Be Sure Not To Leave Purse or other Valuables on Car Seat at a Funeral
Burglaries to cars can occur anywhere at any time. One place they are happening a lot lately is at a funeral. If this happens to you it will raise your funeral cost. One needs to be careful as to where one parks their car at a funeral. No one wants their car broken into especially at a funeral.
When attending a funeral the main thing is to not leave valuables visible on the seat. This is true also any other time you park your car as well. In manby cases burglary occurs when a purse or other valuables are left on the front seat. At a Funeral common sense dictates that you park your car as close to the funeral home as possible.
A claim on your auto insurance usually means you have to pay, an unexpected expense at a funeral.
There has been many blogs here about the IFDA preneed trust Mismanagement Scandal. Is it over?
IFDA Declares it’s Funeral Cost Mismanagement Scandal Over but is your funeral cost funds safe with The Illinois Funeral Directors Association and Merrill Lynch?
According to the President of the IFDA Illinois Funeral Directors Association —we should feel secure that the IFDA Preneed Trust is in the hands of Merrill Lynch.
The Good people of the State of Illinois need to know where their funeral cost money went.
To date trust fund holders have not been told how their money was spent and why.
The IFDA Disclosed this year in February that the IFDA mismanaged and lost 40 million dollars of the IFDA Preneed trust fund. Some of this information is in the press and on the Web is available but not much.
The IFDA mismanagment of the IFDA Preneed Trust was exposed when their license was removed by the State Comptroller of Illinois. Management of the Trust is now in the hands of Merrill Lynch.
Is the IFDA Mismanagement Debacle over?
You Decide.
“Trust Update from President Bosma
I want to share with all IFDA members updated information on the IFDA Preneed Trust.
This week, IFDA completed a five-month process and transferred the assets of the IFDA Preneed Trust to Merrill Lynch Bank & Trust Co. (MLTC). The action was taken per the Order of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).
This Order from state regulators directed the immediate transfer of all IFDA Preneed accounts to MLTC – the new trustee of the IFDA Preneed Trust. This action was completed on November 3, 2008.
Although MLTC is the new Trustee, trust participants will still contact IFDA for administrative services.
A brief overview: MLTC is now the trustee for the IFDA Preneed Trust and it is separated into three separate common trust funds to ensure that investments for each fund are not dependent in any way on any of the other funds.
1. A separate Trust fund for existing deposits in taxable accounts; and
2. A separate Trust fund for existing deposits in tax-exempt accounts; and
3. A separate Trust fund for all new deposits.
We will keep you updated as new information is made available.”
Your Funeral Guy states that it is not time to feel secure especially with Merrill Lynch, MLTC. A US News and world report article states that Merrill Lynch has been there for every financial disaster going back to the 1980?s. No wonder they took on the IFDA Preneed Trust debacle!
Here is a quote from the article.
“OK then! Lastly, and more recently, 24/7 Wall Street’s Douglas A. McIntyre calls out Merrill CEO John Thain for comparing the current crisis to the early days of the Great Depression” Merrill Lynch was a big Part of The Wall Street Crisis.
Clearly the Merrill Lynch Executive does not have a positive outlook.
Clearly the IFDA( Illinois Funeral Director Association) does not contribute to a Lower Cost Funeral. With this statement the IFDA has stated that the mismanagement is over but is it?
Your funeral guy.
Keep an eye on your Funeral Expenses and Funeral Cost!
NPS recently had a low cost funeral because of 500 million of mismanaged funds. The IFDA or Illinois Funeral Directors Association may have the same the same thing happen to them.
It does not appear to be going well as they are yet to find a trustee for the IFDA Preneed Trust.
Flashy Sites take your Funeral Cost Cash and many are IFDA Preneed Trust sites.
Will the same thing happen to the IFDA?
Funeral Cost remains of NPS picked over. As Funeral homes pay for this your cost goes up.
NPS- National Prearrange Services- Funeral Cost Scandal hits 500 Million. Here is a quote from a recent article on Funeral Cost.
“The FBI is interested. Funeral homes across the nation wonder if they will be forced to pay for tens of thousands of funerals. Authorities are tracing the various fates of $500 million in prepaid funeral funds.”
More importantly as Funeral homes pay for this your cost goes up.
Again the lesson here it is do not do preneed. Preplan but do not prepay. No matter what is said a low cost or lower cost funeral cannot be done by prepaying a funeral director.
Will the same fate happen to the IFDA? Illinois Funeral Directors Association? There loss was only 40 million dollars! find out more about preneed and the average cost of a funeral here: look inside the funeral cost book.
IFDA (Illinois Funeral Directors Association) declares 300 Key Guy Insurance Funeral Cost Policies. Recently at their Convention in Schaumburg, Il they revealed this to be part of their funding secret to funeral cost.
They stated that if the cash in all the policies, they would not have enough to cover the fund. They also revealed that they have been given more time by regulators to find a temporary trustee.
In terms of Funding the “IFDA Preneed Trust” it all seems like the outer limits
Who are these 300 Key Funeral Guys in the State of Illinois. It appears that they even loaned money to some these folks!
More information on Funeral Director Associations can be found here:
