In today’s economy, I can’t help but think about the rising cost of funerals. We've always heard the old cliche of the two things which are certain, death and taxes. I'll save the taxes for another hub but death is also inevitable for all of us. Having lost my mother-in-law a few months ago and going through the funeral preparations myself, I soon realized how much money it takes to plan and prepare even a simple memorial service. Are we ever really prepared for funerals? I would suspect, its not something we all like to think about even though it may lurk in the back of our minds. Then when a loved one passes, it springs to the forefront and somehow it always seem to catch us off guard.

To tell you the truth, I don’t think we are ever really prepared for funerals. Let’s face it, unless your in the funeral industry, this is just something most of us don't plan for very often. It’s not until the death of a family member are we forced to partake in the overwhelming task of funeral planning.

Of course, costs may dictate the type of service we plan and whether or not to have a traditional burial or cremation. In our case, we chose to have the body cremated, reasoning that it would be more cost effective than the traditional burial since there would be no purchase of a casket or plot of land. With cremation, there are hidden costs however. My mother-in-law had a pace maker and several metal braces in her leg which we found out all had to be removed prior to cremation. Cha ching!…adding to the overall costs.

Additionally, there were also additional taxes and other miscellaneous charges which ended up with a bill of a whopping $5,000! Then there was the funeral home fees, urn to purchase, funeral service programs to create and print, tribute table to display, video to produce, food for the “interment” or after gathering/reception, hall to rent, flowers, and clergy to pay. By the time all was said and done, this simple and humble funeral cost over $10,000! We were able to save some money by trimming cost and using funeral service program templates, making our own video, and preparing our own food for the reception. But you know, during a time of mourning, who has the energy and time to do all this?

It’s great if you can enlist the help of friends and other family members and delegate such tasks and details, but someone still needs to facilitate it and make sure they are tended to. I found that during the planning, much of my emotions of the loss, were temporarily put on hold. The emotions of loss and preparations can be draining on the psyche and physically taxing on the body!

Thankfully, my father-in-law had his finances in order before he passed away years ago. So the funeral costs were taken out of that trust fund. But it got me thinking... how do others do it? Those who don’t necessarily have their finances in order or the funds to save for this exit of life ceremony.

Then I stumbled upon an article on Digg.com from The New York Times publishing "Unclaimed Corpses Rise as Families Can't Afford Burials". The rising number of people in the U.S. who do not claim deceased bodies because they do not have the funds to pay for the funeral costs. Yikes!

According to the NY Times, the states, counties and private funeral homes have to foot the bill when families cannot. This saddens me a great deal that there are not more agencies out there who can assist people in need of end of life funding. If the deceased had not planned or had the funds to set aside for a funeral, then the cost generally is brought forth to the immediate family or the surviving family members.

This can be a tremendous financial burden on the family depending on their financial situation. The jobless rate is at its highest of 10% and with more people out of work and people dying everyday, how can anyone afford to die?