where to invest a couple million

Kelvin said:
One of my friend's family has been in the funeral service business for 130 years. He told me over our last beer and meal that cremation is now 49% of the final arrangements today.

His funeral home has lost close to 3 million a year in vault, casket and associated sales as a result of this trend.
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Can't blame people for going the cremation route.

The pricing for funerals has increased so much that it's a way to cut cost. And part of that is the consolidation in the industry (SCI/Dignity is the big one). And yes, I know you can buy caskets through discounters but some funeral homes won't use them (requiring you to buy from them). I saw the difference in cost between 2 family funerals 10 years apart - the increase in price during that time far exceeded the effect of inflation. For a lot of folks, the price has gone out of sight.

And then there's the whole land-use problem. (Noted that the custom in some countries, like Germany, is to lease the burial plot for a fixed period of time - if the family doesn't renew, then the plot is re-used by either burying on top or by removing and disposing of the remains).

He lost $3 million in sales, but what does that represent in terms of profit? And how much of that profit was made up by selling cremation services, urns, and the like?

But as the owner of a funeral home told me: "love us or hate us, but at some point you'll need to use us".
 
wsuffa said:
Can't blame people for going the cremation route.

The pricing for funerals has increased so much that it's a way to cut cost. And part of that is the consolidation in the industry (SCI/Dignity is the big one). And yes, I know you can buy caskets through discounters but some funeral homes won't use them (requiring you to buy from them). I saw the difference in cost between 2 family funerals 10 years apart - the increase in price during that time far exceeded the effect of inflation. For a lot of folks, the price has gone out of sight.

And then there's the whole land-use problem. (Noted that the custom in some countries, like Germany, is to lease the burial plot for a fixed period of time - if the family doesn't renew, then the plot is re-used by either burying on top or by removing and disposing of the remains).

He lost $3 million in sales, but what does that represent in terms of profit? And how much of that profit was made up by selling cremation services, urns, and the like?

But as the owner of a funeral home told me: "love us or hate us, but at some point you'll need to use us".
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There was a an old couple a while back in SD. The elderly wife had passed and the husband cremated her on the farm. IIRC when it was all over he ended up paying like an $80 fine for improper disposal of a body.
 
Ted said:
In the case of our friends, it was bad enough that they had to strip out most of the interior of the house. It was a lot of work, they lost a bunch of money that they could never get back.
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Also happened to a guy I worked with. Would never own a rental property, or anything that caused me more work, unless it was a hobby. I stick to passive investments such as mutual funds.
 
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bnt83 said:
There was a an old couple a while back in SD. The elderly wife had passed and the husband cremated her on the farm. IIRC when it was all over he ended up paying like an $80 fine for improper disposal of a body.
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Oh my gosh! That’s nuts! I’m surprised he got off with only an $80 fine...
 
bnt83 said:
There was a an old couple a while back in SD. The elderly wife had passed and the husband cremated her on the farm. IIRC when it was all over he ended up paying like an $80 fine for improper disposal of a body.
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RyanB said:
Oh my gosh! That’s nuts! I’m surprised he got off with only an $80 fine...
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Yeah, should have went with piranha solution.
 
For a minute, I thought I was following the BBQ thread, then stumbled on to cremation, and was like all WTF.
 
Kelvin said:
One of my friend's family has been in the funeral service business for 130 years. He told me over our last beer and meal that cremation is now 49% of the final arrangements today.

His funeral home has lost close to 3 million a year in vault, casket and associated sales as a result of this trend.
Click to expand...

Which is why the cost of cremation is rapidly rising and will soon cost more than a regular burial funeral. Whenever something cheap and easy becomes popular....
 
Sac Arrow said:
For a minute, I thought I was following the BBQ thread, then stumbled on to cremation, and was like all WTF.
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It's on-topic: overlook the brisket or pork shoulder and you've committed cremation.


murphey said:
As I keep reminding my students - no religious discussions in class.

Windows vs Mac vs Linux is a religious discussion.
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Low wing.
 
Zeldman said:
Which is why the cost of cremation is rapidly rising and will soon cost more than a regular burial funeral. Whenever something cheap and easy becomes popular....
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Especially when there's less competition....
 
Everskyward said:
Also happened to a guy I worked with. Would never own a rental property, or anything that caused me more work, unless it was a hobby. I stick to passive investments such as mutual funds.
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I’m with you. I get the benefits of diversification, but in the end it’s a lot of extra work that could otherwise be put towards something else, like enjoying life.
 
Ted said:
I’m with you. I get the benefits of diversification, but in the end it’s a lot of extra work that could otherwise be put towards something else, like enjoying life.
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+1
S&P 500 Holds enough real estate for me :)
 
Ted said:
I’m with you. I get the benefits of diversification, but in the end it’s a lot of extra work that could otherwise be put towards something else, like enjoying life.
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My decision exactly. In the late 1990s, I had a bit of extra money, and considered using it to put down payments on a couple of houses and rent them out. Then I decided I hadn't chosen property manager as my profession, so why start now?

Those houses were going for about $250K each in the late 1990s, and they're worth about $1M each now. $250K invested in the S&P 500 in 1997 is also worth about $1M now — and that's excluding all the dividends paid out during that time (which would increase the total significantly if reinvested), and didn't require getting out of bed to unclog any tenants' toilets at 3am on a winter morning.
 
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The thread is being reopened after several posts were deleted and warnings given for those who decided to bring the Spin Zone into the discussion. Let’s stay on topic now!
 
After thinking about it @FORANE should send the money here fir safekeeping. I’ll charge a reasonable management fee. LOL.
 
FORANE said:
Assuming one were to sell some apartments they own and received a couple million. What would be good options for investing that money today? Of course this would be after buying the obligatory Bonanza...
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Buy a farm and work the land until you go broke. :)

Buy a diversified ETF portfolio of stocks, bonds, commodities, sector funds, etc. Determine a target weight for each category. Whenever you get dividends, put them in the fund that’s doing worst and is underweight. Maybe read some books on Modern Portfolio Theory first. I’ve had really good returns doing the above. I need 3 hours a month to manage mine. There is such a thing as the point of diminishing returns, and I’ve found the less trading I do, the better my investments do.
 
If renting out single family dwellings was a highly profitable business, one of two things would happen:
- the government would make it illegal
- Goldman Sachs would own all of them
 
wsuffa said:
Goldman may not own all of them, but they're in the business....

https://www.constructionenquirer.co...hs-signs-build-to-rent-deal-with-countryside/
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This is about developing communities of rental homes in the UK.

Yes, when the residential market tanked in 2008 (and to a lesser extent 2020), some institutional investors in the US got into the business of buying up rental real estate. But that was a play taking advantage of temporary market conditions.

There is a reason the big residential landlords only do apartments or dense developments of townhomes.
 
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