Page 14 THE SAUGUS ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, APRIL 30, 2021 Savvy Senior Should You Prepay Your Funeral? BY JIM MILLER Dear Savvy Senior, My wife and I have been thinking about preplanning our funerals now so our kids won’t have to later, but we would like to find out if it’s a good idea to prepay. What can you tell us? Living on a Budget Dear Living, Planning your funerals in advance is definitely a smart move. Not only does it give you and your wife time to make a thoughtful decision on the type of service you want, it also allows you to shop around to find a good funeral provider, and it will spare your family members the burden of making these decisions at an emotional time. But preplanning a funeral doesn’t mean you have to prepay too. In fact, the Funeral Consumer Alliance, a national nonprofit funeral consumer protection organization, doesn’t recommend it unless you need to spend down your financial resources so you can qualify for Medicaid. Here’s what you should know. Preneed Arrangements Most funeral homes today offer what is known as “preneed plans,” which allow you to prearrange for the type of funeral services you want and prepay with a lump sum or through installments. The funeral home either puts your money in a trust fund with the payout triggered by your death or buys an insurance policy naming itself as the beneficiary. If you’re interested in this route, make sure you’re being guaranteed the services you specify at the contracted price. Some contracts call for additional payments for final expense funding, which means that if the funeral home’s charges increase between the time you sign up and the time you sign off, somebody will have to pay the difference. Here are some additional questions you should ask before committing: Can you cancel the contract and get a full refund if you change your mind? Will your money earn interest? If so, how much? Who gets it? If there is an insurance policy involved, is there a waiting period before it takes effect? How long? Are the prices locked in or will an additional payment be required at the time of death? Are you protected if the funeral home goes out of business or if it’s bought out by another company? What happens if you move? Can the plan be transferred to another funeral home in a different state? If there’s money left over after your funeral, will your heirs get it, or does the home keep it? If you decide to prepay, be sure to get all the details of the agreement in writing and give copies to your family so they know what’s expected. If your family isn’t aware that you’ve made plans, your wishes may not be carried out. And if family members don’t know that you’ve prepaid the funeral costs, they could end up paying for the same arrangements. Other Payment Option While prepaying your funerals may seem like a convenient way to go, from a financial point of view, there are better options available. For example, if you have a life insurance policy, many policies will pay a lump sum when you die to your beneficiaries to be used for your funeral expenses. The payment is made soon after you die and doesn’t have to go through probate. Or you could set up a payable-on-death (or POD) account at your bank or credit union, naming the person you want to handle your arrangements as the beneficiary. POD accounts also are called Totten Trusts. With this type of account, you maintain control of your money, so you can tap the funds in an emergency, collect the interest and change the beneficiary. When you die, your beneficiary collects the balance without the delay of probate. Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book. Beacon Hill Roll Call By Bob Katzen A note from Bob Katzen, Publisher of Beacon Hill Roll Call: Join me this Sunday night and every Sunday night in our new time slot between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. for my talk show “The Bob Katzen Baby Boomer and Gen X Show.” Jump in my time capsule and come back to the simpler days of the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. There are many ways you can listen to the show from anywhere in the world: If you have a smart speaker, simply say, “Play WMEX on Audacy.com ” Download the free www. Audacy.com app on your phone or tablet Listen online at www.wmexboston.com Or tune into 1510 AM if you have an AM radio THE HOUSE AND SENATE: In keeping with tradition, there were no formal sessions of the House and Senate last week which was April vacation week for Bay State students. This week, Beacon Hill Roll Call reports on proposed amendments filed by representatives and senators to amend the state constitution. Any proposed constitutional amendment sponsored by legislators needs the votes of a majority of the 200-member Legislature in the 2021-2022 session and the same in the 2023-2024 session in order to appear on the November 2024 ballot for voters to decide. None of these proposals have yet been approved, but hearings have already been held on most of them. LIMIT JUDICIAL APPOINTMENTS TO SEVEN YEARS (H 81) – Limits judicial appointments to seven years but allows judges to be re-appointed by the governor for an unlimited number of years every seven years. The appointment would have to be approved by the Governor’s Council as required under current law. “The people of Massachusetts should have the power to remove government officials in any position who are not doing or are unable to do their jobs,” said the measure’s sponsor Rep. Tom Golden (D-Lowell.) “Establishing term and tenure limits would help to ensure that judges do not stay in office beyond the point at which they are effective.” PROHIBIT EMINENT DOMAIN TAKINGS OF LAND (H 82) – Prohibits the state from taking land by eminent domain from property owners for private commercial or economic development. “The right to own property is a widely recognized principle in the commonwealth, and one I believe should be firmly protected,” said GOP House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading), the sponsor of the amendment. “[The bill] will ensure that eminent domain proceedings are limited to those instanc1. On April 30, 1960, the oldest U.S. bat (in a cave in Mt. Aeolus, Vt.) was found to be how many years old: 11, 24 or 36? 2. What word concerning accounting has three consecutive repeated letters? 3. In April 1897, J.J. McDermott won the first B.A.A. Road Race, which is better known as what? 4. What tree (named for a person) only grows in the Mojave Desert? 5. Who won the first American Idol contest? 6. In Hawaii, May Day (May 1) is known as what? 7. What is the world’s fastest two-legged animal? 8. What famous author (who died in Boston) wrote in “Jack and Jill: A Village Story” (1880), in the “May Baskets” chapter, “such laughing, whistling, flying about of flowers and friendly feeling— it was almost a pity that Mayday did not come oftener”? 9. What is Massachusetts’s state cookie? 10. On May 2, 1885, in Holyoke, Mass., what women’s magazine was founded? 11. In the 1600’s what flower bulb was sometimes valued more than gold? 12. The fictional character Uncas was the last of what? 13. The first general-purpose, programmable electronic digital computer was called ENIAC, which stands for what? 14. On May 3, 1952, what horse race was nationally televised for the first time? 15. Who was the first female inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? 16. What is the state grain of Michigan and Minnesota? 17. May 4 is Star Wars Day; what Star Wars catchphrase was used in a pun to determine that date? 18. What poet who died in Cambridge, Mass., wrote in 1861, “The word May is a perfumed word... It means youth, love, song; and all that is beautiful in life”? 19. In 1930 what “Mother of American Modernism” made six paintings of a jack-in-thepulpit in Lake George, N.Y.? 20. On May 5, 1832, Congress passed the Indian Vaccination Act of 1832, which aimed to prevent what disease? ANSWERS 1. 24 2. Bookkeeper 3. The Boston Marathon (B.A.A. stands for Boston Athletic Association.) 4. The Joshua tree 5. Kelly Clarkson 6. Lei Day 7. The ostrich (over 43 mph) 8. Louisa May Alcott 9. Chocolate chip cookie 10. “Good Housekeeping” 11. Tulips in Holland 12. “The Last of the Mohicans” (by James Fenimore Cooper) 13. Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer 14. The Kentucky Derby 15. Aretha Franklin 16. Wild rice 17. “May the Force be with you” (May the Fourth be with you) 18. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 19. Georgia O’Keefe 20. Smallpox
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