January 22, 2021
Published by 
Dan Isard on January 22, 2021
Dan Isard on January 22, 2021In this industry spotlight, we want to highlight key insights into business succession. Every business will be sold or liquidated someday. Given the choice, sold is usually much better. Today there are about 19,000 funeral homes in the United States. This is down from about 21,000, only 20 years ago. To understand business succession metrics, you need to understand the following: How we lost 2,000 funeral homes? When did the total population has increased by about 20,000,000 Americans? What is the Average Age of American’s increased slightly? When did the mortality rate increase? We lost these businesses as active businesses because three dynamics: The business real estate was more valuable for general commercial purposes than it was as a funeral home The profitability of funeral homes is limited and as expenses increase, especially for staff and benefits, the profit decreases […]
January 22, 2021
Published by Dan Isard on January 22, 2021
Dan Isard on January 22, 2021Dear readers: Since 2006, you have endured my monthly column, Finance 101, and worked hard to read each installment without moving your lips, perform math without pencil and paper, and avoid laughing out loud as you read the column in the back of church during a service. (Cue Pomp and Circumstance background music.) Well, congratulations and move your tassel to the other side because we’re now going to take things to the next level and enter the realm of Finance 201! So, what’s the difference between 101 and 201? Like any good professor, you spoon-feed the freshmen and then exasperate the sophomores (i.e., it’s your time to be exasperated). Finance 201 will not look at your business but rather at the businesses of others. This column will also feel more “interview-ish” as we learn from those who are doing things […]
January 22, 2021
Published by Dan Isard on January 22, 2021
Dan Isard on January 22, 2021“Dan, I own a 45-acre cemetery that has about 10 acres sold. We sell about 100 graves a year. We are interning about 10 urns a year. We have no above-ground crypts or niches as that takes a substantial investment. At this rate, it could take 350 years to use up all this land. Can I take some of it out of the cemetery trust and sell it off?” –Tom in Small Town, Minnesota Dear Small Town Tom, First, your math is wrong. You have much more than 350 years of inventory! I am assuming you are multiplying the 35 acres of undeveloped land by 1,000 graves an acre (35,000 potential graves) and then dividing that by a consumption of 100 graves a year. The mathematical result is about 350 years. This is a case of the math being right […]
December 21, 2020
Published by Dan Isard on December 21, 2020
Dan Isard on December 21, 2020 The Changing Landscape of the Deathcare Industry My first entry into the funeral business came through the pet business, at about age 5! One of my friends had a bird die, and we kids wanted to have a funeral. We used a shoe box as a casket. My mother had just dug a garden with rose bushes, so we placed the shoebox beneath one of the rose bushes. A few days later, a kid had a turtle die and we went at it again. We were enjoying ourselves while my mother could not figure out what or who was digging up her garden. Then Herby’s gerbil got sick. We got another shoe box and prepared to bury that gerbil. But when my mother came to investigate, the gerbil escaped; and I was never allowed in her garden again! The pet […]
December 21, 2020
Published by Dan Isard on December 21, 2020
Dan Isard on December 21, 2020In this industry spotlight, we bring you key insights into tax planning. In planning for your tax year to end, if your business or businesses are a calendar year end, there are some things for you to do. Keep in mind, regardless of the fiscal year end of your business, you as an individual are a calendar year taxpayer. With the election of President Biden, it is well understood there is a strong likelihood for a change in the income tax rates including the capital gains rates. Therefore, there is a benefit to capture income this year at the presumptive lower tax rates. Here are my top 10 things to do to close out the 2020 Calendar Year: Make sure any bonuses that you want to be paid are paid out, especially to anyone that has an ownership in the […]