Have you ever considered how your loved ones would pay for your funeral if the worst ever happens? And do you have any idea what the average cost of a funeral actually is?
Me neither.
Or at least I hadn’t until I had to organise my Dad’s funeral earlier this year when I was shocked that (a) the overall cost was over £4000 and (b) I had to pay £1400 up front before they would collect him from the hospital.
I was also surprised to see how quickly the cost was bumped up from the ‘basic’ funeral to one with just a few extras because even though I knew that my Dad would begrudge spending money, even on his own funeral, this was my last chance to do something for my Dad and I couldn’t bear the thought of a no-frills style funeral.
I didn’t add many extras at all and said no to the majority of things offered but we still paid over £4000 for what I would call a basic funeral and that’s the message I wanted to share with you all when I wrote my post.
At the time though I didn’t have any facts and figures other than my Dad’s own funeral costs but last week I read a press release from Legal and General which had exactly the information that I’d been looking for when I wrote my original post so I thought today would be a good day to revisit the subject.
The research shows that the average cost of a funeral in the UK had increased by almost 40% between 2011 and 2017 which is a huge amount if you ask me. In fact, if they keep going up like this then the average cost of a funeral in 2024 is going to be just short of £6000!
There are quite bit regional differences in the average costs and it seems as though, in most areas, cremation is the cheapest option. Take a look at this to get an idea of how much the average funeral costs are in your area…
There are lots of ways to make organising your funeral easier for your loved ones though.
My best advice would be to talk to them although I know from personal experience that this can be difficult as my Dad tried to talk to me about his funeral and I always changed the subject and said we’d talk another time because I never wanted to even think about a time when he wouldn’t be here. For me though, time ran out and I found myself having to organise a funeral without having that chat.
Tell them what provisions you’ve made for funeral costs be it savings, a funeral plan or any life insurance plans you have in place because they’re going to need to know pretty quickly and if you have the details tucked away somewhere safe then they might not fund them until afterwards by which time, they’ll have already been through the stress of trying to sort the funds out in a short space of time.
Make sure you take the time to tell them what you want and just as importantly, what you don’t want. Feel free to choose your favourite songs, poems or readings and don’t feel like it’s morbid to be doing that – believe me when I tell you that was one of the hardest parts of organising my Dad’s funeral.
And you know what? If you can’t tell them all this face to face, write it down and give it to them to open when the time comes.
I know it feels like you have a long time to do this and I hope that you all do but just in case, do something now to make things easier for your loved ones when you’re gone.
Don’t miss out on future posts like this – receive updates directly to your inbox by email by adding your email address here and hitting subscribe. You can also follow me on Twitter, BlogLovin or Networked Blogs and I’d love to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram. You can find out more about me here.
