Q4 eNewsletter

Coming Soon! FSI to Officially Adopt Unitrusts

     Beginning January 2017, recent legislative changes will allow for a new care and maintenance trust withdrawal method: Unitrusts.

     
     The Unitrust model will permit cemeteries to withdraw a percentage of the total market value of its Care & Maintenance Trust account. With this new approach, distributions will no longer be limited to income generated by the Trust.

     
     To serve clients most effectively, Funeral Services, Inc. (FSI) will adopt this approach for all cemeteries with accounts in the FSI Care & Maintenance Master Trust. Sabal Trust Company, the trustee and investment manager for the FSI Care & Maintenance Trust, will determine the withdrawal percentage annually. As an agent for cemeteries participating in the Trust, FSI will elect the Unitrust method utilizing the forms adopted by administrative rule on cemeteries’ behalf unless notified otherwise.
 

      Clients wishing to continue utilizing the income-only method were asked to contact us no later than Friday, October 1.
 

      Feel free to review our white paper anytime to learn more about Unitrusts and how they benefit you. Click here to access the white paper.
 

      Of course, we are also available by phone to answer any questions or provide further details to help you better understand the financial impact of the Unitrust or total return distribution method. Please contact us at 800.749.1340.

• Engaging educational sessions with industry experts,
• Unique tours and fun social events,
• An inspiring All-Star Recognition Ceremony,
• A Rockin’ Funeral Directors Under-40 Party, and much more!

     Meiko Whitfield joined FSI in October 1989 as a fiscal assistant in the Preneed Services Department.  In fact, Meiko has spent her entire professional career with FSI, starting with the firm after earning a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama.

     Since then, she’s grown to serve as the Vice President of Client Services, managing the Client Services Department and assisting clients with preneed training and existing trust conversions. Meiko also works with management and systems development to keep FSI services and computer programs technologically updated and in compliance with changing state laws.

• Manage contracts online securely,
• View, print and download account balances,
• Create error-free electronic contracts with automated uploading,
• Record preneed payments, transfer those payments to the trust, and disburse funds to the trust’s business account usually overnight.

    Today’s financial investing is much more sophisticated than it was just a few generations ago, resulting in new challenges for cemetery operators and their approach to perpetual care.  
 
     Join the FSI team and Kates-Boylston Publications November 10 at 3 p.m. EST for a FREE webinar to learn how changing the way perpetual care funds are distributed can help ensure your cemetery remains an attractive and safe environment for generations to come, even after you occupy the last burial space.
 
     In “Unitrusts: Advancing Perpetual Care Financial Strategies,” FSI President Bill Williams and Vice President of Client Development and Marketing Paul White will explain how the Unitrust Distribution Method helps cemetery 

• Understand the evolution of the Unitrust Distribution Method for perpetual care.
• Review the financial impact of Unitrusts for current real-life trusts to illustrate the positive, long-term effect it offers.
• Learn how to transition current trusts from the typical net income approach to the new Unitrust model.

      Sign up for the FREE webinar today to help ensure your cemetery remains on firm financial footing and protects the families entrusted to your care for years to come.