k i p8 weekender saturday september 27 1997 prepaying funeral costs allows you to pay for service used tomorrow in todays dollars by brian costello thinking about preplanning your funeral a lot of people are in fact many even pay for everything in advance right down to the newspaper notice big advantage youre doing it when you and your spouse are in a rational state of mind thats important because youll be making decisions about the kind of funeral you want not what your children or relatives think you should have the average cost of a funeral today is about 5000 plus another 1000 to 1500 for extra services provided by the funeral home on your instructions these include death and regulatory fees the cost of opening and closing the grave churchclergy fees newspaper notices flowers and even gst if you prepay these costs youll be paying for a service you will use tomorrow in todays dollars heres how it works after you decide on all these things includ ing the kind of casket you would like and type brian costello is back unveiling the next stage of his advice ibiir- 1 ismlili record markets a financial and estate planning seminar of special interest for those with assets exceeding 250000 infinity mutual funds presented by david martinko fortune financial corporation 2075 kennedy road 6th floor member cipf montreal exchange fortune financial join brian as he shows you coming interest rate changes how to profit and protect coming income tax reductions how you can profit how to avoid being hurt regardless of the markets direction retirement without worrying about dawbacks how to get the govt to pay for your childs education how to reduceeliminate future tax bite on your rrsprrif how to choose an excellent investment advisor free evening seminar monday september 29th 730 pm sheraton parkway toronto north york b highway 7 leslie st one block north of highway 407 to reserve your free seats today call 4161 412hh 24 firs ifuhp scanjet 5s hp deskjet 692c scanjet 5p buy the hp deskjet 692c printer with the hp scanjet 5s or 5p scanner and get 100 us back from hp the hp deskjet 692c printer features all the powerful photoquality printing capabilities youll ever need for highquality fullcolour family projects including posters photo albums calendars and much more add the hp scanjet 5s or 5p and you can input photos text and graphics directly into all your favourite applications for a complete and powerful graphics solution thats fun for the whole family you will receive the best print quality and unsurpassed scanning resolution without ever sacrificing speed visit the store nearest you offer valid from august 11997 through october 31 1997 acc maxsystems 825 denison st markham 9059469440 logic computer house 7310 woodbine ave unit 6 markham 9054150909 0 1 997 ingram micro inc all rights reserved al other trademarks are of their respective companies of church service you write a cheque to the funeral home for the total for example 6500 the funeral home prepays all items it is able to in advance such as cemetery and cremation charges the cemeterycrematorium issues a certificate to the funer al home indicating that these services have been paid for and will be rendered when required the balance of the funds is placed in a third party trust in your name not in the name of the funeral home these funds are not dispersed to the funeral home until the trust is satisfied that you have died and funeral arrangements have been carried out find out what guarantee the funeral home offers on the prepaid funds not all funeral homes offer the same guarantee heres what to look for if the trust fund with accumulated interest has more money in it than the funeral homes costs at the time of the funeral the surplus is returned to the estate if the fund does not have enough money in it to meet these costs at the time of your death the short fall is assumed by le funeral home vs long as you iont change these arrange ments the funer al home will guar antee that the funds on deposit plus accumulated interest will pro vide these ser vices when required in ontario the funeral home places your money with an institution called guaranteed funeral deposits of ontario which was set up to administer funds for funer al homes under this arrangement the funeral home must invest this money to a level of interest at least equal to the interest paid on canada savings bonds in any given of preplanning your funeral is that you are doing it ffjnfdvufsitfai spoiise arein aratiohajs of mind pat robinson gif trustee in bankruptcy call for a free personal discussion help with creditor problems proposal to creditors personal business bankruptcy financial counselling 9555 yonge st 401 15139 yonge st at weidrick richmond hill at church aurora 9055089493 9057272577 email patpatrobinsoncom web wwwpatrobinsoncom tsubouchi nichols barristers rf solicitors are pleased to announce the relocation of their office to 51 main street markham north markham ontario l3p 1x7 phone 9052947780 fax 9052949883 effective october 1 1997 year funeral ser vice costs like any other ser vice are subject to inflation as a rule the increase in funeral costs is somewhat less than the annual rate of inflation cemetery costs are nor mally based on the cost of replacing the plot they sell you at the time in that sense cemeteries are like any other piece of real estate the closer they are to downtown the more the plots will cost a note of caution make sure you discuss your plans with your family before preplan ning your funer al in particular what you plan to do and why youve done it s if no one in your family has ever been cre mated and this is what you plan to do it can be quite a shock to your family if they dont know in advance always keep in mind that your funeral is not for you but- for your family and friends cremation by the way has become quite popular in recent years in toronto about half of all funer als end in cre mation and the trend is acceler ating a final note on costs the canada pension plan has a death benefit that can be used to pay for the cost of your funeral amounting to a 3500 lump sum payment for someone who has never taken any bene fits for someone who has the benefit amounts to five times hisher month ly cpp cheque