February 21, 2021
Published by 
Doug Gober on February 21, 2021
Doug Gober on February 21, 2021Business Financing Services is one of our service areas that we are always asked for insight and guidance on. For this month’s column, we answer a very common question related to succession planning and financing. Continue reading below as Doug Gober, Partner provides some insights. Question: I am ready to sell my business to my son. How can he secure the financing necessary to buy my business? Doug Gober: Many potential business owners who need to transition their businesses are convinced that either their children or key person can’t secure the financing necessary to transition the business to them. With the sellers help and understanding of the process, the lending is available for the next generation of independent business owners. On a regular basis, we are assisting in securing financing which allows for independent funeral service to continue. The idea that […]
February 21, 2021
Published by 
Dan Isard on February 21, 2021
Dan Isard on February 21, 2021And green funerals since the beginning of time. This month, my challenge is to write about memorialization and green funerals. On the surface, the subjects appear unrelated, so, like any writer who wants to understand a topic, I first made sure I understood their definitions. “Memorialization,” a noun, is defined generally as “the process of preserving memories of people or events.” The phrase “green funerals,” a noun more or less defined by the Green Burial Council, is “a way of caring for the dead with minimal environmental impact.” As I said, unrelated subjects… until I dug deeper. What do these two concepts have in common? Here, I quote Banksy, an English street artist and activist, who said, “…They say you die twice. One time when you stop breathing and a second time, a bit later on, when somebody says your […]
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 
John McQueen on December 21, 2020
John McQueen on December 21, 2020In funeral service, it’s all about that dirty word. Businesses and families alike have all been faced with major challenges in 2020, largely in part due to COVID-19 and the devastating effects it has had on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which includes financial independence. Funeral service is no different … or is it? If you have been in the profession for any significant length of time, you have heard someone say to you, “Well, at least your business is recession proof, because people are always going to die.” Although this may be a true statement in many ways, we have seen the effects of what happens when family and friends cannot come together to honor, celebrate and remember a life well lived. In many instances during the pandemic, we have seen our business shift to one of […]