It’s the end of summer in Minnesota and lots of our friends get ready to embark on the journey to warmer climates soon.  So, it is a good time to say good-bye to our summer Minnesotans and wish them well until we see them again next Spring. Angie and I did that last week and went out to a micro-brewery for pizza and drinks with some neighbor couples.

When you get to be our ages the talk sometimes takes on the realities of enrolling in Social Security and Medicare.  As our conversation turned that way I was surprised to hear that every couple we were with had attended a recent seminar, generally put on by an insurance agency or financial planner, to learn more about their options for those programs.

When I asked, somewhat tongue in cheek, if they had been attending the preneed funeral seminars too, they all said that they haven’t been invited yet.  That was surprising to me because they were in or over the age brackets  that I generally started sending invitations to when I operated our funeral home — 55 years and older.

And then I received my weekly recap of articles from Great Britain’s Funeral Service Times where the lead article had this headline, “Prepaid funeral plan sales surpass 100,000 in record H1 (Half-year) of 2025”.  The article featured statistics furnished by the National Association of Funeral Plan Providers (NAFPP).

Turns out that in Great Britain and Wales, which had a combined 568,613 deaths in 2024, a total of 111,887 funeral plans were sold in the first half of 2025.  The article states that is a 13.7% increase over the same period of 2024 and it marked the first time a half-year total was over the 100,000 mark.

Just to state a numerical situation, if the country totaled the same amount of preneed plans sold in the 2nd half of 2025 preneed plans would total about 39% of the number of deaths recorded the previous year (568,613 deaths in 2024).

It should also be noted that during the first-half of 2025, existing preneed plans funded over 62,000 funeral services in the UK — about 18.3% of all services during that time period according to the NAFPP.

According to the article “The figures reflect the sector’s continued expansion following full regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). During the period, 787 existing plans were transferred from non-regulated entities to NAFPP member firms. These customers are now covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and Financial Ombudsman Service.”  (The Financial Conduct Authority started regulating fuenral plans in Great Britain in July 2022)

Barry Floyd, Chairman of the NAFPP had these comments about the increased preneed planning in Great Britain, “. . With consumer confidence in the product buoyed by the reassurance provided by our regulator, more people than ever are aware of the advantages. The first half of 2025 has set a new benchmark for the prepaid funeral planning sector, with record new plan sales, strong performance across all indicators, and customer preferences evolving toward flexible solutions.”

The NAFPP also reported an increase in the use of its plan tracing service, with around 7,000 enquiries expected this year. The service is used by families who cannot locate funeral paperwork following a relative’s death.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  Two things come to mind when I think about our dinner discussion and this report out of Great Britain.  First of all, people really do want to know what their options are — they may not be ready to purchase as indicated that our friends had not yet applied for Social Security and/or purchased Medicare supplement coverage.  However, they are all going to the seminars to learn about their options.

Secondly, when it comes to preneed funeral coverage people are willing to step up and purchase the product when they have the confidence that their investment will be there for them in the future.  When it was an unregulated product in Great Britain sales lagged the pace where they are today.

Another thought that I had from our discussion was that our friends had never really thought through the possibility of their death care choices.  I’m guessing that they all have life insurance and other financial issues under control but they all told me that they would be “cremated and have no idea what would be done with their ashes”.

I mentioned that the options have become many and varied  — and I pointed out products such as Better Place Forests and Parting Stone.  Interestingly enough, those mentions caught their attention and made them think of possible alternatives to simply scattering ashes.  From that short discussion I realized that the Death Care profession does not seem to be keeping up with giving alternatives to families that choose cremation.  And, if the potential clients don’t know about the alternatives they will not be purchasing them.

I think whether we realize it or not, Death Care is in a new world today. With so much coming at once and so much happening in the streaming world of funerals, in the digital media of advertising, in the online revenue options, in the venue options, in disposition options, in online preneed options, and on and on for funeral homes and cremation providers, that sometimes we have not taken the appropriate measures to let our future clientele know what we can offer.

I further think it is imperative that funeral and cremation providers be able to get in front of the future consumers much like the Medicare supplement providers are doing.  It’s my opinion that a lack of effort in hosting groups at your funeral home and letting them know of all the options, including preneed, will result in a lower revenue per case than could be received with a well-informed consumer. . . . if the uninformed consumer chooses your firm at all or simply goes with a Direct Cremation with No Services provider because they don’t know of the options available at your firm.

If you are interested in creating seminars that will give your area consumers the knowledge that they need to make informed funeral, cremation, and preneed purchases give Patrick Zalusky and Laker Planning Services a call.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,199 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily

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

When you are in a competitive business you need to acquire customers and then find a way to make sure that those customers are “commited to you”.  Many times acquiring the customer might be the easy part, but making sure the customer stays commited to you and loyal to your brand can be difficult over time.

Potential customers whom funeral homes have acquired, simply by being that customer’s choice, for future business can be extremely susceptible to leaving that commitment to your firm between the time they decide to use your firm and when the may actually need your services.  They might see a bad review, hear a negative comment, or simply be seated at a funeral you are conducting in a seat they prefer not to sit in. . . . potential clientele can be funny that way.

In my view, that potential client is very susceptible to changing Death Care options until they have some type of commitment on their part to your firm.  Probably the best form of commitment for retention is a funded pre-arrangement.  That’s why funeral homes go to such great efforts to put them in place — they are a large positive predictor of turning customers by choice into commited customers.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

But are there other ways to strengthen that commitment for people who have your firm as number one in their mind but are not ready or able to financially pre-arrange?  In politics when the candidates are going through the primary election season you will see them all announce websites to go to where you can make a donation. . . . and the amount doesn’t matter.  Candidates know, that once they have a financial commitment from a voter — even if it is for only $5 — they have a commited supporter. . . . .and commited supporters become “Brand Advocates” so there is a great deal of value in having them.

Death Care, and especially direct cremation companies, have a plethora of online operators where one can register their future wishes.  Most of these websites will take and store that information for a future “at need” death at no cost to the consumer.

My question for you to ponder this weekend is, “Like in politics, would a minimum charge of $10 with the online arrangment result in a “stronger commitment” from the potential customer and a greater liklihood that they will become a brand ambassador and psychologically commited to your firm, than simply allowing them to sign up for no cost?”

In the pre-internet days of America’s cremation preference build-up (1975-2000), there are some great success stories of firms that did just that by allowing consumers to be invested or commited to a cremation provider for a $25 lifetime fee.  In many cases these consumers were told that the initial $25 fee would be taken off the price at the time of cremation. . .some even allowed a $50 credit “at need” for the $25 lifetime fee.

Funeral Director Daily take:  In discussions with firms who did this type of marketing in the past I found it amazing how consumers became incredible brand ambassadors for cremation over traditional burial once they had this psychological commitment. . . and now I wonder if the populace will once again make a “commited” move — this time embracing and advocating for direct cremation with no services or do-it-yourself services rather than cremation with services as the most popular form of human disposition services.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,164 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

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

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.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,164 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

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

The last time we mentioned the upstart preneed company Prelude in Funeral Director Daily was this article back in March 2024 when we first heard of them.  We mentioned that we didn’t know much about them but from their LinkedIn references and website it appeared that they were in the business of helping individual funeral homes sell preneed directly to the consumer public.

Earlier this week we received this press release from Cortado Ventures of Oklahoma City making known the fact that Cortado Ventures has invested in Prelude.  Here’s what that press release says in the first paragraph:

“Cortado Ventures has invested in the end-to-end digital preneed funeral planning company Prelude, which helps families, as well as funeral homes, craft an individual’s legacy by making it easier to plan and pre-pay for their own funeral. Offering a human-focused alternative to the highly transactional options in the funeral planning industry, Prelude harnesses a member-based insurance collective with AI-enabled B2B software aimed at transforming the funeral pre-planning process.”

Cortado Ventures’ Managing Partner Nathaniel Harding is quoted in the press release with this statement, “Prelude’s innovative solutions to funeral planning provides not only logistical ease but also emotional comfort and security before one of life’s most sensitive times.  End-of-life planning is never easy, but Cortado is excited to invest in a company that will serve Oklahomans, in life and after, and provide families some certainty in the face of life’s greatest uncertainty.”

Related Article — “Why we Invested:  Prelude”   —  Dated September 16, 2024, from the Cortado Ventures website.

Funeral Director Daily:  We still don’t know exactly how Prelude will work in integration with a funeral home, but their website has pages of information and one of them says this that is attributed to Prelude Co-Founder and CEO Kris Yee, “At Prelude we partner with independent funeral homes to revolutionize the preneed process.  . . .With Prelude you stay in control, increase profitability, and see significant growth in your preneed sales. . . . “

Here is the website for Prelude

Here is the website for Cortado Ventures

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,121 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

“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.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,108 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

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

There is an old saying that goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink”.  I think that the meaning of that phrase, in human terms is something like this, “You can tell a person the situation, but you cannot make them act on it”.

In my day of working at the funeral home, I owned a pre-arrangement insurance agency, I owned and operated a funeral home, and I was a licensed  insurance agent.  As I recall when I was asked by potential consumer clients to list the possible costs of their death care services, I tried not only to list them all, but even include the inclusion of money for potential unforeseen circustances of a death, such as death away from home.

And, as anybody who ever put a preneed client into this type of policy, I tried to get the amount paid in as complete as possible.  However, there are times when a client with, let’s say a potential $10,000 funeral cost would only contribute $7,500 for the account.  The agent would more than likely take that amount as it was a pretty good “start”, even though it wasn’t complete, for one paying for their death care costs. Or, as sometimes happened, the client would take care of all expenses at the funeral home and tell us that he was going to do the same at the cemetery. . . . yet, the cemetery part never got done.

Then later, when that person died, the children would come in and proclaim, “Dad has everything taken care of”.  At that time it was then appropriate to pull out the prearrangement file and show that the expected “at death” costs were $10,000, but Dad “elected” to only put away $7,500. . . or, they would realize that Dad never made any arrangements at the cemetery. . . So, no, everything was not taken care of.

If you have been in that situation, you know it is uncomfortable. . . .Uncomfortable for the children who are now looking at potentially paying “out of pocket” for expenses that they thought were taken care of and uncomfortable for the funeral director because he/she has to break this news.

It puts children in a tough dilemma. . . maybe they can lower the quality of what Dad wanted to pay the other charges or the cemetery, but in doing that many feel bad for “cheapening” what their parent wanted. . .so in most cases they find a way to pay the bills.

I recently read this article from Great Britain where two funeral directors are lamenting that “Funeral Plans” generally do not include any money for the expenses at the cemetery. . . . and in London, according to the article, cemetery costs for the plot, interment fee, and headstone can total more than the rest of the funeral costs combined.

They believe that the average preneed policy in London, which asks for earth burial, is over US$ 7,500 short of funds.  It’s an issue that funeral directors Sharon and Paul McLean, who run Integrity Funeral Care, believe needs to be addressed.

Says Paul McLean, “The most expensive part of any burial is the price of the plot and in London in particular we’re talking thousands of pounds, sometimes a five figure sum, just for that nine feet by four feet hole in the ground.  The cost of a plot and of several other burial services are rarely fully covered in funeral plans.”

McLean suggested, “. . .they (funeral plans) could also be renamed as something like ‘Funeral Contribution Plans’ to more accurately describe what they do.”

Integrity Funeral Care – London website

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I’ve found that funeral and cemetery pre-arrangement plans can often times be confusing to differing generations of families.  However, they are very seldom confusing to the parties involved such as the funeral director/agent and preneed people setting up the account.

Both those parties seem to know and understand what they have done.  However, when the clientele eventually tells their children they usually do it by saying, “Mom and I were down to the funeral home and took care of all of our arrangements”.  Very seldom do the parents pull out the documents and explain “to what extent and with what limitations” they have pre-arranged. . . .It is simply, “we have taken care of our arrangements” and then the subject is dropped until one of the parents dies.

I don’t know why that is the case. . . but it is.  Maybe it is because when together with mom and dad and the grandkids everybody is excited about “Life” and “Death” is just a subject that we don’t want to talk about.

But, not talking about it does cause problems in the future.  There has been a lot done to try to alleviate this problem, such as the National Funeral Director’s “Have the Talk of  Lifetime” program, but the issue still remains.

In the meantime if you deal with pre-arrangements continue to be as complete and thorough as you can be.  The extra time and effort will pay off with less mis-understanding in the future.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Enter your e-mail below to join the 3,477 others who receive Funeral Director Daily articles daily:

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