Funeral Director Daily

SCI shuffles the Corner Offices

By Funeral Director Daily / October 9, 2024 /

    Last week I read this press release from Service Corporation International (SCI) that was headlined “Service Corporation International announces Leadership Promotions”.  As I read through the announcement it reflected the fact that SCI was making some changes in its leadership structure.   While I don’t know the exact circumstances, in reading the press…

Better Place Forests becomes both “High Touch” and “High Tech”

By Funeral Director Daily / October 8, 2024 /

    Better Place Forests (BPF) has been known for being a place where families can have meaningful “in-person” experiences with memorialization in the company forests.  Last week we learned of BPF’s acquisition of digital platform Butterfly which will now give the company the addition of “High Tech” digital memorials that can be accessed online…

Funeral Director Daily editor Tom Anderson featured on Tukios’ “Podcasket” series

By Funeral Director Daily / October 7, 2024 /

  Back in April 2024 Tukios and its founder CEO Curtis Funk announced that they would be producing a podcast series titled “Podcasket”.  According to this press release on the series, it would feature “. . . . all things deathcare, feature special guests, and will be available on any streaming device.    I was humbled…

Bill introduced to raise Social Security Death Benefit

By Funeral Director Daily / October 7, 2024 /

      It’s been almost 100 years since Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Bill into law in 1935.  And, contrary to what most people believe, there was a “Lump Sum Death Benefit” (LSDB)  applied to that bill that took effect at that time.  However, the original LSDB was discontinued in 1939 at…

Illinois funeral home owner says selling to friends “. . makes it easier to walk away from this business I’ve known all my life”

By Funeral Director Daily / October 4, 2024 /

    We learned of an interesting sale/acquisition story that happened recently in Illinois.  This article from the Mendota Reporter will tell you of the sale of the Merritt Funeral Home to the Unger-Horner Funeral Home.   It’s interesting to note, according to the article, that the Merritt Funeral Home has been in the Merritt…

The Federal Funds interest rate came down, what does that mean for you?

By Funeral Director Daily / October 3, 2024 /

    If you ask my opinion, American borrowers have been somewhat spoiled by the low interest rates that we had had for almost the last ten years.  This article will tell you that from 2015 until into 2022 we never had Prime lending rates higher than 5.5% — and most of the that time…

Going into business on your own

By Funeral Director Daily / October 2, 2024 /

    I believe that America is still that land of opportunity.  It’s a place where people can not only dream of starting their own business and create upward mobility for their family and themselves through ingenuity and hard work, but is a place where that dream can become reality.   As a matter of…

The Funeral “Experience”: Creating Value or Angst

By Funeral Director Daily / October 1, 2024 /

      I’ve know for some time that we are living in an “Experience” economy.  Yes, even while we need to spend a larger portion of our dollars on necessities because of the inflation of the past years. . . . .the “Experience” economy has continued to thrive.   Whether it is going to…

SCI adds San Antonio funeral home locations

By Funeral Director Daily / September 30, 2024 /

    Last week we noticed in this short announcement from Market Screener that Houston-based Service Corporation International (SCI) had acquired the Porter Loring Mortuaries based in San Antonio, Texas.  It appears that the Porter Loring Companies operated three funeral homes in the San Antonio, Texas, market.   According to information gleaned from the San…

Prelude receives an investment from Cortado Ventures

By Funeral Director Daily / September 27, 2024 /

  The last time we mentioned the upstart preneed company Prelude in Funeral Director Daily was this article back in March 2024 when we first heard of them.  We mentioned that we didn’t know much about them but from their LinkedIn references and website it appeared that they were in the business of helping individual…