Knights of Columbus St. Theodore Guerin Council 14057 Palos Heights, Illinois.

St. Theodore Guerin Council 14057
St. Alexander Parish • Palos Heights, Illinois • (708) 448-4861 Ext. 400

D. Todd Minard, PGK, FICF
Field Agent
Phone (708) 955-2362
todd.minard@kofc.org
Membership not required to call.

THE FINANCIAL BEACON

FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SUPREME KNIGHT AT THE 129TH SUPREME CONVENTION, AUGUST 2, 2011

In addition to our charitable work, there is, of course, another aspect of our mission that was of vital importance to our founder, Venerable Michael McGivney. It is the way in which we help our members provide financial protection for their families. In this area, the past year has been absolutely extraordinary. At a time when the economy is still struggling to recover from a deep recession, the exceptional strength of our insurance program is the rock on which a growing number of Catholic families build their futures.

Why should you protect your family with Knights of Columbus life insurance? It starts with the fact that for all the measurements that determine a company's strength and reliability, there is simply no more highly rated insurer in North America than the Knights of Columbus.

We earn our top ratings in good times and bad, because the Knights of Columbus insurance program is run by brother Knights for brother Knights.

Our life insurance in force has doubled over the past decade, hitting $80 billion on April 21, 2011. This tremendous growth has raised our standing among the largest companies in America. In 2011, we climbed 29 spots on the Fortune 1000 list of America's largest companies. We now have an overall rank of 900.

Such an increase is not surprising given our economic performance.

Over the past five years, the life insurance industry as a whole has seen a 6.8 percent decrease in sales. But during that same time, Knights of Columbus life insurance sales have grown by 20.7 percent. We are outpacing the industry as a whole by more than 25 percent. We succeed despite the poor economy for many reasons. But central to our success is our commitment to ethical business practices and sound, sustainable and ethical investing. When Knights buy our insurance, more than 96 percent keep our insurance, secure in the knowledge that it's the best place to be. Our lapse rate last year was just 3.6 percent, less than half of the industry average of 7.3 percent.

During the past year we have developed new products to meet the evolving needs of our families in the 21st century. Among those new products are "Income Armor," our new disability income insurance plan; a new "Ten-Pay" life insurance policy which offers a fully paid-up policy after just ten years of premium payments; and an interest-only payout option for our annuities - a very valuable option for those who are approaching retirement age.

Another major reason for our success is the skillful work and careful strategy of our investment staff. During the past year, we invested nearly $12 million every day. Overall, we invested $2.924 billion in 2010, and although interest rates softened, our new purchase rate was 4.39 percent.

People sometimes think that Knights of Columbus life insurance provides a benefit only when you die. In fact, our insurance members receive excellent returns on their policies during their lifetimes. We pay one of the highest dividend rates in the industry. During 2010, we paid death benefits of $253 million. But we paid out to our insurance members dividends of more than $338 million. Since our founding in 1882, we have paid over $3.1 billion in death claims. And we have paid more than $10.5 billion in living benefits.

"Saving Catholic Families from Financial Ruin since 1882"