YOUR INSURANCE CONNECTION

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You're listening to locally produced programming created in KU NBC Studios on public radio K, u and v. 91.5.

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The following is a paid program sponsored by your insurance connection. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

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Good morning. This is your insurance connection. I'm your host, Donnell Marquez, on your insurance connection. We talk about saving money on auto insurance, homeowners insurance. Yes. And we talk about life insurance. Welcome to the show.

Unknown Speaker 0:52
Good morning. Good morning. My name is Dan Marquez, this is your insurance connection. And welcome to my show early Sunday morning. From eight o'clock to 830. Just want to say happy holidays to everyone. We had a terrible incident that happened on the campus last week. I wasn't on the air last week because of the incident that happen on the campus. May the victim so rest in paradise, my heart goes out to the family, members of the victims and also the young lady that was injured. I don't understand this gun violence. We need to do something about it. But my heart goes out to the family members and also the injured students I believe it was I'm not sure they kept it. Quiet, quiet, quiet quiet. I did go online and I saw the victims and you know may their souls wrestle paradise. My name is Don Marquez, this is your insurance connection. I'm an insurance broker, I come on 91.5 Jazz and more to talk to you about your insurance, your insurance with the things that you need to know. And today I have a special guest in studio with me is Martha Gonzalez. She's an advanced planning consultant for bunkers, funeral homes and cemeteries. Welcome to the show. Martha,

Unknown Speaker 2:08
thank you for having me. And good morning all and again, my condolences to the families as well, what a tragedy. And you know, it's there's so much going on around the world. And then right now with the holidays, it hits harder. I believe

Unknown Speaker 2:22
it was a different feeling coming on campus today, after the shooting of people just looking around, you know, and being a lot of being unconscious of who's around and what's going on. You know, and I just hope, you know, in the future, you know, this stops. It's been over 600 mass shootings in this country.

Unknown Speaker 2:41
Yeah, there's, there's so many there.

Unknown Speaker 2:45
That's not included in domestic violence was shooting and you know, but they were talking about 600 This country this year already. Wow, that's a lot. And that's what we do in our business. Though, when you lose loved ones, whatever, regardless of the situation. I'm an insurance broker offering life insurance, home auto insurance, Martha. So let our listeners what you do at the cemetery. So

Unknown Speaker 3:06
as an advance professional in this industry, what I do is educate the families on the necessary items that they need to do a burial for a loved one, whether it be a traditional burial, which is full casket, or if you're wanting to place the urn in the cemetery as well for safekeeping because, you know, once you bury somebody, you're there forever. You know, it's we're not like other places, or like I said, Latin countries where I'm from, where after a certain amount of time, you have to pay another endowment care here, it's all taken care of for the rest of whenever, you know, the good Lord calls

Unknown Speaker 3:41
us right? Well, in that saying, because the funeral home package and we had a discussion about this, the funeral home packets when you go into the funeral home to take care of loved ones plan on expenses at the funeral home, that is a different fee at the cemetery, which people don't want to understand. They do have plans you can purchase at the funeral homes at time and need. However, the that does not include the cemetery arrangements. You go over that with the family members. So they can fully understand that. You know, purchasing expect, as purchasing land is a good time not always a good time to buy now, because as we know, it's not they're not they're not making any more land and the cost of land keeps continually go.

Unknown Speaker 4:23
Yes, exactly. So all we think about this, when you're when somebody has passed, you're going to be dealing with two entities. If a burial is happening, the two entities are the funeral home. The Funeral Home is always the first one to have your loved one. Okay? That's where you make the arrangements. That's where you submit all the information for the death certificate, no death certificate, no permit to do either a burial or a cremation death certificate must be signed by the doctor and typically it takes about 72 hours for a doctor to sign. And by law, we can't bug them about it. They have to sign it within that time. And from now, if it goes over that timeframe, then that's when we're, you know, trying to catch up with them and say, Hey, what's going on, we need to sign there's a barrier gonna happen we need, you know, we need that permit. So that's really the most important part of the whole arrangement is gathering all the information for the certificate for those permits to happen, whichever way this is going to be burial or cremation. Okay. Once that has happened, in the interim, you will also have met with the cemetery to make arrangements for the placement of the casket in one of the cemeteries, right? What are the important items at the cemetery? It's obviously purchasing the plot, are you going to be doubled up meaning? Or is there somebody else going to be buried there in the family with that love when it maybe it's a spouse, you know, husband and wife, or do the one spaces next to each other if they have not purchased anything? Prior, I have seen packages of, you know, couples who bought their spaces many years ago, I mean, I'm talking about I've seen contracts from the 60s 70s here at Woodlawn Cemetery. So your property will be there always, when the time is, comes that you're going to need it, you know, that it's there. And you know, sometimes people get scared that what happened to my plan, I haven't checked on it in years, you can always call the office to check and see how is my you know, where's my contract that is, is is still valid, because back in the day, you know, it was a simple card that you will receive that you have a space there. So now everything's, you know, digital, but we also keep paper copies. And we also have digital copies, okay, why it's just more of a backup, right? So

Unknown Speaker 6:37
let's say a person didn't pre plan, and they and they lost a loved one. And let's say they lost their father. And they made arrangement at the funeral home. Now they come into the cemetery of choice, and hopefully they come to your cemetery. To to make arrangements to, to permanent place their loved one. Now, of course, for most people, it's price shock. Yes, this price shock because they had no idea. And this could be their first funeral. Yeah, you know, and I understand this the holidays, and we're not trying to down lift your spirits. But this is a busy time of the year for you. It is, which is amazing within itself. Because you would think during the holidays, everyone is celebrating having a good time. But unfortunately, this is a busy season for

Unknown Speaker 7:22
you as well. It's like I always tell people death doesn't come knocking on your door and saying, are you ready? I paid this. It doesn't care, your race, your color, it's all the same. It's just the one permanent man is that it's not jealous, it's not envious of anything. And when it comes, it comes and we don't know who it is. It can be something that was a pretty healthy and you know, unknown cause I have seen it, then yes, right around this time, it's the season because it's cold. And sometimes people have illnesses that they don't even know they had before. So you could hear all I hear I've heard many stories of why their loved one ended up in the hospital and then ended up with something else, etc. So it's hard to really tell you what are the reasons why somebody passes. I mean, one of the main ones that I have seen over the years has been cancer. Unfortunately, you know that that's the big word that we can't get away from, right?

Unknown Speaker 8:15
Well, we're in the country of treatment, not a cure. Unfortunately, we treat the illness, we don't cure illness. However, when a person comes in, and this is their first funeral to pay for it, they've been through to the funeral home. Got that experience. And now the funeral home, what do you want to bury a loved one? Yeah. And and they pick a bunkers as choice, and they meet with you. And you let's let's go over that experience, and the first time within and they happen to have a life insurance policy.

Unknown Speaker 8:43
So when somebody comes into my office, and they say, Well, we already have our funeral home of choice, it can be one, you know, whichever one of the local ones, right? So they'll sit down with me. And the first question is, obviously, are there immediately? What am I looking at? What how much is this going to cost me because I'm already paying so much over here. So a lot of times they want to keep it cost effective. Not everybody has the same budget, right? But in this case, if they have a life insurance policy, how much is the life insurance policy? How much did the funeral home take what is going to be leftover for the cemetery because sometimes, you know, a large portion goes to the funeral home, and then they're having to still pay some out of pocket to the cemetery if it's not enough, right. You know, when there's a lot of those common life insurance policies that don't have enough, right, you know, that maybe it's only a $10,000 policy and you already pretty much put like 1000 towards the funeral. So that only leaves you with, you know, girls $1,000

Unknown Speaker 9:42
And there are times when, you know, we've had this discussion before with people they bought these life insurance policies only $10,000 with the coverage. That is not that is not enough coverage,

Unknown Speaker 9:54
maybe seven years ago it was

Unknown Speaker 9:56
you know, we can go even further back, but that's not enough today to cover for the expensive if you know the average funeral cost today between 15 and $20,000. Correct. And that's where you

Unknown Speaker 10:05
are right? You are correct, because at the time of death, especially if it's unexpected, and a lot of times, you're not thinking with your head, you're thinking with your hearts, or you're doing emotional spending. And when you do an emotional spending, use, spend more, because you want the best for that day. But remember that your loved one, they're going to have you in the heart wherever, you know, God has you. And right now, it's really about what is left behind are you were you the one depending on those funds, you know, for that life insurance, because remember, at least I look at it that the life insurance helps you to maintain your lifestyle after you know, the loved one has passed. At least that's how I've understood it. Because

Unknown Speaker 10:50
wouldn't when I when I talk to my clients about purchasing the life insurance policy, one of the key factors that I factor in is let's have enough money for the for the burial, with money left over to take care of additional expenses, person has made a move, move a loved one's furniture out of the home, maybe pay a house payment or rent for a couple of months take time off from work flying in from out of town, the list just keeps going to know and as sometimes occasions there's a repast that you have to pay for you have to pay for the church, and all the limousines the food, and there are going to be expenses to close out a loved one's estate that there is. Now if there's a surviving spouse, you need money for the surviving spouse to continue their life. Now, some people do have underlying health conditions. I do have life insurance policies that will cover a person with AIDS, HIV, from 40 years young to 80 years young, we do have a life insurance policy of $25,000 We'll cover because a lot of people don't think with AIDS HIV, they can get life insurance, I can help you with a life insurance policy. My name is Don Marquez, this is your insurance connection. I'm here with Martha gun, Gonzalez at a K u and v 91.5. Jazz and more Sunday morning, from 8am to 837 02. To 362624 is my contact phone number 702-236-2624. I noticed the holidays and I know this sometimes people don't want to talk about final expenses, life insurance, who's the beneficiary, but these are very important conversations to have, especially this time of the year because families are getting together. They're getting together to have dinner together they celebrate together. But now it's also the time to talk about hey, do you have life insurance? Who is your beneficiary? Where is the life insurance policy? These are key factors. I had a gentleman come in to see me last week. His name is Johnny ward. He he's been listening to my show for over a year and a half right here at KU envy and 91.5 Jazz and more Johnny came in we had a wonderful conversation about life insurance, and he tells me, man, I'm gonna listen to you for a year and a half already to kill you in being and he decided to make the phone call and come in and we sat down. And I saw different options. He purchased a policy he's going through the process right now. But the responsibility he understands that like so many others, and I want to thank the listeners that came in and purchase home auto and life insurance he understand by being a single man. The fact that this is also important because he don't want his loved ones to be responsible for these very expensive today final expenses $20,000 for the funeral, but for the funeral service along with the burial services. That's a lot of money for someone to come up with and without life insurance to come as a band aid to have tax free benefit to secure your loved one from not being you know not being in a position where your loved ones have to do the GoFundMe is and there's a lot of scam on a GoFundMe is carwash car washes. Now many I you know I don't know how many people don't do car washes. I did the numbers for a $15,000 funeral. Now at $20 a car you have to wash 750 cars. Wow $20 A car divided by 15,750 cars, car washes don't do 750 cars in a week. How can you plan and you got to get the bucket you got to get the crew. That's a lot and then I've seen people on the corners asking money to bury loved ones. Do not put your family in that position. My number is 702-236-2624 702-236-2624 located on the corner Sahara Rancho. In the US Bank building located on the eighth floor or work by appointment again 702-236-2624 Martha and there's many people that come to you I know on a daily basis. And when they don't have the funds, what are what are their other options? Do you take credit cards or yes so

Unknown Speaker 14:50
the form of payment is a obviously if you have an insurance we will submit with a third party brokerage who will submit all the information to all the lead work, in other words with the insurance company be the middle person for not just the customer, but for us because they want to verifications for us directly. That's not how it works. It's sensitive information. So we will submit all the information the beneficiary must signed paperwork authorizing for this company to do the legwork. Once they submitted the verify the policy, and they say the policy is good, there's enough money to cover both you and the funeral home or any of the old Oh, tell us, Martha. There's only $2,000 After the expenses from this other side, they're going to owe you x amount, they'll let us know. Right? So that's one way or the other. Yes, you can pay cash, you can pay with the debit card or credit card. And please do not use the deceased information.

Unknown Speaker 15:42
I gotta tell you a story about that real quick. So I received a phone call at my office one day. And the lady said, I heard you on the radio or at 91.5. She said, we have my grandmother. She's at the at the funeral home. We but we would like to use our credit card to pay for the funeral services. She has her four credit cards, and there's zero balance on it. And I said, Where's your grandmother? Well, she's in the back room. I said, well just ask her. Can you use a credit card to pay for the I'm thinking that's a pretty neat, right? And she said, No, no, no, no, my grandmother is deceased. He just passed away a couple of days ago. And what can we use their credit card? I said? I don't think so. I don't think so. But you can ask a funeral director, I really don't think so. Good luck with that. Yeah. These are the desperation moves. People make

Unknown Speaker 16:27
they are. And it's very unfortunate, because, you know, sometimes there is certain family members that have the same names, I mean, almost exact, and they'll go ahead and use that deceased person's information. And then they will dispute the card and say, That wasn't me. Oh, yes, it happens. That's why I'm like, please do not we don't take personal checks at the time of death, it has to be accessible money that you can use right there. And then that we don't have to wait for it to cover you know, to to be able to finalize, right? And so um, so there's, like I said, the credit card, debit card, and sometimes debit cards, just so you guys know, also with a bank, you probably have to call and say, Hey, I'm going to be paying a large amount because how many times a day do you spend seven $8,000 at a cemetery? Not all the time, right? So that's not an expected transaction, they're gonna block it. So once you have cleared that from the bank, they will let us run the credit card for the full amount if that's what we're doing right. We will do money orders. And we will also do a cashier's check because it's like a chat and it's just like money right there already. They took it out of the account. It's disposable already for us to use right. And then other than that, that's really it.

Unknown Speaker 17:43
What I'm asking you so you're a different cemeteries with barkers.

Unknown Speaker 17:48
Yes, we have three cemeteries that we service, it's a memory gardens at Craig and tinea. We have the historic one which is Woodlawn Cemetery on Las Vegas Boulevard and Owens. And then we also have Eatonville memorial park that is almost Vegas Boulevard in Washington. What

Unknown Speaker 18:05
if of a love member of a family member of a loved one wants to find their, you know, location of their loved ones. So they would go into the office instead of because I've located several relatives, but I did not go into the office to look for my relatives, I would just offer memory. Yeah, many years ago, when my uncle was buried, my grandmother was bad I would just going off a memory and where my parents are buried or all my relatives are buried in Woodlawn at this point. But, you know, I went on a hunt looking for my uncle, my deceased uncle in the 60s. And my grandmother passed away also in the 60s. But I just remembered as a young child where the location was, because one of them is a large cemetery. It is probably one of the largest, the

Unknown Speaker 18:49
largest it is. It is the largest, I believe. It's almost like 40 Acres is what I was told. So it's pretty large. And it has expanded and you know, it started at the entrance on Las Vegas Boulevard, right, right in between for master and Owen. So as you come into the cemetery, we used to have an office right there. But now the city uses that office for the infrastructure of the cemetery. So our office at bunkers, which is 1216, North Las Vegas Boulevard, that's where you can go and say, Hey, I'm looking for a loved one at at Woodlawn Cemetery, we will give them a map to go and find them. And if it's really, really difficult, one of us from the office can usually go out there and help them out. And if they have any questions in regards to the cemetery, they can also just call me and say hey, I would like to know more information about the cemetery and it's my number 702-637-5194 Again, 702-637-5194 and my name is Martha. Martha,

Unknown Speaker 19:47
let's talk about veterans. So many misunderstood information out there with veterans aid Think big. I am a veteran because you are a veteran. The veteran is going to take care everything that's not accurate. The VA Veterans Cemetery and Boulder City will take you in along with your DD 214. Correct. But can you just go over that seizure

Unknown Speaker 20:09
when I have, you know, people who come and ask me, Hey, Martha, you know, I want to take care of my funeral planning now. However, I know that I need to go and get my space over at the VA cemetery in Boulder City. Well, the process is I always tell them, you need to go and register with them, okay, you want to register for you to be be able to be buried there, your spouse is going to be buried there. They'll ask you those questions there for the spouse, as far as I know, there is a fee for them to be buried in it's $450. And again, that's has nothing to do with any of the funeral homes or cemeteries out here in the city. Right? So once you registered, you give them your DD 214. Because that's going to say if you were honorably discharged or not, if you were not, then you do not have that right to beat.

Unknown Speaker 20:56
I'm glad you brought that up on a dishonorable discharge. Okay, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 20:59
you don't you don't get those benefits, you know, you're lost them. Yeah, you lost those benefits. But when you are buried as a veteran, out in Boulder City, they pay for this space. In other words, that's taking care of the space, the opening and closing of the space, and the outer burial container. And within that fee that they charge for the spouse and it could have changed. I haven't checked as of late, so don't quote me on that for 50. Guys, okay. But you can always ask, what is it going to cost for my spouse to be there, and it's only the veteran and the spouse? There is no other family member that could be buried there with them, okay?

Unknown Speaker 21:35
I say do they stack a husband and wife was side by side,

Unknown Speaker 21:38
I believe they're, they're stacked one on top of the other. Yes. And then if you're cremated, you get a space for both of the urns as well. And you have to get the size because it can't just be any type of urn. Because not all urns are the same size, you'd have to get something that is the correct measurements. And I usually tell families to be on the safe side, you get a 10 and a half by 10 and a half by 10 and a half earn and that fits two urns in a niche, they're

Unknown Speaker 22:03
good use the news, you can use it right he had k u and v 91.5. Your insurance connection or broadcast every Sunday morning from 8am to 830. My name is Don Marquez, along with Martha Gonzalez. This is valuable information. And I'm thank you so much for coming on the air and sharing this information. With my listeners, I get a lot of questions asked.

Unknown Speaker 22:25
I know you do. I know.

Unknown Speaker 22:29
I spend a lot of time with my clients, I take my time. Because people, you know a lot of times they buy funerals or life insurance policies online. And I recommend don't go online putting all your personal information online, because you're going to receive a lot of calls and you're going to receive calls, months and months after you made that initial contact online. You put in your name, your phone number, and perhaps maybe even your date of birth, that's a lot of information for people to use your against you. To get into your accounts. It's always good to talk to you a professional. This is a step by step process. A lot of you out there probably have never buried a loved one before your day has come in where you have to make arrangements. That's part of living as the older we get, the more frequency we see losing friends loved ones up in relatives. I mean, it's because I average about four funerals a year.

Unknown Speaker 23:19
Well, here's the thing to think about. When you don't have that conversation. And you have also a life insurance policy, you are giving somebody a blank check to go and spend as they think you would want. And a lot of the times a lot of the cases that's not what it is, even if you don't have in mind exactly where you want to go. But if you want to be cremated, start the process by least by talking to your loved ones and make it known I can always give you a form where you can fill out and put what your wishes are your final, final wishes. Even if you don't get a contract with myself or with Don, but at least let your wishes be known. At least they have the information that they need for the desert certificate and you want to hear something funny. So I was sitting down with the funeral director, we're with a family with a grandson as a matter of fact, were the son of the deceased. And the funeral directors asking you know, they asked a lot of questions like, you know, mom's name, full name as it appears on your social security card by the way, not the way it looks like on your driver license. It's your social security card that gets reported. Always remember that. And anyway, so we're asking the questions going down the list, then it comes because they're gonna ask what was your mother's mom's name? Well, grandma, grandpa, I am sorry, I had to hold back. But um, definitely it you need to be able to give that vital information to the funeral director at the time of death. Okay, and as a beneficiary to an insurance policy, they need that as well. Well, another

Unknown Speaker 24:57
thing too, what if a loved one Most of make arrangements to bury their loved one in another state, do they come to you for that and information they have to

Unknown Speaker 25:06
use to funeral homes and whatever cemetery they're going to in another state because of the fact that they have to get the permit from here for transportation, whether it's being flown, or if it's you're driving out, that's, you know, in another state, obviously, right? I and the other state gets that permit, and they have to do what they call a cross permit to be able to bury in that state.

Unknown Speaker 25:27
Now, if a person has purchased a plot, pre purchase the plot here in Vegas, right? Can they tramp? Can they sell a plot anytime, for the loved one, if they want to be buried in let's say, for instance, Chicago, if they relocated to Chicago, however, they bought a plot here in Vegas, one of your

Unknown Speaker 25:44
materials so they can sell the the plot, we don't buy property back, okay, they can sell it, you know, to a private party. But there's also certain cemeteries that are connected throughout nationwide which they call this organization ICC FFA. If they belong to that organization, they reach out to them say, hey, look, I have you know, that whatever cemetery they go to, if they belong to that organization, they will communicate with the other cemeteries, how much credit do they have there? And they'll use that towards the burial at the other end. Oh, that's good news. But I always say try and sell it yourself first, because you might get more out of it that way. What is it a quick sale? Or? ID? No, it's not it really.

Unknown Speaker 26:25
Who's shopping for burial site?

Unknown Speaker 26:26
Exactly. Not everybody's either, hey, let me go on Craigslist or wherever, you know, it just doesn't work that way. That's

Unknown Speaker 26:33
only a time of need. Oh, or you never know. Because sometimes sometimes sometimes people out there are wise enough to pre plan. Get as soon as you can understand right now. Now and until the end of the year, your cemetery is offering a

Unknown Speaker 26:48
we have an incentive where they can call in ask about the incentives because everything is so expensive, right? So we have that good until the end of the year. And everybody qualifies, all you need is your 10% downpayment. And you can get up to 15% off on the purchase of the property. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 27:04
Now, when a person comes to see you to bury their loved one, do they need the loved ones ID or how does that work?

Unknown Speaker 27:10
Well, we do need to find all information about who we're burying name, date of birth, date of death,

Unknown Speaker 27:15
well, they need to bring their driver's license and or ID card, preferably

Unknown Speaker 27:20
preferably. So we know we are burying the correct person as well. And most of the time, also, the funeral home will reach out to us to communicate and say, Hey, this is who we're doing the burial for this is the information we have is it. So we have to be on the same page, because we can't do a burial and have totally two different people. Because I mean, there's a lot of common names out there as well, right. So you have to verify all that.

Unknown Speaker 27:41
And some religions one bit varied and 24 to 48, Jewish,

Unknown Speaker 27:44
Jewish, and Muslims are typically the ones that would like to be able to vary from one day to the other. But because after COVID, things changed a lot, a lot, there was nobody that could be buried immediately. So it takes a process and especially if the doctors are not signing off on the death certificate that hinders us to be able to move quick. Plus, the cemetery has to be available for that. Because if we already have four burials happening, there's no way we can squeeze in a fifth one, you know, it, we only do burials every two hours, or

Unknown Speaker 28:14
every two hours. Well, that's information you can use Martha Gonzalez, thank you so much for Thank you for having me here. You're welcome. We'll do this again. My name is Don Marquez, this is your insurance connection. My contact phone number is 702-236-2624 702-236-2624 Happy Holidays. Everyone have a safe holiday talk to your loved ones about life insurance. If you don't already have one, I'll take you step by step through the process. When these expenses will come up. It's just a matter of time, it is just a matter of time, you have to go to the funeral home. And eventually you have to go see Martha Gonzalez at the cemetery to make arrangements for your loved ones. Don't wait to the last minute don't procrastinate. And I don't know I know a lot of you say well, well wait to the first to be it. You don't have to wait till the first of the year to give us a call and get an appointment. 702-236-2624 is my number. And

Unknown Speaker 29:09
my number is 70263751947026375194 Martha Gonzalez with bunkers. Thank you very much. Happy

Unknown Speaker 29:19
holidays everyone. It's a next week. Just keep it crispy. Thank you for listening

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