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.

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Why a Pre-Paid Funeral Plan With Premier Funeral Services Is Your Best Investment If You Live in Northern Utah












Over a period of 25 years, I have represented many cemetery and funeral operations. Most of what I have done for these companies is arrange “pre-need” contracts.

What I have learned about the funeral industry over these years is explained throughout this Web site. But the most important things I have learned are who are the best values for your money when arranging a funeral and who the best funding company is. I am loyal to no company on the basis of my profits as many funeral home representatives are. Too many of them are in “golden handcuffs,” which means essentially that they are addicted to the money (bonus and commission) they are paid by the funeral home, funding company, or both. For me at this point, it’s not “about the money”—except yours.

Below are some of the best values for your money. But they are not better in order of the prices they charge. Good values are not based on price alone.



The best value for your money must consider all of the following: 1) total experience of the staff; 2) whether the ownership is "on site"; 3) their financial condition; 4) how their sales are growing via "word of mouth"; and 5) how good their pre-need funding options are. I have considered all these factors for a long list of funeral homes. Premier Funeral Services measures up in all these respects.

Why I Rule Out Almost All of the "High-Profile" Funeral Homes

I make more money if I fund a plan for a more expensive funeral home. In years past, as an agent I’ve been forced to be part of the bunch that thinks of “sales” in terms of their income, which is more important than giving your customer a good value. And these years have taught me that giving a good value and personalized service are less important to many operations than the “numbers,” especially those numbers analyzed by those higher up in the chain corporations who are looking only at bottom line profits. Right now I am only in the position of seeing what is most profitable for you.







While representing one of the “chains,” (and later a private company that was subsequently purchased by a chain), I simultaneously was contracting with privately-owned funeral operations. I noticed a world of difference in the quality of service, even though often the prices were close to each other. In the better cases, however, the prices of the private funeral homes were substantially lower while the guarantee of better, individualized service was greater. These things are most important to me and the families I serve. This is the most important reason my top recommendation for a funeral, especially pre-paid, is Premier Funeral Services. I still fund for and represent quite a few other funeral homes in the Salt Lake area, but they are secondary to Premier Funeral Services.





For those who live east of State St. in the Salt Lake area and who are certain they do not want a church or graveside service but insist on using a funeral home’s chapel, I recommend Holbrook Mortuary—a privately owned company priced at $2,990 for a full service (casket not included) and Cannon Mortuary at $3,295. The average price from my most recent survey is around $4,100. So these two mortuaries are reasonably good values if you must use a funeral home's chapel for your service. If you are west of State St., and you aren't planning a church or graveside service, I would recommend Kramer Family Funeral Home, priced at $3,995 casket included. The owners told me, however, that a funeral service at their chapel is usually limtied to about 30 people.

If you have no real need to use a funeral home chapel and would prefer a church. reception center or graveside service, Premier Funeral Service is your best value at $1,795. Add an attractive casket for $995, and your total funeral cost is $2,790.



Serenity Funeral Home (formerly Serenicare, Draper) and Legacy Funeral Services (Spanish Fork) are close in price to Premier Funeral Services. But I don’t recommend anyone on the basis of price alone. I've investigated the other lower-priced funeral service providers, and I don't believe they entirely measure up to Premier Funeral Services in many respects. Having a lower price is not enough, and that can actually scare people. Having the lowest price on services packages is only a good thing if the company scores high in every other area, which includes their financial condition, how well they service customers continually, their stability and consistency overall, and other factors.

Money Back Is Possible



Premier Funeral Services has not increased their cost of funeral services at all since 2009. It became necessary for the company to somewhat raise casket and burial vault prices. No need to increase funeral service prices over five years says a lot about the financial condition and attitude of the company. But even better news for you is that when you fund a pre-paid plan through me with National Guardian Life to freeze your costs, you not only get that cost guaranteed but you also get a growing cash value for the rest of your life. With little or few price increases and your plan growing in cash value, there is a much greater possibility that your family will get money back from the plan. This is required by law, because the funeral home can only keep the money sent to them by NGL or other funeral funding company for the guaranteed plan up to their interest in the money. This means they can only keep up to the amount they are charging at the time of the funeral. Any excess must be given back to the family or applied to other expenses not covered by the plan. I have already seen this happen with a number of my funeral plan customers who used Premier and passed away a few years later. This scenario beats the one more often seen where families had to come up with significantly more money at the time of need.

Full Funeral Service With Casket:


No Sacrifices For Paying Less




Jared O.M. Fairbanks, owner of Premier Funeral Services, Inc., has more experience as a funeral director, mortician, manager of funeral homes and cemeteries, and as a business owner with continuous integrity and consistency of performance of high quality service than anyone in the State of Utah. Among many positions in the funeral, hospice and palliative care industries, he has been the manager of operations for Memorial Mortuaries (Memorial Estates), Serenicare and Wasatch Lawn. He has been in the business since age 17, and will likely remain for the rest of his working life. This is a man whose company you want handling your funeral.

Formerly V.P. & Director of Operations - Memorial Estates

 Testimonials
    "I would like to express my thanks for the professional and compassionate way Jared Fairbanks handled my daughter-in-law's funeral arrangements. He came to the house and took care of everything. He really took a lot of stress off the family. I would highly recommend him to anyone." - Beverly J. Lund

    "I wanted to write a note to describe how our family felt about the funeral arrangements made by Jared Fairbanks with Premier Funeral Services orchestrated for my father Melvin Hill Garner in January 09. My father's death came earlier than we might have expected. We had talked only briefly prior to his death about funeral plans. We did not have a plot nor did we have a funeral home selected. Knowing how Jared had taken care of some of my patients' family's funeral arrangements in the past I chose to call him the week prior to my father's passing. If I had to go through this again the only aspect that I would have changed would have been to have called Jared earlier for planning and scheduling. I cannot thank Jared enough for the way he cared for my mother through this seemingly complicated process and made the road smooth through the entire process. I have been a physician for 15 years and thought that I could handle most of this myself. I forgot that I was also a son, brother, uncle and father myself and soon became overwhelmed and turned most of the preparations and details over to Jared. Our family and friends have all complimented us on the professional, efficient and personalized way that we chose to handle my father's services. I remain indescribably grateful for the details that were explained and taught to us that made this a special moment for my father. He would be proud. Sincerely." - Gary M. Garner, MD

    "When my mother died Jared Fairbanks took care of her. He was most caring and kind throughout the entire process. Very recently we experienced his kind manner again when my husband's brother died. Mr. Fairbanks took care of all arrangements including the graveside service. It was done in a professional and pleasing manner to all of our family members. Our thanks to Jared Fairbanks at Premier Funeral Services." - Beverly Ruggles



Similar plans offered elsewhere in the U.S. Click link below.



How much do you want to pay?








This is how much you should be paying for a funeral:









EVEN IF YOU HAVE NOTHING, $6,000 will pay for it all. I have written many complete funeral plans for less than $6,000 for individuals who did not even own a burial plot. They got everything they wanted, including a full traditional burial, a traditional church, graveside, or reception center funeral, and a high quality casket. Click here to find out exactly how.

How to Properly Put Together Funeral and Burial Plans

One of the most useful services I provide is to put together a one-page summary of all your final wishes and preferences, in a way that prevents your family from making any mistakes. You can do this without my help by downloading the worksheets from my Web site, but I can produce a printed copy of the Final Wishes Summary with a color photo of your casket selection (if casket is part of your plans). This is a critical task, because it is a "snapshot" and "reminder" of what should and should not be done.

And if your favorite funeral home's caskets are over-priced, consider buying the casket through Premier. You still get to use your funeral home, but you save money at the same time. They can't penalize you for buying a casket elsewhere. (This means they can only charge you a little bit more for the service if you buy your casket from Costco). This is explained in the Federal Trade Commission's "Funeral Rule."

Here's how the important FTC rule reads:
"Accordingly, you cannot condition the furnishing of any funeral good or service to a consumer on the purchase of any other funeral good or service except for your basic services fee and any items required by law.(20) You also cannot refuse to serve a family because they do not purchase one particular item (e.g., a casket or embalming) or a combination of items or services from you."
The bottom line of what I do is simple. You put your funeral money into the National Guardian Life Funeral Expense Trust, a product of a large insurance company, which I believe is the best investment of its kind. There’s no way you can pay twice today’s funeral cost as you do with some of the smaller funding companies like Security National Life, Great Western, or Forethought Life. Next, you select the funeral home or funeral service provider who has the best prices with a good reputation of high quality, consistent service. Another critical factor is to examine how much and how often a funeral home raises its prices. Premier Funeral Services, for example, has been charging the same price for a full traditional funeral service for six years (since 2009). You'll want to think twice about funding a funeral through an operation whose prices go up year after year for no good reason. In any case, I can help you work out the details of every last cost, so everything is accounted for.

It’s not as important that 100% of your costs be “frozen,” which no funeral home can really do, although I can help you get 60-80% of your costs guaranteed. What’s most important is that you have everything “accounted for,” funded, and at the right price and on the right terms. This is not something every funeral home representative will take the time to do, especially if they are more interested in making money or if suggesting better alternatives is against their company's policies. The “chain” operations are notorious for leaving loose ends or things “hanging,” so they can clobber your family with more bills at the time of need.

Burial Costs



Next, make it clear what you interment requests are. These are instructions relating to cemetery arrangements. Do you have cemetery property paid for, which may include burial vaults, and a marker? If you do not, your family should know that. They should also be aware that at the time of need there is a charge for opening and closing of the grave and often a fee just for setting the vault in an already open grave, which can be quite steep. If you have not provided funds for all these things, they should know that the bill could easily be several thousand dollars for only the cemetery charges. If you have not chosen a cemetery, consider a city cemetery, which generally charge a lot less than perpetual care cemeteries. The outlining of anticipated costs need not be summarized on this one page summary. You can elaborate on a separate sheet, like the Cost Checklist on this Web site or the Funeral Plan Worksheet. I have done an extensive survey of cemetery costs in the Salt Lake area. Download this cemetery price guide here.

Always find out your veterans benefits first. Put that information, if it pertains to you and you are eligible, on your Final Wishes Summary worksheet. National Guardian Life also has a brochure I can give you in your home about veterans benefits.

Know Exactly How to Draw the Line on Casket Cost

Choose your casket in advance, and set spending limits. This is very important, because the funeral industry is notorious for overcharging families for caskets. Get a photograph of the casket you want—at the price you expect to pay and no more. In 2015, you should be able to secure the price of a high quality casket for under $1,600.00, even though high-profile funeral homes would like you to think otherwise. Use Costco as your benchmark, because they have excellent prices on caskets. But buying from Costco requires payment in full and then immediately delivery. Nonetheless, they are a good "gauge" to look at to see if you are over-spending. If you want a casket that suits the purpose, make sure also you provide instructions that prevent your family from being sold an “upgrade” at the time of need. Funeral homes will often try to do this when your family is distraught, just to earn another $1,000.00 or more in profits. Don’t let it happen.



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.

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?

Internet Resources to Do More Homework




I have set up over 285 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.



NGL is No. 45 of all insurers in the U.S. Read Report.


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.