Death is an inevitable event. As the popular saying goes: “The only things that are certain in this world is death and taxes”.

Losing a loved one at any time is very painful, but sooner or later we find out that the major problem is actually taking care of the expenses that come with planning a funeral.

Most of our loved ones are actually not conscious of what it takes to plan a funeral and hence doesn't plan towards it during their lifetime, leaving us with both an emotional and financial burden to bear, in situations where our loved ones die without a plan for their burial we can easily access funeral loans. 

What does it take to plan a funeral?

Funeral Expenses

The amount taken to plan a funeral is dependent on several factors like the state where the funeral is being planned, the type of funeral, and several other factors. 

According to National Funeral Directors Association, the mean cost for running a normal burial is about $7,640 this is a very steep price meaning we should plan for our funeral.

When costing a funeral, we must consider the cost of the burial, basic services fees, casket, embalming and transporting remains to a funeral home, and other factors. This average cost does take into consideration the price for monuments, flowers, markers e.t.c.

The cost of funeral planning has been gradually increasing since the late 1980s, today or is not strange to see funerals costing up to $10,000 or more depending on if the body is buried or cremated. The cost of the caskets and urn can run into thousands of dollars, these prices are dependent on the style and material they are made from.

According to National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), the average prices for the basic funeral services are:

• Funeral service fee: $2,100

• Funeral home rental: $500

• Funeral home staff: $500

• Vault: $1,395

• Cremation casket: $1,000

• Embalming: $725

• Urn: $275

• Cosmetic services: $250

• Hearse: $325

• Transportation: $325

• Transportation for the family: $150

• Pamphlets and materials: $160

Funeral expenses also vary from state to state. 

Source: time.com

Emergency Loan For Funeral

As the saying goes, death comes like a thief at night, this means no one is fully prepared to die, but we must all die so if a loved one dies without laying out a plan and funds for his funeral, we can source emergency Loans for a funeral.

Funeral loans are a type of personal loan, and like all personal loan are unsecured and is characterized by high-interest rates. These loans do help ease the burden of the funeral expenses but we must be very careful when using them in other not to destroy our credit score.

Funeral Loan: Is It Bad Credit

Funeral loans like all personal loans are important In building credit but, failure to service the loan within the repayment window might prove fatal to one's credit score.

Other Ways To Pay For Funeral

Insurance

One of the most convenient ways an individual can prepay for funeral expenses is by getting an insurance policy. Most people tend to use life insurance only very few are aware that there is a sort of insurance called burial insurance. 

One of the major shortcomings of using life insurance to prepay for funeral expenses is that life insurances are not actually meant for such. 

But you can list a funeral home as part of the benefactors in your insurance policy, but in burial insurance, the money is particularly earmarked for the individual funeral expenses. Burial insurance rates are based on sex, age, health status.

Government Assistance Programs

Individuals may get help from the government in financing a funeral. This help depends on the location and circumstances of the individual. The government tends to favor victims of natural disasters, veterans, and elderly people mainly. The following are examples of how the government assists people in planning their funerals:

• Social Security. It would pay a one-time payment of $225 to the deceased spouse or relative as Death Settlement, this is very little and takes care of just minor things on the funeral expenses.

• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). FEMA intervenes in taking care of individual funeral expenses when the government declares an area as a disaster zone. Individuals that died as a result of natural disasters, either directly or indirectly are eligible.

• Military Burial Benefits For Veterans. The United States Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) offers little help to veterans depending on whether the death is service-related or non-service-related.

For service-related, the VA pays up to $2,000 to the deceased spouse or relative while for non-service-related the VA pays about $780.

Fundraising

When an individual is deceased, the family can organize fundraising either as bake sales, car wash, church donations, or even crowdfunding.

Bank Account 

An individual can set up a bank account to pay for the funeral expenses. One of the ways of this is by either opening a savings account or a payable on death account. 

When an individual opens either of the accounts, he must deposit enough that will be able to finance the funeral and in the case of payable on death account list a benefactor which can be a relative or a funeral home.

As we plan to go about our daily activities on this earth we should also plan how our last day earth would be work towards it because the only constant in this world is death.