The other day I came across this article from Today’s Will & Probate publication of Great Britain.  The title of the article is “Regulation profoundly changing the dynamics of the funeral plan market“.

I think it portends continuing interest and expansion in funeral home preneed sales.  I also believe that some of the indications of the British market are noticeable in the United States market as well.  One of the items of interest to me in the article was that with British preneed market coming under more regulation on the funeral side, it appears that British clientele is now moving more to a “defined” death care services product for insurance than what they term an “Over 50’s Plan” of basic insurance that could cover funeral expenses.

The British article makes this comment, “Clients looking to secure their end-of-life arrangements may increasingly turn to funeral plans (including direct cremation) as a regulated, transparent, and practical solution. Advisers and will writers would do well to ensure clients understand the difference between a funeral plan (and the increasing variety of them) and a life insurance policy, particularly where funeral cost certainty, and ensuring funeral wishes are known, is a priority.” (Emphasis by Funeral Director Daily)

The point of that quote, in my opinion, is that preneed clientele is more and more looking for funeral and/or cremation cost certainty and are moving into those types of plans instead of simply purchasing an insurance plan, known in Great Britain as an “Over 50’s Plan” or in North America as a “Final Expense” plan which does not guarantee that funeral home payment certainty but allows for death benefits to be paid to a person or estate for distribution of final expenses, which would include funeral/cremation/cemetery costs.

It’s very difficult to get accurate numbers of the North American preneed market because most of the numbers include what many of us would refer to as “Final Expense” insurance and not necessarily “Preneed” insurance as sold by death care providers to explicity pay for the costs associated with funeral/cremation/cemetery expenses.

In either case it appears that the numbers are growing and if, like in Great Britain, clients increasingly want “price certainty” about funeral/cremation/cemetery expenses, then I would suggest that a market share shift between “Final Expense” and “Preneed” would favor a higher market share going to the Preneed side of the ledger as appears to be happening in Great Britain according to this graphic from the Today’s Wills & Probate article.

This October 2024 press release from the Life Insurance Council indicates that Preneed insurance grew by 8% year over year.

According to one report that I read, a potential increase in numbers of Preneed policies written is being driven by the following factors:

• Inflation Protection: A major driver for preneed insurance is the desire to mitigate rising funeral costs.
• Peace of Mind: Preneed planning provides peace of mind for both individuals and their families by pre-arranging and funding funeral arrangements.
• Demographic Shifts: An aging population and increasing awareness of end-of-life planning contribute to market growth.
• Multi-Pay Growth: The popularity of multi-pay options makes preneed insurance more accessible to a wider range of consumers. 

Funeral Director Daily take:  Prior to writing this article I had a couple of discussions with Preneed people.  In one discussion with a preneed sales counselor I learned that their market population had not really grown in the last decade but that they were doing double the sales volume as a result of not only more aggessive sales tactics but a growing consumer interest in the product.

Another friend I talked to who oversees a large multi-state distribution area of preneed told me, that in spite of growing cremation popularity,  the average face value of the policies written by his group continues to grow.  My take on that is that is one of the best ways of challenging the lowering of the “Average Revenue per Case” dilemma that some funeral homes are worrying about.

In both of these visits, I think it shows a positive trend for preneed and how it can help a funeral home grow market share and average revenue per call.  If you are not aggressively marketing preneed. . . . you should be.

Finally, couple those thoughts with what seems to be an improving consumer attitude for pre-death choices and cost certainty and include the expected increase in number of Americans over the age of 65 moving into the future and I look at the future of Preneed as very good.

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