Final Decisions

Although nobody wants to talk about dollars and sense when it comes to making funeral arrangements for either family or self, it's a topic that concerns us all eventually. This professionally filmed guide has host Cynthia Huse talking about the various options available when it comes to choosing a casket, burial vault, and cemetery (public or privately owned), as well as the increasingly popular and less expensive choice of cremation. The program offers tips on choosing funeral homes, looks at price ranges (and points out which features are more expensive and only cosmetic), warns viewers about funeral home pre-payment plans (the AARP urges extreme caution) and looks at alternatives such as a Totten Trust. With over 6 billion dollars being spent on funerals by Americans yearly, it pays to know one's options and have provisional plans ready before having to make big (and often costly) decisions during a time of great personal stress. Final Decisions is an excellent and beautifully done consumer awareness guide to funeral planning. Highly recommended. (R. Pitman)