Funerals are a nearly 20 billion dollar industry in this country. But it’s an industry struggling to adapt to changing cultural norms regarding how we want to be memorialized upon our death.
Talking about death is a difficult subject for many, and still taboo throughout much of our culture. But actually planning how you want to die and what kind of arrangements you’d like carried out after you die can make the end of life easier and perhaps even more pleasant. And it can make carrying out your wishes much easier for your loved ones.
Joshua Slocum is the executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance, a national non-profit based in South Burlington that Joshua calls the "Consumer Reports for funerals."Nancy de Tarnowsky is an estate planning attorney and director of Dinse, Knapp & McAndrew in Burlington.
They spoke with VPR’s Jane Lindholm about planning our own funerals and everything else that goes into a responsible plan for the end of life.