Sometimes, a funeral goes as smoothly as a family could hope for:

Jack Sanders had talked frequently with his mother, Joyce, about her funeral plans. A frugal woman, she disdained high prices for anything. She wanted cremation and a simple burial with a graveside service and a few friends. No big [...]]]>

The High Cost of Dying

Sometimes, a funeral goes as smoothly as a family could hope for:

Jack Sanders had talked frequently with his mother, Joyce, about her funeral plans. A frugal woman, she disdained high prices for anything. She wanted cremation and a simple burial with a graveside service and a few friends. No big fuss. No viewing.

So Sanders, 52, of New Sharon, Maine, arranged for precisely what she wanted when his mother died in August at age 68. Chuck Kincer, owner of a number of funeral businesses in Maine, did everything to specifications and charged $1,250. “It was perfect,” Sanders said after the graveside service at the family plot.

But other times, things spin out of control:

Read the full story at AARP.org

“This is my third time going as I went in May [...]]]> Renee Winnipeg from Manitoba, Canada shares on her blog “Circling My Head” her experience while visiting a funeral home and selecting some of her final arrangements. She breaks down the costs of her funeral in the article, and talks about her feelings about the event.

“This is my third time going as I went in May last year. I plan on making this an annual event just to fine-tune and also to get use to the place. The first year I went I felt choked, the second year it felt more like business and this year it felt like I was just renegotiating what I want in my living room with an interior decorator.”

Read her post: Taking Care of Business No. 2