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It’s tax season! Whether you are new to being a 1099 contractor, or you’ve been self-employed your whole career, it’s always a good idea to review what your tax status is and how it works. Advanced Funeral Planners at Precoa are 1099 contractors. You receive a 1099-MISC tax form from Precoa for your previous year’s earnings. IRS.gov has a lot of resources available for 1099 contractors. If you want a basic refresher on how taxes may work for you, check out this PDF.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) tells the comical story of a dysfunctional, multi-generational family crossing the country to support the beauty pageant dreams of Olive. The goofy
shenanigans take a pause, however, when Olive’s grandpa (and greatest supporter) dies in their hotel the night before.

The grandpa had had prearrangements set up in his hometown, but because they have crossed state lines, the family is forced to make a difficult decision: take care of grandpa’s body, or fulfill his last wish for Olive to perform and compete. They ask “why not both?” and end up carrying grandpa’s body out the hospital window–something that is only a viable option in fictional movies. A real family would just be stuck.

If they had set up out-of-area-protection, this traumatic situation would have been avoided entirely. What situations have you seen families have to deal with when there is no OAP in place? Click HERE to share!

How do you approach families about OAP?

The chit-chat step of your presentation is key to overcoming a family’s OAP objections—before they even raise them! Gauging a family’s interest in and need for an out of area protection membership will start you on the right path to talk about OAP in a customized way.

It can be hard enough to talk about death and preplanning. The thought of passing away while on vacation is even more difficult to consider! But OAP is so much more than travel insurance, and can apply in lots of different situations. The next time you meet with a family, try presenting OAP as an important service for more than those with frequent flier miles.

Here are some conversation starters that you can use early on in your meeting with a family. Use these interactions to help you later as you convey how important OAP can be specifically for them:

• If you are in a family’s home, comment on any family pictures of children or siblings. “How often do you get to spend time with your family?”
• Comment on their home, and ask how long they’ve been there.”Where did you move from?”
• Comment on the weather, and ask about any favorite weekend getaways. “Where do you go to get warm?” or “Where do you go when you need to cool off?”
• Ask about work and commuting. “Do you ever have to travel for work? What does your commute look like?”
• Familiarize yourself with places just outside of the 75-mile mark from your location, and ask if they ever visit those places. “Have you ever had dinner at X popular restaurant? What’s your favorite place to shop in X city?”

Do you have a tried-and-true method for bringing up OAP? CLICK HERE to share!

How do you approach families about OAP?

As the Queen of England’s memorial services are now well underway, those in the industry may wonder what impact a high- profile funeral like this may have on funerals on this side of the pond. After all, there are several funerals in the last 150 years that have dramatically changed the way Americans think about death and memorial.

When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, his body was taken across America’s newly minted railroads. So many Americans got to see the former president lying in state thanks to his embalmment, that it helped popularize a growing practice in America of embalming our dead.

When Emmet Till was brutally murdered in 1955, his mother made the difficult choice to embalm and display his body, which had a visceral impact on the Equal Rights movement, and shifted the way African Americans celebrate life and memorialize loved ones. Harry Houdini was buried in a coffin he had used in an underwater stunt. Unusual for the time, this coffin was hermetically sealed and may have had an impact on the popularity of airtight coffins.

Today, the clear trend is that Americans are electing more and more for cremation, in part thanks to several famous people who chose cremation before it was mainstream. Perhaps the drama of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral services will have an impact on this trend.