Preneed

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…

Cash is King. . . .make sure that you turn your services into cash

By Funeral Director Daily / April 9, 2024 /

    Last week Funeral Director Daily published this article titled “Know your customer — How’s their credit”.  That article delved into the American consumer credit profiles and why, before extending credit, you needed to know the consumer you are dealing with. . . and how difficult that is in today’s market.   The article…

Know your customer — How’s their credit?

By Funeral Director Daily / April 3, 2024 /

    The American economy keeps spending, yet we hear that families are getting squeezed by the combination of high prices and high interest rates.  We also hear that high interest rates don’t seem to be stopping the consumer which in turn would put a turn-down on the economy making a reason for lowering interest…

“Preneed” or “Funeral Contribution Funds”

By Funeral Director Daily / March 4, 2024 /

    There is an old saying that goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink”.  I think that the meaning of that phrase, in human terms is something like this, “You can tell a person the situation, but you cannot make them act on it”.   In my…

Who will be the “Disruptive Force” in Death Care?

By Funeral Director Daily / February 28, 2024 /

    About a month ago I read this article from Yahoo Finance titled, “Retail employees are working fewer hours.  Here’s why that is a risk to the economy”.  While the article was good and informative in its own right a portion near the end caught my eye and I related it to Death Care.…

Can Preneed lead funeral homes forward

By Funeral Director Daily / January 16, 2024 /

If you operate or work at a funeral home you know that there is a lot of change going on. . . . .Let’s see, there is less church membership leading to less church services.  And, less church services seems to be leading to less traditional services going so far as to move to an…

Preneed Update: Wellabe goes to Michigan, Homesteaders raises growth rates, FDLIC podcast reflects on lessons learned

By Funeral Director Daily / January 3, 2024 /

It was only a couple of short months ago that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a new bill into law which allowed for less regulation in the preneed insurance business in that state.  Proponents had argued that unless there was more freedom in how preneed companies controlled their growth rates more and more companies would…

Actuaries become “Death Care” allies

By Funeral Director Daily / December 12, 2023 /

    Breaking the taboo of “End-of-Life” planning can only be a help for funeral services and other death care companies.  Funeral directors, funeral homes,  and cemeteries with progressive sales force techniques have known for a long time that getting one to talk about their mortality is what gets those consumers to eventually enter into…