Forward Mutual Insurance Company

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June means Dairy Breakfasts!

Forward Mutual supports June Dairy Month

June is Dairy Month and to quote June the Cow, “You haven’t experienced summer in Wisconsin until you’ve had breakfast on a farm!” Forward Mutual agrees and each year is proud to support the Watertown Agri-Business Dairy Breakfast. This year’s breakfast will be held June 18-19 at the Mike and Anna Gudenkauf Farm. Join the fun!

Not in the Watertown area? Below is a list of tasty farm breakfasts in our operating territory. And if you’re further still, here’s a list of breakfasts throughout Wisconsin.

Get out and celebrate June Dairy Month!

Columbia County Moo-Day Brunch
June 18, 2016
Columbia County
Saturday, June 18, 2016; 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM

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Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Our Mothers…

They guide us, care for us and worry about us. They make our house a home and fill it with love. They are the special people in our lives.

Forward Mutual wishes to thank mothers everywhere for all you do. May your Mother’s Day be as special as you!

Forward Mutual in Washington DC

Forward Mutual in Washington DC

Representing Forward Mutual were (seventh from left) Sarah Mueller, Lois Wiedenhoeft and Howard Wiedenhoeft

Forward Mutual is proud to have recently participated in a 15-member Wisconsin Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (WAMIC) delegation in Washington, D.C. They met with members of the Wisconsin congressional delegation to educate lawmakers on the issues facing insurers and their policyholders in the state.

Representing Forward Mutual were President and CEO Lois Wiedenhoeft, Claims Manager Howard Wiedenhoeft and Customer Service Manager Sarah Mueller.

The visits were organized by the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) as part of their grassroots advocacy program the Congressional Contact Program (CCP). This unique grassroots lobbying effort, now in its 31st year, allows representatives from NAMIC member companies to meet one-on-one with their elected officials and their staff.

Throughout the day Forward’s representatives met with Wisconsin lawmakers to discuss protecting the state-based system of insurance regulation, natural disaster mitigation and addressing the regulatory uncertainty regarding insurance company use and coverage for unmanned aircraft systems.

Plant a Tree for Earth Day 2016

Earth Day 2016
This Friday, April 22, is Earth Day, a day we celebrate our natural environment and inspire one another in continuing its care. Because this year’s theme is Trees for the Earth, Forward Mutual not only invites you to plant a tree, but we also have a few suggestions on how to do so.

Why Plant Trees Around Your Home?

Not only do trees add a welcoming beauty to your landscape, they also reduce your heating and cooling costs, provide a home for wildlife, clean the air, and add economic value to your property.

Planting trees is a very forward-thinking thing for homeowners to do!

How to Plant Trees Around Your Home

  1. Choose a tree that is in harmony with your purposes. Is it for beautification? Screening? Shade? Food? While some property owners value fruit and nut trees for their food, others consider them “messy.”
  2. Verify the species is native to our Wisconsin climate and appropriate to the size of your house and yard. Certain species cannot tolerate cold winters. Others need adequate room to grow in width or height—be sure to consider the full size of the mature tree.
  3. Protect your home from tree branches and roots. Ask the nursery the best planting distance from your house for each species you buy.
  4. Plant leafy shade trees on the southeast, southwest and west side of your house. These provide summer shade as the morning sun rises overhead and then settles in the hot afternoon.
  5. Plant evergreens on the north and northwest side of your house. These provide a windscreen to protect you from cold winter winds.

Happy Earth Day from all of us at Forward Mutual!

What Exactly is a Mutual?

FarmMutual adA question recently came up as to the difference between a mutual insurance company and a stock-owned insurance company. The primary difference is that a mutual is owned entirely by its policyholders—those that pay premiums to receive insurance—and a stock-owned company is owned by a limited amount of shareholders. While a mutual earns profits for all its policyholders, a stock-owned company earns profits only for those few that own its stock.

The concept of mutual insurance companies originated in England in 1696. Less than 50 years later Ben Franklin helped introduce mutual insurance to the United States. By the 1870s, when Wisconsin was still in its early statehood, immigrants began settling the area and building homes and farms. They heated their homes with a wood fire, cooked with a wood fire, and used oil lanterns for light. Fire was a great risk for these homesteads. As a result, the state of Wisconsin allowed the formation of town mutual insurance companies.

Forward Mutual is a town mutual insurance company. It originated in the 1870s as two companies; the Town of Watertown Mutual Fire Insurance Company and Ixonia Mutual Fire Insurance Company. Today Forward is one of 64 mutual companies associated with the Wisconsin Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (WAMIC) and one of more than 1,400 companies with the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC).

All of this is very impressive, but what does it mean to you, the individual property owner?

As a mutual insurance company, Forward follows a “neighbor helping neighbor” policy. It’s a sharing between the company and its policyholders the responsibility of protecting property owners. As NAMIC explains, “Policyholders who work with a mutual have a shared purpose: getting the best coverage and protection available. And mutuals deliver…because we serve policyholders, not shareholders. Our decisions are always based on what’s best for you.”

If you have any questions about being part of this mutual sharing, give Forward a call at 920-261-6616. Or contact any one of our independent agencies that are proud to sell our product.