October, 1931 



THE I. A. A. RECORD 



Page Thirteen 



^~^t» 



Country Life Insfurance Company 



An Example of What Farmers Can Do 

 ; I Through Co-operative Effort 



li. A. Williams 



lower than any other company in the 

 legal reserve field. 



The company is capitalized at 

 $125,000 with the Illinois Agricultural 

 Holding Company owning the stock. 

 Stock in the Holding Company is held 

 by the I. A. A., County Farm Bureaus, 

 and Farm Bureau members. Control is 

 in the hands of the I. A. A. 



On the strength of this set-up it is 

 possible to produce life insurance at 

 cost. Profits are returned to the policy 

 holder instead of the stockholder, since 

 the latter is limited to 7 per cent pre- 

 ferred dividends. 



The Farm Bureau demanded a com- 

 pany in which it could have confidence 

 because many farmers had purchased 

 unstable protection only to find that 

 rates would raise, or to find that some 



IN 1930 and 1931 many weak or- 

 ganizations in the business world fell 

 by the wayside. Some managed to pull 

 through with heavy losses. Only a few 



showed a healthy 



growth. Country 



Life Insurance 



Company is among 



the few that has 



made substantial 



progress. It stands 



out among the 



sound financial 



institutions of the 



country. 



Country Life 



throughout the 



depression has con- 

 tinued to show an increase in new paid 

 for business. It continued to hold its 

 lapse of business 

 down to an as- 

 tonishingly 1 w 

 figure. It paid 

 dividends not re- 

 quired in the con- 

 tract. Country 

 Life now has in 

 excess of $43,- 

 000,000 of insur- 

 ance in force 

 counting the busi- 

 ness in process. 



Business writ- 

 ten this year is 

 only three-quar- 

 ters of a million 

 below the 1930 

 figures for the 

 same period. The 

 Company expects 

 to approach the 

 amount of paid 

 business of last 



year by the end of this year. This was assessment company had gone out of 

 $15,715,750. In 1931 the company business. An additional reason was that 

 paid $46,000 in dividends to 1929 poli- even when members did buy legal re- 

 cy holders, although the contracts called serve insurance they purchased high 

 for no dividends until the end of the priced investment policies rather than 

 third year, which would have been one straight life protection because they had 

 year later. no one to advise them. There was a 



All policies issued by Country Life great need for guidance as well as pro- 

 pay dividends. This includes ordinary tection. That need is supplied by Coun- 

 life, 20 pay life, 20 year endowment, try Life, 

 endowment at age 65, and 12 year term Inasmuch as the board of directors of 



C'roHH Mectioii f>f Citiintry liife iiiiiiii office Mlio^vinK ne^v 



in IxifkKroiiiiil. 



insurance issued once a year. 



Country Life is a legal reserve life 

 insurance company created in answer to 

 the demands of Farm Bureau members 

 for reliable low cost life insurance. Its 



the I. A. A. could not endorse a life 

 insurance company over which it had 

 no control, it decided to operate its own 

 company. The wisdom of this action 

 has since been demonstrated. The suc- 



rates on participating life insurance are cess of Country Life can be explained 



in part by economical management, 

 sound investments with good interest 

 return, careful selection of risks, and 

 low mortality, as well as a good volume 

 of new business. 



L. A. Williams has been manager of 

 the company since its beginning. Dr. 

 John W. Boland has been its medical 

 director. They have had charge of ac- 

 quisition and selection of risks, result- 

 ing in an excellent showing. In 1929, 

 $17,000 in death claims were paid out, 

 with $19,000,000 business put on the 

 books. In 1930, $48,000 was paid in 

 death claims with a total of $3 5,000,000 

 business on record. 



One of the important features of 

 Country Life is its non-medical busi- 

 ness. The term non-medical does not 

 imply the taking of any risk without 



examination. It 



does, however, 

 eliminate the cost 

 of the $5 medical 

 fee as fixed over- 

 head in the under- 

 writing expense. 

 More than two- 

 thirds of the 

 company's busi- 

 ness is done on 

 the non-medical 

 blank. This non- 

 medical state- 

 ment, however, is 

 supplemented by 

 two investigation 

 reports, which 

 give the company 

 the necessary in- 

 formation and save 

 approximat e ly 

 $3. 50 in the under- 

 writing expense. 

 If it were not for the 96 active agen- 

 cies established as a part of the County 

 Farm Bureaus, a company just begin- 

 ning in 1929 would have perhaps been 

 20 years in getting the volume of busi- 

 ness on its books that has been effected 

 in Country Life in 2^ years. The 

 early acquisition of large volume has 

 reflected a tremendous saving to policy 

 holders. Commissions on this business 

 are all paid to County Farm Bureaus, 

 who in turn pay the agents. Nearly ~^ 

 a half million dollars has been paid 

 Farm Bureaus in commissions to date. 



Another advantage the Farm Bureau 

 has given Country Life is co-operation 

 in the organization of a sales force 



biiNiuet*!* department 



