Simply as a member of a community I was again reminded this past week that transformation, and especially technology transformation, continues to happen at a rapid pace in the Death Care profession.  Last week I intended to go to a visitation of a deceased gentlemen who for the most part of my funeral director career volunteered as a caretaker of a small cemetery in our greater community.

The gentleman was a very nice person, humble as can be, and everytime I would see him in the community he was always friendly and would inquire as to the well-being and interests of my children and wife.  Simpy put, I wanted to make sure that I went to his visitation to pay the respect to him that he deserved and wanted to share these comments with this wife and family.

Well, I woke up Sunday morning and by habit checked the obituaries of the funeral home I used to own.  I then realized that I missed the gentleman’s visitation and funeral.  It happens . . .  But the reality of that is I did not get to visit with the family in-person as I believed I should.

At that point in time I had to look at my “next best option” to communicate my condolences and thoughts to the family.  Luckily, as most funeral homes have now, my old funeral home allows “messages” to the family on the decedent’s obituary page.

That’s what I did . . . and appreciate that the funeral home had that type of simple technology available to me.  And, I’m glad that they had kept up on that technology so I had a “next best option” to communicate with the family.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

More Realities —  It’s interesting because on Sunday at church I also saw the President of a local bank I will call ABC Bank.  ABC Bank was sold to XYZ Bank last summer and the transformation of accounts was completed in the last couple of weeks.  ABC Bank was my mom’s historical bank and I’ve been a client there since 1974 when as a 16-year old my mom brought me there to open a checking account  — so that’s a client relationship of over 50 years.

ABC Bank was not my business bank and is not my main bank today, but I have retained that personal checking account to pay monthly bills and have automatic withdrawals taken from it.  In that regard, it has been a foundation of my personal financial bill-paying system my entire adult life.   When I think of my ties to that bank — automatic withdrawals to savings accounts built my retirement and paid for my children’s college education from it.  There’s a lot of history and sentiment that I have with that bank.

However, when I saw the bank president at church my thought process was that he will soon be the president of the bank where I “used to” have a checking account.

You see here is what happened just this month. . . . I use an “external” bank transfer from my main bank to ABC Bank once per month to pay those bills and have money in the account for automatic withdrawals.  It was done overnight — i.e. I initiated the transfer on Wednesday and the money was in the account ready to pay bills on Thursday.

Well, once set up with the new XYZ Bank system I initiated the “external” transfer on a Wednesday and the money shows it is out of my regular bank account that night.  However, XYZ Bank does not acknowledge the receipt of that transfer for five days  —  making my money unavailable for five days.

That is maybe not the biggest issue in the world to worry about. . .so the money gets there 5 days later.  One answer is to initiate the transfer five days earlier and everything is fine.  Or, another thing to do is to go online and tell my automatic withdrawal accounts to take that money every month out of my main bank account instead of XYZ Bank and then simply close the XYZ Bank account.

The point is, either through a policy decision or the lack of technology to process “external” bank transfers in what I consider a timely fashion, XYZ Bank is now going to lose a customer that they have had for over 50 years.

Why that should matter to you —  Transformation, especially among technology is happening extremely fast in the Death Care world.  It’s almost so fast that there is a “dizzying” effect on all of it.  I was happy that I was able to send a condolence to a family whose visitation and funeral I missed  —  and, quite frankly, I expected to be able to do that from the funeral home website.

However, in just the last couple of months I’ve received information on technology improvements such as preneed prompts from online funerals, obituary writers for families from funeral home websites, and the ability to offer recorded services online with no fear of music license offenses.

My guess is that your families expect all of that and more.  From your website can a consumer:

• Get a mobile phone calendar reminder about attending a funeral or visitation so you don’t miss one like I did?
• Check their preneed balance?
• Pay a bill?
• Plan their services including knowing the price?
• Buy a preneed plan?

We live in a day of a new consumer mindset.  I believe that if a consumer can’t find the information that they want on your website or if your reaction time is slow or late, you will risk losing that consumer forever.

It’s happening all the time. . . .Saturday night of last week I was on my own for dinner as my wife was gone.  It was a great day watching college football and college basketball for me.  I decided to order a pizza to be picked up and brought home.  I have three choices within two miles of my home — Caseys, Dominos, and Pizza Hut.  What was my deciding feature for which one I purchased Saturday night? . . . . . It was the amount of time from order to ready for pickup — not price, not flavor, but reaction time.  And, if a pizza restaurant didn’t list that on their website I just disregarded them.  Technology is transforming pizza sales, too!!!

Final Thoughts — Transformation is happening. . . and, it is happening everywhere.  The consumer mindset is different and that consumer really wants answers when they search.  And convenience really matters — it is almost hard for me to believe that I will admit to ordering my evening meal almost simply on convenience.

This past week, WalMart and Target reported 3Q2025 results.  They were strikingly different — Target’s sales declined 1.6% and WalMart’s sales increased 5.8%. . . .There might be some argument about “what type” of customers shop at each store and how the growing “K-Economy” has affected those customers.

However, WalMart CEO John David Rainey thinks it is more than just that.  Remember ten years ago when you could first make a WalMart grocery order online and have it delivered the next day? . . . .Here’s what Rainey said about that, “Walmart — by way of 4,700-plus US stores — is regularly delivering orders to people’s houses in less than 30 minutes. . . . Walmart has leveraged its mighty financial position to invest aggressively in its supply chain, allowing it to be a more trusted destination for shoppers than Target.”

My suggestion. . . . Make the investments necessary to turn that “new consumer” into your client.  And, you need somebody in your trusted corner who understands the technology as well as someone who relies on that technology to be fair, but critical and honest, in their reviews of what you are offering your community.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

This information (with photos) from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery announces the opening of their recently completed Gower Mausoleum.  Here’s a paragraph from the cemetery’s recent announcement:

“Hollywood Forever is honored to announce the opening of the Gower Mausoleum, a new architectural landmark in Los Angeles and the tallest mausoleum in the United States. Rising five stories above our historic grounds, this contemporary structure provides space for more than 50,000 loved ones in crypts and niches, ensuring Hollywood Forever may continue serving families for generations to come.”

In a city and area that has some unique architecture such as the Hollywood hill sign, the Los Angeles Airport design, and the round former Capitol Records building, the Gower Mausoleum will be the newest talk of the town.

The Hollywood Forever website also makes note the high-rise mausoleum will be the tallest mausoleum in the United States and it is expected to become a “cultural landmark and a sanctuary of remembrance.”

Premium Products —  I think we may be moving through a period in time where many economists believe we are in a “K”-shaped economy —  meaning that the economy is not the same for all.  Meaning that some people with assets are getting more assets and some people without assets are not growing any savings or assets at all —  that’s the “K”-shaped economy.

I also think that in an economy where cremation and not traditional burial is the norm that cemeteries established generations ago with the idea of selling burial plots in 4 foot by 6 feet dimensions might need to think outside the box and innovate their product mix.

When you look at this page titled “Hollywood Forever Premium Services” it appears that is exactly what Hollywood Forever is doing to maximize the sales revenue of their 55 acres.  Here’s a few (of many) items listed on that page with the cemetery’s pricing for each item:

• Private Family Mausoleums:  $50,000 to $3.5 million
• Sylvan Lake Peninsula locations:  $3.85 million  (can be developed as a place for memorial statuary, sarcophagi, a private cremation estate for a family for many generations, or simply a burial space for those who deserve the best.)
• Bronze Statue in the Garden of Legends:  Starting at $95,000
• Sky Terraces at the Gower Mausoleum:  Starting at $1 million

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I think cemeteries and funeral homes that realize the burgeoning “K”-shaped American economy can make adjustments to reel in greater profits.  Maybe pinpointing “specialized-premium” marketing efforts to zip codes or neighborhoods that have a propensity to purchase greater services could have an effect on the size of the average individual sale moving forward.

Pinpointing these neighborhoods or areas might be the perfect use for Artificial Intelligence in funeral and cemetery marketing.

Just last week Delta Airlines indicated that for the first time ever their premium sales will be going over their economy sales.  Here’s what was said in their announcement, “The airline could soon earn more from premium seating than from economy for the first time,” according to the airline’s president, Glen Hauenstein. He continued, “We see that there are many, many more opportunities in premium in the coming years.”

I think that is an indication that “the experience matters”.  And I think that Hollywood Forever is learning that the “experience” of using a cemetery is more valued than simply buying a 4 x 6 foot plot for burial.  It is interesting to note that Hollywood Forever Cemetery is actually offering free Direct Cremation (value of $3,450) to those that purchase a cremation niche, tree memorial, or plot by a certain date.  It is also interesting to think about how that type of practice by memorialization companies might affect the business of Direct Cremation providers going forward.

Service Corporation International’s CEO Thomas Ryan made this comment during the company’s 2nd Quarter 2025 Earnings Call in July that insinuates that they see the experiential value movement also, “comparable preneed cemetery sales production increased by almost $19 million or over 5%, driven by a healthy increase in large sales as well as a modest increase in core sales.”  (Emphasis by Funeral Director Daily)

I think the experiential value shown here could help bring a turn-around to the “lower revenue per services” if approached correctly by funeral homes.  There seems to be no doubt that just as I enjoy the premium experience of reclining seats at a movie theatre as compared to the old fixed-position seats, that some clientele of death care, services, and memorialization, are willing to pay premium prices for the “right experiences”. . . . . The question might be, “Is your funeral home or cemetery willing to offer those experiences?”

Related Articles —

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

I’ ve realized that over my lifetime I’ve had a never-ending compulsion to know what is happening in the world around me.  In my elementary school days our family subscribed to both the morning edition and the afternoon edition of the Minneapolis newspapers.  I can remember reading the sports section — that’s all that mattered to me at the time — of the Morning Tribune before I left for school and as soon as I walked home from school spreading the sports section of the Afternoon Star out on the living room floor to read while I watched cartoons or other shows.

I continue to have that unsatiable appetite for news . . . .and I’ve always had it.  During my working years I got up early to read the morning paper cover to cover before going to work.   Retirement has been great because I now have more time and the internet has been great because I’ve got all kinds of sources never before available to me.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

One of the things that I’ve come to learn is that decisions are best made when you have all the available information to make the decision.  And, news and what is going on around us is important information.  I don’t always get decisions correct, however I believe that I’ve made better decisions, even in the business of the funeral home, over time because I was aware of trends and topics happening in the secular world outside of the business of funerals.  While many people stubbornly believe Death Care work occurs in a bubble, I’m convinced that if you drew Venn diagrams you would actually realize the secular world and your funeral home world overlap.

I also know that owners and managers of funeral homes are very busy and don’t always have the time to search out news that may affect them in some way.  For that reason, I’m going to periodically put out an Afternoon Edition of what I will call “The World Around Us“.  Hopefully, it will be an easily scanned opportunity for Death Care professionals to scan the news and read what interests them. . . .And, I’ll try to show how the news may be pertinent to some of the decisions you might need to make.   Here’s today’s try at it  —  Let me know if you like it:

Funeral Director Daily take — At least in my Midwest area, farm families are some of the best backers of “The Traditional Funeral”.  “Will the lack of soybean sales and resulting poor financial year have an effect on how families in the Midwest spend on necessities, including funerals?”

Funeral Director Daily take —  Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi takes a look at concerns over tariffs and the U.S. Government shutdown.

Funeral Director Daily take —  Ford Motor Company has 6,000 dealer service bays without a mechanical technician at this moment in time.  What’s at play here and is there a movement about technical skills vs. college educations?  If so, will that “educational friction” affect the future educational requirements of morticians, funeral directors, embalmers, etc?

Funeral Director Daily take —  The installation of the new bishop of the Evangelical Church in America (ELCA) last Sunday shows that tradition is rapidly changing in our nation’s religious institutions.  What will this continuing lack of tradition and heritage mean for funeral and cremation providers moving forward?

Funeral Director Daily take —  This article just reinforces the thought that “Nothing lasts forever”.  The recent bankruptcy of Publisher’s Clearing House means that many former winners of monthly or annual prizes for life will now have those payments stop.  To me it is a stark reminder that “Nothing lasts forever” and when you make that decision to sell your funeral business   —  make sure that the company that buys you can afford any payments that are set-up over time.  I’m guessing that there are very few things in life that would be more difficult to take than building a business for generations and then selling to a company that could not fulfill its obligations to pay you.  . . . .Remember the Loewen Group???

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

With all that is happening in our econony it is very difficult to get an idea of where that economy is heading.  With all of the different indexes in place today and many seeming to go in opposite directions it is hard to get a barometer of where the United States economy is heading.  Yesterday, I was again reminded how difficult it is to see a downturn coming and an article in Yahoo Finance’s daily bulletin gave some rather different indications on why we might be seeing one soon.

The article, which you can read here, gave a couple of indications that the economy was slowing.  These weren’t your normal indications such as quantifiable numbers like interest rates, tariff revenue, and the consumer price index.  No, these were much more interesting.  Here’s a couple of indicators that the author looked at:

Cardboard Box Production —  “Cardboard box demand is sometimes seen as an indicator of economic health, since the majority of what consumers purchase touches corrugated cardboard. Here’s the not-so-great news: Right now, US box makers are cutting back on production.”  That was one of the quotes at the beginning of the article.

If you think looking at cardboard box production is an unusual bellwether of the economy, the article states that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan tracked cardboard prices during his tenure.

Furthermore, here’s what Virginia Tech economist Jadrian Wooten says, “The cardboard box industry is incredibly large — we’re talking close to $100 billion in revenue.  What I always tell my students at Virginia Tech is that it’s four times as big as the NFL, and they hear about the NFL every day, on TV, on social media, there are video games about it. We don’t have that about the cardboard box industry. It’s so much more important.”

Wooten continued, “This is actually the peak time for the holiday season that we would expect to see ramp-ups in cardboard box production happening.  That’s probably the biggest concern in terms of a pending recession: Companies are not ordering cardboard boxes to put their products in to then send to Target or Walmart for the holiday season.”

Home Depot Skeleton sales —  Apparently there are “lackluster sales” at Home Depot for their 12-foot Halloween skeleton figures.  At least one person is watching the sales of these items to gauge how the economy is handling discretionary sales.  And the results show that in 2023 the entire inventory of these $299 items were sold out within one hour of being put on the floor.  Last year they were sold out by noon on that first day and this season after one day of sales Home Depot still showed 3,000 of them left in inventory.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  The article called these and other indicators “less than traditional measures to watch” and I feel the same way.  On the other hand it was interesting to read of them and I thought the readers of Funeral Director Daily probably have some items of their own to look at when discussing the state of the economy.

I thought readers of Funeral Director Daily would enjoy this little off-the-beaten-track method of projections, but just to make sure it fit in my purveyance of Death Care related business news and thoughts I decided to include this article from MKS&H Business Consultants titled “Preparing for Economic Downturns:  Financial Resilience in the Death Care Industry“.

Death Care is a good place to be during an economic downturn as your demand will not go down.  However, how consumers handle their specific situation when a death occurs may be different that when times are good.  The linked article gives some good, common sense advice for operating in a down economy.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

It’s been pretty easy to recognize that the management team that replaced founder and long-time CEO Melvin Payne at Carriage Services has been building the foundations of the business in order to begin once again making acquisitions for growth.  That has probably been a necessary strategy but it also was noted by some investors that if they wanted to grow, then they would have to get back into the acquisition mode soon.

Well. . . .those investors should be happy now as earlier this week Carriage Services announced that they had made an acquisition of one of the larger Death Care operators in Central Florida.  In this press release Carriage Services broke the news that they would be acquiring the assets of a group of providers I’ll refer to as the “Osceola” group.

The press release describes that group of businesses as such: “a combination business with a funeral home located on a cemetery, five stand-alone funeral homes, a crematory and central care center, and a cremation focused business, located in the growing Orlando, Florida metro market.” 

Steve Metzger, President of Carriage Services had this prepared remark about those businesses from the press release, “Osceola is a truly unique collection of businesses with an incredible team. . . . . we look forward to growing with the Osceola team in the years ahead.”

And, in a statement that seems somewhat directed at those that thought Carriage Services might be waiting too long to start in acquisition mode again, Vice-Chairman and CEO of Carriage Services Carlos Quezada made this comment, “We are thrilled to reengage in acquisitions as part of our long-term growth strategy. This milestone marks the first step toward realizing our 2030 Vision and reinforces our commitment to purposeful growth.”

Related —  Here is the website for Osceola Memory Gardens, a part of the recent acquisition.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I’ve been waiting for Carriage Services to make an announcement on an acquisition.  However, I have no issue with the timing and process of, seemingly, getting the ship in prime sailing form before setting out from the dock.  I believe that the management team at Carriage Services is being very methodical and strategic as they go about setting the right foundation not only with business sizing, but with their preneed decisions and their preferred vendors as well.

In business, I’ve always thought that a long-term strategy and the ability to follow that strategy is better than taking a swing at every pitch that comes one’s way.  And, it is my opinion that is the direction that this management team is taking.

Disclosure —  The author of this article for Funeral Director Daily is a shareholder in Carriage Services.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

We didn’t quite make it through the week without being able to give you another article which again shows a “bullishness” in the greater Death Care profession and industry.  As I’ve noticed several times recently, at the same time that many Death Care retail operators are “skittish” about the future of their business it seems that the more global professional money managers who direct the investments of private investors are continuing to be bullish in the profession. . . if their investments in Death Care are any indication.

Just this week we received this press release which lets us know that Serent Capital has made an investment in Death Care company Plotbox.  Acording to the press release, “PlotBox is the innovative cloud-based deathcare management solution that helps cemeteries, crematories and funeral homes to excel. The intuitive, easy-to-use platform seamlessly places all essential deathcare management functions into one place. This enables customers to serve better, save time, increase revenue, reduce risk – and sustain long-term growth. The 120-strong company is headquartered in Northern Ireland, with on-the-ground teams in the United States and Australia”.

Sean McAllister, CEO of PlotBox had this to say in his remarks that appeared in the press release, ” . . . We wanted a partner whose values aligned with our own, helping to support our mission to help take away some of the pain in dealing with death for families and those that serve them. We’re focused on bettering the industry by raising standards within the profession and this partnership will help us to realize that.”

Lance Fenton, a Partner at Serent Capital had this to say in prepared remarks, “PlotBox has established itself as the premier platform in the deathcare market, offering a comprehensive and highly differentiated product.  We are thrilled to support their vision and help drive the company’s growth across the entirety of the deathcare industry.”

Here is the Serent Capital website that includes their press release.

Here is the PlotBox website that includes their press release.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  It was somewhat tongue-in-cheek that I mentioned we could not get through the week without another investment in Death Care by private equity. That seems to be happening more and more bringing big business into what for a century has been small independent operators.

And while I understand change is hard for many — especially home town funeral directors who have “lived the life” of taking care of their community.  The fact that private equity is continuing to invest in Death Care should let us know that we have built a valuable commodity with our businesses.

Private equity is a reality all around the greater Death Care community at this time.  There is no doubt that the money they bring to the table will change the “business”.  However, the simple fact that they are investing in the industry/profession should tell us that our businesses may be more valuable, or have better growth potential, than we realize.

Many regional consolidators are financed with private equity capital which possibly allows owners to exit their business with higher values than might be available if those consolidators were not, at least sometimes, competing for the purchase.  And, it is not just funeral homes that are gaining value from these sales but the new technological businesses that are being formed to help the retail Death Care market —  some firms that you might do business with such as MJK Marketing, Frazer Consultants, SRS Computing, Tukios, Legacy.com and more on the periphery of funeral service are, or at one time, were part of private equity investors.

I think it is important to understand that some of us in the family funeral home business that are worrying about our revenue per service moving downward and see only a negative spiral for funeral service have a completey different outlook on our business than some in the professional financial markets do.  Only time will tell who is seeing it right.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”

Central Co-op of Great Britain is an interesting company.  They are a company with a history of over 100 years and operate in the grocery, legal services, floral, and funeral business.  According to this Wikipedia page, the company operates over 1,000 funeral homes and is now the largest provider of Death Care services in the United Kingdom doing approximately a 16.5% market share of “at need” services in the country.

In comparison, in the United States it is estimated that Service Corporation International, North America’s largest Death Care operator conducts about 12% of United States deaths annually.  That’s about 1 out of every 8 deaths whereas Co-op Funeralcare conducts about 1 out of every 6 deaths in the UK.

Central Co-op, by being active in different businesses is in a unique position to tell us some things about trends in that country. . . trends, that in my way of thinking, may also relate to North America.  I regularly read articles from Funeral Service Times, a British death care publication, and just last week read a couple that started my mind working in “Big Picture” thought processes.

The first article came through the legal services division of Central Co-op and indicated that including provisions for charitable giving by individuals in last wills and testaments increased by 40% in 2023.  And, the amount of these gifts increased by Central Co-op legal clients to $89.8 million in U.S. dollar amounts.  That comes to a 27% yearly increase in the amount of charitable gifts that will eventually be distributed to beneficiaries.

Then in another article from the same publication I noticed that Co-op Legal Services is using the funeral branch of their company, Co-op Funeralcare,  to help consumers “understand the importance of later-life planning“.  In essence, Co-op Funeralcare branches will be promoting the will writing, and estate planning services through the the end of September.

In my opinion, this is a great leverage of “cross-selling” for the larger overall company.  And, while not even mentioning it in the promotion. . . it is pretty apparent that if a person is interested in a will then they should certainly be reminded of the value of pre-planning their own funeral during that time by either the funeral provider or the legal services provider. . . .which may lead to that “cross-sold” pre-need sale.

So, I would not be surprised if this promotion drives up the number of legal service clients and at the same time it may very easily drive up the number of pre-arrangements for Co-op Funeralcare.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  So, here’s where my “Big Picture” thinking comes into play.  More charitable giving considerations and more charitable giving monetary amounts indicate to me that the people doing this planning have more assets than ordinary.  I think that is a pretty simple assumption.

And, if that is the case in Great Britain it is probably also the case in North America.  In my way of thinking, because of that fact, if large churches, colleges, health care concerns, and other philanthropic organizations are not actively working on charitable planning with their older members, alumni, patients, and the like, then they are really missing an opportunity.

But. . . .what about funeral homes or cemeteries.   Well, I think large cemeteries should be in that same boat with some type of way to talk to lot owners or families of those already deceased in the cemetery about philanthropic ways that they could beautify or build revenue generating memorial features, such as columbaria or mausoleums, for the future benefit of the cemetery.

One thought that I have with private funeral homes. . . . . Why not, where legal and transferable, mention to those who are in their senior years and pre-arranging their funerals, to think about putting aside an amount of money in prepaid accounts for other loved ones, such as children and spouses?

Let’s just say a “Guaranteed Issue” product for a 45-year old costs a one-time premium of $9000 for $10,000 worth of Face Value coverage that grows at 2.5% annually.  If those people died at age 75, there should be about $21,000 worth of value for each available at the time of death.  So, over time, that $36,000 investment (4 policies x $9k each) by these parents could potentially produce $84,000 (4 policies at $21k death benefit 30 years later) of benefit to their children and spouses.

And, unlike other possible investments, it is a certainty that Death Care services will eventually be needed.  An opposing argument could be made that a 2.5% annual return for 30 years is pretty poor in relation to some other types of investments that these parents could make.  .  . . . . . However, a parental argument to that is that the money would be eventually spent on what it was meant for and not pulled out of an account for, what parents may consider, frivilous purposes.

Is it feasible that a couple making estate plans with two children would put away $36,000 extra at the time they are pre-planning their own funerals at age 75 for the two children and spouses who would be about 45 years of age?  Although non-tax deductible and despite a potential relative poor return, I think that there are many parents who have substantial assets who would do that for their children. . . .If so, it is an opportunity for a preneed advisor to turn 2 pre-arrangements into six pre-arrangements.

It’s probably true that those pre-arrangements for the 45-year olds would be transferred to another firm in another locality before they are exercised.  However, the initiating funeral home or preneed agency would receive the initial commission compensation on them today.  I once owned and operated a preneed agency so I know that commissions are the life-blood of operations in the current time period.  Maybe your agency and agents could use this extra commission today.

It’s just a thought I have. . . . I’m not 75 years of age yet, but I am a parent of two children who are building their way in life.  My wife and I are proud of their work ethic and making their way in their respective careers without our financial help, but we are also always interested in helping them out in ways that are practical. . . . .preneed accounts for them might be something we would consider.

For What it’s Worth:  Writing this article brought back memories to me of how one is always learning through things that they do.  For instance, I learned of the incredible value to a business of “cross-selling” when I served on a Wells Fargo Board during the term of Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich.  It was during his tenure that “cross-selling” in banking became a big thing. . . and, I’ve used his philosophy to turn “cross-selling” into a fixture of whatever business that I’ve ever been involved in  — it just makes sense. . . because you have a trusted customer for a specific need, they will generally trust you for another need before going to a stranger to do business with them. . . . . I would suggest to look for “cross-selling” opportunities wherever possible.

I’ve also had the opportunity to chair the board of Senior Living and Health Care company Knute Nelson and serve on the Board of Regents for the University of Minnesota and also the University of Minnesota Foundation.  In those situations I’ve witnessed first-hand what an active philanthropic arm of the organization can do for positive growth of the organization.  If I was operating a cemetery the first thing I would implement would be a non-profit philanthropic division in order to be able to receive donations from people who feel that your mission is critical to your community. . . . You might be surprised by those that do believe that and the amounts of money that they may have available for possible uses.

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“A servant’s attitude guided by Christ leads to a significant life”