November 6, 1886 Charles M. Turner founds the Security Mutual Life Association. The fundamental objective of the entity—to sell a high quality product at a competitive price. The Company was established as a "mutual" life association not as a stock company so that policyholders, not private investors, would share in profits.
January 3, 1887 Security Mutual Life Association opens its doors
for business, located in two small offices in downtown Binghamton, New York. On this day the first policy was sold. It was a policy that today would be recognized as a one-year renewable term policy. The death benefit was $1,000.
1889 Security
Mutual Life becomes the first
company in the nation to
offer disability benefits.
This helped to establish
the Company as an innovator
in the industry.
April
22, 1898 The Company's
name is changed to Security
Mutual Life Insurance Company.
September
7, 1900 Once again, Security
Mutual Life lives up to its reputation
of being a competitive spark in the industry
by establishing the "Total Abstinence
League," offering a "preferred
class" to its members if they agreed
not to sell, use or manufacture intoxicating
liquors. The offering was a smash hit.
January 31, 1903 Security Mutual Life announces
plans for building its own 10-story headquarters.
March 12, 1904 Construction of the headquarters
begins. The main entranceway was designed after the
stone bridge depicted in the Company's emblem.
As Security Mutual Life
turns 50 The creation of the Social Security
system enables families, for the first time, to actually
plan for their insurance needs. Security Mutual Life
adapts itself to the Country's new vision of life
insurance and the widely accepted need for it as
a supplement to government and private benefits.
1940 Being an innovator in the industry,
Security Mutual Life is among the first life insurance
companies to create a separate health department.
Within weeks Security Mutual Life offers accident
and health coverage in addition to traditional life
insurance.
1944 Security Mutual Life pioneers
another line of business: Group Coverage. Soon thereafter
Security Mutual Life establishes a contributory plan
for life insurance and hospital coverage for Security
Mutual Life employees.
Early
1950s Security
Mutual Life becomes a leader
once again by adding a new
line of pension coverage
and offering guaranteed issue
coverage long before the
industry even had a name
for such practices.
- Becomes the first company to
issue Jumping Juvenile policies. Face amount
is $1,000 until age 21 and then jumps to $5,000.
- Becomes the first company to
offer noncancelable disability income coverage
to age 65.
1960 Security Mutual Life adds "of
New York" to its name.
1962 75 years old—$125
million in assets and $565 million of life
insurance in force.
Security Mutual Life joins with 7 other companies to give
New York State residents a nonprofit hospital-medical and
major medical insurance program for the elderly. The plan,
called the New York 65, was set up on a tax-exempt, nonprofit basis.
1969 Security Mutual Life joins
with 152 other companies in pledging to divert
$1 billion from normal investment channels
to help finance the rebuilding of center cities.
1970
$1 billion of life insurance in force.
1977 Security Mutual Life introduces
its nonsmoker premium discount, an echo of
the Total Abstinence League (discounts to non-drinkers).
1981 Security Mutual Life dedicates
a new 3-floor, 95,000-square-feet, addition
to accommodate the Company's growth.
1983 Security Mutual expands into the
worksite market by offering
employees of participating
employers the opportunity to
purchase life insurance through
the convenience of premium
payment by payroll deduction.
1986 100 Years Old—$13.1
billion of life insurance in force; $582 million
in assets; $11.5 million in dividend payments.
1992
1997 Security Mutual's subsidiary,
Security Administrators, Inc.,
established in 1983, opens its
Syracuse office. SAI provides
plan design and administrative
services to sponsors of retirement
plans nationwide.
1998 Security
Mutual Life became
one of only 155 companies
nationwide to achieve
membership in the Insurance
Marketplace Standards
Association (IMSA). This achievement
demonstrates the
Company's long-standing
commitment to serve
its customers in
accordance with high
standards of honesty,
fairness and integrity.
Security Mutual expands into the credit
union market by offering credit union
members the opportunity to purchase
life insurance with premiums deducted
from their credit union accounts.
2002 Security Mutual Life creates a Benefits
Division to provide targeted products and services—both group/employer-paid products and voluntary/employee-paid products—to the benefits management market.
2006
December 31, 2010 $30.5 billion of life insurance
in force; $2.5 billion in assets.$20.1
million in dividend payments.
2011
Security Mutual Life achieves its 125th anniversary
and its 119th consecutive year of paying dividends.
January 3, 1887
Security
Mutual Life became
one of only 155 companies
nationwide to achieve
membership in the 
