If you are thinking about an upcoming funeral, either for yourself or a loved one, then you should be considering whether a burial or cremation is more suitable for the circumstances. To help you make a more informed decision, here are things to consider about cremation.

Cost

In general, cremations are a lot less expensive than burials. With a burial, you will likely need to shell out the cash for the casket viewing, wake, permanent casket, burial plot, and a number of other services. With a cremation, you avoid most of those expenditures. The average burial costs $6500, while the average cremation costs 1/3 of that. Urns are generally a lot cheaper than caskets, and the actual cremation process is often cheaper than the process of interring a casket in the ground.

You should also think about just how much of the funeral will be covered by insurance (or even a wrongful death lawsuit settlement). Some policies might entirely cover a cremation while they might only cover a fraction of a burial.

Final Location

With a burial, you are pretty limited in deciding where the remains will actually rest. You may be able to pick from several locations in a cemetery, and you might even be able to choose from several different cemeteries, but you don't have many options beyond that. However, you can get a family plot at a cemetery, which can be a very comforting notion to some.

With a cremation, you have a lot more flexibility in deciding where the ashes can rest. If you want, you can simply store the ashes in an urn wherever you want. If you do have a crypt or family plot at a graveyard, you can even place the urn there. You can also spread the ashes at some location that the deceased loved (within reason).

Peace of Mind

It can be hard to quantify peace of mind and to determine which funeral method will give you more, but cremation does have some key benefits. If the deceased died in a particularly violent or unseemly manner, then cremation can help avoid the suffering of viewing the body. While it is possibly for morticians to beautify the deceased, the end result doesn't always resemble them in life. On top of that, beautification of the body can also be an expensive process.

While some people may have spiritual or religious concerns that push them towards either cremation or burial, both have their benefits, and it is up to you to make that decision. Contact a local provider, such as Care Memorial Cremation Solutions, for further assistance or information.