National Life Insurance Company Named a Top Performing Insurance Company

National Life Insurance Company has been named one of the Ward Group's Top 50 performing insurance companies for 2009.

Ward Group is a leading provider of benchmarking and best practices services to the insurance industry.

Annually, Ward Group analyzes the financial performance of over 3,100 property-casualty insurance companies and over 800 life-health insurance companies domiciled in the United States and identifies the top performers in each segment. This group is called the Ward’s 50 for the year. Each Ward’s 50 company has passed all safety and consistency screens and achieved superior performance over the five years analyzed.

The Ward’s 50 life-health group of insurance companies produced a 13.5% return on average equity from 2004 to 2008 compared to 6.4% for the life-health industry overall.

“Volatility in the investment portfolios, economy and competitive landscape has forced companies to evaluate many of their business strategies,” explains Jeff Rieder, President of Ward Group. “In selecting the Ward’s 50, we identify companies that pass financial stability requirements and measure their ability to grow while maintaining strong capital positions and underwriting results.”

Safety and Consistency Tests

Insurance companies are evaluated and must pass minimum thresholds to be considered for the Ward’s 50 designation. Each company must pass the following primary safety and consistency tests:

• Surplus and premiums of at least $50 million for each of the five years analyzed
• Adjusted net income in at least 4 of the last 5 years. (life-health)
• Risk-based capital ratio of at least 150% (life-health) for each of the five years analyzed
• Compound annual growth in premiums between -10% and +40%

Performance Measurements

Companies that pass the safety and consistency tests are measured and scored on the following elements:

• Five year average Return on Average Equity
• Five year average Return on Average Assets
• Five year average Return on Total Revenue
• Five year growth in Revenue
• Five year growth in Surplus

Managing Growth and Profitability

An important objective of the Ward’s 50 is to compare their performance as a group with the rest of the industry. Compared to the industry as a whole, the benchmarks set by the Ward’s 50 life-health group of companies were nearly three times more for total surplus growth and two times more for premium income growth. Net premiums written grew 10.1% compared to the industry’s 1.8%. “The results for the Ward’s 50 benchmarks indicate that companies are able to grow the business profitably in changing market conditions,” Mr. Rieder said.

For information on Ward's 50:
http://www.wardinc.com/wards50/

This information may include forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the foward-looking statements. Ratings are as of July, 2009 and are subject to change without notice.

TC50513(0709)