Your No-Nonsense, Money-Saving Guide to Planning for the Inevitable
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Your No-Nonsense, Money-Saving Guide to Planning for the Inevitable In 2006, Baby Boomers age 42 to 60 totaled an estimated 78.0 million and comprised 26.1% of the total U.S. population*. They are starting to bury their parents. They are starting to bury themselves – Jim Morrison was right – no one here gets out alive! *US Census Bureau analysis of 2006 data released in November 2009 People who are uneasy with the topic and daunted by the research. People who are interested in saving money. 30 – 38 million caregivers. Nov. 2006, AARP The 6,744 people who die every day. CIA Factbook Financial ◦ The average funeral cost is now $9,500. yourfuneralguy.com Emotional ◦ Patients can gain peace of mind, ease the burden from their loved ones, and gain some control. Social ◦ You may be dead, but you still have to mind your manners. I will proceed chapter by chapter Feel free to use worksheet provided Jot down questions Presentation about 1 hr & questions after. Giving Your Body to Science Medical Schools Body Farms Organ Donation Direct Disposition Self Service Traditional Care Cryonics Have a backup plan in case donation is refused. More and more people are choosing the self-help method. In most states you do not need the services of a funeral director. Organ donation does not preclude a viewing. Direct disposition is the most cost-effective option. With Cryonics – you can just freeze your head, really. Traditional in-Ground Burial - Vault & Liner Cemetery types Traditional Entombment Green or Natural Burial To Embalm or Not Burial at Sea Home Burial Alternative Burial Funeral rule Pre-need How Do I Choose a Funeral Home? There is no law requiring embalming. Each year traditional burial uses 115 million tons of steel, 2.3 billion tons of reinforced concrete, 900,000 gallons of formaldehyde. Naturalburial.org Full body sea burial costs 1/3 more. Home burial is regulated by locality. Funeral directors have to give prices over the phone. Funeral homes cannot require the use of their caskets. Cremation - Cost about ½ of burial Direct Cremation Costs - Traditional Cremation Costs Pre-Cremation Container Choose a Crematorium Disposal Of Ashes Traditional Burial / Columbarium Additional Fees Burial at Sea Memorial Reefs On the shelf Scattering Eco-Forests National Parks Cremation Society caution 855-0885 Eric Steward Cremation Services of Tidewater Cremation can be 1/2 of the cost of a traditional burial. You can still have a viewing beforehand. This can be a greener alternative. You do not need a casket for cremation. Direct cremation & scattering = $300/$500. Ashes can be made into a walking stick, shot from a potato gun or traditionally buried. Cosco/Walmart Cemeteries rule!!! Full Body Burial Caskets: - Traditional Nontraditional - Green Caskets Homemade Caskets Pre-Cremation Caskets: – Traditional - Crematorium Provided - Alternative/ Handmade/Green Post-Cremation Container: Urns - Traditional Nontraditional - Green Homemade You can buy a casket on the internet or from box stores. You can buy coffin kits and build your own. You do not have to be buried in a casket. Cemeteries can require a vault for urns. Green urns are used for sea burials. Type of Service: - Traditional Memorial Committal Alternative Cemetery to be considered Format for Service: - Religious Nonreligious Family gathering Private Eulogy The Visitation The Viewing The Wake Reception: When Where What type? Living Funerals For your viewing, you can now have plastic surgery – it is the up and coming trend. You can rent a fancy-pants casket for a viewing or visitation. Alternative services are becoming the norm. You should start writing your Eulogy. Receptions and services are now held almost anywhere & everywhere. You can hold a full service in one venue and a memorial service at another. Your Obituary In/out newspapers - magazines Email after death The “A” List Memorial Markers at the Gravesite - epitaph Memorial Markers not at the Gravesite Memorials on the Web Begin the “who needs to know” list. Go ahead and write your own obituary – the time to brag is now! Your obituary should be given to several different newspapers. Be sure to include FaceBook and any other online presence. Pick out your best picture now! Will Heirs and Beneficiaries The Executor The Dreaded Divide Dividing games Organization of Important Papers Location of Important Papers In some states if you do not have a will, your divorced spouse can still inherit your estate! Make provisions for your pets. Make provisions for handing down your ashes. Think of ways to bequeath small items. Might I suggest “Drunken Pin the tail on the Donkey.” Published on August 16 and 17, 2008, in the Vallejo Times-Herald: Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. Dolores had no hobbies, made no contribution to society and rarely shared a kind word or deed in her life. I speak for the majority of her family when I say her presence will not be missed by many, very few tears will be shed, and there will be no lamenting over her passing. Her family will remember Dolores and amongst ourselves we will remember her in our own way, which were mostly sad and troubling times throughout the years. We may have some fond memories of her and perhaps we will think of those times too. But I truly believe at the end of the day ALL of us will really only miss what we never had, a good and kind mother, grandmother, and great-grand- mother. I hope she is finally at peace with herself. As for the rest of us left behind, I hope this is the beginning of a time of healing and learning to be a family again. There will be no service, no prayers and no closure for the family she spent a lifetime tearing apart. We cannot come together in the end to see to it that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can say their goodbyes. So I say here for all of us, GOOD BYE, MOM. Your No-Nonsense, Money-Saving Guide to Planning for the Inevitable ➢ Deathforbeginners.com ➢ Note* Updated for 2019 ➢ On Amazon ➢ Contact: through website.