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Security Benefit history
Security Benefit company history timeline
22, 1892, they founded a fraternal association that would provide working men and women and their children with financial security in the event of a calamity.
In 1893, for example, the $165 million spent on military pensions was the largest single expenditure ever made by the federal government.
In 1894 military pensions accounted for 37% of the entire federal budget. (The Civil War pension system was not without its critics.)
1896: William B. Kirkpatrick is elected national president of the Knights and Ladies of Security, the first president to work full time for the organization.
Indeed, in 1900 there were a total of five companies in the United States (including Dolge) offering their industrial workers company-sponsored pensions.
Seager explained the principle of old-age security based on social insurance in his 1910 book, "Social Insurance, A Program of Social Reform":
In 1912, Roosevelt addressed the convention of the Progressive Party and made a strong statement on behalf of social insurance:
So much so that by as late as 1915 at most only 25% of the money spent on outdoor relief was from public funds.
1916-17: National President James M. Kirkpatrick appoints a commission to plan a first-of-its kind mutual cooperative farm with a hospital for the general membership and homes for orphans and the elderly.
1918: The Spanish influenza epidemic causes an estimated 400,000 to 500,000 American deaths with the amount of extra claims totaling more than $1.1 million.
(Prior to this time, most Federal government workers and officials were participants in the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) which came into being in 1920--15 years before the Social Security system was formed.
1922: SBA becomes one of the early adopters of punch-card equipment and one of the first companies west of Kansas City to install it.
1923: SBA begins constructing a new home office building at 7th and Harrison streets.
Located at 700 SW Harrison St since 1923, Security Benefit announces plans to build a $20 million headquarters on 50 acres on the original site of SBA Home and Hospital.
1927: The company celebrates its 35th anniversary with $3 million of insurance written in February, its best month in five years.
1928: SBA’s Topeka Council #1, with 7,756 members, is the largest local lodge of any fraternal society in America.
When the New York Stock Exchange opened on the morning of October 24, 1929, nervous traders sensed something ominous in the trading patterns.
1929: The company becomes the largest fraternal society among those admitting men and women on an equal basis and the only one providing homes for orphans and the elderly and maintaining a hospital.
After 1929, the States began enacting laws without county options.
AT&T lost one-third of its value, General Electric lost half of its, and RCA's stock fell by three-fourths within a matter of months. (It would take 25 years for the stock market to return to its pre-crash level following the 1929 crash.)
Many elderly were reluctant to "go on welfare." Restrictive eligibility criteria kept many poor seniors from qualifying. As a result, in 1929 of the six states with operating pension laws on the books only 53 of the 264 counties eligible to adopt a pension plan actually did so.
Indeed, only about 5% of the elderly were in fact receiving retirement pensions in 1932.
By 1932 seventeen states had old age pension laws, although none were in the south, and 87% of the money available under these laws were expended in only three states (California, Massachusetts and New York).
Compared to pre-Depression levels, net new business investment was a minus $5.8 billion in 1932.
With the coming to office of President Roosevelt in 1932, and the introduction of his economic security proposal based on social insurance rather than welfare assistance, the debate changed.
In 1933 he found himself unemployed at age 66 with no savings and no prospects.
Doctor Townsend published his plan in a local Long Beach newspaper in early 1933 and within about two years there were 7,000 Townsend Clubs around the country with more than 2.2 million members actively working to make the Townsend Plan the nation's old-age pension system.
Upton Sinclair was a famous novelist and social crusader from California , and an avowed Socialist, who in 1933 was asked by a dissident group of Los Angeles Democrats to help them draft a platform proposal for dealing with the state's economic problems.
On June 8, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a message to the Congress, announced his intention to provide a program for Social Security.
In November 1934 the CES sponsored the first-ever national town-hall forum on Social Security.
The best estimates are that in 1934 over half of the elderly in America lacked sufficient income to be self-supporting.
The Social Security Act In early January 1935, the CES made its report to the President, and on January 17 the President introduced the report to both Houses of Congress for simultaneous consideration.
Eighty-five years after President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935, Social Security remains one of the nation’s most successful, effective, and popular programs.
A spurt of pension legislation was passed in the years immediately prior to passage of the Social Security Act, so that 30 states had some form of old-age pension program by 1935.
The result was a rapid growth in the number of aged persons, to 7.8 million by 1935.
From the beginning of Social Security in 1935, retirement benefits have been conditional on the requirement that the beneficiary be substantially retired.
The first application forms were distributed in late November 1936.
The monumental first task was the need to register employers and workers by January 1, 1937, when workers would begin acquiring credits toward old-age insurance benefits.
Taxes were collected for the first time in January 1937 and the first one-time, lump-sum payments were made that same month.
In 1938 the successful Democratic candidate for governor, Culbert Olsen, openly supported the plan and a proposition was placed on the ballot to adopt the Ham & Eggs plan as California state policy.
The proponents of the this plan did manage did get it introduced in the House of Representatives, however, the bill died in committee in 1939 before ever reaching a House vote.
The 1939 Amendments made a fundamental change in the Social Security program.
Payment of monthly Social Security benefits began in January 1940, and were authorized not only for aged retired workers but for their aged wives or widows, children under age 18, and surviving aged parents.
But in fact, when Ida May Fuller received her first $22.54 benefit payment in January of 1940, this would be the same amount she would receive each month for the next 10 years.
1940: National Secretary J.V. Abrahams dies, and the National Executive Committee appoints his son, J.H. “Ham” Abrahams, to replace him.
From 1940, when slightly more than 222,000 people received monthly Social Security benefits, until today, when over 50 million people receive such benefits, Social Security has grown steadily.
In mid-August, 1941, Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt met secretly aboard a warship off the coast of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic.
1945: Several men and women from the home office sign up for military and government service, including National Secretary J.H. Abrahams, who serves in the United States Naval Reserves on active duty as a lieutenant during World War II.
31, 1949, the association’s 58-year era as a fraternal benefit society ends with accumulated assets of more than $28 million and surplus funds of more than $4 million.
These recomputations were effective for September 1950 and appeared for the first time in the October 1950 checks.
1, 1950, Security Benefit ends its tenure as a fraternal society and becomes a mutual legal reserve life insurance company.
Most people are aware that there are annual increases in Social Security benefits to offset the corrosive effects of inflation on fixed incomes. It was not until the 1950 Amendments that Congress first legislated an increase in benefits.
By February 1951 there were more Social Security retirees than welfare pensioners, and by August of that year, the average Social Security retirement benefit exceeded the average old-age assistance grant for the first time.
1952: The first group health policy Security Benefit issues covers its home office employees.
1953: R.G. Lewis becomes president for one year before being named chairman of the board.
1955: Security Benefit’s amount of insurance in force totals $174 million, an increase of 48% during a five-year period.
1958: Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code is created, providing tax shelter annuities for public school employees.
1961: The Security Equity Fund is incorporated on Nov.
Death information for persons who died before 1962 is generally only in the Death Index if the death was actually reported to SSA after 1962, even though the death occurred prior to that year.)
The most significant administrative change involved the signing of the Medicare bill on July 30, 1965, by President Lyndon Johnson In the presence of former President Truman, who received the first Medicare card at the ceremony, Lady Bird Johnson, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, and Mrs.
1967: The new four-story east-wing addition of the home office is dedicated at Security Benefit’s Diamond Jubilee Anniversary celebration.
1969: Associates and dignitaries gather on June 3, 1969, to dedicate “Formation,” a metal sculpture “giving witness to aggressiveness and farsightedness” as envisioned by James Bass, a native Topekan and noted Midwestern sculptor.
1970: Security Benefit introduces its first variable annuity, and the first variable annuity public shares are purchased in February by the Menninger Foundation.
1972: When the company celebrates its 80th birthday, insurance in force is more than $3 billion and surplus funds are up by approximately $4 million.
Q15: What is the "notch"? A: In 1972 a technical error was introduced in the law which resulted in beneficiaries getting a double adjustment for inflation.
31, 1974, SBL ranks eighth in size among reinsurance companies.
1975: The company celebrates $5 billion of life insurance in force and becomes the national leader in developing “stop loss” coverage through a risk-sharing arrangement with Lloyds of London.
1976: The largest insurance company headquartered in Kansas, Security Benefit ranks in the top 5% of life insurance companies in the nation.
1978: Will J Miller, Jr. takes on additional role as Chief Executive Officer of Security Benefit.
1980: Archie Dykes, former chancellor of the University of Kansas, becomes president and chief executive officer of Security Benefit.
The 1980 Amendments also required SSA to conduct periodic reviews of current disability beneficiaries to certify their continuing eligibility.
1982: The company forms a holding company, Security Benefit Group.
Recent trends also justify boosting Social Security’s payroll tax revenue: Social Security’s tax base has eroded since the last time policymakers addressed solvency in 1983, largely due to increased inequality and the rising cost of non-taxed fringe benefits, such as health insurance.
So there are still some Federal employees, those first hired prior to January 1984, who are not participants in the Social Security system.
They pay into the system just like everyone else. Thus all members of Congress, no matter how long they have been in office, have been paying into the Social Security system since January 1984.
1984: Security Benefit launches Variflex® Annuity.
1987: In January, the market value of SBL’s annuity assets exceeds the $1 billion mark.
President George H.W. Bush established the program during the first year of his presidency in 1989.
1991: Security Income Fund becomes the only mutual fund with 21 consecutive years of positive total return, earning praise from economist Sylvia Porter.
Under that 1994 law, the Councils are abolished and a permanent 7-member Advisory Board was formed to serve many of the same functions.
1995: For the first of six times, Security Benefit is named to the 1995 “Working Mother 100 Best Companies” list, the only Kansas company honored, in recognition of its child care center, wellness program, compensation, and advancement opportunities for women.
1995: Security Benefit receives a national Crystal Pyramid Award for outstanding achievement in customer satisfaction “that goes beyond simply meeting customer needs” from DALBAR, an independent research organization.
1998: Fortune magazine’s January 1998 issue recognizes Security Benefit as one of “The Top 100 Best Companies to Work for in America,” citing its commitment to community through philanthropy and volunteerism, and its pension and profit sharing package.
Requires that all federal payments (including Social Security and SSI) be made by electronic funds transfer (no more paper checks) effective January 1, 1999, unless a waiver is granted by the Secretary of the Treasury.
Indeed, there were still surviving widows of Civil War veterans receiving Civil War pensions as late as 1999!
The legislation began its swift march through Congress on March 1, 2000 when the full House of Representatives passed H.R. 5 by a vote of 422 to 0.
2000: With $11 billion in assets, Security Benefit becomes the exclusive provider of retirement savings products offered through the National Education Association to its 2.5 million members.
In his first speech to a joint-session of Congress in February 2001, the President announced his intention to appoint a Presidential Commission to recommend ways to address Social Security reform.
2001: Kris Robbins becomes president and chief executive officer of Security Benefit.
P.L. 107-171 (H.R. 2646) the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 was signed into law on May 13, 2002.
2002: The company opens its new headquarters at One Security Benefit Place.
2005: Security Benefit launches SE2, an innovative business processing and administration company that contracts with numerous insurance companies.
2010: In July, an investor group led by Guggenheim Partners purchases Security Benefit, which becomes privately owned.
Beginning on June 25, 2011, the SSA implemented a new assignment methodology for Social Security Numbers.
2011: Mike Kiley becomes chief executive officer of Security Benefit on Sept.
Total company sales for 2011 reach $2.1 billion.
That study finds that in 2012, 3 in 10 elderly Americans would be poor without Social Security, and that the program lifted more than 10 million elderly Americans out of poverty.
2017: The company celebrates its 125th anniversary, reaching nearly $35 billion in assets under management with more than $90 billion in SE2 assets under administration and more than 1,300 combined associates.
Social Security lifted 1.5 million children out of poverty in 2018, as the chart shows. (The figures in the chart use the comprehensive Supplemental Poverty Measure in order to show the full effect of non-cash benefits.
Nearly 6 million children under age 18 lived in families that received income from Social Security in 2019.
Over 64 million people, or more than 1 in every 6 United States residents, collected Social Security benefits in June 2020.
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