more than outside the box. It may seem like the “outer limits” of Funerals. In the near future everyone will see funerals with these 5 common items listed above.

They are actually are only simple funeral tweaks. Green Funerals and Green Burials are coming to America. They are coming from across the pond just as cremation came thirty years ago. A better future and a more shared responsibility will be experienced by all. Funeral Expenses are coming down. In the future funerals will be appropriately fun.

The Five Interesting Things That can Happen at Your Funeral Are:

1.Whatever Location You Want
2. Multiple Locations Wherever You Want
3. Serve Whatever Drink You Want
4. Serve Whatever food you Want
5. Your Guests can Smoke Whatever they Want
These Interesting items come directly from the experience of R.Brian Burkhardt.

and there is more like this in the book.

This book has received positive reviews from Matt Bacak And Jason Oman.

Your Funeral Guy,

Funeral Director in Illinois and Virginia.

Your Funeral Guy: Green Funerals are Arising Funeral cost to dive.

Green funerals are arising and funeral cost is on the dive. With the horrors of recession and inflation upon us….funeral director(s) and funeral homes have found this framework a key time and opportunity to raise your funeral cost. But you can resist! Just this past week in OHIO green services are taking hold and green cemeteries have taken hold in Indiana …. indicating a much lower focus on funeral cost. There are Pictures and and a wealth of low cost information on Low cost Burials that are green here.

http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080818/NEWS/808180302

IF you find yourself having to do a funeral at this difficult time you may want to check out this work—

It will help you lower the cost of a funeral. Any Funeral and save 10000 dollars of the average cost of a funeral.

I also found a wealth of information on the questions on green burials here:

http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/ashes-to-ashes-dust-to-dust-preserve-brings-green-burials-to-ohio/

To think a Green cemetery opened up into Ohio this week!!!! Here are some frequently asked Questions! These area part of the post the link mentioned above.

Green burial FAQ

“Won’t wild animals dig up the grave? Doesn’t burial have to be “six feet under?”

Animals digging up grave sites is a myth. A green cemetery in South Carolina, where wild boars are common, has had no trouble with graves being disturbed, according to Foxfield Preserve steward Jennifer Quinn.
Few cemeteries actually dig 6 feet down for graves. Proper burial depth allows the remains to be undisturbed but not so deep that the return to nature is delayed. Graves are dug to 3-4 feet deep at Foxfield Preserve.

Doesn’t embalming permanently preserve a body and prevent the spread of disease?

No to both. Embalming only slows decomposition. The chemicals used preserve a body for a relatively short period of time. As for diseases, with a few rare exceptions, they depend on living tissues. As parasites, they die when their host body dies.

What about water resources? Isn’t the cemetery going to ruin water quality?

A nature preserve cemetery will actually improve water quality. Natural land produces cleaner water than urban, suburban or agricultural runoff.

Can I have a headstone at Foxfield Preserve?

Modest grave markers are permitted but must comply with the nature preserve concept. Markers must be a native glacial erratic stone, such as granite or sandstone, and can be engraved but not polished. The stones must lay flat and have a natural appearance, including irregular edges. There are also size and height restrictions.”

The book presented below will help you with your funeral cost

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.

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

Your Funeral Guy is here to help.