The overall economy and, more importantly, the way consumers and Death Care clientele feel about their individual situations has some effect on purchases of Death Care products and services– both Pre-Need and At-Need.  It’s just common sense that the better a consumer feels about their own financial situation, the more apt they are to spend.

For 2025 it appears that when all the dust settles, according to this publication from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, that the United States economy will have grown at a 1.9% clip as compared to a predicted 2.1% rate one year ago.  So from that perspective, growth has been less than anticipated.

In addition, the same publication notes that inflation will probably check in at an annual 2025 growth rate of 2.8% — which is higher than predicted one year ago. . . meaning that the “deceleration of inflation” is slower than those experts thought it would be.

Again, according to that same article, the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank reports that the predicted consensus of the experts for Growth Domestic Product (GDP) for 2026 is again 1.9% and the inflation rate is predicted to remain a stubborn 2.9% for 2026.

Other Opinions — President Trump and others expect GDP to rise faster than that and also they expect to get a better check on inflation than the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank predicts for 2026.  President Trump and some in his cabinet have been speculating that GDP could increase at a robust 4.0% + number for 2026 once the effects of Congress’ Big Beautiful Bill and its tax cuts come into effect.

Pointing to some evidence of that, this recent article from Bloomberg states that the U.S. economy expanded by 4.3% in the 3rd Quarter and has a more positive outlook.  Here are some quotes from that article:

• “The US economy expanded in the third quarter at the fastest pace in two years, bolstered by resilient consumer and business spending and calmer trade policies.”

• “Despite some evidence of softer consumer spending in the fourth quarter, “the floor for the economy is still strong,” said Ben Ayers, a senior economist at Nationwide. “We are optimistic that the economy will accelerate in 2026.”

• “Consumer spending — the main growth engine of the economy — advanced at a 3.5% annualized pace (based on the quarter). That reflected solid outlays on services, including health care and international travel. Spending on motor vehicles fell.  However, a softer labor market and high cost of living represent hurdles for the consumer in 2026.”

• “Growth held firm in 3Q. We expect full-year growth was dented by the government shutdown, but we expect a much stronger economy in 2026.”

Funeral Director Daily take:  So there you have it.  Two differing scenarios.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

From my point of view there is not a whole lot those of us in the Death Care sector can do about changing the direction of Gross National Product and Inflation.  Our businesses are generally downstream from the market makers in those indexes.

What we can do is “anticipate and react” to the conditions coming our way.  How you do that cannot generate more demand for our services (deaths) but it can shift focus to your brand (creating more market share) and products that can be more profitable than other products.

For instance, if you sense a downward shift in the economy, one counter-intuitive move might be to increase advertising and promotion of your products and services as it might take a larger caseload to generate the same profits in a situation where revenue per case is now declining.

There is no exact science to this formula, but the more you are aware of what is happening around you the better you will be in anticipating and reacting to take advantage of the situation.

Here’s a few more predictions on the Economy for 2026:

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

It’s been predicted that the next couple of years could see massive ownership changes in the business of funeral homes.  While the public companies in the business generally let us know of their acquisitions via press releases and quarterly earnings reports it is a little harder to get an idea on what is happening in the private funeral home ownership sector.

However, at Funeral Director Daily we scour newspaper reports on a daily basis in North America for changes in funeral home ownership.  We find a lot of announced ownership changes. . . . there are a lot more than we can report simply because many times small local newspapers are now putting pay walls up and we don’t feel right about linking articles with pay walls.

However, here’s just a few of the funeral homes that have been reported changing ownership in the past couple of months or so that don’t have pay walls to the articles.

California:  Debbie Plato takes full ownership of Callaghan Mortuary and Livermore Crematory:  Continuing a legacy of compassion and excellence.  Cision PR web

• Callaghan Mortuary-Livermore Crematory website

Ohio:  Talk about Clyde:  New Owners at Auxter Funeral Home.  Fremont News-Messneger (OH)

• Auxter-Recker Funeral Home website

Iowa:  Cranston Funeral Home in Fairfield acquires Gould Funeral Home.  Southeast Iowa Times (IA)

• Cranston Family Funeral Home website

Nebraska:  Marshall finishing 54 years in the mortuary business.  Gude Funeral Home to take over services.  News Channel Nebraska (IA)

• Gude Funeral Homes website

Iowa:  Nishna Valley Funeral and Cremation Services holds Sidney ribbon cutting, recognizes Marshall’s over 40 years of service.  NMA Land Radio (NE)

• Nishna Valley Funeral and Cremation Services website

Texas:  Broussard’s Mortuary has new owners.  Beaumont Enterprise (TX)

• Broussard’s Mortuary website

Connecticut:  Two Naugatuck funeral homes merge leaving only one other in borough.  CT Post (CT)

• Buckmiller Ford Mengacci Funeral Home website 

Pennsylvania:  2 companies partner to purchase central PA funeral home.  Penn Live Patriot News (PA)

• Snyder Bean Funeral Home website

. . . and here’s an interesting expansion in the state of Ohio:

Local family funeral home expanding.  WKBN Vienna News (OH)

• Stewart-Kyle Funeral Home website

More news from the world of Death Care:

• Taking after-death planning out of the unknown:  Know your options.  Seattle Times (WA)
• Can you legally be composted after death in Louisiana?  Here’s what the law says.  KPEL Radio (LA)
• Forest Lawn unveils Legacy Mausoleum among rising burial demand.  Video news story and print article.  WGRZ NBX Channel 2 – Buffalo (NY)
• UC professor advocates for equal death care.  WYSO Ideastream Public Media (OH)

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

We learned last week that a Auburndale, Florida, resident and funeral director had been honored as American Funeral Director’s “Funeral Director of the Year”.   In a press release from her employers at Foundation Partners Group it was explained that Jennifer Lindell-Roys, a funeral director at the Kersey Funeral Home had been so honored.

According to that press release we learned that she “(was) selected from a wide field of nominees submitted by funeral professionals across the nation. . .”.  The press release continued by saying, “Lindell-Roys is being honored for decades of funeral service excellence, mentoring future professionals and providing compassionate care for families throughout Dade & Polk counties.” 

According to Andrew Clark, Foundation Partners Group Senior Vice-President of Operations, “Jennifer’s compassion and care for families in need is unmatched.  She treats all families as if they were her own. This best-in-class care is rooted in her love of the Auburndale community and our sacred profession. Her selfless approach to funeral service is inspiring and motivational to those who have the honor to work by her side.”

Access the American Funeral Director article through the Foundation Partners website here

Information supplied by Foundation Partners Group indicates that Ms. Lindell-Roys was “inspired by the television show “Quincy” at eight-years-old, Lindell-Roys’ interest in forensic pathology evolved into volunteer work at local funeral homes during her high school years. After graduation she enrolled in the funeral service education program at Miami Dade college and worked at a local funeral home to put herself through school. Eleven years later, after being married, giving birth to a daughter and divorced, she graduated from mortuary school and moved to Auburndale. She joined the Kersey Funeral Home team as a funeral director and embalmer in 1996 and has served as location leader for the past five years.”

Finally, Foundation Partners Group said in their press release of December 11 that  “Community service is very important to Lindell-Roys, both personally and professionally. She is a past-president of the Tri-County Funeral Directors Association, was a member of Auburndale Chapter 149 of the Order of the Eastern Star, and volunteers at the Community Thanksgiving Outreach, which feeds more than 5,000 people each year.  Lindell-Roys is a former Greater Auburndale Chamber of Commerce board member, where she continues to serve as an ambassador and project leader. This past April, Kersey Funeral Home was title sponsor of the Chamber’s Annual Business Expo, where nearly 100 businesses shared information about their products and services with the entire community.”

Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions to funeral service Ms. Jennifer Lindell-Roys!!!

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

If you work in the consumer facing Death Care business it’s pretty likely that you come into contact with Veterans of the United States Armed Forces on a consistent basis.  For me, as a funeral director, most of my time with the older veterans in my community was at funeral services where they were gathered to honor the military service of the deceased.

I’m old enough that when I started working at funeral services in 1980 those veterans who provided the volunteer Honor Guard at funeral services were veterans of World War I.  I still remember many of them including these three, all widowers,  — Harry Gulson, Frank Johnson, and Oscar Bergner.

It’s extremely important for me to continue to remember these people.

They were great guys.  . incredibly modest and they always stayed around to participate in the funeral lunch with the families of the veteran’s they were honoring.  They were all about or over 80 years old and enjoying having me, at the age of about 22, sitting down with them and telling them of my generation’s “world”.  They were sincere and greatly interested.  I learned a lot from their upbeat take on the world and their ability to let tough issues just seem to roll off their backs.

The truth be told, it was those old World War I vets that taught me, simply through their attitudes about life,  about going to work and not complaining. . . .about when you set out to do a task — finish it. . . . . and that America is worth standing up for.

I’ve seen old films of World War I and saw on those films the conditions that these men served in while in Europe.  They never let me know of those conditions. . . . simply saying that they were doing their duty for our country.

I just want to use today to let you know that Veterans Day, as it is now known, stems from what used to be called “Armistice Day”.  It’s observed on November 11 of each year because the fighting of World War I was officially ended at 11 am November 11, 1918.   Many people simply remember the date by saying “It was the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month.

According to this article from Wikipedia, “Armistice Day” was renamed “Veterans’ Day” in 1954 and now commemorates the service of all United States Veterans.  That is in contrast to Memorial Day, which according to the same article, “specifically honors those who have died while in military service”.

Regardless of your political pursuasion, I believe that we all owe a great debt of gratitude to these warriors. . . . and all of those men and women who have served in the military of our country from the Revolutionary War all the way up to present day.

May God Bless them for their service.

Related Information —

• Here is the website of the American Battle Monuments Commission which includes information all United States military cemeteries and battle monuments located outside of the United States.

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

Statistics tell us that over 80% of Americans live within one hour of an urban area.  If the population of the USA is about 333 million then that leaves the other 20%, or almost 67 million people outside of those urban areas.  I’m one of those 67 million and I love where I live, but as this article and news video from Montana’s KTVQ points out,  sometimes there are inconveniences that happen because of the lack of urbanization in our communities.

The article points out that many funeral directors in Montana have an access problem in what we in the profession would call “Human remains air transportation”.  While it appears, according to the article, that human remains can be flown in when plane size and a trained staff is there to meet the plane, it also appears that having human remains leave the state by common aircraft carrier is a major problem.

At Billings, Montana’s Logan International Airport, according to the article, Manager Jeff Roach says there are a couple of problems –one of which is that the airport cannot transport human remains due to a lack of trained personnel and infrastructure. It appears that while remains cannot be flown out on common carrier, they can be brought in by plane.  Here’s what Roach says about that issue in the article, “When human remains come inbound, it’s much easier for them to have somebody arranged to pick those up. Whereas outbound, they need to have a place where they can safely hold the human remains until the flight departs.”

In addition, the size of the aircraft used is also a problem.  On that issue Roach says this, “It really needs to be on a mainline aircraft like a 737 or an A320 that has the cargo space in order to actually facilitate that. That’s a part of that whole equation that the air carriers also have to take into consideration.”

According to the article, some funeral directors in Montana have had to drive as far as Denver, Salt Lake City, or Fargo, North Dakota, to place human remains for air transportation.

Funeral Director Daily take:  On one issue it is probably the business law of “supply and demand” causing some of the problem.  That issue is the size of plane an airline flies in and out of Montana airports.  From my point of view, such as when I fly out of Fargo, North Dakota, most of the planes are the 30 to 50 seat varieties.  There just is not enough demand to fly in the larger planes such as the 737 or A320 which have, depending on configuration, between 150-200 seats. . . .and ample cargo room for human remains.

Smaller passenger travel airports are subsidized by the United States Essential Air Service mandate and that mandate dictates that the United States Transportation Department “subsidizes commuter and certificated air carriers to serve approximately 60 communities in Alaska and 115 communities in the lower 48 contiguous states that otherwise would not receive any scheduled air service”.  There is no mandate on the size of aircraft that will serve these regions.

Billings is not an “Essential Air Service” subsidized airport, but these airports in Montana are:  Butte, Havre, Glasgow, Glendive, Sidney, West Yellowstone, and Wolf Point.

The other issue mentioned by the airport manager, that of secured space for the holding of human remains, should find a solution if the funeral directors association, the airport, and the common carriers can determine the type of facility necessary and the cost sharing to staff such a facility.

Related —  The Essential Air Service mandate

Related —  United States Essential Air Service airport list

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

Better Place Forests (BPF) has been known for being a place where families can have meaningful “in-person” experiences with memorialization in the company forests.  Last week we learned of BPF’s acquisition of digital platform Butterfly which will now give the company the addition of “High Tech” digital memorials that can be accessed online globally.

You can learn more about that acquisition here.

Here’s what Adam Tibbs, CEO of Better Place Forests, said in his prepared statements in the recent press release, “We are excited to welcome Butterfly into the Better Place family. This acquisition allows us to bridge the natural and digital worlds, ensuring that memories can live on in the physical beauty of our forests and in the digital space where they can be preserved across generations”.

According to the press release issued on October 3, “The acquisition enables Better Place to expand its reach exponentially by offering families both a meaningful in-person experience in its forests and the ease of a digital memorial that can be accessed online globally. The combined offering strengthens Better Place’s position as a leader in end-of-life services, providing families a spectrum of solutions that acknowledge the need to blend traditional and digital memorial experiences.”

The Butterfly platform will be rebranded as Better Place Memories and be a technology tool where families can share stories, photos, and videos to celebrate and remember loved ones.

Better Place Forests was established in 2015 and, according to Crunchbase, has raised over $79 million in capital to further its business plans.  As of now they offer permanent memorialization in nine memorial forest locations.  You can see where they are located by going to their website here.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily:  Over four decades ago I read John Naisbitt’s book, Megatrends.  In that book he talked about the need that when living in a high tech world we would also need “High-Touch” experiences.  That’s the first thing I thought of when I read the news about the BPF/Butterly combination.

From my point of view, Better Place Forests and Butterfly are now in a position to offer the best of both to the memorialization consumer.  A client can get both the “High-Touch” experience of being with a loved one’s remains at a solemn Better Place Forest location while at the same time get the “High-Tech” advantage of being able to share memories via the electronic media.

In that regard you can see a strategy of the company that combines environmental stewardship with innovative technology.

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