New Remembering A Life Conversation Cards Introduced to Help Funeral Professionals Work With Families to Plan Meaningful Funerals

Suite of Conversation Cards Now Covers Every Step of the Journey: Preplanning, Funeral Planning and Aftercare 

Brookfield, Wis. – Remembering A Life, the consumer education initiative of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), has introduced two new decks of conversation cards that funeral directors can use to inspire the families they serve to plan meaningful tributes to loved ones. 

Remembering A Life Funeral Planning Conversation Cards are brand new to the Remembering A Life Conversation Card suite. These conversation cards help families and friends create a safe, comfortable environment for having a conversation about a person’s final wishes and help them plan a meaningful tribute for themselves or a loved one with the guidance of a funeral professional.

This deck of 52 thought-provoking questions will help get the conversation started and help put family members and friends at ease while talking about a topic that may generate a variety of emotions. Questions cover five key areas.

• Talking About Death
• Your Body
• The Service
• Honoring Your Life
• The Details 

Each card goes beyond the question itself, offering thoughtful prompts and helpful information to guide a discussion. Families will find insights about the value of a viewing, the benefits of preplanning and why connecting with an NFDA-member funeral home can make a difference. 

“Inspiring people to have meaningful discussions about death and funerals isn’t easy,” said Gail Marquardt, vice president of consumer engagement for NFDA. “These decks help family members and friends create a safe, comfortable environment for having a conversation about a person’s final wishes and guide them in working with a funeral professional to plan a meaningful tribute for themselves or a loved one.” 

Funeral professionals can use the cards as a preneed tool, during the arrangement conference as conversation starters or as a giveaway for a workshop or open house. 

Have the Talk of a Lifetime Conversation Cards have been reimagined and redesigned with new content and additional prompts to help family and friends get to know each other better so when it’s time to create a tribute for a loved one, they are better prepared to make it meaningful. Each of the 50 questions invites people to share stories about meaningful moments, relationships, objects, adventures, accomplishments and more. Additional prompts invite them to further explore their answers to each question, encouraging them to share their stories with others, pull out meaningful mementos or do an activity related to their answer. 

“Funeral directors have embraced Have the Talk of a Lifetime Conversation Cards since they were introduced nearly ten years ago,” said Marquardt. “We were excited to give them a new look and include expanded content to further enrich families’ experiences with the cards. The questions and prompts in this deck help families create a service that beautifully reflects an individual’s interests, passions, relationships and accomplishments.” 

For funeral professionals, Have the Talk of a Lifetime Conversation Cards are the perfect preneed and storytelling tool. Funeral professionals can use the cards as a preneed/lead generation tool, as conversation starters during the arrangement conference and in the funeral home waiting area. The cards are also the perfect thank-you gift for visiting a funeral home open house or preplanning workshop. The new decks complete a set of three conversation card decks that also includes 

Remembering A Life Journey Cards, which feature 52 ideas for remembering loved ones in meaningful ways. This deck helps family members and friends as they explore their grief journey, offering simple yet meaningful ways to keep a loved one’s memory close. All three decks of conversation cards are available at NFDA.org/Store. The decks are $10 each for NFDA members and $15 each for non-members. Quantity discounts are available, and decks can also be customized with a funeral home logo. Funeral professionals attending the 2025 NFDA International Convention & Expo in Chicago can visit the Remembering A Life booth (1831) for free sample packs and can purchase full decks at the convention as well. For more information about the Remembering A Life resources available to funeral professionals, including the Remembering A Life Idea Guide for Funeral Professionals, visit NFDA.org/RememberingALife. 

About Remembering A Life

Remembering A Life helps individuals and families remember their loved ones in meaningful ways, helping to keep the memory of loved ones alive and assisting family members and friends in moving forward in their grief. Remembering A Life educates families about the value of a funeral and helps them find an NFDA-member funeral director (RememberingALife.com/FindAFuneralHome) to help them create a meaningful service. The initiative also helps them as they begin the grief journey following the death of a loved one. Resources include the Remembering A Life website (RememberingALife.com), a podcast, book club, blog, conversation cards and thoughtful gifts for grieving family members and friends. Remembering A Life is a consumer education initiative of the National Funeral Directors Association. Follow Remembering A Life on Facebook and Instagram. 

About the National Funeral Directors Association

NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association representing 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit NFDA.org.

It’s been almost 100 years since Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Bill into law in 1935.  And, contrary to what most people believe, there was a “Lump Sum Death Benefit” (LSDB)  applied to that bill that took effect at that time.  However, the original LSDB was discontinued in 1939 at a time when the maximum payment was $315. . . which you can see was more than today’s standard (and maximum) $255 benefit.  The average Lump Sum Benefit in 1939, however, was approximately $97.

The Lump Sum Death Benefit was reinstated in 1954, but with the maximum benefits capped at $255.  There have been other minor changes to the law since that time, but the maximum benefit has remained capped at $255.

That may all change if Senate Bill #5178 introduced by Senator Peter Welch of Vermont on September 25, 2024, makes its way into becoming a law of the land.  The bill, co-authored by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, is titled “A bill to amend Title II of the Social Security Act to update the amount of Social Security lump sum death payments and index lump sum death payments to inflation”.   You can follow the bill from this website.

This article from CNBC gives us some more information on the proposed legislation.  In it, bill author Senator Welch makes these statements:

• “The change is aimed at helping to alleviate the financial burden for families following the loss of a loved one”
• “Funeral costs should be the last thing on the minds of grieving families when they lose a loved one”
• “. . .because benefits designed to help folks afford funeral expenses haven’t kept pace with inflation, the cost of burying a loved one has become top of mind for many mourning families”

The CNBC article also tells us that the terms of the bill call for a $2,900 death benefit that would start as early as 2025.  That amount would then be indexed for inflation similar to the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA).

The history of Social Security

The history of the Social Security Lump-Sum Death Benefit

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  At first this looks like a boon for funeral homes and families where they would have more money to take care of Death Care expenses.  However, before this bill becomes law there are plenty of hoops to pass through, including wondering how it would be funded by the United States Government.

And like many consumers will do, I just Googled “Cremation costs in Minneapolis”, which is the nearest large city to my residence.  Google told me that the costs would be between $1,875 to $2,995.  I’m guessing that upon examination that those prices would be for some variant of what I would call a Direct Cremation with No Services (DCNS).

What worries me some, and I can see this happening because those quoted cremation cost service dollar numbers are less than the proposed Social Security benefits according to S.5178, is that we would see a proliferation of television or streaming advertisements that would announce from companies that DCNS services would be done at “no cost to the consumer”.  The catch, of course, is that those services would be done with the thought process that the client family would sign the lump-sum death benefit over to the provider. . . .and with the benefit indexed for inflation, this business practice could well continue.

So, at first thought without doing a complete study of the situation, I’m not so sure that this would be a great idea for traditional funeral homes with a high cost of overhead at this time nor would competition advertising those practices be good for traditional funeral homes.  From my point of view, I’m guessing that revenues per service, in total, would head downward because of this type of practice.

On the other hand, looking at it from a consumer’s perspective, it is an additional immediate help of more than $2,600 in benefit than is received at this time.  It’s hard to argue that would not be a good thing for a consumer.

It’s notable that these senators want to help citizens pay off the costs of death care.  However, it is also notable that the bill was entered in September of an election year and that it can be used as a populist benefit but potentially never get pushed through the Senate once the election is over.  It’s difficult to know the exact intent of why it was put into play at this time. . . .

Final Thoughts:  I’ve been fortunate that I’ve had a few friends who have served as United States Congressmen and/or United States Senators.  One of them who I still see from time to time is former U.S. Congressman Vin Weber of Minnesota.  (Vin Weber bio)

I can remember having talks with Congressman Weber in the 1980’s or 1990’s about Social Security and the SS LSDB.  What I vividly remember from those talks is how he told me that Social Security was an incredible insightful program began in the 1930’s with one major flaw  —  that flaw was the actuarial tables at that time never “correctly” took into consideration how long we would live. . . . that mistake has flawed Social Security almost since its inception.

According to Google AI, life expectancy for United States men in 1935 was 61.7 years of age and benefits from Social Security did not start until age 65.  Life expectancy for women at the time was 65. . . So, from those age estimates you can see that most citizens would never live long enough to receive benefits and even if you got to the benefit age, you did not collect benefits for very long.

Life expectancy today is 77 years for men and 80 years for women and the basic age of early benefits has been lowered to 62.  i.e. most people now live to collect the benefits and actually collect benefits for a very long time.

According to then Congressman Weber, it has been this actuarial mis-calculation, in addition to benefits added to the program that were never part of the original calculations, that has brought on many of the problems with the deteriorating Social Security benefit system.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,143 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

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

New Legislation Introduced to Ease Funeral Expenses for Families

Brookfield, Wis. – Families facing the unexpected loss of a loved one may find relief in new legislation introduced in the House of Representatives today. Endorsed by the National Funeral Directors Association, the “Funeral Coverage Act of 2024,” introduced by Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), would designate funeral expenses as a qualified expense eligible for coverage under Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). This means that families that have saved money for healthcare expenses can use those funds for funeral and burial expenses after the person dies and no longer needs the money for healthcare costs.

If the law allowed funeral expenses to be deemed a qualified expense for which HSA funds could be used, the beneficiary of an HSA could use the proceeds from a decedent’s HSA to pay for the funeral on a tax-free basis.

“For many families, funerals are an unexpected expense; this was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when so many families struggled to pay for a loved one’s final expenses,” said NFDA President Douglas R. “Dutch” Nie II, CFSP, CCO, owner of Nie Family Funeral Home & Cremation Service in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “This legislation offers a compassionate solution to alleviate the financial strain many families face. NFDA and its members are very grateful to Rep. Hern for introducing this important legislation.”

“I’m proud to sponsor this bill that allows beneficiaries to use HSA funds towards certain funeral expenses,” said Hern. “The death of a loved one is already a solemn and stressful time; there is no reason why overly burdensome red tape should get in the way of those facing a tough loss. When hard-working Americans choose to open and contribute to tax-benefitted HSA accounts, they do it so they can choose the best health services for them – both when opening an account and in the future. Death often comes at the end of a battle with one’s health, and we shouldn’t punish their loved ones by excluding funeral expenses from being used from someone’s leftover HSA funds.”

Created in 2003, HSAs enable individuals covered by high-deductible health plans to set aside money on a tax-preferred basis to cover qualified medical expenses. Individuals can make tax-free contributions to an HSA either through an employer or on their own. The current maximum amount that can be contributed to an HSA on an annual basis is $4,150 for an individual and $8,050 for a family.

According the 2023 Devenir & HSA Council Demographic Survey, at the end of 2022 there were 35.5 million HSAs, covering almost 72 million Americans, up from 67 million in 2021. The report further notes that HSAs are utilized across income spectrum; 75% of health savings accountholders live in a zip code with a median household income of less than $100,000.

Like an IRA account, when a person sets up an HSA, they name a beneficiary. If the beneficiary is a surviving spouse, the unused portion of the decedent’s HSA passes directly to the spouse and is added to his or her HSA and incurs no tax liability. However, the immediate need for the spouse is to pay for a funeral and burial, rather than have excess funds automatically added to their own HSA, this bill would enable surviving spouses to take care of their most immediate need: paying for a funeral and burial

NFDA Senior Vice President, Advocacy Lesley Witter emphasized the significance of the bill, stating, “According to the most recent NFDA Consumer Awareness & Preference Survey, only 17.3% of Americans age 40 and older have preplanned and prepaid for their funeral and burial or cremation, leaving the vast majority citizens financially unprepared should a death occur. This legislation offers American families a new avenue for navigating the complexities associated with the loss of a loved one, enabling them to plan a meaningful service and begin their healing journey without the added burden of financial stress.”

NFDA is the world’s leading and largest funeral service association, serving more than 20,000 individual members who represent nearly 11,000 funeral homes in the United States and 49 countries around the world. NFDA is the trusted leader, beacon for ethics and the strongest advocate for the profession. NFDA is the association of choice because it offers funeral professionals comprehensive educational resources, tools to manage successful businesses, guidance to become pillars in their communities and the expertise to foster future generations of funeral professionals. NFDA is headquartered in Brookfield, Wis., and has an office in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.nfda.org.