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Posted
Aug 26 2009, 09:35 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This guest post comes from "vh" at Funny about Money.
If you were killed or incapacitated in a car accident, if you had a stroke or heart attack that put you out of commission, would the people who had to take over your affairs know where to start?
Would they know where your bank accounts are? What insurance you have? Where your paycheck is deposited? What bills have to be paid? And if you have minor children, will friends, relatives, or the authorities know where you want the kids to stay?
If the answer to any or all of those questions is either "no" or "I dunno," now is as good a time as any to start writing down the answers.
I'm in the process of compiling a complete record of all the things my son will need to know if anything happens to me. It's a pretty big job, one that will take several days to complete. The product will be two three-ring binders, one to keep at his house and one to keep at mine.
Here's what's going into it:
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Posted
Aug 25 2009, 09:46 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Even death can't take a holiday from the great recession. Consider:
- More people are selling family burial plots to cover living expenses (unlike the Beverly Hills woman who auctioned off a crypt above that of Marilyn Monroe -- see below).
- More people are dying broke and are cremated or buried at potter's field -- because their families are too strapped to help out. "This problem used to be unique to just indigents who either had no family or were living on the street or homeless," P. Michael Murphy, the county coroner in Las Vegas, told Time. "We are now seeing folks expressing this concern who are recently unemployed or their house is in foreclosure ...."
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Posted
Aug 07 2009, 05:58 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller.
The memorial for Michael Jackson cost the city of Los Angeles $1.4 million, according to The Associated Press. While most of us won't be remembered at the Staples Center in front of 11,000 people, funerals are expensive.
According to the Federal Trade Commission, a traditional funeral costs about $6,000, and many funerals run well over $10,000. Costs include the casket, embalming, the service, cemetery site, and grave liner. In short, death is big business in the United States.
And to make matters worse, most of us plan a funeral while dealing with the emotional trauma of the death of a loved one. We find ourselves making important financial decisions in the midst of an emotional crisis with very little time to consider our options. Our sadness for the loss of a loved one, moreover, sometimes expresses itself in high cost funeral decisions.
With a little effort, however, we can plan a respectful memorial without breaking the bank. What follows are a number of tips, resources and links to help you plan a low-cost funeral.
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Posted
Sep 19 2008, 05:35 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. Not long ago a friend of mine lost one of his parents very suddenly. It came out of nowhere and felt like a punch in the gut to him. He spent a few weeks almost in a daze lamenting the loss of his father, with whom he was very close, and when he finally came out of that daze, he discovered a few things. He'd racked up quite a bit of credit card debt. He was deeply behind on his work. He had let some important personal things slide. In short, he now had some serious catching up to do in his day-to-day life.
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Posted
Jul 18 2008, 05:35 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar. About a year ago, I wrote a lengthy article about how to start a filing system, including information about what kind of filing cabinet to buy and what sorts of things you should file. Near the end, I wrote one little paragraph that deserves to be looked at again in more detail: A master document explaining what all of this stuff is. This is mostly a guide to the executor of your estate, containing all important information not in the other documents and also explaining online account access and other details, like where a safety deposit box key can be found. This may also include personal letters for people to read in the event of your passing. Think about this scenario: If you dropped dead right after reading this article, would your survivors -- your kids, your spouse, your family -- have any idea how to access your money? Would they even know where all of your accounts are?
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Posted
Nov 08 2007, 08:05 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Sarah Winfrey at partner blog Wise Bread . A lady I know of died last night. It was expected; she had been diagnosed with incurable cancer last spring. I didn't know her well. I wish I had, as her friends are going to great lengths to honor her. It's been really cool to see people coming together, comforting each other, saying meaningful things to each other. One of the things friends say has comforted them is that her family is in a secure place financially. I'm not sure what plans she had in place, but her family has been able to cover her medical care and will be able to pay for her funeral without a lot of trouble. Friends are comforted that the family won't have to worry about money as they grieve the loss of this wife and mother. This has made me think hard. You can do a lot before a crisis hits to help your family when it does. Here are things I'm glad I have and ones I intend to look into. Health insurance. I have great health insurance and will have better
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Posted
Oct 10 2007, 09:09 AM
by
Karen Datko
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
A newspaper article about a do-it-yourself funeral got Matthew at Finance Is Personal musing about alternatives to the traditional -- and expensive -- funeral. Why allow your family to spend $10,000 at a funeral home when you can instruct them to leave out the middleman and use the money for a more worthwhile purpose. Other bloggers have chimed in on the subject and note that the Funeral Consumers Alliance can be a helpful resource.
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