About funeral costs

Keeping funeral expenses within budget is surprisingly difficult.

Budgeting is difficult because the basic plans and options vary from funeral director to funeral director, and the amount of money varies depending on the style of the ceremony and the attendees.

Actually, there are differences in the market price of funeral expenses and regional differences, but how to choose a plan at a funeral director has a lot to do with it.

However, if you keep the points down, you can choose a plan that fits within your budget.

Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing a funeral plan.

How much is the funeral cost?

The market price for funeral expenses is said to be 1.8 million to 2 million yen when viewed nationwide.

For example, according to a 2014 questionnaire survey by the Japan Consumers Association, the average funeral cost nationwide is about 1.89 million yen, but there is a considerable price range depending on the region.

In the highest area, it costs about 2.1 million yen, and in the lower area, it is about 1.34 million yen, which is quite cheap.

This is the price range that arises from differences in the format and scale of formulas due to regional conventions, which differ by 760,000 yen.

Including such differences, the market price for funeral expenses nationwide is said to be 1.8 million to 2 million yen.

Know the three categories of funeral expenses!

The price range for funeral expenses varies because the content of the ceremony varies from region to region, and the cost varies accordingly.

In other words, what format should it be? How many attendees? The cost will change greatly depending on such factors.

When you look at the estimate of funeral expenses, there are many items in the breakdown, which is difficult to understand, but it can be roughly divided into three categories.

Funeral set costs
Food and beverage entertainment expenses
Payment costs to religious people

Now let's take a closer look at the contents of these three categories.

Funeral set costs

This is a necessary expense because it is the basic classification of funeral expenses.

The contents include altars, sleeping cars, ceremonial hall facilities, caskets, and dry ice, but the contents may vary greatly depending on the funeral company, so confirmation is required.

When you apply for a funeral at a funeral company, you first decide on a plan.

The plan will be proposed by the funeral company staff after hearing the number of attendees and the format of the ceremony.

Choose from the proposed plans by looking at the cost and content, but there are some that have the same fairly basic parts such as the altar, casket, and sleeping car, but do not include the labor costs of the moderator and facilitator. maybe.

Funeral expenses account for the majority of funeral expenses, so if you decide on the contents and estimates carefully and try to keep them to a minimum, the overall expenses will also be reduced.

Food and beverage entertainment expenses

Eating and drinking entertainment costs are the cost of food that will be served to attendees after the wake-up ceremony or farewell ceremony, the cost of devoted food, and the cost of gifts to be given at the reception.

The cost varies greatly depending on the number of attendees, and the higher the number, the higher the cost.

In addition to the attendees, we will also prepare gifts for those who helped with the reception, so that cost will also be the food and drink entertainment expenses.

Generally, food and drink entertainment costs account for about 20 to 30% of the total funeral costs, but the ratio is even lower for small-group funerals such as family funerals.

This also depends on the funeral company, so be sure to check it carefully.

Some are included in the basic plan, while others are optional.

Payment costs to religious people

Depending on the religion of the house, there is also a cost to pay the religion.

For example, in the case of Buddhism, it is necessary to pay for the sutras to be read and given a dharma name at the funeral.

Since the funeral cannot be completed without requesting a sutra or a dharma name, payment to religious people is a necessary expense.

Basically, the sutra chanting fee and the Dharma name fee are to be given to the monk as a donation, and since the amount is not fixed, the amount is often decided according to the market price.

In addition, it is common to add a meal and a car fee, which is also a payment fee to religious people.

Of course, there are other religions, so the price range will change depending on the religion.

Three things to keep in mind when deciding on a funeral plan

When deciding on a funeral plan and content, you can prevent the funeral cost from being overrun by placing the following three points.

Even if you look at the quotation, you may not be able to grasp the details of the breakdown, and in the end, the option fee may be added considerably.

Let's decide the plan with the following three points so that the funeral expenses can be kept within the budget as much as possible.

Check the contents of the basic plan firmly

It is the content of the basic plan and the basic fee that determine the funeral expenses.

The basic plan has different plan fees depending on the grade.

If the plan price is clear, it is easy to choose a plan that is close to the budget without thinking about anything, but make a full-scale decision after checking the plan contents.

In order to keep the funeral expenses within the budget, the first thing to do is to check the contents of the basic plan.

The wisest way is to check first and then make a final plan by combining the following two points.

The basic plan often includes the funeral home usage fee, altar, casket, cremation fee, hearse fee, etc., but the labor costs of the moderator, facilitator, and funeral home staff are often optional. ..

Check the contents of the basic plan carefully to understand what is included and what is not included.

Approximately decide the number of attendees

There are three categories of funeral expenses: "funeral expenses", "food and drink entertainment expenses", and "payment expenses to religious people".

Of these, the basic plan is mainly the "funeral set cost", and "food and drink entertainment costs" and "payment costs to religious people" are added to make the total cost.

After confirming the contents of the basic plan and the option costs in it, let's make a budget for "food and drink entertainment costs".

The number of attendees is necessary when deciding the budget for "food and beverage entertainment expenses".

The exact number of people will not be known until the day of the event, but if you give an approximate number of people, you will be able to budget for "food and drink entertainment expenses" smoothly.

Determine a basic plan that fits within your budget

Of the "funeral set costs," "food and beverage entertainment costs," and "payment costs to religious people," the market price for "payment costs to religious people" is generally fixed, so the amount of funeral costs is determined by the "funeral set." It becomes "expense" and "food and drink entertainment expense".

In other words, it will be smooth if you decide on a basic plan so that it fits within your budget after adding the option fee, "food and drink entertainment expenses" and "payment expenses to religious people".

Let's decide the basic plan with the fact that it is the option fee and "food and drink entertainment expenses" that are variable.

Summary

As you can see, the amount of funeral expenses varies considerably depending on the option fee, so it is a basic point to check the contents of the basic plan and the contents of the options.

After that, if you anticipate the number of attendees, decide on "food and drink entertainment expenses", and include "payment expenses to religious people", the total budget will be almost clear.

Jump into a cheap basic plan and be careful not to get expensive options later.