Have You Budgeted For Death?

By: Valerie Rind

So you think you need an emergency fund in case you lose your job?

That’s smart. But unemployment is not the end of your world. Death is.

I was on the deck of a boat in the middle of Sea of Cortez off of Baja California, watching grey whales, when one of the ship’s crew told me I had a phone call. My heart sank like an anchor dropping to the ocean floor.

I knew instantly what it meant. Someone in my family was dead or dying.

My stepmother told me that my 92-year old dad had been admitted to the hospital. It was all so sudden, as he was in good spirits when I had called him from Los Angeles on my way to Mexico. Now his days were numbered in single digits and I was thousands of miles away.

Death is Expensive

My father was unconscious by the time I broke all speed limits to get to his bedside.

I hate to put it in money terms, but that tearful dash to be with him was expensive.

However, you don’t think about the dollars when a life hangs in the balance.

Years ago, some airlines offered special fares if you had to fly at the last minute due to a family emergency.

If your close relative had already died, you’d fax the airline a copy of the death certificate in order to get some or all of the fare reimbursed. No longer.

These days, it’s unlikely you will find discounted fares for impending or actual death. For example, American Airlines specifically states on their website that they don’t offer “emergency or bereavement fares.”

Rescheduling my original flight home to Washington, DC from Mexico cost $633.16. New round-trip flights from DC to Boca Raton, Florida, where my father lived, cost another $650. Add $150 for a rental car, plus gas and tolls.

My sister and I shared a hotel room that cost a few hundred dollars more. Our family lived on deli sandwiches and takeout food that we took turns paying for while dad spent his final week in hospice. I even had to extend my cat sitter’s services to the tune of $250 or so to take care of my cats back home in DC.

Fortunately, I didn’t suffer a loss of income as my employer provided paid bereavement leave.

My father passed away and I returned home.

Because I was the executor of my dad’s estate, I flew back to Florida a week later to take care of the end of life business. Again, I had to pay for airfare, rental car, meals out, etc.

My credit card bills didn’t die of course and arrived right on schedule.

Here are the three lessons I took away from the whole experience:

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