The cost of living continues to rise for most goods and services in the U.S. – and the cost of dying is keeping pace.
An adult funeral with viewing and burial (including a vault) was $8,508 in 2014, according to the National Funeral Directors Association. That’s up nearly 30% over a decade earlier. The price has been a similar trajectory since the turn of the 21st century.
Rising funeral costs are just one of the reasons that cremations are on the rise in the country. In 2015, the number of cremations topped burials for the first time. According to the NFDA, cremations are projected to account for more than 70% of end-of-life services by 2030, as Baby Boomers continue their march into retirement and senior years.
But cremation still isn’t cheap. In 2014, the median adult funeral with visitation and cremation cost $6,078.
The cost of resolving bills or accounts of recently deceased, and paying for services, can be quite a surprise for grieving family members left behind, especially if there’s not a will or sufficient savings or life insurance to pay.
According to LexisNexis, more than half of American don’t have a will, which can delay family members from accessing funds necessary to pay for end-of-life services. And the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that 46% of Americans die with less than $10,000 in assets.
When you combine the rising cost of funeral and cremation services with the lack of wills, savings and assets of millions of American at the end of their lives, the value of life insurance becomes more evident.
However, there’s even more bad news. Just 60% of Americans say they have life insurance, according to LIMRA. In fact, LIMRA estimates that the gap between life insurance coverage and life insurance needs in the Unites States has grown to $16 trillion.
With the cost of funeral services on the rise like everything else, and many of America’s workers lacking vital savings, Unum’s life insurance expert, Annise Henson says life insurance is an excellent way to protect your family from financial hardships at a difficult time.
