Utah Insurance License Number: 88816         Pre-Need Sales Agent Number: 325672-5802

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This agency only works with local, privately-owned funeral homes. This means you will be dealing with a trusted member of your community, not some distant corporation only worried about a bottom line.

Devising Winning Strategies If You Own Burial Plots at a Chain Operation






Bookmark this page and check back in a week or two. I will have current market value of burial plots for the major cemeteries. CLICK HERE to see SURVEY of Cemeteries December 2014. Most values are for "unassigned" locations. Assigned locations sell for more. Check back for those values. BIG PROFITS if you own plots in assigned areas.








I'LL START WITH THE GOOD NEWS. If you own cemetery property at one of the chain operations, most of which used to be privately-owned, such as Redwood Memorial, Moutain View Memorial, Lakeview Memorial (Bountiful), Lake Hills Memorial (Sandy), Wasatch Lawn, and Valley View Memorial, you own property that is continuing to go up in value year after year. Its value doesn't decrease. I made the following chart in 2009 that shows the average increase in prices of full funeral services, caskets, and burial plots. Had I continued plotting until 2015, the trend on it all would continue, except now burial plots are selling for higher than ever due to some corporate policy changes at some of the chains to be like the rest of the world and start charging more money for spaces in areas where they are getting close to "sold out" status.



This is good news if you bought more ground than you need. You can sell those 8 feet by 40 inch pieces of ground at a profit. Or you can give them to or save them for other family members. Young families are typically unprepared for a death, and often grandparents have lots to spare. (See my page for unexpected deaths of children). I know from practical experience. I sold 388 burial space contracts between 1992 and 1997 for Valley View Memorial Park when it was owned by the Winder Family. (Valley View is now owned by the corporate conglomerate Service Corporation International). 60% of the plans I sold were for four plots together.

If you bought plots at one of the Memorial Parks which are essentially all now part of one chain operation or another, you may have bought burial vaults and a grave marker. These were also good investments, as long as you plan to use them for someone. Otherwise, you have to find a buyer. You can, however, transfer the vaults and grave marker to amost any other cemetery without very much cost involved. The lots, however, are not usually transferable elsewhere.

If you plan to keep everything you've got, so far so good. However, anything you still not have purchased is continuing to go up in price. And some things are difficult or impossible to freeze the cost of. Opening and closing of the grave and setting of vault are costs that are spiraling out of control. Memorial Utah (Memorial Estates) was allowing anyone who owned property to freeze opening and closing if they purchased something else on a new contract, but they only did that for a few years and have never done it since. So your cemetery labor costs at Memorial are a big question mark. I recently worked with a family (January, 2015) who I have sold five funeral plans to who are property owners at Valley View Memorial. I have learned that Valley View allows you to pre-pay cemetery labor, but you have to engage in a somewhat expense contract to do it. What else can you do? Chain cemeteries have most property owners "over a barrel," as they say, if they still have more things to take care of.




Some of the chains' best people will try to lead you to believe you'd be "unwise" if you have things such as your vault and funeral service taken care of elsewhere. This is, because, they lose money when you do. The company can't have the business, and the salesperson can't have the commission. Boo-hoo!

Want to buy your burial vault from a private funeral home you like better instead of Memorial Estates, one that charges less and takes care of customers better? You can do it. But the chain cemetery will charge you somewhere around $600 more than their usual vault setting fee if the vault is provided from an "outside" source. Want to use their viewing room but have your graveside funeral done by a company that charges less? Maybe. But it will probably run $700-$1,000 per day for renting the facility. As of May 1, 2015, only Redwood Memorial will do it. But why pay them that much money? You can have your viewing somewhere else at no cost if you use the right funeral home--even if it is not at the same location as the graveside service. Free-of-charge church viewings are normally done at the church prior to the service and sometimes a second time on a separate evening. Best plan: break away from the chain operation.

Owning cemetery property at one of the chains can be fraught with difficulty if you are a family without a lot of money. If you're well off, don't worry about any of this. If you want to get the maximum for your money, you need to study this whole Web site carefully. Also read my page The Biggest Problem With "Chain" Funeral Homes. If you want to know what the chain cemeteries charge for things you haven't take care of it yet, look at my survey of cemetery costs done in December of 2014. You can see what they charge in comparison to private and city cemeteries. Also, read through the Cemetery page on this site, as well as How to Sell Your Property. The chain operations are making no effort to make things more affordable for your family. I am doing everything I know how to make things more affordable.

That's just cemetery (burial) arrangements. If there's a funeral home located at the same cemetery/memorial park, and you are somehow convinced it would be more "convenient" to have them also handle your funeral or that it would be more costly to use another facility for your arrangements, I can't help you. Exit this Web site now and forget about it all. But if you want to see reality, look at what the chains are charging for full funerals today. This continues the trend on the chart on the top of this page. It's not likely to get any better.

Read these articles and the others on my Home Page.

•  Is Funeral Home Chain SCI's Growth Coming at the Expense of Mourners?
•  EVER WONDER WHY A FUNERAL HOME CHARGES SO MUCH?


So remember this important point: If you have burial plots at a facility that also has a funeral home, you can use whichever funeral service provider you choose. They can’t force or coerce you into using theirs, nor can they penalize you for using another. Don’t be tricked into believing you must buy everything from them. You may have much better alternatives, and their products and services might be too expensive to consider.



Let’s Do the Right Homework Together

Don’t let the over-priced funeral plan market clobber you due to your age and health history or health status. Don’t buy over-priced funeral plans, especially those that don’t give a discount for using your church or don’t give you early payoff or single payment discounts.

We can collaborate so that NO MISTAKES are made and no money is overpaid. That‘s the bottom line. I focus exclusively on your true needs and wishes instead of focusing on how much money I’m going to make for the funeral home or myself. I am only interested in showing YOU how to profit.

I’ve studied the funeral industry while working in it, as well as the health and life insurance industries as an agent/broker, for over 23 years. The reality is that funeral homes are engaged in “price fixing,” and they continually raise prices year after year and lead consumers to believe that they have no choice. (See Wall Street Journal article).

You do have a choice. And one important fact to remember if you’ve bought cemetery arrangements from a company that also has funeral homes (“chain” operations, publicly-traded companies): you are not obligated to use them for anything besides burial labor costs. The rest of what you need can be done elsewhere. They cannot penalize you for using another funeral provider more to your liking. Don’t let your family be deceived. Tell your family in a one-page summary exactly where and how things are to be done and at what cost.



In 2014 I did an analysis that shows typically how much senior citizens overpay for guaranteed pre-paid funeral plans. An example is a funeral that costs $7,500 for a full funeral service and casket (already over-priced)—and that’s if you pay cash today. If you pay for the same funeral plan over ten years, you’ll pay on average around $15,000! DON’T DO IT! Learn the details.

In 2015 we are seeing market-wide, across-the-board price increases at funeral homes, including in the Salt Lake area. This is the typical cycle in the price-fixing game. But not everyone is playing the game. I show you on this Web site who they are. I strive to keep the cost-conscious consumer armed with everything they need to get the most for their money.

I will be expanding the funeral and final expense calculator functions in the next few months or so and trying to make it more useful in your planning. Also, I am going to get more rate sheets for Utah’s sucker deal funeral plans and their promoters so I can produce another side-by-side comparison to better choices, such as Premier Funeral Services. One such expensive company is popular among Utah funeral homes, only because it is based in Utah. They are overly EXPENSIVE (and so are most of the funeral homes that use them). Keep checking back to this Web site for updates.

 No Funeral Home Pays Me Any Money

I make less money showing you better alternatives, but that's just the way it goes. This money is paid to me by the funding company I use, National Guardian Life. Funeral homes pay me nothing. No bonuses or commissions are paid to me for promoting any particular funeral service provider.

I have my choice of which funeral homes I can represent. These days, I am very picky. I no longer can be lured by bonus money offered by the expensive funeral homes. Let them and their agents bilk seniors. I am only interested in giving your family the best deal for your money, period. I have a handful of funeral service providers (homes) that I would highly recommend. Premier Funeral Services, serving Salt Lake, Davis, and Utah counties, and even in neighboring states, is the best value for your money that I can see. I have written well over 170 plans for Premier in the past four years alone.

ARE YOU WORRIED WHERE YOUR MONEY IS GOING WITH FUNERAL PLANS?

The law is very strict. You can’t pay any money to a funeral home until someone has passed away. This means, in the meantime, your money has to stay deposited somewhere else until the time comes. 90% of all prepaid funerals are funded by life insurance companies who are specifically in the final expense and funeral funding business. I use National Guardian Life, the largest of its kind. They have been in business since 1909. I explain in other pages on this site how their funding plans compare to those of most funeral homes in Utah use.

Not only are their rates on plans up to ten years the best, here are some other reasons your money should be with NGL:

    · They offer a discount for paying for your plan with a single check (“cash”)—which most funeral funding life insurance companies do not.
    · They have an EARLY PAYOFF discount that allows you to pay your plan off at any time at a discount of what it would have cost you had you stayed with the full term of the plan. Most companies want to lock you into a plan for the full term so they can get more money out of you.
    · You get insurance that will pay off your plan should something happen to you prematurely with NO DISQUALIFYING HEALTH QUESTIONS. Everyone qualifies.
    · You can exchange any paid up insurance or funeral plans for a National Guardian Life plan at no cost to you. Then your family can have money left over to use as you see fit. Or you can set up a better, less expensive plan than the one you have with no need to make any more payments.
    · In NGL’s Funeral Expense Trust, your money is protected from creditors, nursing homes, lawyers, and everyone—it is completely UNTOUCHABLE and safe.
I get tired of learning how senior citizens are being taken advantage of. Many of them are buried with medical expenses and fixed incomes. Fortunately, I’ve been able to rescue some, and even reverse the course they were on. I can often get you out of a bad deal, put you into another, and you won’t lose any of what you’ve already invested. How exactly I can do that depends on your situation.

Already paid too much for a pre-paid funeral? I may be able to get you some of your money back, and you’ll still get the same thing you paid for besides. Most often, I can save you about $2,500.00.

Let’s go over your situation and do things the RIGHT WAY.

Combine National Guardian Life funding with an affordable funeral home, and you have the best value for your money. $4,500.00 for EVERYTHING (not including burial plots and vaults), and a payment under $50.00 a month.

Don’t be duped into believing that “funerals are expensive.” They’re only expensive if you talk to the WRONG PEOPLE! Talk to the right people. Only talk to those people who have YOUR interests in mind, not the interests of the company or who are thinking about their big commissions and bonus money.

Meet with me just one time, and I’ll take care of it in the best way.







Some of Darryl Roberts' advice from his book Profits of Death:

"The key to controlling future funeral and cemetery costs is to arrange and pay for them in advance."

"...people will purchase more in an emotionally charged at-need moment than they will in a calmer and more stable pre-need moment."

"Pre-planning is absolutely the best thing you can do to ensure that you get the final arrangements you want and save money at the same time."

"In my opinion, insurance policies are the best way to go. The insurance industry is highly regulated. Also, insurance companies are typically more balanced and more stable than most death merchants. Even when insurance companies go bankrupt, state and federal agencies come to the rescue of policyholders. Certainly the same cannot be said of funeral homes and cemeteries!"

The only advisor with the qualifications needed to give good advice about funeral planning is one who has extensive experience in the industry. I have written many hundreds of funeral, burial and cremation plans over 23 years, and it has not been for just one company. I have represented large and small operations, totally honest and somewhat crooked operations. I have been in the trenches and seen every tactic used in the interest of making money, even at the expense of families. I have studied and adhered to the standards of the National Funeral Directors Association. I have applied my education in accounting to the numbers that pertain to funeral planning and the related life insurance funding. With me it's "always about the money," but it's about YOUR money. It's not about whether or not I'm making money for the funeral home or the funding company. It's about zeroing in on the best value for your money.

See my other Web page Which Plans Are REALLY Best for Most Seniors?

And look at these Web pages on the Internet also:

Should You Prepay Your Own Funeral Expenses?

Let Your Legacy Be Peace Of Mind, Not Debt

What is the Difference Between Life Insurance and Funeral Plans?



Other Web pages on this site

The Truth About Your Favorite Funeral Home
Why Financial Advisors Give Bad Advice About Funeral Planning
Why National Guardian Life and My Agency Will Best Care For Your Family
Fallacy: "We'll do better if we just keep our money invested. We don’t need a funeral plan."
Fallacy: "We have plenty of life insurance. We don’t need a funeral plan."
What Does it Mean that Funeral Costs Are "Frozen" or "Guaranteed"
Why Alex Trebek Says Today's Funeral Costs Over $7,000
Methods of Planning the Funeral Industry Doesn't Want You to Use
Why Life Insurance Companies Are the Safest of All Financial Institutions
One Funeral Policy Covers Yourself, Kids, and Grandkids
How Can Senior Citizens Live Well Without Social Security?
The Purpose of Death
Russell M. Nelson on Death
Memorial Estates 2015 Prices vs. Premier Funeral Services
How to Buy or Sell Your Cemetery Property
Traditional Church Funeral Followed by Cremation
How to Construct Your Own Funeral Plan Instead of Being "Sold" One
What to Do if You Own Burial Plots At a Chain Operation
Preparing A Will Yourself for Under $50
Burial Only Plans (No Services)
Which Plans Are REALLY Best for Most Seniors?
Why 85% of My Appointments Buy A Funeral, Burial or Cremation Plan
Why Top Professionals Buy My Plans
Why Premier Funeral Services Doesn't Raise Prices
Is Prepaying for a Funeral a Good Idea?
Meet With Me Once and You're Done
What Most Ten-Year Funeral Plans Cost
$5,000 Will Cover It All
With One Company, It's Always About the Money
The Biggest Problem with "Chain" Funeral Homes
Federal Trade Commission Helps You Get Best Value on Funerals
How to Save Huge on Caskets
Why Your Memorial Burial Is Going to Be Expensive

I have set up over 150 plans in the past three years alone that pay for a full traditional service with casket included for around $3,000.00-half of what most funeral homes charge. You use your church, a reception center, a lodge, the graveside, or some other location you arrange. No sacrifices! Just a better plan for your money. And your casket and services costs are FROZEN. This applies to other plans that include cremation. All the factors discussed on this page make my funeral plans no-brainers.

All plans are guaranteed portable, including cash value growth as long as you're alive. Even though you may have designed your plan around the prices of one particular funeral home, the funds can be used at another that charges similarly or less so you get the same result if your plans change. In any case, your money is never stuck with a funeral home where you have to pay a penalty for withdrawing that money. You don't have to worry about getting any money back from a funeral home, because your money is safely deposited with a large insurance company. And no current or past health condition can disqualify you from the insurance plan.


Your money stays safely deposited with a large life insurance company until you pass away, a company in business since 1909. www.nglic.com. You can change whom you want to use for a funeral at any time. We have 1-3-5-7-10 year plans, with full insurance coverage should something happen before you make all the payments, and always a discount for making a single payment or paying off your plan early. And always with growing cash value tax-free.

Our average ten-year plan at most ages is around $33.00 a month. Compare that to what other funeral homes you may have had in mind can offer you. The average funeral plan in the Salt Lake area on a ten-year plan is around $80.00 per month per person.

Let me show you in detail in your home how to outline your final wishes and preferences in the best way possible. Let me show you the best plan for your money.

I don't need your Social Security number. There is a major funeral funding company based in the Salt Lake area that owns many mortuaries and cemeteries that insists on getting your Social Security number when you set up a plan with them. Don't fall for this. That number is only needed for a death certificate, not for a funeral or burial plan. National Guardian Life does NOT require your Social Security number. Turn down any plan that does.

Get professional, personalized service at the right price, on the best terms.

    UtahsFuneralPlanningSite.com serves the funeral and funeral planning market in the Salt Lake City, Utah area. Our goal is to help you plan a funeral in as much detail as possible well in advance. This website provides the tools you need to pay for funerals the right way, so affordable funerals don’t end up being a sacrifice but instead a more comfortable reality. We offer or point you to Utah's best funeral prices and lowest cost for funeral plans, which can include caskets and burial vaults, and final expense whole life insurance, especially for seniors with bad health and with low incomes. You will be able to not only outline your final wishes with accuracy, but you will know exactly how to calculate and control the cost of a funeral (church, mortuary chapel, or graveside), the cost of a burial, and, if applicable, cremation options. You will not become the victim of funeral rip-offs, over-priced caskets, or plans that don’t suit your family’s true needs and budget. There will be no confusion in your family at the time of need concerning arrangements. Once you have done things correctly, they will know where the line has been drawn on spending for your final expenses, and no mistakes will be made.