The cost of dying; How funerals are becoming a final rip off

It is Easter this weekend. It is the time of the year when Christians the world over relive the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  2000 years down the line, death, the final farewell, has become a whole business in itself, plunging families and friends into debts and in some cases, crisis.  Unfortunately, funerals are becoming more costly than even joyous celebrations such as marriages and “outdoorings”, the ceremony to celebrate the arrival of a new baby as families get together to formally give the baby a name.

Dying is expensive

It was only recently when I got directly involved in a cousin’s funeral, from start to finish, that I realised how dying has become an expensive business and a drain on families, financially, as well as emotionally.  Planning and executing my cousin’s funeral, we had agreed to go by her wishes of a simple, less costly funeral.  We settled on an average but decent funeral that was not going to leave debts hanging on anyone’s neck.