Posts Tagged ‘preneed’

No Gravatar

Funeral Preneed Or Funeral Prepay, please think twice it is not a good idea! The NPS preneed funeral scam, the Illinois Funeral Directors Association preneed ponzi scheme, and now the California Funeral Directors association Scandal all are reasons enough to avoid the purchase a prepaid funeral. It all comes down to one word  “Thief”.

Snippet:

“Funerals have become big business and corporate managers are working hard to squeeze out every last dollar. One of the most profitable and apparently compassionate products they’ve developed is the “pre-need” funeral package – basically, the prepaid funeral.
Industry-wide abuse and government regulation

Salespeople tout these plans as wonderfully beneficial, but in the past few of decades, horror stories abounded. The families of deceased purchasers of prepaid funerals would be surprised by invoices for items not covered by the preneed contract – things like the services of a funeral director, a substitute casket, or even the cost of opening and closing the grave itself and actually burying the remains.

Many states responded with more or less consumer-friendly legislation, and today there’s a much higher degree of regulation over the industry. In some states, for instance, funds used for prepaid funerals must be placed into a trust under the consumer’s control. Many states also require funeral directors to advise purchasers of all the services and equipment their prepaid funeral contract will not cover.”via consumereducation.suite101.com

Funeral Industry|Funeral News| Funeral Bog by Your Funeral Guy


Google Buzz

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Monday, July 12th, 2010
No Gravatar

In a recent blog post Todd Van Beck has insulted the Funeral Industry, and American Consumers-specifically the Baby Boomers and The American Funeral Consumer.

Here is a snippet from his post.

“The overall results of the Gallup Poll, which really focus in getting the opinions of the common ordinary folk, you know the Archie and Edith Bunkers of the world, who are the substance of the funeral profession, have concluded that Nurses literally shine in the public’s ethics opinion and Bankers have fallen from ethical grace in a big way – surprise of surprises.

Anyway here are the top ethical careers for 2008, in rank order:

1.      Nurses

2.      Pharmacists

3.      High School teachers

4.      Medical doctors

5.      Police officers

6.      Clergy

7.      Funeral Directors

8.      Accountants”via www.iccfa.com

Todd Van Beck has given us a substandard blog post by calling Funeral Directors “Ethical”.

1.Firstly the Gallup survey was done before the exposure of the 1 Billion Dollar National Prearranged Services Scandal and the 100+ million Dollar IFDA(Illinois Funeral Directors Association)Preneed Trust Scandal where money was taken from Funeral Directors and Funeral Consumers. Many members of the public still are not aware of these tragic events.

2.Secondly no American individual or couple alive today would count it a complement to be called ARCHIE and EDITH BUNKER.

3.Thirdly There is a legitimate place in the Funeral Industry and for Funeral Directors to speak up for the Funeral Consumer.

Congrats Mr. Beck Your Blog and Website has made into the top ten anti funeral consumer websites on the internet.

Funeral Industry|Funeral News Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy

This is not a personal attack on Todd Van Beck but a strong objection to an inappropriate blog post and the TERM: ANTI-FUNERAL MUCKRAKER


Google Buzz

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Sunday, June 27th, 2010
No Gravatar

Here is a  Preneed, Prepaid Funeral Scam Dust up.
Sometimes Preneed, Preneed, End Of Life Insurance Scams go on for Years.and often the governmental authorities, death care regulators side with the funral scammers not the consumers.

In 2003, 80 year-old Donna Roberts prepaid for funeral arrangements with the Free Funeral Home of Coshocton, Ohio. Recently she  changed her mind about funeral providers and when asked for a refund of the more than $7,000, she was refused the money until another funeral home actually provided the service. Her complaints got her nowhere and the funeral home’s response was backed up by the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

The Ohio Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors has issued a notice to Kenneth Free, owner of the funeral home, that they determined there was reasonable evidence to “propose to suspend, or revoke, the licenses” of Free and the funeral home for “unprofessional conduct” for refusing to transfer the pre-need contract.

Lawyers for the Free Funeral Home say the current law allowing for pre-need contract transfer was not in effect when Roberts purchased her contract, is not retroactive, and his clients have done nothing wrong. Even though her contract also holds no provisions for transfer, Free Funeral Home may decide go ahead and transfer the contract simply to avoid costly litigation.

Funeral industry|Funeral News|Funeral blog by Your Funeral Guy Blog

via Coshoctontribune.com
Posted by Karen Jones, author of DEATH FOR BEGINNERS Your No-Nonsense, Money-Saving Guide to Planning for the Inevitable

Funeral industry|Funeral News|Funeral blog by Your Funeral Guy Blogs


Google Buzz

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
No Gravatar

One the best way to come in under the average cost of a  Funeral is to pay later, and avoid Funeral Preneed. The first thing you need to know is that the benefits of Funeral Preneed ” Locking in today’s prices” is a myth. For almost 40 years The US Economy has hummed along, with employment coming back  during every Recession.(but not this  last one)  Now for the first time we have  a situation where the market has recovered(until this week) but jobs have not. With Financial unrest around the world and the US Stock Market losing 10% of its value last week., the wisdom of Funeral Pre need (I say it’s dead)is in question once again.

Does not include the cost of the Cemetery!

In General terms the average cost of a funeral is $10, 000 Dollars a year.  The average Funeral Home does an average of 100 calls a year and makes about 1 million dollars a year. this is the simplest way to figure average funeral cost.

My last prediction for the average cost of a funeral was $8,300 USD per year.

But it is all very hard to determine because traditional Funeral prices are rising , for those who are choosing cremation the cost of Funerals is going down significantly.

The Wall Street Journal(WSJ) has in a recent Article has stated that preneed, prepaid  funerals are a Wealth Killer.

“Some view prepaid plans as an inflation hedge that allows them to lock in today’s prices—about $10,000 on average—for an expense that in recent years has risen faster than the consumer price index. Others take the step simply to spare survivors the burden of arranging and paying for a funeral. Consumer advocates say these plans are most appropriate for people who wish to spend down assets in order to qualify for Medicaid coverage.

About one in four Americans age 50-plus—some 20 million people—have paid in advance for a funeral service, according to AARP. While national figures on the size of those payments are scarce, in Texas alone consumers have contracts worth $3 billion.
Prepaid funeral plans come in two basic varieties. With a so-called guaranteed plan, a funeral home promises that if you pay today’s prices, it will provide the goods and services you purchased, no matter how much prices rise. “Non-guaranteed” plans offer no such protections. But if these accounts appreciate in value, heirs get to keep the gains. (You can prepay today’s full cost or a portion of it, in one lump sum or over time.)
Even guaranteed plans don’t always protect against unexpected bills”via online.wsj.com

CONSUMER WARNING|FUNERAL CONSUMER WARNING| CONSUMER WARNING

This article is wrong on Guarranteed Preneed: Heirs do not always get to keep the gains, it depends on The State and the prepaid funeral policy!

THE ARTICLE MISLEADS BECAUSE THE COST OF THE TRADITIONAL FUNERAL HAS RISEN NOT THE LOWER COST ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS.

Funeral Industry Funeral News Funeral Blog By Your Funeral Guy


Google Buzz

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Related posts

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
  • How to Exit for Less

  • Friends

  • View my FriendFeed
  • your funeral guy trends

  • Your Funeral Guy

    • Breaking News

    •  

    • September 2010
      M T W T F S S
      « Aug    
       12345
      6789101112
      13141516171819
      20212223242526
      27282930  
    • Follow Me on Twitter

    Better Tag Cloud