You Can Afford To Die

"You Can Afford To Die; Sensible Advice From A Practical Funeral Director" teaches you how to save not hundreds, but thousands of dollars on services related to the death of a loved one. Offering sound and sensible advice, backed up by real-life experiences from his funeral business, this author teaches us the difference between a solid bronze casket and one made from 20-gauge steel; and why it's okay to buy the latter. Everything from pre-paid funerals to embalming; cemetery costs to published obituaries are discussed in a very candid an honest manner, teaching us that it's not about being cheap; it's about being practcal.

"You Can Afford To Die; Sensible Advice From A Practical Funeral Director" teaches you how to save not hundreds, but thousands of dollars on services related to the death of a loved one. Offering sound and sensible advice, backed up by real-life experiences from his funeral business, this author teaches us the difference between a solid bronze casket and one made from 20-gauge steel; and why it's okay to buy the latter. Everything from pre-paid funerals to embalming; cemetery costs to published obituaries are discussed in a very honest manner, teaching us that it's not about being cheap; it's about being practcal. In a strikingly candid look at the funeral industry that offers both heart and humor (as well as timeless information) Joe Kalmer proves that one doesn’t need to break the bank in order to plan a funeral. With over two decades of experience as a funeral director he has seen the best and the worst of the industry, and subsequently has adopted a “best practice” approach for his clients. One which lets them know they have many more choices when planning a funeral than the industry tends to reveal. Joe Kalmer not only recognizes a new age of the funeral industry but invites it to dinner as he takes “deathcare” outside of the traditional funeral home to a more cost effective place where it can offer the greatest good: the heart and mind of the consumer.

Joseph G. Kalmer's formal funeral service education and training can be described as a "baptism of fire". Learning the funeral industry in Chicago is as about as real as it gets, and it started on day one. From living in the basement of a west-side funeral home to working in the Cook County Morgue one day a week, he learned in a hurry that a small-town kid from southern Illinois can make it in this business if he can stomach "the smell of death" literally 24 hours a day. Joe has been a licensed funeral director and embalmer for 23 years. He is the former owner and operator of Pletcher Funeral Home in Edwardsville, IL, the type of funeral home he refers to as a "traditional" home. Which by today's standards, goes back a few years. Joe recognized the changes affecting the funeral industry such as a rise in cremation and other "less traditional" forms of service. So he opted, himself, for a change. Welcome to his "cremation society" and "discount funeral home". Unlike the days of yesteryear, he is giving the consumers not only the choices they so demanded, but at a price they all can afford. Although he doesn't apologize for the high cost of funerals, he shows you how cremations can cost less than $1000 and casketed funerals can cost less than $5000, never sacrificing the professionalism and dignity everyone deserves.