What Can I Do With Graves I Will Not Use?

Call me or email me and I will help you with this (for a fee).  You can donate unused graves for a tax deduction.  Thanks to The Philadelphia Inquirer for the information below:

Have a house you can't sell? Paintings, an orange grove, or some derivatives lying around? You can donate these illiquid assets to charity, create a tax deduction, and do a good deed - all at the same time.

Investors this time of year start to examine their portfolios for winners (on which they book gains at the time of sale) and losers (which they sell and book losses) by year-end. Come tax time, investors pay whatever the total capital gains taxes are on the winners, and offset those gains with any losses in their portfolio - sending the tax bill to Uncle Sam.

Wealthy investors known as the 1 percent have a strategy that the 99 percent of us can also use: Donating high-value holdings and deducting some portion of that charitable gift from their overall tax bill.

One of the lesser-known strategies they use is to donate illiquid assets - defined as valuable things not easily converted into cash, according to Eileen Heisman, the author of the annual Donor Advised Fund Report as well as chief executive of the National Philanthropic Trust.

"It's not common knowledge, but people don't just give cash or appreciated securities" to charity to lower their overall tax bill, she said in an interview. During the Great Recession, investors stuck with lots of hard-to-sell assets realized those valuables could be donated, too.

"You can gift your home, closely held or restricted stock, boats, rugs," Heisman added. "If the charity is willing to take it, [investors] vet it in the same way as liquid assets [such as stocks and bonds]."

Among the most unusual donation of illiquid assets Heisman has witnessed? Derivatives on mortgages, also known as the tongue-twisting credit-default swaps.

"Someone donated a CDS - it was a sizeable gift," worth about $10 million, she recalls. "I talked to some moral ethicists in the field and after getting over those hurdles, found out ... the money tied up in this instrument was usable as a charitable gift."

The charity accepted the donation and eventually found a buyer for the illiquid asset, and the $10 million was put to good use.

National Philanthropic Trust has also accepted the following quirky assets as donations: part of an orange grove, a home that the donor didn't have the time to sell, and shopping centers. The trust even turned down some oddities, such as a chain of adult bookstores and gaming stock in a Nevada casino.

Heisman was expecting some wealthy donors to gift restricted stock shares in Facebook, much as a lot of them did when Google was going public.

"But because of the fiasco of the Facebook IPO, we've seen none" donated, Heisman said.

Facebook's stock has fallen by about half since the social-media network listed for trading. Legions of investors have been disappointed.

Since its founding in 1996, National Philanthropic Trust, with more than $1 billion in charitable assets, administers what are known as "donor-advised funds." About 55,000 grants to charities worldwide have been made on behalf of those donor-clients. NPT ranks among the 25 largest grant-making institutions in the United States.

Heisman notes that Philadelphians are significant givers on the national scene. Philadelphia came in 20th out of 11,522 cities in the United States in overall giving - totaling $342 million in donations in 2011. Pennsylvania ranks seventh nationally with total contributions of $4.7 billion. Find out more at www.philly.com/giving.

For investors looking to learn about donating illiquid assets, Heisman also teaches at the University of Pennsylvania's graduate school of public policy. She says a course is usually offered for nonprofit management in philanthropy and fund-raising.

For particulars on what portion or percentage of any illiquid asset is deductible, be sure to consult your accountant, a tax lawyer, or an estate/financial planner.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120828_Your_Money__Lower_your_tax_bill_with_illiquid_gifts.html#ixzz25586cF7L
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Horoscopes For The Dead / Poetry by Billy Collins

Enjoy! :

Billy Collins: Horoscopes For the Dead

The following is new poetry by Billy Collins. It appears in PEN America 12: Correspondences. Horoscopes For the Dead Every morning since you fell down on the face of the earth, I read about you in the newspaper along with the box scores, the weather, and all the bad news. Sometimes I am reminded that today will not be a wildly romantic time for you, nor will you be challenged by educational goals nor will you need to be circumspect at the workplace. Another day, I learn that you will miss an opportunity to travel and make new friends though you never cared much about either. I can’t imagine you ever facing a new problem with a positive attitude, but you will definitely not be doing that or anything like that on this weekday in March. And the same goes for the fun you might have gotten from group activities, a likelihood attributed to everyone under your sign. A dramatic rise in income may be a reason to treat yourself, but that would apply more to all the Pisces who are still alive today, still swimming up and down the stream of life or suspended in a pool in the shade of an overhanging tree. But it will come as a relief to learn that you don’t need to reflect carefully before acting nor do you have to think more of others, and never again will creative work take a back seat to the business responsibilities that you never really had. And don’t worry today or any other day about unwanted problems caused by your failure to interact rationally with your many associates. No more goals for you, no more pressing matters, no more money or children, jobs or important tasks, but then again, you were never thus encumbered. Horoscopes For the Dead 2 So leave it to me now to plan carefully for success and the wealth it brings, to counsel the dear ones close to my heart and to welcome any intellectual stimulation that comes my way though that sounds like a lot to get done on a Tuesday. I am better off closing the newspaper, putting on the clothes I wore yesterday (when I read that your financial prospects were looking up) then pushing off on my copper-colored bicycle and pedaling along the road by the shore of the bay. And you go on being perfect just where you are, lying there in your beautiful blue suit, your hands crossed upon your chest like the wings of a bird who has flown in its strange migration straight up from earth and pierced the enormous circle of the zodiac.   Copyright © 2010 by Billy Collins.  All rights reserved.

Is There An Eastwood, Spielberg, Damon Hereafter? Afterlife?

Do you believe in an afterlife, or not?  The movie Hereafter discusses this.  The film tells three parallel stories about three people affected by death in similar ways - all three have issues of communicating with the dead.  The film is directed by Clint Eastwood, executive produced by Steven Spielberg and stars Matt Damon.  Damon is able to communicate with the dead.  It's worth a look whether you believe or not.

Phyllis Diller R.I.P./Died With A Smile On Her Face

Phyllis Diller (July 17, 1917 - August 20, 2012) died of natural causes, with a smile on her face, in her Brentwood, Los Angeles, California home at the age of 95 on August 20, 2012.

Neil Armstrong, R.I.P. / Wink At The Moon

Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 - August 25, 2012) was the first person to walk on the Moon.

After his death his family released the following tribute statement:

 "For those who may ask what they can do to honor Neil, we have a simple request. Honor his example of service, accomplishment and modesty, and the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink."

There is now a Twitter hashtag "#WinkAtTheMoon."

Death HUMOR, The 9 Lives Of Cats (New Yorker Cartoon by Mike Twohy)

Was Your Coffin Salesperson Once A Used Car Salesperson?

We Never Say "death" - We Prefer "deadness." (New Yorker)

Do You See Dead People? Look Up!

Look up at street signs and read them.  Many streets are named after famous, well-known people.  Maybe they are not as well-known as they once were.  Typically streets are named after these people to honor them.  A number of cemeteries now offer specific tours of the burial places of people whose names grace street signs.  It's a good way to learn something about the names we see often but perhaps know little or nothing about.

Where Was Whitney Houston Buried?

Whitney Houston was buried on Sunday, February 19,  2012 in Fairview Cemetery, in Westfield, New Jersey next to her father, John Russell Houston, who died in 2003.

Is There Polka Music Hell In Life After Death? (Pearls Before Swine Comic)

Life Don't Come With No Lifetime Guarantee-PREPLAN

The above quote is from a dear friend who is very sick.  PREPLAN!!  your funeral and cemetery arrangements, and PREPAY, for the sake of your loved ones.

Will I Die Today Per Pickles Comic (Old Age Death Imminent)?

Pickles comic 8/5/2012:

Do You Have Proof Of Life After Death = TV Series

Per "SideShow" in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

M. Night Shyamalan is venturing into television with a series for Syfy.  "Proof" will look at the age-old question of whether there's life after death.  It is the story of a tech billionaire's son who, after his parents die, offers a huge sum of money to anyone who can truly establish that there is life after death.  It is NOT a reality show.

Shyamalan will write and executive-produce the series with TV series with TV veteran Marti Noxon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).  He will also direct - at least the pilot.

Where Will Gore Vidal Be Buried?

Gore Vidal (October 3, 1925-July 31, 2012), R.I.P.  Vidal died at his home in Hollywood Hills, CA at about 6:45 P.M. PDT on July 31, 2012 of complications from pneumonia.  He was 86.  In 1950 he met his long-term partner Howard Austen.  Austen died in November 2003 and, in February 2005, was buried in a plot for himself and Vidal at historic Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.  Vidal will be next to Austen.

Low Cost, Caring Co-op Burial (Opposite Of Multinational Deathcare Companies)

People's Memorial Association (PMA) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1939 to help the residents of Washington state avoid the confusion, sales pressure and high expense often associated with cremation and burial arrangements.  The organization also provides education and advocacy for all consumers regarding end-of-life matters, and promotes simpler and more sustainable funeral choices:





How a funeral co-op was born

After having its funeral home contracts cancelled twice in 18 months by a large mulinational corporation, Service Corporation International, the members of PEOPLE’S MEMORIAL Association voted at their annual meeting on April 12, 2007 to open their own cooperative funeral home in Seattle.

This new funeral home would be owned by the members of PEOPLE’S MEMORIAL Association. In a matter of 7 weeks, the board and staff were able to get the cooperative incorporated and licensed as a funeral home, lease office space, purchase furniture and equipment as well as hiring and training staff.

PEOPLE’S MEMORIAL Funeral Cooperative opened its doors June 11, 2007 on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, sharing a suite with the membership office of People’s Memorial Association. From the beginning, the funeral cooperative has had a reputation for providing simple, economical funeral arrangements and quality customer service.

PEOPLE’S MEMORIAL Funeral Cooperative is one of only six cooperative funeral homes in the US. It is the only funeral co-op on the West Coast as well as the only one located in a metropolitan area. The Funeral Cooperative now handles the funeral arrangements for approximately 1 in 12 deaths in the Seattle area and after just five years of operation is one of the largest volume funeral homes in the state of Washington.