Saturday, February 28, 2009

Pre-Paid Funeral Plans

Do you own a pre-paid funeral plan? You know - one of those plans that will pay all your funeral costs when you die? Or does an elderly person in your family have one?

Be sure to read today's Chicago Tribune online regarding certain plans sold in Illinois. Values have dropped and your plan may not cover your expenses. (Disregard the March 1 dateline of today's online article.)

www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-funeral-trust-fund-mar01,0,6984014.story

The article refers to the "personal piggy bank" and to investments such as "corporate-owned" life insurance on the lives of directors and other insiders. Of course, if the funeral plan directors were on a plane enroute to a "board meeting" (well, a party in Hawaii) and the plane went down, all the paper losses in the funeral plan would instantly disappear.

After you read the Tribune article, check the values in your own pre-paid plan. Call the agent who sold you the plan or the funeral home where you would use it. Request a written statement of the value of your plan.

And don't plan to die anytime soon. Wait until the economy improves and plan values increase.

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