How to Purchase a Cemetery Plot

It’s not something we like to think about, but when the times comes to purchase a cemetery plot it’s best to be as informed as possible.

From the types of plots you can choose from, to the costs associated with burial sites, we’ll take you through some of the basics of purchasing a cemetery plot in this post.

How Much Does a Cemetery Plot Cost?

The base cost of a cemetery plot can vary widely from hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on the location of the cemetery and available space, as well as how the remains will be buried (such as in a crypt, mausoleum, or columbarium).

Extra costs, like grave liners for caskets and receptacles for cremated remains, should also be factored into the overall cost of the plot.

Types of Cemetery Plots

There are several different types of burial plots available to you when planning a funeral depending on you and your family’s preferences and budget.

A single-depth burial space is meant for one person, and can be marked with either a flat or upright grave marker depending on your preference and the cemetery’s rules.

A double-depth burial space is used for two people, such as married couples or siblings.

A family lot is used for multiple people, and the amount of spaces needed can be customized depending on your needs and what the cemetery has available.

A lawn crypt is similar to a single- or double-depth burial site (where it is designed for one or two individuals) but the casket or caskets are encased inside a concrete (or another material such as steel, bronze, or marble) grave liner.

A mausoleum crypt is usually found under a church or other building, but can also be a separate building in a cemetery. A mausoleum crypt can be designed to accommodate a single-depth burial for one casket, a side-by-side burial for two caskets, or a family burial for multiple caskets.

A columbarium is a wall structure that has space to store the remains of multiple people. Because the space for each plot in a columbarium is limited, it generally houses cremated remains only.

A private estate is also offered by some cemeteries, and is a private space reserved for one family. A private estate can consist of multiple burial sites within an area, or a designated building designed to the family’s specifications.

Veteran Cemeteries

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs provides burial benefits for veterans at no cost to their family. The benefits include a government headstone or marker, a burial flag, a Presidential Memorial Certificate, and a burial site at one of the department’s 135 national cemeteries. Veterans can also choose to be buried in a private cemetery.

Additional costs for burial sites

Depending on the cemetery and your state’s laws, you may need to consider additional costs beyond the price of the plot itself.

For instance, most cemeteries require that you purchase a grave liner if a casket will be placed in the ground. A grave liner can be made of various materials (such as concrete or metal) and cost between $700 to over $10,000. Some cemeteries may even give discounts if multiple plots are purchased at one time.

Since there are a multitude of different options for burials, it’s important that you research each one carefully, and consult the cemetery of your choice to see if they can accommodate what you are looking for.

Can I Pre-Purchase a Burial Plot?

Although the thought of purchasing a cemetery plot for yourself can seem a little macabre, it can lessen the burden on your loved ones later on.

Cemetery plots can be pre-purchased at most American cemeteries and included in your or your family’s funeral plans.

Tt may be wise to pre-purchase a burial plot, especially if you wish to be buried in a specific cemetery. As an example, Ed Koch, a former mayor of New York City, pre-purchased a grave for himself at the Trinity Church Cemetery in Manhattan as prices for plots are on the rise due to the shrinking amount of available space.

If you’re considering pre-purchasing a cemetery plot, remember to include all the additional fees and costs that may come with it when calculating the final purchase price.

How Long Do You Have Your Burial Site for?

In the United States, once you have purchased a burial site it is yours indefinitely. However, some states have stipulations that say if the site doesn’t see any activity for a significant amount of then it can be reclaimed by the cemetery. However, the laws for each state and jurisdiction can vary.

As an example, a Florida statute states that if the owner of a burial site (which would be the remaining family) fails to provide the cemetery with a current residence address for a period of 50 consecutive years, and the cemetery is unable to contact the burial site owner(s) by certified letter mail, then they can begin the legal process of reclaiming the site.

Buying a Burial Plot

Cemetery plots have a plethora of purchasing options that can seem overwhelming, but nonetheless, considering your burial preferences is an important part of a family or individual’s estate plan. Awareness of the costs associated with burial will help you and your family prepare for the future.

8 Screening Questions for Potential Tenants

The application and screening process for tenants is important for landlords because it allows them to find ideal renters. An ideal tenant is typically someone who has a steady income, pays rent on time, and is respectful of the property and other tenants. The last thing a landlord needs is a tenant who causes trouble in one way or another.

One of the best ways to screen tenants is to have them fill out a Rental Application. This can act as a preliminary qualifier before you interview them. It should be noted that you are not required to formally interview tenants. You can accept their application, show them the property, and allow them to move in if they meet all your requirements. However, landlords can benefit from being more thorough.

In this post, we’ll discuss questions you can ask that will allow you to weed out unsuitable tenants, as well as questions that could get you into some legal hot water.

Good Questions to Ask Prospective Tenants

Regardless of how many stages are in your vetting process, these are some questions that you can ask on a Rental Application or in an interview with potential tenants:

1. Why are you leaving your current residence?
2. When do you plan on moving in?
3. What is your monthly income?
4. Can you pay move-in costs once you’ve signed the lease?
5. Can you provide references from your employer/previous landlord(s)?
6. Will you agree to a background and credit check?
7. How many people will be living in the unit?
8. Do you have pets? Do you want them in the future?

These questions cover the applicant’s income, ability to pay rent, and some basic information, and they also give you access to other vetting avenues. For instance, the reference check from employers or past landlords will likely give you the most insight into what kind of person the applicant is.

Other great avenues for you as a landlord are the credit and background checks, which will show you if the tenant is good at paying bills and if they’ve ever been convicted of a crime. Keep in mind, you can’t ban a tenant from housing based on them being convicted of a crime, except for sex offenses, arson, and the manufacturing and/or distribution of illegal drugs.

Questions You Can’t Ask Potential Tenants

It’s also important to discuss the kinds of question you can’t ask potential tenants. These are mostly questions that discriminate against specific people. It’s a good idea to review them because the last thing you want is a fair housing violation that leads to a lawsuit.

Essentially you can’t ask anything that violates the Fair Housing Act (FHA). This act keeps protected classes from discrimination when it comes to housing, which means you can’t bar a prospective tenant’s application based on certain characteristics.

These characteristics include:

• Race
• National origin
• Skin color
• Religion
• Sex
• Familial status (e.g. married or single tenants, tenants with or without children)
• Disability

You might have noticed that sexual orientation and gender are not part of these characteristics. This is because technically sexual orientation and gender are not protected under the FHA. However, in 2012, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued the Equal Access Rule which expanded protections for these two categories under the law’s “sex” protections. The rule frames the protection under discrimination based on gender nonconformity and discrimination in the form of sexual harassment.

Some states, cities, and counties have laws that include gender identity and sexual orientation as protected classes, so it’s best to review the laws specific to your property’s location. Additional information can also be found on HUD’s LBGT Housing Discrimination page.

Fair Housing and Fair Screening

As a landlord, you want the best tenants, and the best way to find them is to use the exact same screening process for every single tenant you’re in contact with. What tends to get landlords in trouble is changing up their processes and questions for particular people; that opens them up to liability and fair housing violations.

If you can stick to the same list of questions for everyone and avoid questions that violate fair housing protections, you should have no trouble finding upstanding tenants while ensuring you aren’t asking anything that could be considered discriminatory.

link:http://blog.lawdepot.com/8-screening-questions-for-potential-tenants/

How Do I Write an Executive Summary for a Business Plan?

Creating a Business Plan is a fundamental step when starting a business of any size. When you’re looking for investors to help finance your business, it’s very likely that they’ll ask to see your proposal so they can determine whether they can trust you to provide them with a return on their investment.

Typically, the front page of your Business Plan should be an executive summary, which is essentially a detailed table of contents and elevator pitch for your plan. Investors tend to be busy professionals, so you need to hook them by describing the benefits of investing in your business as concisely as possible.

Below, we’ll discuss the main things you should include in the executive summary of your Business Plan and ask some questions to help get you started.

If you’re looking for advice on writing a full Business Plan, have a look at our Top Six Tips for Writing a Business Plan to help make yours the most captivating.

What Should Be Included in an Executive Summary?

You should break your executive summary into sections. Create succinct, easily understood headers that are relevant to each topic or section in your Business Plan and write three or four clear sentences with pertinent information.

A good strategy is to think like your investor. Consider a few questions that you’d want the answers to if you were the one investing and base the content in each section on those answers.

The headers should match up with the sections in your business proposal, which will likely include:

1. Company goals: Think about what your company can realistically achieve. What do you want to accomplish in the next 12 months? In the next 5 years? What are your sales forecasts?
2. Timeline for achieving those goals: Show you’re a visionary and a realist. When will planning be complete? When will you hire employees? When will your product or service be available for sale? If you’re a brick-and-mortar establishment, when will you open your doors?
3. Personal information: Describe yourself as a business owner. Do you have experience in your industry? What are your qualifications? Why should you, and not someone else, run this business? What’s the company structure?
4. Product and/or service information: Sell the investor on what you anticipate to be your bestseller(s). What separates this product/service from your competitors? If it’s a unique product/service, how will you garner interest and awareness? Do you have plans to develop new products/services to stay relevant a few years down the line?
5. Your customers: Demonstrate you’ve conducted consumer research. Who is your target customer? How will you reach them? How will you advertise to them?
6. SWOT analysis: Show that you’ve done a thorough competitor and market analysis. What are your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats? What’s your competition like? How are you planning to out-perform your competitors?
7. Capital requirements: Demonstrate financial competency. How much have you invested? How much do you need to borrow? Where is the money going? How will you pay it back?

Pitch the Positives of Your Plan

The aim of the executive summary in your Business Plan is to hook an investor. As long as you can highlight the best aspects of your plan and present them in a concise manner, it’s likely that your reader will take the time to evaluate your plan in full.

You don’t have to exaggerate or lie in your summary to overshadow any risks. Just whittle it down to the gems, and let your plan speak for itself.

link:http://blog.lawdepot.com/write-executive-summary-for-business-plan/

Hand Sanitizers Boost Wellness, Productivity at Work

Hand sanitizers have become trendy since last year's swine flu scare, and dispensers pumping them out have cropped up everywhere from airports and office buildings to restaurants and stores.

But new research has taken the sanitizer craze a step further, claiming that the alcohol-based variety can improve on-the-job productivity and reduce the number of days employees are out sick.

A research team from Germany led by Nils-Olaf Hubner found that absenteeism among public administrations due to colds, fever and coughs dropped dramatically when hand sanitizers were used by staff.

The authors of the study, published in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases, looked at the data on sick days and health symptoms for 129 participants. Subjects were divided into two groups, with those in the control group told to keep up their usual hand-washing rituals and those in the other group instructed to use hand sanitizer at least five times during the workday.

The researchers urged those given the disinfectant to use it liberally -- particularly after activities likely to expose them to germs.

"Our study found that hand disinfection reduced the number of episodes of illness for the majority of the investigated symptoms," Hubner wrote, according to a bulletin about the research.

Researchers saw fewer symptoms of common illnesses even during periods when participants weren't out sick. They surmised that those results translated into a rise in at-work productivity and wellness.

Hubner did not respond to AOL Health's requests for comment.

Prior studies have documented the positive effects of hand sanitizers in hospitals, child care centers and other public places where bacterial infections and viruses thrive.

But the disinfectants' link to employees' health in the workplace and their performance on the job hadn't previously been examined.

"Hand disinfection can easily be introduced and maintained as part of the daily hand hygiene, acting as an interesting and cost-efficient method of improving workforce health and effectiveness." Hubner concluded.

11 Ways to Pick Out Healthy Food

Although VitaminWater sounds healthy (and it says so on the label), a federal judge recently begged to differ. The drink doesn’t meet the FDA standard for labeling, he ruled.

It’s a common ploy. You can walk down any grocery store aisle and be bombarded with "all natural" and "immunity boosting" claims touted on boxes, bags, and bottles.

With so many enthusiastic labels shouting out to you, how can you tell which packages are healthy and which ones are nutritional nightmares? Here's how to break down the nutritional information and ingredient list for 11 common food buys.Most cereals are similar in serving size and calories but differ in fiber and sugar content, says American Dietetic Association spokesperson, Keri Gans, RD.

Buy those with at least 5 grams of fiber per serving and less than 12 grams of sugar per serving. The only way sugar in cereal is good for you is if it comes from dried fruit, and not in the form of high fructose corn syrup, molasses, or honey, Gans says.

In general, the fewer the ingredients the better (for example, shredded wheat is usually just that). Stay as close to 5% of your age group’s recommended daily allowance (RDA) of sodium as possible, and definitely don’t consume more than 20% with your cereal.Look for bread with no more than 100 calories and 150 milligrams of sodium per slice, and at least 3 grams of fiber (which rules out white bread).

And not all wheat bread is healthy. "Just because something says it might have whole-wheat flour in it doesn’t mean it’s 100% whole wheat," says Gans. Instead, look for breads that say, "100% whole grains."

And it’s worthwhile to read the ingredient list. Whole wheat, oats, or other whole grains should be the first ingredient, as opposed to refined flours. If whole-wheat flour is listed first and followed by other flours, that bread will be lower in fiber. Limit molasses and other sweeteners too.

Snack bars

Pay attention to the protein content, along with the calories, fat, sugar, and fiber, in these portable noshes. The best buys have at least 5 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber, less than 10 grams of sugar, and no more than 200 calories, if it’s a snack.

It can contain 300 calories if it’s a meal, says Gans, and 8 to 10 grams of protein is fine, but 20 grams is probably too much. Limit yourself to about 10 grams of total fat, and no more than 1 gram of saturated fat, but also check where the fat is coming from. "Nuts are the best source of fat in a snack bar," Gans says.

Microwave meals

Even low-cal options can contain more than 30% of your daily sodium. “You need to compare brand to brand, because most frozen dinners are going to have more salt than they should,” Gans says. “Look for the ones with the smallest percentage of daily value.”

Also, fat and calorie content is an issue with these meals. They can include unsaturated fats from olive oil and salmon but not saturated fat from cream or butter. Also aim for less than 500 calories. And since this is a meal, make sure you have 10 grams of protein or more per serving.

But bear in mind that you’re probably not going to get enough veggies from a frozen dinner, so enjoy a side salad too.

Just 5 Minutes Outside Boosts Mental Health

A new study published in the American Chemical Society's "Environmental Science & Technology" says just five minutes of "green exercise," such as a walk in a park, working in a backyard garden or hiking on a nature trail will benefit your mental health.

Jules Pretty and Jo Barton, of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Environment and Society and Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Essex in Colchester, England, define green exercise as "physical activity in the presence of nature." Previous studies have shown that outdoor activities decrease the risk of mental illness and improve self-esteem, but until now, there were no specifics on how much time you should spend with nature to reap these rewards.

The authors analyzed 1,252 people of different ages, genders and mental health statuses, during activities such as walking, gardening, cycling, fishing, boating, horse-riding and farming. Results showed that, although everyone benefitted in some way from the green space, the greatest health changes occurred in the young and mentally ill participants.

"So we believe that there would be a large potential benefit to individuals, society and to the costs of the health service if all groups of people were to self-medicate more with green exercise," Barton said.

Pretty also noted that all natural environments were beneficial, but green areas with water seemed even better for health. Overall, the study showed that the largest positive effect on self-esteem came from a five-minute dose.

"We know from the literature that short-term mental health improvements are protective of long-term health benefits," Pretty said.

Significant Number of Dads Experience Postpartum Depression

The after-baby blues aren't just a mom phenomenon. Turns out, dads also get postpartum depression, the Journal of the American Medical Association is reporting.

About 10 percent of fathers feel depressed either before their babies are born or after, with rates peaking in the three-to-six-month postpartum period, according to an analysis of previous research published in the mental-health-themed May 19 issue of JAMA.

Researchers call the findings significant.

"There are many implications of these findings," the authors write. "The observation that expecting and new fathers disproportionately experience depression suggests that more efforts should be made to improve screening and referral, particularly in light of the mounting evidence that early paternal depression may have substantial emotional, behavioral and developmental effects on children."

The report's co-authors, James F. Paulson, Ph.D., and Sharnail D. Bazemore, M.S., of the Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, conducted a meta-analysis to measure rates of paternal prenatal and postpartum depression, as well as its link to mothers' postpartum sadness.

Researchers included studies documenting depression in dads between the first trimester of pregnancy and the first year after the baby's birth, identifying 28,400 participants from 43 different surveys to take into account for their own article.

They estimated that the overall rate of paternal depression was 10.4 percent, compared with a 4.8 percent rate of depression in the course of one year among the general population.

There was also marked variety in the timing of fathers' baby-related depression, with the highest rate, 25.6 percent, occurring three to six months after birth and the lowest rate, 7.7 percent, happening in the first three months after birth.