Funeral Plans: What You Need to Know

The caisson carrying the casket of Army Captain María Inés Ortiz arrives for funeral services (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s never easy to plan a funeral. However, it is important to have a clear idea of what kind of areas that you need to cover if you do have the responsibility for arranged one - what are some of the key steps that you need to take to ensure that you don’t have to deal with any unexpected problems in the preparation for and the day of a funeral, as well as after the event? From working with a hospital, to choosing a funeral provider, and including going over details with officials, it’s worth considering the following steps.

First Steps

You’ll first need to have arrangements in place with a hospital, a nursing home, or emergency services for a funeral; in many cases, these can be worked out in advance through written wills and documents that state preferences. Make sure that you are able to be in contact with medical services and a funeral provider.

Choosing A Funeral Provider

What kind of funeral provider you choose will depend on a number of different factors, from whether or not there are a list of approved providers as part of your life insurance, through to who’s available in your local area. You may find that you have a strong cooperative service in your area that can offer a comprehensive service.

Choose the Right Plan

Look at multiple aspects of a funeral before deciding on a plan, and use a will and funeral instructions to set out the details - these details can include whether or not the deceased wanted a burial or cremation, as well as what kind of service is required. You’ll also need to discuss budgets and features with a funeral director, which can include the expense of a coffin, procession, and grave marking services.

Going Over Details with Officials

Make sure that you take the time to go over all details with officials before a funeral - this can be invaluable to ensuring that nothing is missed, and that there hasn’t been any miscommunication. Particularly look at aspects like the choice of songs or readings at a religious ceremony, as well as at delivery times.

Items

Work through a checklist of the kind of items you want to include in your funeral plan, which can then be folded into an overall budget by a funeral provider and director; such items might include urns, grave markers, as well as other services such as online notifications and acknowledgements that can be difficult to put together at short notice.

Post-Funeral

After the funeral, you’ll need to be able to handle any legal issues that might arise - make sure you have a solicitor to go through wills and an estate, and contact any employers, insurance companies, and banks to make sure that all records are updated. It’s best to get as much help as you can for this kind of work.

In general, it’s always best to plan for a future as far ahead as possible, and to compare as many different funeral providers as possible. Discuss what you want to do with loved ones, and get a clear idea of what needs to happen. Even if plans aren’t too specific, it’s better to have some kind of framework in place.

Author Bio: Liam Ohm is a freelance writer, writing on subjects such as funeral services to financial planning. In his spare time he enjoys running and attending seminars.

Vacation Budgeting: Is it Wiser to Rent or Drive Your Own Car?

There's no clear-cut answer when you're asking whether it's better to rent a vehicle or use your own car. However, there are several calculations that will help you do the math. With these equations, you can make a budget-minded choice for your next road trip.

Fuel Costs and Opportunities to Drive Greener

Your fuel cost is one of the easiest things to calculate for your trip. You can find the MPG of nearly any vehicle online. Simply compare the MPG for your car with that of a rental. If you're not taking a lot of luggage with you, opt for the smallest car you can comfortably fit in. Renting a hybrid vehicle will also cut your fuel costs. Unless you have a fuel-efficient hybrid vehicle yourself, you can almost always find a rental with better fuel mileage than your own vehicle. A rental will probably win this category.

Maintenance Costs vs Rental Fees

If you drive your own vehicle, you need to consider the maintenance costs associated with your trip. Your next oil change, tire rotation, front end alignment, and factory scheduled maintenance will all be moved up by a long road trip. AAA estimates that the average cost for maintenance, not including oil or gas, is 4.42 cents per mile for a medium-sized sedan. The cost for tires is 0.91 cents per mile. You'll cut these costs with a rental and replace them with your rental fees. Divide these by the number of miles you're driving for a comparison.

Vehicle Depreciation Considerations

Every mile that you put on your car speeds its depreciation. Most vehicle depreciation comes from the number of miles driven and not the age of the car. Use a resource like Kelley Blue Book to calculate the current value of your car as well as the projected value with the mileage from your trip. This will tell you what your long-term depreciation costs will be.

Paying Now vs Paying Later

Comparing your calculations for the above categories will let you know whether a rental car is ultimately cheaper than driving your own car for your next road trip. The last thing that you need to consider, however, is when you'll be paying. Many costs associated with driving your own vehicle come up later. You won't pay upfront for depreciation or maintenance, while you will pay upfront for your rental. If your car needs maintenance before the trip, however, you should visit a qualified shop like Tindol Ford to have this done before you leave.

The Value of Comfort

Comfort doesn't have a monetary value, but it's worth considering. A rental will be fresh and clean for your trip with no extra effort on your part. However, your vehicle may have features the rental does not. Consider the benefits of a larger trunk, more cup holders, or heated seats, whether these come with your own car or the rental. If this competition is close, this may tip the scale. Doing your math will help you make the best choice of vehicle for your next trip. Simply add up these important values and you'll find the best answer for your needs.    

Financial Advisors: Do You Need One?

Finance (Photo credit: Tax Credits)

The global economic turmoil has, in one way or another, affected every single one of us. And many of us have found themselves in completely different financial situations and are now trying to find someone who could help them with their new issues and difficulties. Thankfully, it seems that it is ridiculously easy to find free relevant help on various websites these days. But is it really that easy? Aren't things a little bit more complicated?

The Issue of Relevance

Well, the truth is that free advice often comes with plenty of strings attached. Let's start with the most important issue – the relevance of the advice. What you are often going to find when browsing through the various websites is general help for general issues.

It will then be left to your skills and intelligence to figure out how exactly do those hints apply to your specific situations. There is no doubt that you will be able to put some of those things to good use, but there will surely be more questions on your mind – and what are you going to do then?

Trustworthiness

You also have to remember that financial matters are often rather sensitive, so you certainly do not want to share them with someone you cannot trust. Well, would you really trust someone you know only from a website to give you good advice? And, if asked to (and it's really hard to see how someone could give you more than just general tips without getting more information from you), would you want to share your private information with that person? The answer to both of these questions surely has to be negative, doesn't it?

The Hidden Costs

Furthermore, you have to be aware of the fact that those who are offering free help on-line are not really doing it out of goodwill. You will soon find out that only one particular company will be suggested as the ideal choice and that other alternatives are going to get no mention at all. That is not to say that you are not going to find genuine and objective advice from time to time, but can you really take the risk of being led astray and having to spend more time and resources later on?

Conclusion

At the end of the day, it is easy to see that paying for an actual financial advisor might be worth it in most situations. Of course, there is no need for doing so if you are looking only for a few small hints and tips that could point you in the right direction, but you should undoubtedly get a professional to help you out with some of the more complicated and sensitive issues.

Professional financial advisors will give you trustworthy advice that will be relevant to your specific situation with no strings attached whatsoever. They will help you compare all the various options objectively and without any hidden advertising. That help comes with a price tag – but its always more than worth it.

Hugh Tyzack is the founder of GBP Loans Limited, which specializes in no fee guarantor loans and which is now one of the UK's biggest providers. You can find more details about 12 month loans  from www.loansforbad-credit.co.uk by visiting his site. You can also follow Hugh on Twitter @GBPLoans and on Google+.

How to Have a Successful Business Meeting

If you spend a lot of time in business meetings you know that they can get out of hand sometimes. The original reasons for calling the meeting go out he door and you go off in some other direction and never accomplish anything. To have more productive meetings and not waste time you need to get organized. A well organized meeting can produce great results and increase communication between all.

Productive business meetings just don't happen. They come from the careful planning of a team of people who know how to organize. What does it take for a successful meeting? I have listed a few ideas that will help you get organized.

Plan and Prepare

No successful business meeting has ever occurred without intensive planning. Set basic goals of what you want to cover and accomplish. Inform all those that need to attend the meeting ahead of time and find out who will attend. Hold the meeting in a venue that is both comfortable but also inductive for work. Prepare media, equipment, and refreshments ahead of time to insure your attendees comfort and ability to work.

Agenda

An agenda is important to give to all attendees so they will know what is going to be covered and what is expected from them. The need to prepare by bringing all necessary documents. The agenda should list all items to be covered and the estimated time of each. The agenda will keep the meeting on track and force it to start and finish on time. It will also keep the meeting from going off in a wrong direction. Include the principle attendees access to the agenda for approval and input.

Choose a Unique Venue

In the business world it's necessary to attend many conferences. Keep in mind that your attendees may become jaded to the normal conference venue. To keep their attention it's beneficial to book your conference at an international location. It's important to pick the right venue so your attendees will feel comfortable and more prone to accomplishing the goals of the conference. Conference venues in London can provide that uniqueness.

Promote Participation

Whoever is running the business meeting should plan who is to attend and what they are going to contribute. A good business meeting should not be dominated by one or two people. It should be a time when all should contribute their particular skill set to accomplish the goal. If someone is not going to produce or learn something form the meeting then they should not attend. The moderator should balance the meeting and allow for all to participate fully. 

Proper Goals

Do you have clear goals of what you want to accomplish? Having a goal toward what you want to accomplish in the meeting you increase the success of the meeting. Complicated goals can be made more manageable by breaking them down into smaller more manageable ones. Use a white board or flip board and list the smaller goals and check them off as you proceed. It keeps everyone included in the progression of the meeting and increases the chances of its success.