I came across this recent article from USA Today titled “Americans are going into debt over death.  Here are affordability tips.”  Reading that article led me to a survey and results from Debt.com and another article, that you can access here, titled “The Financial Toll of Grief: More than 1 in 3 Americans took on debt after a loved one’s death.” 

The Debt.com survey, which was done in October, pointed out that in 2025, 37% of those surveyed had taken on debt after the death of a loved one.  That compared to only a 14% rate from one year earlier.  The survey also suggested that 57% of Americans say “they couldn’t cover a loved one’s funeral today without going into debt.”

Debt.com’s Chairman, Howard Dvorkin, made this comment about those results in the USA Today article, “This one was a little shocking and it kind of makes sense.”  The article then mentioned that “Inflation has lifted consumer prices by at least 24% since early 2020 seeding recent talk of a national affordability crisis.”  

The USA Today article also pointed out that those in the Generation X cohort of ages (born between 1965 and 1980) that fall between 45 and 60 have taken on more funeral debt than any other generational cohort.   43% of Gen Xer’s say that they have taken on debt to pay for funerals.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take :  I suggest that you read the linked articles — the survey article has some very good graphics.  I found both articles to be good, honest, and because they were written  from a perspective that is not one of a Death Care professional they might contain opinions that we agree with, but are not always taken seriously because we are the pre-planning advocates.  For instance. . . here were a couple of comments:

• “When there is no funeral plan, survivors scramble”
• “Most people don’t have the family conversation (about death)”
• “Having that conversation is probably the most important thing”

While I’m no longer on the front lines of funeral service, I remember what it was like sitting with families who had just experienced a loved one’s death and did not have the resources, or credit ability, to fund the memorial experience that they would like to have.  It’s never an easy experience for the family members or the funeral director making the arrangements.

And, I’ve worried lately about the apparent “K-shaped” economy and those it may be leaving behind in my own community.  With compounding inflation over the past couple of years and wage growth in many sectors of our economy not keeping up with that inflation, this affordability issue was bound to happen.

You can’t blame funeral homes and memorialization providers for raising their prices because inflation has caused virtually all of their expenses to go up.  For instance, Angie and I have lived in our home for 34 years and never had an insurance claim. . . however, only a few days ago I received an annual homeowner’s insurance premium renewal that is up 28.2% over last year’s premium.

I’m not so sure that the increases are over yet for me, for you, and for Death Care and other businesses. . . . . From my point of view, health insurance premiums are just one item that I see going up.  Think of this perspective — Social Security has announced a 2.8% cost-of-living increase for its recipients for 2026, but the basic Medicare premium for those recipient’s has been announced as a 10.8% increase in premium.

And, for funeral homes and other businesses. . . .if your health care costs are going up, then so is your cost of doing business and those costs will more than likely be passed on to client families — making affordability of funeral and cremation services move up for them.

In my opinion, the best thing that could happen for business, and the American consumer at this time, is for the inflationary cycle to settle down a little bit.

Related — You might be able to help families find hidden resources by using the no-cost Sunset App.  Here’s what one reader told me recently when he tried using the app, “I was on the Sunset Software App yesterday and was reminded that you introduced (me to it).  I think this is the BEST app I’ve seen so far for the ‘Estate Settlement’ side of the business.  Super Clean and so easy to navigate.” 

Here’s a link to what Sunset App can do.

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Funeral Director Daily recently published an article on the merits of Guaranteed Preneeds vs. Non-Guaranteed Preneed contracts.  In that article we discovered an inflation calculator that helped us explain the costs involved as insurance value grows and the cost to provide a funeral also grows.

I had some fun with the calculator and also decided it would be fun to see how costs of items, including funerals, have grown in the past 45 years. . . . . And, not only grown, but grown against other types of expenses and purchases.

The following table will show nine categories that I looked up prices.  I looked up “average” prices for the years 1980 (when I entered the work force), 2000 (when approximately today’s 45-50 year olds entered the work force) and last year (2024).  I then took the 2024 price and divided by the 1980 price which gives an approximate of the multiple that that particular product has increased in 44 years.

For funeral home pricing I looked at the cost of a traditional funeral that included professional services and casket but no cemetery or monument costs.  My study found those prices by, in general, looking up National Funeral Director Association (NFDA) statements on the subject. . . . This exercise is not meant to be absolutely scientific but more a general feeling of where funeral costs fit in the overall price increase equation.

Here are the categories that I found easily accessible and the data I found on the subjects.  As you can see, traditional funeral prices have increased an approximate multiple of 4.58 times the 1980 costs.  While that multiple is larger than some items I found including median household income, it is certainly less than new home construction or the cost of post-high school education and family health insurance premiums.

Costs of Products/Services from 1980 to 2024

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I think that this chart puts funeral costs into perspective.  From my point of view, funeral homes have done pretty well in holding down costs of these services when you look at the comparison to the Median Household Income multiple —  they are very similar.

So, if price isn’t the problem, what is?  The problem for funeral home profitability is that the percentage of casketed, traditional funerals has went from about 85% of the total Death Care services in 1980 to probably about 35% of total Death Care services in 2024.  And, that large decrease is back-filled by cremation services which bring in less revenue.

Undergraduate Tuition —  There is no doubt that there are two main factors responsible for the growth of Higher Education undergraduate tuition.  The first is the fact that state legislatures, with their appropriation choices, have made Higher Education a private good rather than a public benefit good.  Virtually, all legislatures have increased the appropriations for Higher Education at lower levels than most other budget line items.  In my state of Minnesota, the legislature appropriated 7.1% of the budget to Higher Education in 2000 and that number is only 5.2% of the budget in 2024.

The result of that choice is that when I went to college in the 1970’s, the State of Minnesota contributed about 75% of the cost of college while I paid about 25%. . . . I learned from my time on the U of Minnesota Board that that ratio has now been “flipped on its head” whereby a state picks up about 25% of the cost and the student and/or their family picks up 75% of the cost.  Legislators have found other uses for monies previously appropriated to Higher Education.

Secondly, the advent of “Guaranteed Student Loans” has allowed colleges to raise their prices without a serious budgetary thought process.  Students who really want to go to college are simply walked over to the financial aid office and instructed how they can finance their eduction not always realizing the ramifications of debt repayment in the future.

Health Care Costs —  America faces a crisis if Health Care premiums and the costs that require those premiums cannot be dealt with.  On the other hand, America has raised its life expectancy on its citizens to 79.25 years from 73.61 years in 1980.  So, Americans are getting a life-span of almost 8% more in those 44 years. . . .What price is that worth?

Personally, I don’t think it is the Health Care insurance premiums that are the problem. . . . it is the medical costs driving those premiums.  People a lot smarter than me have to figure out how to get those costs in check if we are going to see a decrease anytime soon.  And, if we don’t see a decrease in health care costs all businesses, including funeral homes, are going to see headwinds to profitability in the case of continually rising employee health insurance benefits.

Will Technology help?  —  I always think of my time on a regional Wells Fargo board when I think of technology.  Banks have greatly increased their profitability because of technology — in the case of banks, internet banking specifically.

I can remember when Wells Fargo was just starting internet banking around the years 1998 or so.  One aspect I remember from a meeting is that it was brought to our attention that a bank transaction involving a teller cost the bank about $1, a bank transaction using an ATM machine cost the bank about 10 cents, and an internet transaction cost the bank less than 1 cent.  That’s a big reason banks pushed internet banking so much.

And consider that from that time, banks have went from having about 90% of their transactions with a teller to probably about 90%, or more, of their transactions online. . . . . .That technology has been a huge money maker for banks — especially when you consider they have less need for large, high priced locations and less use of consumer face-to-face staff.

I’m waiting to find out what the technology will be in Death Care that will have that result.

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I was home last Wednesday in the late afternoon waiting out a rain-delay while trying to watch my Minnesota Twins battle the White Sox in Chicago.  At the same time I was watching an early April winter storm dropping over a foot of snow outside my family room window.

During this time I flipped on the CBS Evening News, which this article states has an average of about 4.59 million viewers each day.  I heard the newscaster say, “And now a story on the high-cost of death in America“.  That got my interest and I watched the following story. . . . . .

If you just watched that 3-minute video news report you will understand that the daughters featured in it were caught off guard when their father died with no funeral planning and no resources readily available to pay for his funeral.  The daughters relate that they are now paying $300 per month to pay off the expenses that were chosen for their father’s memorialization.

$12,000 being paid off via $300 monthly installments would indicate that the payments would continue for 40 months — 3 and 1/3 years.  And, that is at an interest-free payment. . . . if there are interest payments it will take even longer.

Depending on who you are and where you sit it certainly is easy to rationalize blame in this situation.  Maybe the father should have had some money set aside or pre-arrangements.  Maybe lower priced services should have been selected when the family realized the situation that they were in. . . . Maybe, Maybe, Maybe.  . .

Maybe this news story is not a well-balanced story. . . that could be argued too.  No funeral director was asked to give insight on the situation.  However, my point is that this type of story is how funerals and their costs are being portrayed by the media to the consumer. . . . and in my opinion, it is not a good look or reflection for the traditional funeral home.

I don’t really have any answers, but it did hit me — if we cannot show the benefit of spending that amount of money for Death Care services that style of Death Care service will not exist too much longer. . . . .I think that is just a fact.

Take a look at the graphic of the teeter-totter at the top of this article.  If the cost begins to outweigh the benefit provided, funeral service will find itself in a tough spot. . . . . . . and much of the publicity we get seems to be moving in that direction.

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Last week it seemed that every time I turned around I heard a news story about debt. . . . Here’s one that’s titled “Over nine million student loan borrowers could see their credit scores tank as delinquencies are poised to hit record highs“.  Or this one from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York titled “Household debt balances continue steady increase; Delinquency transition rates remain elevated for auto and credit cards”. 

Even our nation’s financial well being is in the news — here’s a story about that titled “U.S. could run short of money to pay its bills by August without a debt limit deal, CBO says.”

Any way that you look at it I think you will find a certain portion of our society living in a world where one missed paycheck or one bad incident could spiral their financial well-being down.  And, according to this article from Great Britain, it’s a problem in Death Care there — that is families not having enough resources to fully pay a loved one’s funeral bill.

If you are operating a funeral home there are times when compassion reigns and you have to make the decision to provide services without a guarantee of payment.  It may not be the best business practice but it just is the way that most Death Care practitioners are wired.

However, if you are not getting paid what you deserve for conducting funeral services the long-term consequences over time are not good.  Here’s an article titled “Is continuous accounts receivable a problem?”  I suggest you read it just for a little reminder that growing accounts receivables can sink a great business.

So, I think it behooves every funeral home and cemetery to have many tools in their toolbox for helping clients pay for the services that they are provided.  Those tools should include pre-arrangments with financial arrangements tied to them, down-payments, the use of credit cards, the acceptance of insurance funding, and more.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

And, in the world we live in today, one option for families to pay their obligations may be through community funding — most often referred to as “crowdfunding”.  When you think about it, online community funding today is not so much different than what happened for decades when friends, relatives, and acquaintances stuffed cash or checks into memorial cards to be used by the family.

For sure, many of these donations were for “memorials” and expected to be used “in memorium” of the deceased.  But, I conducted enough funerals over the years where friends and relatives hoped that the money they put forward would go towards the family paying a funeral bill that might have been out of their current reach without help.

I recently became aware of a community funding product that can be used for this purpose.  Take a look at what Treasured Memories Community Funding has been able to do for people by clicking here.  They can help families collect funding for “Memorial” projects or other uses.

As a matter of fact, Treasured Memories Community Funding can be used by funeral homes and aligned with others in their communities to raise funds for a variety of uses — memorials, family help, charitable events, community fundraisers, and more.

Take a look at this page on their website and you will see some stories where Treasured Memories Community Funding helped children whose mother passed away, helped start an education fund for children whose father passed away, and, yes, even helped families raise money to pay for funeral costs.  You will also find a “Memorial Fund” music foundation started to raise money in memory of a person who loved the arts.

I’m in the Baby Boomer generation and our generation has grown philanthropical giving.  Generally, we give to organized causes, especially those we can get a tax deduction from.  It’s how we grew up.

However, if we look to the Millenial generation (born between 1980 and 1999) who are between 25 and 45 years of age at this time, we see that they are already making their mark in charitable giving.  According to this article from Foundation Source over 85% of Millenials give charitably.  In addition, they are tech savvy and probably more likely to give to causes through social media campaigns, such as those that can be offered by Treasured Memories Community Funding, than other generations.

If I still ran my funeral home I would look into how Treasured Memories Community Funding could become a part of it. . .not only to help my client families but my community as well.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”