Preneed
Sometimes if you listen to some of the younger self-proclaimed death care industry experts, you would think that funeral service is only about getting your brand name on social media. And sometimes I’ve been accused of being a little old fashioned in my thinking about how to build a brand in the death care industry.…
Last week we examined the 3rd quarter financial results for Service Corporation International. When we did that we noticed, and told our readers, about the success that their preneed funeral services seemed to be having. We actually told readers to compare what they are doing in their own businesses to SCI to make sure that…
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…
In 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.…
A 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…
In 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…
Assurant 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.…
About 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…
Earlier 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…
Recently 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…
