An Unlikely Beginning
What started as a small effort to help a family member’s funeral home uncovered a larger truth: the industry had long been left to navigate pre-need without the support it needed.
The Problem
Fixing a Broken System
Legacy products often lacked institutional rigor, transparency, and independence, leaving funeral homes with limited visibility into balances and performance and with financial terms that place them at a disadvantage. What was needed was a framework rooted in transparency and independence, with the funeral home in control.
When John Simpson was asked to assist a family member’s funeral home with its pre-need program, he quickly saw that funeral homes were expected to carry the responsibility for pre-need without the tools, infrastructure, or support available to large financial institutions.
An attempt to solve one funeral home’s immediate challenges revealed a broader structural gap. Pre-need programs were complex and administratively heavy, with limited visibility into the long-term impact of inflation. Funeral homes were making critical decisions without clarity.
That experience became the catalyst for PreNeed Advisory (PNA): a pre-need framework designed to support the financial and operational realities of funeral homes, rather than the priorities of institutions.
As the challenges became clear, John leaned on Brett Canon — a long-time colleague with deep experience in institutional asset management. Together, they examined every component of the pre-need ecosystem through the lens of fiduciary structure, investment oversight, operational workflow, and regulatory requirements.
This wasn’t about making incremental improvements. It was about asking a more fundamental question: What would a pre-need model look like if it were built with the same standards and disciplines applied to institutional assets?
Their analysis revealed a path forward; one grounded in independent oversight, transparent reporting, and a modern platform capable of supporting funeral homes at scale.
The insights were clear. Funeral homes needed a structure designed for long-term clarity, inflation awareness, and operational support — not a patchwork of tools or legacy arrangements shaped around institutions.
From that foundation, PNA was created as a sponsor that brings together independent fiduciary institutions united in a single platform.
The result is a model that provides funeral homes a clear view of their pre-need accounts, a transparent framework that is easy to navigate, and the ability to make informed decisions with confidence, supported by disciplined financial management and independent oversight.
Supporting Funeral Homes With Modern Infrastructure
A Clearer Way to Manage Pre-Need
Pre-need has traditionally required funeral homes to shoulder administrative tasks that pull focus away from families, such as licensing requirements, product lock-ins, account renewals, and manual recordkeeping.
PNA uniquely reduces that burden by integrating digital workflows, automated compliance tracking, account-level reporting, and unified documentation in a single platform designed to simplify pre-need management day-to-day.
When systems are clear and connected, funeral homes spend less time managing and worrying about pre-need. This gives them more time with families.
Unlike legacy approaches, PNA gives funeral homes a transparent, independent structure and dedicated support. It’s a distinct and clearer path forward in pre-need.
Our Leadership
