Being green is on everyone’s mind nowadays. No one wants to be a burden on society and loved ones when they are dead.
If you are spending a lot of your time estate planning, and writing wills, in preparation for the future, there’s something that you are probably missing in your calculations. Funeral costs and services are rising at an exorbitant rate.
This is why more and more people are choosing cremation services over traditional burials. As this article from NBC News says, the average cost of a funeral today along with a burial is around $7,700!! That’s just average. It can be higher depending on your location. Apparently, the highest cost for a funeral is in Hawaii, at $14,000.
Instead of being a burden on loved ones, a lot of people are choosing to go the cremation route. In 2011, the average cremation rate was around 42 percent, according to the funeral directors association. That’s double what it was 15 years ago.
This is good to know for anyone who’s planning their estate right now. There are many things to consider and many reasons why more people are choosing cremation services over traditional burial. Let’s keep reading and find out what they are.
When the Time Comes, Keep These Five Rationales in Mind
1. Less of a Time and Energy Burden on Your Family
Choosing the funeral home, a casket, a burial vault, and more takes time, effort, and energy that your poor loved ones probably don’t have. They are already feeling the pangs of grief and sadness due to your demise. To put the burden of such choices on your loved one is a little bothersome.
Not only that, if you are one of those rare organized types, who actually takes care of all of these details before your death, even then, a funeral service will take up a lot of your family’s time and energy when they would rather be spending it at home surrounded by close relatives, grieving with each other.
2. You Are With Your Family Forever Even After Death
One of the reasons many people seem to like the idea of cremation is that they get to spend the rest of eternity with their loved ones when their ashes are stored in an urn and kept in a visible place of honor in the family home.
It’s sentimental, to be sure. But it’s cognizant of the fact that no one wants to leave this world when they do. No one’s really prepared to leave their loved ones behind. In this manner, you don’t ever leave your family and friends behind. You are always ‘with’ them, in spirit and ashes.
3. Cremation Cost Isn’t Everything But It Is Important
Not to harp on about cost, but funerals and traditional burials are exorbitantly more expensive than cremation services. This means that if you go the cremation route, you are ensuring that more of your savings, and estate are going towards the maintenance and care of your loved ones after your death.
Instead of them spending half or more of your estate, on your funeral services, they can actually use your hard-earned money to support themselves after your death. That is the reason why you worked so hard all of your life, isn’t it??
4. Cremation Services Also Gives You a Lot More Options After Death
Cremation rates are supposedly going to rise to 79% by 2035, according to The Economist. There might be many reasons for this, but one of them definitely has to be the flexibility associated with cremation services.
Yes, you could spend the rest of your cremated life in a little urn on top of a shelf in your family home. Or you could spend it swimming with the whales in the ocean. Maybe at the bottom of your favorite fishing spot. Even mixed into the soil of a favorite tree. The options are limitless. This gives you the freedom and flexibility to live your full to the fullest, even after death. The American dream, to be sure.
5. Online Cremation Services for the Win
We don’t know how long the COVID-19 situation might last. Hopefully, things will be back to normal soon enough. But in case, you are worried about your loved ones traipsing around funeral homes, chatting with funeral directors, and more, you can rest easy knowing that a lot of cremation services are conducted 100% online now.
Wow!! You probably didn’t even know that was a possibility. Well, it is. No more worrying about your loved one’s health after you are gone. Go on, pat yourself on the back for figuring this one out!
The Days Are Long, The Years Are Short, and Then You Are Gone
You’ve probably heard the adage before. But, indeed, you don’t realize what’s truly important to you until the end arrives. All of a sudden, everything is starkly clear – the only thing that matters is your loved one’s health and safety.
With cremation services, you are ensuring that you keep helping your family and loved ones out even after death. You won’t be a burden on them, financially, or temporally.
The main point of planning for the future is to ensure that you can rest with an unburdened heart. It’ll be easier for you to sleep at night, every night if you know that you’ve taken care of the most important detail of your death.
One out of every eight funerals is arranged based on how expensive it will be. This isn’t just a one-off thing. Every person who’s planning their funeral right now is thinking about this.
It’s time to be smarter than the rest.
It’s time to think differently and plan cohesively. If you are ready to start looking into some green and economical cremation options, please contact us directly. We would be happy to ease the burden of your future at least slightly. You can contact us 24/7 by clicking the green button above.
