Funeral Insurance

Random thoughts: Building market share through preneed. . . .CBS Interactive’s “The Future of Funerals’ series

By Funeral Director Daily / May 28, 2020 /

For almost 40 years our funeral home has had advertising for preneed clientele based on the premise, “Like an umbrella in a sudden shower, some things are good to have before they are needed”.  In different ways on radio, print, and online we go on to explain that preneed funeral insurance is one of those…

Security National Financial acquires Kilpatrick Life Insurance

By Funeral Director Daily / December 23, 2019 /

In a press release dated today out of Murray, Utah, we learned that the Security National Financial Corporation (SNFC) has closed on its purchase of the Kilpatrick Life Insurance Company domiciled in Louisiana.  Both companies operate to some degree in the pre-need funeral funding insurance market. You can read the press release as provided from…

Preneed: Do you know your competitors?

By Funeral Director Daily / November 18, 2019 /

I’ve been involved in the funeral business long enough to see the State of Minnesota move, in what I consider a more consumer friendly way, in respect to the business of preneed.  I can go back to the 1980’s when we were only allowed to put a consumer’s designated funeral funds into a bank guaranteed…

Funeral Director Life ratings revised upward

By Funeral Director Daily / October 22, 2019 /

In this release on Business Wire from the A.M. Best Company issued last week, the insurance ratings firm “has revised the outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-term ICR) of a- of Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company (FDLIC) of Abilene,…

Funeral homes and the law

By Funeral Director Daily / October 21, 2019 /

Every once in a while we hear stories of funeral homes being investigated for acts that would be contrary to the laws of their respective states.  This weekend we happened to notice two such articles in newspapers that dealt with funeral homes potentially running afoul of the preneed laws of their state. The first article…

United Kingdom insurer, DeadHappy, plans move to death care ideas

By Funeral Director Daily / September 30, 2019 /

DeadHappy, the United Kingdoms technical insurance startup that recently received about US $ 5 million in Series A funding, announced in this  article from Techcrunch, that they hope to get more involved in the wishes of their insured, including making sure that your funeral is the way you want it. The company was founded in…

Australian pre-need insurer faces investigation and civil action

By Funeral Director Daily / September 16, 2019 /

This article from the Sydney Morning Herald relates to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) that, according to that article, commenced action last week against funeral and accident insurance company Select AFSL  and its director, Russell Howden. The article mentions that the company faces a lawsuit from Australia’s corporate regulator over what they call…

Your firm and your pre-need partner

By Funeral Director Daily / August 16, 2019 /

I happened to drive by the Douglas County Fairgrounds earlier this week and notice that the fair was already upon us.  That signaled to me that the end of summer was not too far off and gave me an idea for writing a post about the fall season being a great time to capitalize on…

How does your firm view pre-need?

By Funeral Director Daily / August 14, 2019 /

I wrote a story yesterday on the timing of advertising telling consumers about the benefits of pre-planning one’s own funeral or cremation services.  When I did that article I did not envision a follow-up or series of pre-need articles, but a day later here is another angle I have thought about often concerning pre-need and…

Looks like this story will end well

By Funeral Director Daily / March 11, 2019 /

Last October we brought you a story about an Austin, Texas, funeral home where the Texas Department of Banking (TDB) had opened an investigation.  You can read about that story concerning the Austin-Peel and Son Funeral Home here. The investigation was opened because the TDB had reason to believe that the funeral home had illegally…