Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance said Wednesday it has approved a dividend payout of almost $5 billion for participating policyowners for 2012, the second largest payout in company history.
That's an increase of more than $125 million over its expected 2011 payout. About 90 percent of the dividend will go to permanent life insurance policyowners, while disability insurance policyowners will receive $252 million. Other categories receiving dividends are term life ($120 million), long-term care insurance ($12.8 million) and fixed and variable annuities ($27 million).
The company credits that payout to careful underwriting, rigorous expense management, diversified investing, and strong performance in other operating fundamentals.
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"As a mutual company, we don't have stockholders whose demands we need to meet," says John Schlifske, chairman and chief executive officer of Northwestern Mutual. "Our only priority is to help create security and value for our policyowners— the people who own our products."
Schlifske says Northwestern will probably pay more permanent life dividends than the next two companies combined.
"We are one of a few companies who pay dividends on term life, long-term care and disability insurance. It's another example of how we live by a set of mutual values unlike anyone else in the industry," he says.
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