As your trusted insurance advisor, I know the importance of having information when making financial

decisions. Below you will find articles I’ve collected, over the past several months, regarding the current

insurance market. Please review the third party articles and ask yourself the following questions:

losing their financial stability?

losses tied to derivatives contracts and a steep slide in insurance premiums. Net income for the Omaha, Nebraska-based insurance and investment company fell to $940

million, or $607 per Class A share, from $2.6 billion, or $1,682, a year earlier. Operating profit fell 13 percent to $1.93 billion, or $1,247 per share, from $2.21 billion,

or $1,434. On that basis, analysts on average expected profit of $1,477 per share, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue tumbled 24 percent to $25.18 billion. Results

suffered from $991 million of after-tax losses tied mainly to contracts designed to make money if junk bond stay out of default and stock indexes rise.– Reuters

5/5/2008

Progressive profit declines 33% on investment losses – Bloomberg 1/21/09 By Erik Holm and Andrew Frye

© 2009 Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved.

profit fell 33 percent after an investment loss in December of $247.8 million.

to rising bodily injury severity. Although just one more data point, we think this supports our thesis that cost shifting trends now underway have hospitals

and medical providers seeking to make auto insurers pay full freight for their claims. The result: accelerating medical severity trends, in turn fueling

bodily injury claim costs are driving down margins. We are some 3-12% below 2008 consensus estimates at ALL, SAF and PGR.

Allstate Reports $1.13B Loss; To Eliminate 1,000 Positions. BY MARK E. RUQUET

NU Online News Service, Jan. 29, 10:10 a.m. EST

The Allstate Corp. reported a fourth quarter loss of $1.13 billion and

says it plans to eliminate 1,000 positions in the next two years in

response to the economic downturn.

Reporting its fourth quarter results, the company said its income loss

came in at an estimated $1.13 billion compared to net income of $760

during the same period of 2007. This translated into loss income per share

of $2.11 compared to earnings per share of $1.36 the year before.

Consolidated revenues during the period dropped 27 percent, or $2.42

billion, to $6.57 billion.

by SNL on Aug. 14, the Madison, Wis.-based insurer lost $506.1 million during the second quarter as compared to a net loss of $15.5 million in the yearago

period. American Family last posted a second-quarter profit in 2005, according to SNL data. It had previously reported quarterly

losses in excess of $100 million on three occasions since the start of 2001. The largest had been the $222.6 million the company lost in the second

SNL Financial Report

3/2/2009 ** State Farm just released their 2008 year end results. They had an underwriting loss of over $6

Billion with a decline in net worth of over $10 Billion.

in second-quarter net income as the insurer's claim payments jumped and premiums fell.

AP AIG posts 1Q loss of $7.8B, plans to raise $12.5B in capital Thursday May 8, 5:32 pm ET By Stephen Bernard, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- American International Group Inc. said Thursday that it swung to a first-quarter loss of $7.81 billion because of losses tied to credit

swaps and mortgage-related operations and that it plans to raise a total of $12.5 billion in new cash to shore up its capital base. AIG, the world's biggest

insurer, will raise $7.5 billion through an offering of common stock as well as equity units. The equity units will consist of subordinated debt securities

and contracts that require the holders to purchase AIG stock at a future date.

June 4, 2009 Hartford Financial Services Group said on Thursday that CEO and chairman Ramani Ayer,

under pressure from shareholders as the 199-year-old insurer struggles with record losses, would retire by the end of the year.The

Hartford, Connecticut-based life and property insurer, set to receive up to $3.4 billion in taxpayer funds.

A.M. Best Revises Nationwide Group Outlook To Negative. NU Online News Service, Jan. 28, 1:17 EST. A.M. Best

Co. has revised the outlook of Nationwide Group to negative from

stable due in part to the historical impact of storm losses on the group

coupled with reduced investment income.

Loews to Inject $1.25 Billion Into CNA Insurance; CEO to Step Down Early

October 27, 2008 The nation's seventh largest commercial lines insurer, CNA Financial Corp., reported a $331 million net loss for the

third quarter chiefly due to catastrophe claims and investment losses and said it will receive $1.25 billion from its parent, Loews Corp.,

to bolster its main insurance unit, Continental Casualty. - Source: CNA Financial Corp.

November 3, 2008 Los Angeles-based Mercury General Corp. has announced its results for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2008.

Net loss in the third quarter was $130.5 million, compared with net income of $63.3 million in the same period for 2007. For the first nine

months of 2008, net loss was $73.8 million, compared with net income of $193.2 million for the same period in 2007. – Insurance

Journal

November 11, 2008 - Quarterly profits nosedived by nearly 99 percent at Boston-based Liberty Mutual group, which saw its third

quarter earnings fall to $6 million - down from $404 million in the same quarter last year.

Allied World Assurance Co. Holdings, Ltd., which closed on its acquisition of Darwin Professional Underwriters in October, reported a

net loss of $46.4 million for the third quarter ending Sept. 30, 2008 compared to net income of $109.0 million for the third quarter of

companies that have done business with Brooke. While the Department will

request these insurers to notify California consumers of the status of

their coverage, the process may take several weeks, and is not a substitute

and 12‐2 for renewals

for renewals.

Zurich is the parent company to Farmers

Relative to all this, Zurich performed better. The Group, which until last week had been relatively unscathed by the volatility of the past months,did not

escape this panic, and our share price dropped 88 Swiss Francs, or 29% over the week. While this drop represents the largest drop in Zurich's share

price since July 2002 the circumstances are very different. Then the drops were as a result of our poor performance and weak balance sheet. Now the

global insurers.

Farmers' strong performance leads to Moody's upgrade 12/2/2008

Moody's Investors Service upgraded the insurance financial strength (IFS) ratings of members of the inter-company pool

of Farmers Insurance Group "Farmers or the Exchanges") to A2 from A3, and the surplus note debt rating of Farmers

Insurance Exchange to Baa2 from Baa3.

According to a Moody's press release, "The rating outlook is stable," and "The upgrade reflects the improved current and

prospective business and financial profile of the Exchanges." The rating agency noted the Exchanges' "improvements in

the areas of profitability, reserve adequacy, and financial flexibility which have benefited from the group's efforts to reunderwrite

its books of business and exit complex, highly volatile commercial lines of business.

mortgage market and moved it to more conservative investment products. Companies, like AIG, stayed in too

long and now are part of the notorious “bail out”.

the highest priced insurance but will always provide a product that is sound financially and offered at a fair

price. Farmers and their agents have more products available to the consumer than most insurance

Farmers recently purchased Bristol West Auto Insurance Company and has seen over a 30% increase in new

business.