Business

Batesville to introduce their “Showroom of the Future” at NFDA

By Funeral Director Daily / October 18, 2024 /

  Tomorrow I’ll be on my way to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) convention in New Orleans.  I’ll spend three or four days there, see old friends, grasp new products and see innovations for the first time.  This is probably true with many funeral service professionals. . . . but the older I get,…

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Anthem Partners, Premiere Preneed, NGL form strategic relationship

By Funeral Director Daily / October 10, 2024 /

In what is becoming a growing trend among larger funeral home operators Anthem Partners announced in late September that they had formed a strategic alliance with Premier Preneed Marketing and National Guardian Life (NGL) that they believe will help grow their preneed business.   According to a statement in the press release from Jim La…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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Florida’s Van Orsdel Funeral & Cremation adds “Water Cremation”

By Funeral Director Daily / September 26, 2024 /

    Fifty years ago services were almost all traditional casketed funerals with earth burials.  Then, for the next 50 years cremation choice by the consumer started building until we now have an approximate 60% cremation rate of disposition across the United States.   So, what is next?  Consumers have started adding eco-friendly options to…

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NFDA joins others in quest to delay implementation of Corporate Transparency Act (CTA)

By Funeral Director Daily / September 24, 2024 /

  In early September the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) joined with hundreds of other groups to delay implementation of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) which is set to be implemented on January 1, 2025.  According to Google artificial intelligence (AI),  “The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) went into effect on January 1, 2024. The CTA requires…

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Academic scholarships available from the Funeral Service Foundation — 6 weeks to application deadlines

By Funeral Director Daily / September 20, 2024 /

  I know a lot of people in funeral service.  And, I might make a wager and say that most of those that I know are humble and enjoy helping their community and the world in which we live.  Many of those people, when they look in the mirror, see somebody who has enjoyed a…

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A Canary in the Coal Mine?

By Funeral Director Daily / September 17, 2024 /

  Funeral Director Daily recently learned through this late August article in The Times (of London) that Dignity Funerals of Great Britain recently “has moved to reduce its debts after warning of “material uncertainties” over its ability to continue as a going concern, just over a year after it was taken private from the London…

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