We know that if we successfully achieve our other four strategic objectives, "To grow the company," "To be known as a great place to work," "To be known as helpers of people," and "To be known as the leading provider of service to the funeral industry," that good financial results will naturally follow.
To most people, the objective of achieving "good" financial results is ambiguous and overly broad. However, in 2001, as our management team struggled with the definition of this goal, we decided that the meaning of "good" depends on economic conditions, stages of our Company's life cycle, investment opportunities in new endeavors, and other environmental factors. In fact, we determined that having losses in certain years could be considered "good" financial results.
Though the economic crisis of 2008 presented its challenges and setbacks, we are very pleased with the financial results that have followed. Our financial position has remained strong and stable while other companies have had to take drastic measures to remain in business. Our A.M. Best rating remained steady at A- (Excellent), and operationally, FDLIC significantly out-performed the previous year's results. Impairments reported on holdings impacted by our nation's second-worst financial crisis in history amounted to less than 0.8% of the Company's assets. We feel that considering the economic environment, these are astoundingly good financial results, and we are very optimistic about what the future holds.