Preneed

FDLIC acquires American Life and Annuity Company

By Funeral Director Daily / September 21, 2022 /

We learned late last week in this press release that Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company (FDLIC) of Abilene, Texas, acquired the American Life and Annuity Company (ALAC) of Hot Springs, Arkansas.  According to the press release “effective immediately, FDLIC will work to support existing ALAC policyholders and Arkansas funeral homes”.  Again, according to the press…

SCI settles “Deceptive sales” lawsuit for $209 million

By Funeral Director Daily / September 20, 2022 /

Service Corporation International (SCI) has agreed to provide up to $209 million in refunds to settle a federal class-action lawsuit alleging it deceived 87,000 Florida customers who purchased its prepaid plans according to this article from last week from Yahoo News. According to the article SCI Direct (formerly called Neptune Society Management Corporation) was named…

Americans would rather talk about any subject than death

By Funeral Director Daily / September 15, 2022 /

Recently I came across this article from the Insurance NewsNet based on a survey from health insurer, Ethos.  The article was based on what traditionally taboo subjects would people be willing to talk about.  Turns out that 81% of the people were willing to talk about Money, but at the bottom of the list came…

Messenger acquires Thumbies; thoughts on the “new memorialization”

By Funeral Director Daily / September 13, 2022 /

In this news release from Messenger News you can read about the Messenger Company and its acquisition of the Thumbies Fingerprint Keepsakes business.  The release states that “the new addition to the Messenger family of companies will allow the Messenger team of sales representatives to offer the complete line of Thumbies jewelry in their portfolio…

Low-cost preneed plans proving to be a disrupter

By Funeral Director Daily / August 26, 2022 /

This recent article was published by Financial Content in Australia about the low-cost preneed market and made the comment, “This rise and popularity of ‘low cost’ prepaid funerals have taken the death care industry by surprise. With household budgets increasingly coming under strain from rising inflation, cost considerations are likely to come even more to…

Will Aflac change preneed?

By Funeral Director Daily / August 17, 2022 /

Earlier in August, partly through this press release, Aflac announced that they will be entering the “Final Expense” insurance market and made a point of detailing a strategy aiming consumer directed products at the Senior insurance market.  Not only will Aflac offer a Final Expense product but they will also be rolling out a Medicare…

Is Great Britain the proverbial “canary in the coal mine” for future U.S. death care purchases?

By Funeral Director Daily / August 10, 2022 /

This recent public relations press release indicating that a shift in attitudes of people in Great Britain about how people want to “Say Goodbye” to their loved ones makes one wonder if that shift will find its way across the Atlantic Ocean to the United States. One report found that “sales of direct cremation plans…

NGL divests Settlers Life, positions for stronger Preneed business

By Funeral Director Daily / August 2, 2022 /

This article from the Insurance News Net informs readers that preneed insurance company National Guardian Life (NGL), based in Madison, Wisconsin, has sold its interest in Settlers Life Insurance Company to Everly Holdings, LLC.   The sale consists of approximately 225,000 policies that are geographically disbursed throughout the United States. Those policies included in the agreement…

Premier Preneed adds training videos

By Funeral Director Daily / July 6, 2022 /

According to a press release from the company, Premier Preneed Marketing, a preneed marketing company that offers funeral homes throughout the United States a comprehensive product portfolio to meet both their financial objectives and marketing needs, has announced that the company has recently developed a series of training videos on the topic of preneed.  These…

A Preneed “check-up”. . make sure you “Do it Right”

By Funeral Director Daily / June 24, 2022 /

Your funeral home has lots of options when it comes to the issue of Preneed.  For instance, in most states you have the choice of funding via Trust or Master Trust bank accounts or funding with life insurance vehicles. You also have the decision as to if you are going to guarantee the sale of…