Dear Savvy Senior: Can you help us with some questions about cremation? My husband and I are both in our late 70s and have been thinking about seeing one of our local undertakers to make our funeral arrangements but want to first find out about cremation.

We understand cremation costs less than a standard burial, but does it also cost us our option to have a funeral or a memorial?

? Not Dead Yet

Dear Not: Cremation can actually offer you more options than a standard funeral and cemetery burial can at a price that can save you thousands.

Here's what you should know:

A popular avenue

Cremation has been around for thousands of years, dating all the way back to the early Stone Age, around 3,000 B.C.

Over the past 30 years the cremation rate in the United States has increased dramatically, jumping from 6 percent in 1975 to more that 30 percent today, and by 2025 that number is expected to reach nearly 43 percent.

In England and Japan, where cemetery space is at a premium, the cremation rate is over 70 and 90 percent.

Growing trend

There are various reasons for the increased rate in cremation in the U.S. (environmentally friendly, it uses less land, personal preference), but the biggest reason is money.

Cremation costs about a third ? depending on products and services ? of what an average funeral and cemetery burial would bring, which is around $6,500.

You should also know almost all religions accept the practice of cremation, except Jewish Orthodox, Islamic, Eastern Orthodox and a few fundamentalist Christian faiths.