Keeping Costs Down and Value Up In Todays Economy

Greetings Fellow Villagers!  We would like to wish you all a Happy Easter and Happy Spring.  What an awesome time of year when we have the privilege of witnessing the blooming of all our beautiful cacti, flowering bushes and stunning flowers that are each so unique, delicate, differently textured and exceptional in their colors.  Witnessing and actually stopping to be thankful for the changing...

Will or Trust – Just Do It

Greetings fellow Villagers.  Bill and I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Happy Valentines Day.  This month, we feel that it is important to address the importance of creating a will or a trust.  With the new changes in the “death tax”, it is a subject we believe should not be ignored. What is the new tax law?  As of January 1st, 2011, should your estate be worth...

Will or Trust – Are They Important?

We would like to take a moment and address the importance of a “living will”.  Equally important is estate planning.  Please know that you don’t have to be a millionaire to justify planning the distribution of your assets when you die. What is estate planning?  It is the process of arranging for what will happen to your property when you die.  Everything you own at your death is...

Funeral Etiquette

There are varying opinions, from etiquette experts, on the etiquette involved when there has been a death.  Most of us don’t deal with death on a daily basis so we’re often tongue tied when it comes to what to say.  Then there’s “what to wear” and “how to act” at a service for a deceased.   Whether it’s a funeral service, a celebration of life, or a simple memorial service,...

What’s in a name

We’ve written about the importance of pre-planning, living wills, trusts, getting affairs in order, as well as the grieving process itself.  We thank all of you for your feedback, compliments and encouragements as we continue to strive to become the best in serving you, the community. What we would like to write about this month is a hodgepodge of information that has been shared with us by...

Protecting Yourself

A couple of years back we ran an informative article on how to protect yourselves from added expenses after a loved one goes home to be with the Lord.  Since then, we have met with many families that still have these specific issues to deal with after a death of a spouse or lifetime partner has occurred, so we thought that this was important to address again.  Main issues involve the telephone,...

Your Living Will

We thought that there would be wisdom in addressing this very important, yet often neglected, issue of a Living Will.  It cannot be stressed enough that, no matter what your age is, a Living Will is a vital document to ensure your wishes are carried out should something catastrophic happen to your health.  What is a Living Will?  In the state of Arizona, your written directions for health care...

A Friend in Need……

A friend that has just lost a loved one and is going through the grieving process is a friend in need of your caring and understanding.  What can you do to help?  Be in attendance at the funeral or memorial service.  Your presence emphasizes to your friend that, although there’s been a loss, friends like you remain close.  Someone who is grieving has a definitive need to talk about his or...