Funeral Insurance
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…
Read MoreLast 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…
Read MoreBoth StoneMor Partners and Assurant filed earnings reports in the last couple of days. Both companies are members of the Death Care Index (DCI) of publicly traded companies. StoneMor, which has had permission to file some reports on a delayed term, filed their report for the three months ending June 30, 2018. For that three…
Read MoreAustralia – After a series of high profile abuses of the financial services industry in Australia in the last couple of years, the Australian government commissioned High Court Justice and royal commissioner Kenneth Hayne to investigate the complete financial services industry and come up with some ideas on how to regulate such. That report has…
Read MoreAssurant Preneed, a component of Assurant, posted higher revenue and higher profits in their 3Q 2018 results that were made public after the market on Tuesday. You can read the company’s press release on its earnings report here. Assurant, a member of the Death Care Index (DCI), operates a world-wide conglomerate composed of three segments…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreIn 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…
Read MoreEarlier 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…
Read MoreRecently 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…
Read MoreWhile not specific to the death care portion of their industry, A.M. Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of A (Excellent) for the U.S. property/casualty subsidiaries of Assurant, Inc. The credit rating company has also affirmed the Long-Term Issuer Credit Ratings of Assurant at bbb+. Best continues that the outlook of these Credit…
Read More
