Funeral Director Daily
Last week I happened to watch President Biden when he addressed the nation pertaining to his recent signing of the latest stimulus bill, known as the “American Rescue Act”. As I was watching for some reason my mind wandered to a managerial principle that I learned later in my career, but a principle that I…
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CUNA Mutual Group announced last week in this press release that it intends to acquire the preneed funeral business of global conglomerate Assurant. We told you late last year, in this article, that Assurant was expected to move on from the preneed business as it concentrated on other business elements. The reported purchase price by…
Read MoreThe last time we checked in on Funeral Director Daily’s proprietary Death Care Index (DCI) was in this article from January 4, 2021. At that time we noted that the stock index of companies in the death care realm had a total return (capital appreciation plus dividend) of about 6.85% for the calendar year of…
Read MoreIt is interesting that I came across this article as I was thinking of a topic for today’s column. One of the items that I have been thinking about lately was the COVID relief bill that passed the Senate last weekend and passed the House on Wednesday. It is expected to bring $1.9 trillion in…
Read MoreThis article picks up on yesterday’s discussion of what could happen as more crematories are built expanding the supply of crematories in the United States. Yesterday’s discussion then went to the thought process and question of, “Will this excess capacity in cremation move cremation to a lower and lower retail cost as death care companies…
Read MoreLast week we commented on an article from funeral industry veteran Doug Gober. That article encapsulated where Mr. Gober saw the investment money going in the death care industry. We think Gober was right on in his assessment, but one of his insights . . . . .that of “the best way to add value…
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Three months ago in December 2020 Funeral Director Daily told you of a program Wilbert would be offering to death care professionals that would help those professionals keep up with their Continuing Education Units (CEU) at the end of the year. We concluded that it was a great venture by Wilbert that would be really…
Read MoreWhile there has been some discrepancy on the case because of cruise ship involvement elsewhere, most people will say that the first COVID-19 death in America happened on February 28, 2020, in the Seattle area. That’s just over a year ago. . . . what have we learned. . . what do we now know?…
Read MoreFuneral home owners, cemetery operators, preneed professionals. We’re the experts in the death care profession. We know the business, we understand the clientele, and we know what is good for everybody. Or do we? I’m guessing that is somewhat how the buggy whip manufacturers, horse livery operators, and sales reps in that industry thought of…
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