Speaker 1: Welcome to the Friends with Money podcast, brought to you
Speaker 1: by Money Magazine, creating financial freedom for Australians since nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine.
Speaker 2: Hi, welcome to the special bonus podcast of the Friends
Speaker 2: with Money Podcast. My name is Vanessa walker On, the
Speaker 2: managing editor of Money. In the February issue on sale
Speaker 2: jan the thirtieth, we are publishing an investigation to the
Speaker 2: funeral industry and I'm here to talk to the author
Speaker 2: of that feature, Money journalist Ryan Johnson.
Speaker 3: Welcome Ryan, Thanks Vanasa. It's great to be here for
Speaker 3: the first time. So audience please go easy on me.
Speaker 2: Go easy on this guy. Death. It happens to us all.
Speaker 2: In fact, four hundred and fifty people die on average
Speaker 2: a day across this country, and inevitably after death comes
Speaker 2: a funeral. So Ryan, can you shed light on some
Speaker 2: of the characteristics of their funeral industry.
Speaker 3: Well, it might seem like there's many options available to you,
Speaker 3: it's really just an alude of choice. Like you've got
Speaker 3: really popular brands like White Lady Funerals, the local funeral
Speaker 3: Pilo down the street, or even ones with family names
Speaker 3: like Lester and Sons, but in reality most of them
Speaker 3: are owned by big corporations.
Speaker 2: How many of them?
Speaker 3: So there's three big corporations that own roughly about forty
Speaker 3: percent of the industry.
Speaker 2: Wow, how does that scenario disadvantage consumers?
Speaker 3: These are for profit companies. And when you combine for
Speaker 3: profit companies with the shareholders with customers that are highly
Speaker 3: emotional going into a environment that they don't that they
Speaker 3: don't understand, it creates a recipe for exploitation.
Speaker 2: Right, how does exploitation play out? I presume their mourning
Speaker 2: they probably do have financial considerations. What kind of things
Speaker 2: are they sold?
Speaker 3: So many things? So there's obviously the bigt items like
Speaker 3: your funeral, your coffins, your headstones, but there's so many
Speaker 3: services when you think about that come together for a funeral,
Speaker 3: the flowers, the food, the priest, everyone comes together, all
Speaker 3: these services and there's a lot to consider. It can
Speaker 3: be overwhelming, and these businesses know that, and that's what
Speaker 3: they're trying to exploit.
Speaker 2: All right, So in the story, you've spoke to some insiders.
Speaker 2: What do they say are the most questionable practices plaguing
Speaker 2: the industry?
Speaker 3: Well? I spoke to Sam Klaus from Tender Funeral. It's
Speaker 3: one of the only not for profit funeral parlors in Australia,
Speaker 3: and he's worked in although briefly, at the for profit industry,
Speaker 3: and he says that there's a general culture of cutting
Speaker 3: corners and not the care for the loved ones that
Speaker 3: you might get in some of the more independent parlors.
Speaker 2: And I presume monetization of every aspect of.
Speaker 3: A funeral of course, yes, all the bells and whistles.
Speaker 2: Yeah, all right, So that's a bit of a warning
Speaker 2: bell that we've gone into. But there are also some
Speaker 2: funeral industry disruptors. Tell us about them, what are they
Speaker 2: offering this different?
Speaker 3: So I spoke to Bear Funerals and they're one of
Speaker 3: the newer services on the block. They're a digital first solution.
Speaker 3: So what they really do they're offering removes the aspect
Speaker 3: of going into a funeral parlor when when you love
Speaker 3: one has died, the usual thing to do is to
Speaker 3: go into a funeral parlor, and you just pick that
Speaker 3: choice because you don't want to deal with this again.
Speaker 3: So you go in there and they push you all
Speaker 3: these these products that you don't particularly understand, and this
Speaker 3: pushy stales tactics leads you to spending more than you
Speaker 3: want basically. But Bear solution is that it allows you
Speaker 3: to do it from the comfort of your own home
Speaker 3: through a digital solution online, So it really really removes
Speaker 3: that aspect.
Speaker 2: So you're thinking a bit more clearly. In the comfort
Speaker 2: of your own home. You can make more conscious decisions.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, there's no pressure tactics involved. It's just you and
Speaker 3: your family making a decision on your own.
Speaker 2: And in terms of pricing, do they offer preset packages
Speaker 2: to make it easy for people to navigate.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And they offer a full breakdown of the prices
Speaker 3: and what services are included, so it makes it easy
Speaker 3: to understand what you're actually getting.
Speaker 2: Like so all, like with all disruptors, are pricings more transparent?
Speaker 3: Absolutely?
Speaker 2: Yeah, awesome, fantastic, Thanks so much, Ryan. As I said,
Speaker 2: this is a bonus podcast. We are featuring this story
Speaker 2: with much more information, including the new kinds of funerals
Speaker 2: that people can have, the new kinds of celebrations of
Speaker 2: people's lives. That's in the February issue on sale January
Speaker 2: the thirtieth. Pick it up. You'll learn a lot. Thanks
Speaker 2: so much for joining us.
Speaker 3: Ryan, Thank you.
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