 |
| The roots of American Fidelity Corporation trace back to the early
20th century to a small tenant farm in southwest Oklahoma. The cotton
fields of Mangum served as the backdrop for my grandfather’s
experiences as a teenager that inspired his dedication to build what
would become one of the largest private, family-owned life and health
insurance companies in the nation.
My grandfather,
C.W. Cameron, was forced to drop out of school and work to provide
for his parents and siblings after an accident left his father disabled.
It was during this time that my grandfather realized the importance
of providing financial security for working Americans. His experiences
pressed him to open an insurance agency and later expand it to
a company to provide voluntary insurance to employees at their
worksite. In 2005, American Fidelity Assurance Company (AFA), the
flagship business in our corporation, celebrated its 45th anniversary
by continuing to reach its niche markets with four core products:
disability income insurance, annuities, life insurance and supplemental
health insurance. We are committed to remaining a vital financial
security link for Customers in Oklahoma, the United States and around
the world.
|
 |
| I was pleased with our results in 2005, as AFA recorded its highest
pre-tax income in company history.
I am proud
of the continued growth in our core market within the primary and
secondary education community. We achieved a record number of Customers
in 2005 while expanding our market reach. I am also pleased with
our market acceptance as we rolled out new approaches in the automobile
dealer arena, another core market. We especially saw good results
from this line of business in the latter part of the year. Our relatively
small – but growing – niche market in off-shore life
insurance continues to develop nicely. And our Mississippi operation,
American Public Life, showed dramatically improved performance over
the previous year.
In addition, AFA once again earned the distinction of being the
highest-ranked insurance company on Fortune magazine’s list
of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America.
This honor is an outgrowth of our company’s commitment to
be an employer of choice.
|
 |
| We have plenty of momentum as we head into 2006. In many ways, I
see the year as a continuation of the considerable progress we made
in 2005.
We will continue
to focus on growth in our education market, and I am excited about
the opportunities we will see in several new states where we are
increasing our market share. In our auto market, we will roll out
even more new strategies to reach additional associations and enhance
our growth. Additionally, I expect to see the further maturation
of our newer operations, American Public Life and AFAmeriLife.®
Throughout our company, we will concentrate on expense reduction.
The combination of new business and automated processes will help
lower our cost per premium dollar so that we will see the benefits
of our work in the years to come.
|
| |
|
|
PDF version
