Edward J. Zore
President and Chief Executive Officer
Northwestern Mutual's tradition of delivering financial security to policyowners and clients led to another outstanding year for your company.
The year 2007, in which Northwestern Mutual marked its 150th anniversary, was one of our strongest years ever. This is extremely gratifying since it followed exceptionally strong results in 2006. We view these great back-to-back years as clear evidence that our financial representatives are effectively meeting needs and delivering financial security to our clients.
In 2007, sales increased in every Northwestern Mutual product category. As a whole, our risk-protection products — life insurance, disability insurance, and long-term care insurance — were up a healthy 12%. Sales of investment products increased 27%, and sales of annuities rose almost 11%.
We surpassed a significant milestone in providing value to our policyowners when our Board of Trustees approved a dividend payout in excess of $5 billion to our participating policyowners in 2008. This marks the fourth straight year we will pay a dividend interest rate of 7.5% on unborrowed funds for most permanent life insurance policies. It also marks the second consecutive year the Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company will pay dividends on participating long-term care policies.
With over 150 years of experience investing on behalf of our policyowners, we value the trust you place in us. As investment markets respond to problems with sub-prime mortgages, we can assure you that our exposure has been minimal. Despite the global credit problems that have rocked the financial markets, we remain financially strong, earning the highest available ratings for insurance financial strength from all four major rating agencies in 2007 — Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings, A.M. Best, and Moody's Investors Service.
Northwestern Mutual is honored to be the company that allows millions of people to sleep better at night, knowing their loved ones and all the dreams they have for them are protected.
Edward J. Zore | President and CEO
