Preneed Growth Rate Increase from National Guardian Life Insurance Company

Madison, Wis. (September 15, 2025) – National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) is pleased to implement a variety of growth rate increases on new Preneed policies, effective September 8, 2025.

“At NGL, our dedication to partners is rooted in collaboration, innovation and a focus on creating long-term growth,” says Cameron Black, Senior Vice President, Preneed Sales and Business Development, for NGL. “As a mutual carrier, we believe our success is also your success. With product growth rate increases across all our preneed insurance offerings, we are delivering sustainable results and reinforcing our commitment that positions all of us for continued growth today and tomorrow.”

Increasing the growth rate on its products allows NGL’s partner agents to offer customers even more competitive products that can better meet their preplanning goals. As a longtime leader in the insurance industry, NGL is dedicated to serving policyholders and partners by offering high-quality products that are also among the safest and most stable in the industry.

Specializing in a suite of insurance products, NGL prides itself delivering on its promises across generations with collaboration and compassion. For our partners we provide a competitive funeral prefunding portfolio, superior customer service, marketing materials and more.

About NGL

Established in 1909 National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) is an insurance company headquartered in Madison, Wis. Licensed to do business in 49 states and the District of Columbia, NGL markets preneed and individual life and annuities, as well as group markets products. Information about NGL can be found at www.nglic.com; Facebook: Facebook.com/NGLIC and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/national-guardian-life-insurance-company.

National Guardian Life Insurance Company is not affiliated with The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America a/k/a The Guardian or Guardian Life.

I operated my funeral home from 1980 to 2013 and in that time period we increased prices every year.  I always looked for an average of about 3% but was able to increase my cremation prices more than that as cremation was growing in popularity.  And, it seemed that our price increases also increased margins as the inflationary rate of our costs, on average, were less than we increased prices.

As our number of services increased, so did our average margins, and profitability also did.  There is no doubt that as you set your budgets for 2026 growing margins may be somewhat difficult to realize when you consider the costs of your goods and services to operate your funeral home are continually rising.  According to Gemini artificial intelligence the average annual rate of inflation from 2000 to 2020 was about 2.2% annually. . . .meaning a 3% rise in prices would theoretically increase margins.  However, when asked the average inflation rate from 2020 to 2025 Gemini AI aswered “approximately 4.53%” to the same question. . . . .  That would make a 3% average increase in prices result in a loss of margin per case.

And of course, the traditional funeral home business is somewhat unique in that the choice of use and services consumers use is a one-time decision for each person.  So, if your highest priced and highest margin services are increased too much one ramification is that a consumer may choose a different service — such as direct cremation — to move their price point downward. . . . and with it, lower your margin on that case.  In the reality of this dynamic, setting price-points for your various services can be a difficult dance.

And at least for the short period of time I don’t see these inflationary costs going away anytime soon.  As you can read in this notice from the Bureau of Labor Statistics “The all items index rose 2.9 percent for the 12 months ending August, after rising 2.7 percent over the 12 months ending July.”  That means that in spite of our hopes of it receding, inflation was at a higher rate in August than it was in July.

I’ve also noticed in some articles, that I’ve linked below, predictions that other cost items will increase as well.  Items such as employer health care plans and commerical property insurance are expected to become more expensive moving forward.  Here’s some quotes from those articles:

 

• The total health benefit cost per employee is expected to rise 6.5% on average in 2026 — the highest increase since 2010 — even after accounting for planned cost-reduction measures. 

 

• Employers estimated that plan cost would increase by nearly 9%, on average, if they took no action to lower cost. 

 

• Based on the projections, 2026 will be the fourth consecutive year of elevated health benefit cost growth following a decade of moderate annual increases averaging only about 3%. 

 

• (a survey showed) 59% of employers will make cost-cutting changes to their plans in 2026 — up from 48% making changes in 2025 and 44% in 2024. Generally, these involve raising deductibles and other cost-sharing provisions, which can lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for plan members when they seek care.

 

• Employees are likely to see higher costs for their health coverage in 2026. 

 

• Employees could expect their paycheck deductions for health coverage to rise by about 6% to 7% on average. At the same time, because many employers will raise deductibles and copays to limit premium increases, higher out-of-pocket spending may also be a factor for some employees.  

 

• Commercial insurance rates in the US continued their upward trajectory in the first quarter of 2025, with the composite rate rising by 3%.  Umbrella and excess liability coverage, along with commercial auto, saw the most significant increases, both climbing by 6.7%. 

 

• Commercial property insurance premiums rose by 3.6%, with business interruption coverage seeing a similar increase of 3.6%.

 

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Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I would suggest that the least favorite responsibility that I had in operating a small business took place every October when I received the employee health insurance quotes from our providers and had to make a decision on how we would handle employee health insurance for the next year.

I also knew what I would take for insurance if I was making the decision simply for my family. However, in a small business every employee has a different situation and trying to make a decision that could please all of them was virtually impossible.  I don’t envy any of you having to make that decision.

And, the decision brings other decisions that are also difficult to make.  For instance, if you pick a plan that is quite a bit more expensive than the plan you had for the calendar year 2025 then you also have to figure the costs into your prices and try to figure out what the increased prices may do to your selected product mix (i.e. burial/cremation).

It’s a delicate balance between providing the best situation for your team members while also understanding that your fixed costs drive your price points and that the price points for differing types of services make a big impact on not only if consumers will use your firm but what services they will select.

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The percentage rate of cremation disposition for all deaths in the United States continues to rise, but the Cremation Association of North America (CANA) says in a recent press release that that rate is “decelerating” in its growth.  It is, however, a common statistical occurrence for growth rates to slow once the percentage hits a certain level.

CANA’s press release makes this comment:

“CANA’s research shows that the national cremation rate has grown steadily and predictably for the last 50 years, indicating that neither the recession nor the pandemic have influenced the growth rate on a national level. After decades of rapid growth in the United States, CANA can confirm that the national growth rate is slowing after reaching 61.8% in 2024.” 

The organization of over 3,700 funeral home, cemetery, crematory, industry supplier, and consultant members says that their newly released 2024 data “supports the association’s observation over the past few years that the US is entering a  “deceleration” period of cremation.  (CANA also suggests that) The U.S. is 15 years behind Canada, where the cremation rate surpassed 76.7% in 2024.”

CANA also predicts that by 2033 the cremation rate in all states will reach or exceed 50% and that the United States national rate will surpass 70%.

Finally, CANA points out that the new disposition methods of alkaline hydrolysis and natural organic reduction seem to be playing only a very small role in the overall picture as it pertains to the percentage of cremation dispositions.  The organization points out that presently those forms of disposition total only 0.3% of all dispositions in states where both methods are legally practiced.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  The CANA annual statistics are very valuable in a Death Care provider’s planning.  There were approximately 3.09 million U.S. deaths in 2024.  At least one source believes that there will be about 3.87 million U.S. deaths in 2040.  That’s about 780,000 more deaths annually than today.  What perecentage of those deaths are cremations, earth burials, alkaline hydrolysis, and natural organic reduction makes a big difference to those in those businesses.

For instance if the cremation percentage rate rises it might mean that certain suppliers decide to enter the cremation manufacturing industry.  On the other hand, depending on whether the cremation rate gets to 70 or 80% might make a big difference to those in the casket industry.  The combination of decelerating rates of cremation percentages coupled with more deaths might give a leeway for casket industry unit status quo rather than lower numbers of units sold annually.

CANA has generally been “right on” with their predictions. . . . . Make sure that you brainstorm about what differing rates of cremation might mean to your business.

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

Matthews International, parent company of Matthews Aurora Caskets, Matthews Cemetery Products, and Matthews Environmental Solutions (cremation products) announced yesterday that they will be increasing the dividend that they pay on common shares of their stock by $0.01 per quarter.

That will increase the dividend to $0.25 per share per quarter or $1.00 per year.  The announcement marks the 31st consecutive year that Matthews International has increased its dividend amount.

With the closing price of Matthews International stock at $24.09 per share on Wednesday, November 20, that means that a $1.00 per share dividend would be equal to an annualized yield of 4.15% as of yesterday’s closing price.

In this short press release on the matter, here’s what Matthews International CEO Joseph Bartolacci had to say, “Consistent with our long-term practice, we are pleased to announce another annual increase in our dividend for fiscal 2025. This reflects our ongoing confidence in the Company’s cash generation and long-term growth strategies.”

Matthews International is scheduled to report the company’s 4th Quarter and Fiscal Year 2024 results at the close of markets today (November 21, 2024).

Here is a history of Matthews International dividend payments per Seeking Alpha.

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Park Lawn Corporation (PLC), a publicly-held funeral home and cemetery operator reported their 2023 4th Quarter and 2023 Full-Year financial results last week.  In those results, which you can see here, the company reported revenues for both the 4th Quarter and Full-Year of 2023 increasing from the comparable quarter and year.  They did, however, report a Net Loss for both both time periods, explained by the completion of the sale of 83 properties to Everstory Partners which happened in December 2023.

You can read a Funeral Director Daily story about that event here.

In a prepared statement in the Park Lawn Corporation press release PLC Chief Executive Officer J. Bradley Green explained that Net Loss this way:

• “Net (Loss) Earnings for the quarter and year ended 2023 reflect a loss as a result of the disposition of certain legacy businesses completed in December.  However, Adjusted Net Earnings for the three-month period ended December 31, 2023 increased by approximately 5.3% while decreasing by 10.1% over the comparable prior year, principally as a result of the normalization of the death rate. “

A positive attribute of that Everstory transaction was also explained by CEO Green in this manner:

• “At closing, Park Lawn received $70M consisting of $55M in cash and the remaining in deferred compensation, bearing interest at 10% per annum, to be received by PLC within 5 years following the close of the transaction.  The cash proceeds were used to pay down debt resulting in a reduction of Park Lawn’s leverage ratio to  1.95x and 2.75x, including Park Lawn’s outstanding debentures.”

CEO Green also commented on what the divestiture of those 83 properties would do the the company’s previously disclosed aspirational plans:

• “Given the recent completion of the transformational disposition of certain legacy businesses at the end of December, as well as the current macroeconomic environment, we no longer believe that our previously announced five-year long-term aspirational financial targets are achievable by the conclusion of 2026. . . Rather than long-term targets, in an effort to enhance the insight and disclosure around our operating performance, we believe annual guidance will provide improved near-term transparency of our financial expectations and strategic direction to our investors, shareholders and stakeholders.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Now that we have seen the Full-Year reports for the “Big 3” public funeral home and cemetery operators it is interesting to try to decipher their individual ambitions and plans for moving forward.  It appears to me that the last couple of years have been about “Right-sizing” the ships following what was learned in the pandemic.  I think each of those companies — Park Lawn, Carriage Services, and Service Corporation International — have plans on where they hope to bring their companies and each has a definite path that they want to follow to continue to build out the operations.

Once the Service Corporation International moratorium on selected acquisitions (see Funeral Director Daily article here) is lifted, I think we will get a pretty good idea of where those destinations are.

In the meantime, here’s a little chart I put together on the Revenue increases for each of those companies for the 2023 4th Quarter and the 2023 Full-Year.  The percentage listed is the company’s revenue over the same periods in 2022:

And here is the total revenues as reported by each of the companies for the Full-Year 2023.  You can see, in round numbers, the extreme size of SCI as they continue to have annual revenue of more than 10 times the other companies.

2023 Reported Annual Revenue

• Service Corporation International                  $ 4.09 billion
• Carriage Services                                               $  382.5 million
• Park Lawn Corporation                                    $  347.6 million

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