Preneed

Carriage Services: Strategies driving improvements

By Funeral Director Daily / August 15, 2024 /

  I’m one that believes you can learn something from seeing what the public companies in funeral service are doing.  When I was active with my funeral home in the business I would read their quarterly reports and look at whatever comments were made during the companies quarterly earnings call transcripts. . . . .Even…

What’s on the backside of this interest rate/inflation environment for funeral homes?

By Funeral Director Daily / August 1, 2024 /

    Funeral home owners and managers in the United States, and around the world, have had a lot on their business management plates in the 2020’s decade.  Along with the continual increasing use of cremation and direct cremation instead of casketed burials came the pandemic, then inflation, which when measured by the Consumer Price…

It’s July 29. . . Will Park Lawn Corporation be going private? What does that mean for Homesteaders Life?

By Funeral Director Daily / July 29, 2024 /

    It suprised many in the Death Care community when this press release came out late on Monday, June 3, announcing that a new company, made up of preneed provider Homesteaders Life and private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners, would be seeking to acquire publicly-operated funeral home and cemetery business Park Lawn Corporation.…

Moving preneed thoughts to the consumer mind

By Funeral Director Daily / July 23, 2024 /

    I think it is a pretty well established fact that if a funeral home can get families to talk about what they want to have done at their eventual death the funeral home has a much better chance to pre-arrange that family into some type of financial arrangements to be used at the…

Will Carriage Services be next?

By Funeral Director Daily / July 10, 2024 /

    It’s been less than a month since a partnership of Homesteaders Life and private equity firm Birch Hill Partners announced their intention to acquire 100% of public funeral home and cemetery operator Park Lawn Corporation.  As a matter of fact we are still about three weeks out from the July 29 stockholder vote…

Global Atlantic, SCI form preneed partnership

By Funeral Director Daily / July 9, 2024 /

    It was announced in this press release yesterday from Global Atlantic Financial Group (Global Atlantic) that the company had formed a partnership with the largest provider of funeral, cemetery, and cremation services in North America, Service Corporation International (SCI).   Announced in the press release as a “10-year partnership, Global Atlantic says it…

Homesteaders Life partners with Gather’s case management platform

By Funeral Director Daily / June 27, 2024 /

    Homesteaders Life Insurance Company of Iowa has been in the news a lot lately.  The preneed company that issued its first policy for final expenses in 1906 most recently announced in this press release that they have formed a partnership with Gather’s case management platform.   According to the press release,  “The new…

SCI settles California issue, looks forward to moving ahead with insurance funded preneed there

By Funeral Director Daily / May 16, 2024 /

    Earlier in May the Attorney General of the State of California issued a press release which you can read here announcing an agreement with Service Corporation International (SCI) over an eight-year dispute on how SCI delivered on their preneed funding.   In essence, concerning preneed sold through SCI’s Neptune and Trident locations in…

Banks report “Weaker loan demand”, Consumers pull back on credit: What does that mean for your funeral home?

By Funeral Director Daily / May 9, 2024 /

    During this week I read two articles and when I did I wondered how the subject of each might affect funeral homes and the funeral business going forward.  The articles included this one from Reuters titled “U.S. banks report weaker loan demand, Fed survey says” and this article from Morningstar titled “U.S. consumers…

Take Ring Ring Marketing for a Test Drive

By Funeral Director Daily / April 24, 2024 /

    When it comes to technology I am a confessed “Novice”.  And personally, with Social Media I am pretty quiet too. . . . or maybe my life is dull enough that none of it deserves to be shouted from the rooftops on all the “sharing’ sites.   However, from having Funeral Director Daily…