<clipped> But the most important issue for your Last Expenses goals is that the Insurance Industry in North America is very strictly regulated. An insurance company cannot issue a new contract without having the financial means to pay off at your death. This is NOT the case with the new “Pre-Need” contracts being heavily promoted and sold by the Funeral Industry that will be addressed next.

WORD TO THE WISE – Instruct your survivors that they are not to tell the funeral home company or the cemetery company that there are insurance proceeds coming – and to never ever mention an amount. You have no idea how good a sales people these folks are. If they know there’s $5,000 or $9,000 or whatever coming – they will figure out a way to get it spent with them – all of it. WORD TO THE WISE – Never buy a so-called “Death Insurance Financial Contract” from a funeral home. Even if an actual insurance company is underwriting a real insurance policy – and not paying referral fees to the funeral sales person – the funeral home-cemetery typically names themselves as the beneficiary – not the survivors. And if the face amount of the policy was say, $10,000 – you can bet that’s going to be almost the exact cost of the funeral and cemetery expenses – and remember, there are no federal regulations covering the cemetery industry.

“Pre-Need” Contracts with Funeral Homes/Cemeteries (continued)

<clipped> And unfortunately, it doesn’t get much better. The laws vary from location to location, but all of the money in the contract that you’re paying into, doesn’t actually go into the trust. It varies from State to State – Province to Province – but in some places, ten percent or more of your funds, can be paid to the funeral home-cemetery for it’s “Administration Fees”. Some areas may require only as much as 70% of your funds or less be actually placed into the trust. The balance is used by the funeral home-cemetery for their own expenses like commissions. (click to continue reading on next page)