Company Distinctions

Accolades

• Maintained the highest available ratings for insurance financial strength from all four major rating agencies: Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings, A.M. Best, and Moody's Investors Service.
  
  
• Earned FORTUNE^® magazine's "America's Most Admired" for the 25th time within the life/health insurer category, with the added distinction of being the only company to lead its industry every year it has been included in the survey. (March 2008)
  
  
• Ranked among the top 50 Global All-Stars in Fortune International magazine's survey of most admired companies. (March 2007)
  
  
• Rated #1 among "Service Companies to Sell For" by Selling Power magazine; for five years in a row, ranked among the magazine's "The 50 Best Companies to Sell For." (November 2007)
  
  
• Earned the highest score among U.S. Life Insurers in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. (February 2008)
  
  
• Ranked among Vault Inc.'s Top Ten Internships in America for its financial representatives program for the 12th consecutive year. (July 2007).

About Risk-Protection Products

• Based on 2007 performance, the total company dividend expected to be paid in 2008 will exceed $5 billion.
  
  
• New life insurance premium sales increased 39% in 2007, aided by a record amount of new single-premium life insurance sales.
  
  
• The company rated high in a key indicator of client satisfaction with a policy persistency rate of 96.4% for life insurance in force in 2007, a level expected to remain among the highest in the industry.
  
  
• New individual disability insurance premium sales exceeded $50 million in 2007, an 8% increase.
  
  
• Individual disability insurance dividends of $160 million are expected to be paid out in 2008, a 45% increase from 2007.
  
  
• New long-term care insurance premium sales increased 19% to $29 million in 2007.
  
  
• For the second consecutive year, Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company will pay dividends: an estimated $6 million in 2008 — $2 million more than in 2007.

About Investment Products

• New sales of investment products by Northwestern Mutual Investment Services and Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company increased 27% in 2007, reaching almost $12 billion.
  
  
• Investment product client assets grew 13% to $50 billion at year-end 2007.
  
  
• Annuities sales grew 11% to almost $1.3 billion in 2007. Annuities assets under management grew 7% to $14.8 billion at year-end 2007.
  
  
• Russell Investment Group's assets under management grew to $228 billion at year-end 2007. The Russell Investment Group, an affiliated company of Northwestern Mutual, provides investment management and advisory services.

About Recruitment

• The company attracted more than 1,800 new financial representatives in 2007, a record number, bringing the total of full-time financial representatives to nearly 7,000.