2025 Policyholder Newsletter
A Message from our President
A Time of Thanksgiving
As we prepare for our annual holiday newsletter, we are generally working on respective articles around Thanksgiving. This year seems more appropriate to share with you why we here at the Mutual of Wausau Group are thankful.
As we have shared in our recent policyholder newsletters, the financial performance of your mutual insurance companies has been producing the largest underwriting losses in history. Granted this is relative when looking at results in dollars, but on a ratio analysis basis, this remains a true statement. We have outlined over the past two years all that has been implemented to change this unwelcomed trend. I am happy to report to you that we are seeing signs that the work being done is beginning to appear in our financials for 2025. Through September of this year, we are still reporting an underwriting loss, but in comparison to the previous year, it is a marked improvement. For the first time since early 2023, the Group has had two back-to-back profitable months, being August and September. As I write this article, it also appears that October will make it three consecutive. Overall, with a little luck for the remainder of the year, we may yield a small underwriting profit, which hasn’t occurred since 2022. Either way, we do feel we will ultimately add to surplus this year, which also hasn’t occurred since 2022. We are thankful for the recent indications of a return towards profitability.
We are also thankful for you, our policyholder owners. If you are insured by either company, as a policyholder you know that the last two years have yielded a lot of changes to your respective policies including significant changes in price. Thank you for staying with the Mutual of Wausau Group! If you are new to the Group this year, thank you for choosing us! Wisconsin has a very robust property and casualty insurance marketplace, and we are one of many options so thank you for choosing the Mutual of Wausau Group!
We are also thankful for the leadership of your respective boards of directors. What makes most mutual insurance companies unique is that the Board of Directors is comprised of policyholders. For the Mutual of Wausau Group, we are no different. In fact, the respective Bylaws of Mutual of Wausau Insurance Corporation and Homestead Mutual Insurance Company require board members to be policyholders. Their job is to represent you as our other policyholder owners. This past summer in 2025, the combined Board of Directors met to discuss the future and work on the next iteration of its business plan. At this meeting, a historical decision was made to merge the two companies into one. We have asked many things from you, our policyholders, but the Board and Management felt it was time that we could do more as an organization to reciprocate. The concept of the affiliation is a good and sound one, but it doesn’t come without a cost. The leading factor in the decision to merge was to cut internal costs and remove duplicity because of the very nature of having two companies. Frankly, two companies doing the same thing, 88 miles apart.
So effective December 31, 2025, the Mutual of Wausau Group will cease, and Homestead Mutual Insurance Company will merge with and into Mutual of Wausau Insurance Corporation. At the point of the merger, all staff will be retained, but we will begin consolidating efforts and removing duplicate costs as we proceed throughout 2026. Please see the related merger announcement article for additional information.
As we enter 2026, we will have officially turned 150 years old, two days after Christmas on December 27th, 2025. We had a great open house celebration back on August 2l8t commemorating this milestone. On January 1st 2026, four short days later, Mutual of Wausau Insurance Corporation will remain as the single entity supporting over 33,000 policies. The combined premium will be roughly $45 Million and supported by roughly $33 Million in surplus. I am happy to report that your combined mutual insurance company will be more efficient in the new year and healthier as we embark on the next chapter of this 150-year-old story! Stronger as one!
Todd Lentz, President and CEO
Edition Highlights
Underwriting News & Developments
Marketing Updates
Claims & Loss Control Recap
150th Celebration
Policyholder Programs
Merger Announcement
Access the full publication here:
2025 Policyholder Newsletter