Preneed
There are some interesting things happening in the financial world in Australia. Lately there has been quite a bit of publicity from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation, and Financial Services industry about the financing of funerals while still living. My guess is that a lot of this has reached the public…
Read MoreIn an article and investigative video story that you can read and see here, an Austin, Texas based funeral home has been accused by the Texas Department of Banking of illegally collecting over half a million dollars of prepaid funeral payments from consumers. Illegal because the owner was not licensed to sell prepaid funeral plans.…
Read MoreA press release from A.M. Best that you can read here has revised the outlook to negative from stable for Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company of Abilene, Texas. The rating change also states that the negative outlook reflects the company’s “ERM” or enterprise risk management. The release also maintains that the company’s metrics “reflect the…
Read MoreIn two different articles that you can find here and here, the Life Insurance Council (LIC) reported on the results of their study of 2017 Preneed activity. The study found mixed results in that annual premiums for preneed life insurance was $1.3 billion – down 3% from 2016. The study also found that multi-pay policies…
Read MoreAssurant reported their 2nd Quarter results last week. You can read their report here. The worldwide conglomerate operating in the insurance and warranty business has one of its three business segments that operates in what they call “Global Preneed”. That is the part of the company that we at Funeral Director Daily like to review.…
Read MoreAbout a year ago Funeral Director Daily ran an article when we learned that some people were using crowdfunding sites to help raise the money needed to pay for the memorial expenses that they chose for their loved ones. We recently read an article in the United Kingdom’s Independent entitled, “We had to beg…
Read MoreEarlier this year we told you of the acquisition of pre-need provider Great Western Insurance Company by the American Enterprise Group of Des Moines, Iowa. As of April 25, 2018, A.M. Best has completed their ratings on Great Western Insurance Company post acquisition. A.M. Best has upgraded, in a report you can read here, the…
Read MoreRecently I was reading a business plan of a public company funeral home consolidator and when talking about how they look at the pre-need market, they mentioned that they look at Pre-Need as a “defensive posture” for holding on to call volume. That was interesting to me because I have always looked at Pre-Need as…
Read MoreThere is not a business around that doesn’t want a bigger piece of the pie when it comes to market share. Funeral businesses and funeral home owners are no different. So, what is the secret in building your market share? First, there is no silver bullet on how it is done. However, just like Major…
Read MoreAn article from the Des Moines Register that you can read here gives some implications on the American Enterprise Group (AEG), a Des Moines based insurer, and its acquisition of Great Western Insurance Company of Utah. As you recall we made you aware of this acquisition last month on Funeral Director Daily and now that…
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