Talk:Northwestern Mutual

Company name

According to the company website:

Copyright 2005, The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company/Northwestern Mutual, Milwaukee, WI. All rights reserved. 720 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202-4797 - (414) 271-1444. The Northwestern Mutual Financial Network is a marketing name for the sales and distribution arm of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, its affiliates and subsidiaries. — Preceding unsigned comment added by BaronLarf (talk • contribs) 17:35, 28 June 2005 (UTC)

Page Title

I manage interactive marketing for Northwestern Mutual and would like the community's input on a possible change. There is a difference between Northwestern Mutual and Northwestern Mutual Financial Network. They are not the same thing. All the content on the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network page is about Northwestern Mutual, not the Financial Network. But the Northwestern Mutual page in Wikipedia redirects back to the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network page, and given the current content, it should be the other way around. I think it would make sense to move the current content on the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network page to the Northwestern Mutual page, and then change the redirect. Your input would be appreciated on whether such a change would be appropriate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Northwesternmutual (talk • contribs) 21:09, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Untitled

Note: This page appears to have been edited several times by Northwestern Mutual Life employees

NPOV

I removed some links and tagged the article with a POV check template, following a double revert regarding a recent contribution by user Policyowner, who has made similar entries to other articles across wikipedia. Could another party please look in to the neutrality of this? Thanks! Sulfur 20:26, 19 July 2006 (UTC)

Importance Scale

I assessed the importance of the article as being between Mid and High; I somewhat arbitrarily broke the tie in favor of High. It was recently changed to Low. I would argue that it is at least a Mid importance article. Comments?

Here are the anchor descriptions from Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wisconsin/Assessment#Importance_assessment:

• High - The article is about the most well-known or culturally or historically significant aspects of Wisconsin. Adds articles to Category:High-importance Wisconsin articles
• Mid - The article is about a topic within the Wisconsin field that may or may not be commonly known outside the Wisconsin community. Adds articles to Category:Mid-importance Wisconsin articles
• Low - The article is about a topic that is highly specialized within the Wisconsin field and is not generally common knowledge outside the community. Adds articles to Category:Low-importance Wisconsin articles

Edurant 00:29, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

When you assessed it at high, I thought of it as being somewhere in between too. I would definitely say at least mid. --Benn Newman 01:16, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Edurant, I was the one that changed the article from high to low (the comments are left on the comments subpage) as I felt in the context of Wisconsin it was not particularly important. While it may get some visibility outside of Wisconsin, it is likely extremely low given their minimalist advertising campaigns. However, I felt, but did not write, that it was somewhere in between low and mid (and I tend to rate lower when I think it could be either). With that, raising the importance from low to mid would be fine with me. Any other thoughts? --Andymarek 03:07, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

I think Mid is much more reasonable. Miaers 02:00, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Advertising?

This article reads like an excerpt from a promotional brochure. Possibly should be reworded or removed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Roman1766 (talk • contribs) 01:10, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Rename

The content of this article was moved from Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, see that talk page Talk:Northwestern Mutual Financial Network for historic discussions. Sargdub (talk) 22:06, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

All the discussion (along with its history) has been moved here now. Graham87 07:56, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Old page history

Some old page history that used to be at the title "Northwestern Mutual" can now be found at Talk:Northwestern Mutual/Old history. Graham87 08:03, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

History Section

I am the corporate archivist for Northwestern Mutual and would like the community's input regarding a changes to the "History" section content. Reviewing this section, I noticed an inaccuracy in the last sentence of the last paragraph. The company name change to "Northwestern Mutual" occurred in 2000, not 2001. I would like to change this date to reflect the correct year. I would also like to edit the section content to remove the repetitive use of the word "company". Any input would be appreciated.Nmarchivist (talk) 17:58, 8 May 2015 (UTC)

Removing POV

I removed some POV today and did some copyediting. This article read WAY too much like a press release, and it is only partly fixed. I don't believe all the information that I removed is not worthy of inclusion, but a complete rewrite of that material was beyond the scope of what I can take on right now, and it was far too close to the press releases and very promotional in tone to be included here. Contributors are advised to avoid conflicts of interest and request changes on the talk page (as User:Nmarchivist has done). Also, we should avoid primary sources, namely information directly from Northwestern Mutual. -- ke4roh (talk) 14:15, 12 May 2015 (UTC)

Additional Changes and Updates

I would like to get the community’s input on a few additional changes. The data in the information box is five or more years old and should be updated with our current figures. I also need to update the listings for the company’s available products and services in the introductory paragraph. In addition, in the fourth paragraph under “History”, I would like to remove the reference to the Frank Russell Company, which Northwestern Mutual sold in December 2014. Lastly, I need to correct information regarding our historical product offerings in the first sentence of the last paragraph under “History”. I appreciate any input you can give. Nmarchivist (talk) 14:50, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Northwestern Mutual/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

==Reassessment on May 16, 2007== After reviewing the article, it seems to rely mostly on one source and contains little information about the company short of a brief overview. Thus, I am lowering its class from B to Start. Additionally, the importance of the article in the scope of Wisconsin is probably too high. If one were to attempt to get a general understanding of the state, this would rank low in the articles one would read. As a result, I am also lowering the importance from High to Low. --Andymarek 03:21, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Substituted at 01:08, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

Updated Historical Information and Ratings

I have a few changes I would like to get the community's input on. Under the "History" section, I would like to include additional information related to our product line expansion in the 2000s. This requires adding a paragraph of text between the current fourth and fifth paragraphs. I would also like to add a second section titled "Ratings" that would include the company's most recent rating's information. Additionally, I need to update a few of the citations that are out of date. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.Nmarchivist (talk) 17:17, 20 July 2016 (UTC)

Add CEO name

On November 11th or 16th a user changed the name of our company CEO in the callout box. The change was removed, but now the CEO name is blank. Can an editor add his name back in or revert to the version prior to when the inaccurate change was made? The text should read "Key People: John Schlifske, chairman and CEO, and Greg Oberland, president". ~~Nmarchivist~~

I fixed it. Thanks for calling out the problem. -- ke4roh (talk) 13:33, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

New updates

Hello –

I’m part of the communications team at Northwestern Mutual. We have a few items that would need to be updated to reflect this page. I have included links to several third party articles.

Under “History” in the second to last line, where it states “In 2015, Northwestern Mutual began construction of the Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons.” We’re suggesting that follows up with “The Tower and Commons opened on August 21st, 2017.”

Under the “Financial Standings” section, the industry ratings that need to be updated are: Fitch Ratings AAA (highest), 11/2016 Moody’s Investor Service, Aaa (highest), 1/2017 S&P Global Ratings of AA+ (second highest), 6/2017

Currently, it states that NMIS is ranked 6th among independent broker-dealers. This should be changed to 5th to reflect their 2017 report.

Thank you.

Zeljannm (talk) 15:59, 29 August 2017 (UTC) NM Comm

Hi - just wanted to follow up on this again. Thank you.

Thanks for the input! I included a note that the building was completed, but I removed the entire financial standings section because it seemed to me to be primarily sourced from PR Newswire which just regurgitates press releases and so doesn't really count as a reliable source. It's not clear to me, as a non-financier, what stats are worthy of inclusion, and I would rather not invite the selection bias we should expect by taking from NW Mutual press releases. That said, if we can come up with a financial press assessment of NW Mutual's standings, that would be relevant. -- ke4roh (talk) 13:33, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

References

2019 updates

Hello, we're part of the media relations team at Northwestern Mutual and wanted to make some updates to the content on this page. We'd like to work with administrators on this page that have helped us in the past so we're making sure the updates adhere to Wikipedia's content guidelines. Thank you!

Edit request

We would recommend updating the top section with additional information about the company's products and updating some of the content already included in there, like the FORTUNE accolades. Northwestern Mutual (The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company) is a financial services organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The financial security company provides wholistic advisory services on wealth and asset income protection, education planning, retirement planning, investment advisory services, trust and private client services, estate planning and business planning. With $272.2 billion in assets, $28.5 billion in revenues, and $1.8 trillion worth of life insurance protection in force, Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to more than 4.5 million people with life insurance, disability income, and long-term care insurance; annuities; investments; and investment advisory products and services. The company manages $128 billion of investments owned by its clients and held or managed through its wealth management and investment services businesses. Northwestern Mutual ranks 111 on the 2019 FORTUNE 500 and is recognized by FORTUNE® as one of the “World’s Most Admired” life insurance companies in 2019 . Would it be appropriate add in a section about the company's operations? This section explains what a mutual company is, how it functions and recent company updates in its operations. A mutual organization, Northwestern Mutual operates for the benefit of its clients and policyowners and has no outside shareholders . As a mutual, the firm distributes a portion of its earnings to eligible policyholders as annual dividends. Northwestern Mutual has paid dividends to policy owners every year since 1872, and the company’s 2018 dividend payout was $5.3 billion. Northwestern Mutual leads the industry in both life and disability income insurance dividends paid to policy owners. Northwestern Mutual’s core product is permanent life insurance, which offers lifelong protection that builds cash value over time . It is solely distributed by a national network of financial advisors. The firm combines mutuality, financial strength, a nationwide field force and long-term product value to enable clients to plan for a financially secure future. In 2018, Northwestern Mutual achieved milestones in its effort to improve the financial security experience for clients. These included reducing underwriting time and introducing the Planning Experience, enabling clients to see their entire financial picture anytime, anywhere. References

Thank you,

NM-MediaRelations (talk) 21:15, 8 November 2019 (UTC)

Reply 19-NOV-2019

  Edit request declined  

• Portions of the proposed text were found to be insufficiently paraphrased from the source material. All additions to an article must be placed using an editor's own words and phrases.
• Kindly rewrite your proposal, taking care to ensure that all sources are properly paraphrased, and feel free to submit that proposal at your earliest convenience.

Regards,  Spintendo  23:17, 19 November 2019 (UTC)

2020 updates

Hello, I'm part of the media relations team at Northwestern Mutual and wanted to request some updates to the content on this page. We'd like to work with administrators to ensure the updates adhere to Wikipedia's content guidelines. Thank you!

Edit request

We'd like to add a new section titled "Northwestern Mutual Subsidiaries" featuring the following information: Mason Street Advisors, LLC, SEC-registered investment advisor for Northwestern Mutual Series Fund variable annuity and variable life products. Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company, long-term care insurance. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company, LLC manages Northwestern Mutual's investments in publicly traded debt and equity securities, privately placed debt and equity securities, interests in private equity funds, mortgage loans and real estate equity. Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, broker-dealer, registered investment advisor, member FINRA and SIPC. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company, financial planning, investment advisory and trust services, federal savings bank. William at Northwestern Mutual (talk) 18:50, 25 January 2020 (UTC) May 2020 - COI editor requesting page updates Please see following some requested edits for Northwestern Mutual's Wikipedia page, including third-party references wherever possible. I look forward to the Community's review and feedback. Thank you About Northwestern Mutual Northwestern Mutual (The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company) is a financial services firm based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The company provides: financial planning and advice, including retirement planning and estate planning life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and annuities wealth and asset management, including investments With $290.3 billion in assets, $29.9 billion in revenues, and $1.9 trillion worth of active life insurance protection, the company works with more than 4.6 million clients. Northwestern Mutual manages $161 billion of investments owned by its clients and held or managed through its wealth management and investment services businesses. Northwestern Mutual ranks 111 on the 2019 FORTUNE 500 and was recognized by FORTUNE® as one of the “World’s Most Admired” life insurance companies in 2020. The company’s services and products are offered through several subsidiaries: Mason Street Advisors, LLC, which is an SEC-registered investment advisor for Northwestern Mutual Series Fund variable annuity and variable life products Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company, offers Northwestern Mutual's long-term care insurance Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company, LLC manages Northwestern Mutual's investments in public and private debt, private equity and real estate. Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC, the company's broker-dealer, which is also a registered investment advisor and member FINRA and SIPC Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company, provides financial planning, investment advisory and trust services, and is a federal savings bank Kosterberg (talk) 18:45, 1 June 2020 (UTC) Operations As a mutual organization , Northwestern Mutual operates for the benefit of its clients and policyowners and has no outside shareholders. The firm distributes a portion of its earnings to eligible policyholders as annual dividends. One of the company’s primary products is permanent life insurance, which is distributed by Northwestern Mutual financial advisors. In 2018, Northwestern Mutual reduced underwriting time and introduced an online digital platform for clients. Kosterberg (talk) 18:50, 1 June 2020 (UTC) Northwestern Mutual Leaders John E. Schlifske – Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Tim Gerend – Executive Vice President and Chief Distribution Officer Ron Joelson – Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer Kosterberg (talk) 18:51, 1 June 2020 (UTC) Financial Ratings Northwestern Mutual has the highest financial strength ratings currently awarded to U.S. life insurers by all four of the major rating agencies: A.M. Best , Fitch , Moody’s and S&P Kosterberg (talk) 18:49, 1 June 2020 (UTC) Northwestern Mutual Tech & Innovation Since launching in 2017, Northwestern Mutual Future Ventures, Northwestern Mutual’s venture capital arm, has invested more than $50 million in 18 tech startups. In 2019, the company partnered with Accenture, Advocate Aurora Health, Johnson Controls, Kohl's and Rockwell Automation to form the MKE Tech Hub Coalition, a not-for-profit effort focused on attracting and retaining leading tech talent in the Milwaukee region. Northwestern Mutual Studies and Research Northwestern Mutual regularly publishes research examining U.S. adults’ attitudes and behaviors toward money, financial decision-making and caregiving. Company History Northwestern Mutual was founded as the Mutual Life Insurance Company of the State of Wisconsin on March 2, 1857. Originally located in Janesville, Wisconsin, the company relocated to Milwaukee in 1859. By 1865, it was operating throughout the Midwest and had entered the East coast, and the board of trustees changed the company’s name to The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. In 1864, the company paid its first dividends to policy owners. It again paid dividends in 1867 and 1870, and has done so annually since 1872. For the first half of the 1900s, Northwestern Mutual focused on life insurance. In 1969, the company began offering disability insurance, and by the late 1970s a series of retirement annuities were available. In the 1990s, the company introduced long-term care insurance, and in 2000, the company changed its name to Northwestern Mutual. In 2015, Northwestern Mutual began construction of Northwestern Mutual Tower and Commons, which opened in 2017. Kosterberg (talk) 16:14, 1 May 2020 (UTC) I really don't think there should be a section on Company Accolades, as per WP:NPOV, at least not without WP:DUEWEIGHT. The subsidiaries seems like a list of non-notable subsidiaries, although some of them could be worked into the prose of the article itself. The philanthropy section seems extremely promotional, especially since there is not really any reliable coverage mentioned in WP:SECONDARY sources (every source mentioned in the section is either a primary source or not independent, i.e. written by someone who is paid by Northwestern mutual except for the one by Gores). There are too many WP:PRIMARY sources throughout. Also, the list of leaders is just a list of non-notable people who who have a high position in the company, that really should be limited to the president and others if they are independently notable. There is a lot of work you have to do to make this WP:NPOV; as another example, the statement "The company leads the industry in both life and disability income insurance dividends paid to policy owners" is cited to one primary source and one source that says "The payout is expected to lead the industry," and is one for one year, not for an indefinite amount of time implied in the quote. The about and history sections look better, although there are still NPOV issues there as well. Overall, there needs to be a more neutral point of view and less use of primary sources. Zoozaz1 (talk)00:53, 9 May 2020 (UTC) Kosterberg (talk) 18:59, 1 June 2020 (UTC) References

Reply

This is an improvement over the previous draft, although I still think there needs to be a few more changes to make sure the draft conforms to WP:PROMO. Specifically, in the Operations section, I would suggest removing "Northwestern Mutual has paid dividends to policy owners every year since 1872, and the company’s 2019 dividend payout will be $5.6 billion," as while that interests policy owners, it likely does not interest a general encyclopedia reader. In the Financial Strengths section, I it would be better to phrase it as "Northwestern Mutual has the highest possible financial strength ratings awarded to U.S. life insurers by all four of the major rating agencies," as the current phrasing says that its ratings are better than any other life insurer, but New York Life has similar ratings. Also, I don't think it would be a good idea to include the specific rankings of each agency, as to me that sounds more like WP:PROMO rather than following WP:NOTSTATS. With the subsidiaries, as per WP:CLOSEPARAPHRASE, you have to change the wording so it isn't a copy from Similarly, the same problem exists in the about section. After you fix that, I could start integrating your proposal into the article. Zoozaz1 (talk) 22:07, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

Reply to Editor feedback

• Removed specifics on dividends
• Changed reference to ratings and removed specific ratings
• Edited About/Operations sections to address wording so it isn't a copy

Please let me know if the overall proposed changes can now be integrated into the actual article. Thank you for working with me on this. Kosterberg (talk) 11:57, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

I added most of it into the article. I split up the Operations and About section into different sections and put the Leaders section in the infobox. I didn't add "As a mutual organization , Northwestern Mutual operates for the benefit of its clients and policyowners and has no outside shareholders" Wikipedia is not a reliable source, and for a statement like that you would need a reliable third party source. I also didn't add its status as a World's Most Admired company, which doesn't really say much as it is among hundreds of others. Zoozaz1 (talk) 17:17, 18 July 2020 (UTC)

Thank you .

Two final small requests.

1. The article opens with the phrase "THE Northwestern Mutual" --- can we please remove "THE" --- the company name is simply "Northwestern Mutual"

2. Some of the numbers in the breakout box are outdated. Could we please update? The correct numbers per NM's publicly disclosed financial results are as follows

Revenue -- (YE 2019) -- $29,855 million Net income (YE 2019) -- $1,268 million Employees (2020) -- 6,000+

Kosterberg (talk) 15:23, 14 September 2020 (UTC)

 Done Zoozaz1 (talk) 15:26, 15 September 2020 (UTC)

Three more small requests please:

1. In the "Key people" section that is now in the infobox, can we list only the CEO (John Schlifske) and remove the other two names?
2. Can we remove the "Marketing" section. NM no longer sponsors the Rose Bowl Game, and the 'top-level' domain information seems irrelevant to the average reader
3. Can "Technology" be called "Technology and Innovation" given the content pertains not just to tech per se but to innovation more broadly given the VC investment activity?

Thank you Kosterberg (talk) 14:49, 24 September 2020 (UTC)

 Partly done I agree that the marketing pertains more to investment, so I've moved it to investment and innovation to be a bit more neutral. I've deleted the marketing section and moved the content to the history section, and I've removed the two key people. Zoozaz1 talk 23:07, 25 September 2020 (UTC)

References

March 2021 - COI editor requesting page updates

Section to be updated: History

Current text: As of 2020, the company had $290.3 billion in assets, $29.9 billion in revenues, and $1.9 trillion worth of active life insurance protection and the company worked with more than 4.6 million clients. They managed $161 billion of investments owned by its clients and held or managed through its wealth management and investment services businesses.

Requested update: “As of 2021, the company had $308.8 billion in assets, $31.1 billion in revenues, and $2 trillion worth of active life insurance protection and the company worked with more than 4.75 million clients. They managed $200 billion of investments owned by its clients and held or managed through its wealth management and investment services businesses.”

Section to be updated: Awards and honors

Forbes has updated its rankings. Northwestern Mutual is now ranked #368.

Suggested new text: Northwestern Mutual was ranked #368 among America's Best Large Employers 2021 by Forbes.

Request for section to be removed: Annual Meeting performers

Can this section please be removed? There is no sourcing for it, and the Annual Meeting is not a public event so it has little to no relevance for the general Wikipedia audience.

Kosterberg (talk) 13:20, 11 March 2021 (UTC)

 Done Caius G. (talk) 11:55, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Thank you Caius G.. One small edit was missed -- the Forbes ranking is now 2021 (not 2019). Kosterberg (talk) 13:49, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Kosterberg, thanks, fixed it. Caius G. (talk) 14:18, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Thanks again Caius G. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kosterberg (talk • contribs) 15:05, 15 March 2021 (UTC) Kosterberg (talk) 15:09, 15 March 2021 (UTC)