Homesteaders

What Homesteaders does

Homesteaders Life Company is a 120-year-old mutual insurance company headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa, specializing in preneed funeral funding. Founded in 1906, the company issues life insurance and annuity products that allow individuals to pre-fund funeral arrangements through single-payment or multi-year plans (3, 5, or 10 years), locking in today's prices against inflation. As a mutual company, it is owned by its policy holders rather than external shareholders, and it reported more than $5 billion of in-force policies as of 2025 with a 99% customer satisfaction rating.

The company's core technology consists of the myHomesteaders online portal for policy management and the Simply Easier Payments third-party integration for ACH and credit-card premium collection. Beyond core insurance, Homesteaders operates a bundled services platform for funeral homes: P3 casket price protection, a Funeral Home Conventional Loan Program ($5-20M for goodwill financing), continuing education and agent training, marketing support, and the recently launched Your Journey Forward aftercare program. Distribution is sales-led through a national account executive team targeting funeral professionals, complemented by content channels including the Calling Hours Podcast, Preneed Motivators research report, and the Personal Expressions Guide.

Revenue is generated primarily through recurring and single premium collections on preneed policies, with 91% of company income redistributed to funeral home customers, agents, and policy owners consistent with its mutual structure. The company is rated A- (Excellent) by AM Best for the 15th consecutive year, holds an Iowa domicile, and employs 101-250 people. Recent strategic activity includes the 2024 acquisition of Park Lawn Corporation via affiliate Viridian Acquisition Inc. (alongside Birch Hill Equity Partners), which extends Homesteaders into vertically integrated funeral home operations.

Name

Homesteaders

Legal name

Homesteaders Life Company

Website

https://homesteaderslife.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1906

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Homesteaders Life Company is a 120-year-old mutual insurer that issues preneed life insurance and annuity products to fund advance funeral arrangements, serving individual policyholders and a national network of funeral home partners with funding, lending, training, and marketing support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Preneed Funeral Insurance

NAICS

Direct Life Insurance Carriers (524113)

SIC

Life Insurance (6311)

akta.pro primary industry

Final Expense / Burial Life Insurance (FSAIABAF)

Keywords

• Preneed insurance
• Funeral funding
• Life insurance
• Annuity products
• Funeral professional services

Headquarters

HQ city

West Des Moines

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Preneed Insurance Premiums: Homesteaders issues life insurance and annuity products for advance funeral planning. Policy owners pay premiums either as single upfront payments or over multiple years (Multiple Payment Policies). Income is generated through premium collection on preneed insurance policies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Homesteaders Life Company provides preneed life insurance and annuity products that enable families to pre-fund funeral arrangements. The company distributes its funding solutions through a national network of funeral home partners, and supplements those products with funeral home lending, agent training, continuing education, casket price protection, and aftercare programs.

Product overview

Homesteaders Life Company offers a comprehensive preneed insurance platform centered on life insurance and annuity products for advance funeral planning. The portfolio includes the core Preneed Insurance product alongside the myHomesteaders® policy management portal, the P3® Casket Price Protection Plan for price management, and a specialized Funeral Home Lending Program providing $5-20 million conventional loans for funeral providers. Supporting resources include the Personal Expressions Guide for recording wishes, the Preneed Motivators consumer research report, the 125 Tasks Checklist for post-loss navigation, and the Calling Hours Podcast for industry education. The company also provides Continuing Education courses and Agent Training for funeral professionals, plus the new 'Your Journey Forward' aftercare program.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• myHomesteaders®: A policy owner portal/app allowing policy holders to access and manage their policies

Products and services

• Preneed Insurance Life insurance and annuity products for advance funeral planning, enabling individuals and families to pre-fund funeral arrangements through single-payment or multiple-payment policies. Distributed through funeral home partners nationally.
• myHomesteaders® Online Portal Online policy management portal for funeral home and agent users to manage preneed policies, track accounts, and administer plans. Also used by policy owners to access policy information and make payments.
• P3® Casket Price Protection Plan Price protection program for funeral homes to manage casket price increases and provide enhanced savings, future-proofing business operations against rising casket costs.
• Funeral Home Lending Program Specialized conventional loan program designed exclusively for funeral providers, offering financing solutions including goodwill financing, with loan amounts typically ranging from $5-20 million to bridge the gap between traditional and SBA financing.
• Continuing Education State-approved continuing education courses for funeral directors to maintain licensure and complete required professional development hours.
• Agent Training In-person and online preneed funeral sales training programs designed to help agents build skills and confidence in selling preneed funeral products to families.
• Your Journey Forward Aftercare program designed to support families beyond the funeral experience, launched in partnership with funeral home partners to provide ongoing bereavement and family support services.

Quantifiable outcome

• 99% customer satisfaction rating
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Milestone Funeral PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 May 2026Sales Manager Julie Williams received the Outstanding Partnership Award for building a culture centered on collaboration, innovation and service. Julie played a key role in launching Your Journey Forward, Homesteaders' aftercare program designed to support families beyond the funeral experience.
• Dunn Funeral HomecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 May 2026Owner Tim Dunn received the Legacy of Service Award for nearly four decades of dedication to serving families with compassion, professionalism and unwavering care. His service extends beyond the funeral home through involvement with local organizations, churches, youth programs and charitable initiatives.
• ChptrcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 14 May 2026Homesteaders partnered with Chptr and National Funeral Directors Association for The First Call campaign, a national initiative recognizing funeral professionals for their role in supporting families through loss. The campaign featured Tom Tierney in Times Square.
• National Funeral Directors AssociationcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 14 May 2026Partnership with National Funeral Directors Association for The First Call campaign to bring visibility to funeral directors who work behind the scenes supporting families through loss.
• Simply Easier PaymentscoreTechnology or IntegrationIndependent credit card processor enabling policy owners to make one-time payments, recurring payments, or early payoffs via credit/debit card or ACH/E-Check. Homesteaders uses this third-party platform for payment processing.
• Funeral Home Lending Program PartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHomesteaders offers a Funeral Home Conventional Loan Program designed exclusively for funeral providers, recognizing that funeral home value often lies more in goodwill than physical assets. This specialized financing fills the gap between traditional and SBA financing.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Funeral Directors Life Insurance Company: Funeral Directors Life is one of Homesteaders' closest direct competitors, offering preneed life insurance and annuity products exclusively to funeral homes and funeral directors. Both companies are mutual-owned, focus on the same niche, and compete head-to-head for funeral home partnerships across the U.S.
• Sentinel Security Life Insurance: Sentinel Security Life is a smaller direct peer offering preneed and final expense insurance products distributed through funeral homes and independent agents, competing for the same funeral home partnership relationships as Homesteaders.
• Assurity Life Insurance: Assurity offers final expense and simplified issue life insurance products distributed through agents and funeral service partners, directly competing with Homesteaders' preneed funding portfolio on product design and target customer.
• Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance: Lincoln Heritage is a leading direct competitor in the final expense and preneed funeral insurance market, marketing directly to consumers and through funeral homes. It competes on similar whole life and simplified issue products aimed at funding funerals.
• National Western Life Insurance: National Western Life is a direct competitor offering final expense and preneed whole life products through independent agents and funeral directors. It overlaps with Homesteaders in product structure and distribution model in the preneed/final expense niche.

Broad incumbents

• StoneMor Inc. StoneMor operates cemeteries and funeral homes nationally and sells preneed products. It is a broad incumbent in the death care space and a relevant comparison point for Homesteaders' vertically integrated insurance-and-services model post-Park Lawn.
• Mutual of Omaha: Mutual of Omaha is a large mutual insurer offering final expense and simplified issue life insurance products. It is not niche-focused like Homesteaders but competes for the same end consumer in the final expense category.
• Service Corporation International: SCI is the largest funeral services and cemetery operator in North America. Following Homesteaders' acquisition of Park Lawn, SCI is both a competitor in funeral home operations and a counterpart customer/preneed partner at scale.

Emerging players

• Foresters Financial: Foresters Financial is a fraternal life insurer offering whole life insurance products with overlap into final expense and preneed-adjacent coverage. It is smaller in the preneed funnel specifically but addresses a similar customer need.

Others

• Tribute Technology: Tribute Technology is a funeral home software and technology provider partnered with Homesteaders on The First Call campaign. It is adjacent rather than directly competitive, but is part of the broader funeral professional ecosystem Homesteaders serves.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/myhomesteaders

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Homesteaders