The death spiral of an American family

[Zorro]

After generations of stability, a son reckons with an inheritance of debt, desperation and a fall from the middle class

LINCOLN PARK, Mich. — Dave Ramsey Jr. walked into the funeral home with $60 in cash, hoping to settle one more of his father’s outstanding debts. He followed an employee into a private bereavement room, where she took his final payment and said she’d look in the storage room for his father’s remains.

“It was just a basic cremation, right?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “The cheapest one.”

“And did you order any kind of urn, or a memory book, or —?”

“No. Sorry,” he said. “I know he deserved a lot better.”

It had been almost a month since Dave, 39, found his father lying unresponsive in bed next to his cellphone and a bill from a collections agency, having died of a heart attack at age 70, and ever since then Dave had been trying to make sense of what his father had left behind. He’d read through his father’s credit card statements and then talked to a banker, who concluded that the final estate of David Ramsey Sr. was of “inconsequential value.” Like a record 23 percent of Americans who’ve died in the past five years, the ultimate financial worth of his father’s life was nothing — a number somewhere below zero.

https://wapo.st/3ij99lY

[jimfields33]

1. I read the whole thing hoping for good news. Nothing! Ugh.

[MiniMe]

2. Cremations aren't cheap

Even the cheapest no frills option

[exboyfil]

4. The final racket

One tip is that before collecting Medicaid, set up a funeral account trust with the remaining assets. I did that with my grandmother, and I had very good results. I only had a couple of days to set it up before she went into a nursing home under Title 19, and I knew she wanted to be buried in Huntington WVa next to my grandpa. Her only real asset was cash in a checking account. After the asset exclusion I used the rest to buy as many items for the funeral as the cash could purchase. Some of the price locks turned out to be a pretty good choice. The funeral director was a very good man (I thought a lot more of him than the one who had buried my other grandma and dad).

[Andy Canuck]

3. You never know...

Van Gogh died with nothing as have many other great people who have had an amazing impact on the world.

[3Hotdogs]

5. He probably could have gotten a free funeral from the state. N.j. gives $2,500 for indigent deceased

I hope he knows he is not responsible for his father's unpaid bills.


We are not poor (My family or myself.). Stop sister died and we paid $500 for cremation. Then we held an outdoor memorial service in her honor. Cost -- about $100 for food and soft drinks for guests.

Fuck the funereal industry.