Fraternity-Testvériség, 2005 (83. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)
2005-07-01 / 3. szám
Page 3 Fraternity- Testvériség The President's Corner Greetings members! Since I started serving you, I have attended numerous Hungarian-American events in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, as well as attended the Bethlen home dedications, the Ministers’ conference, the HRFA Annual Picnic and Golf Tournament, and the NFCA National Congress. I have met with many branch managers, members, as well as our Board. I have seen extraordinary love for our Hungarian heritage, as well as seen the many unpublicized good deeds done by the HRFA fraternal members. Wow! You are blessed with belonging to a wonderful organization. Some of you (over 500) have received a personally signed letter from me with your premium notices relating to our substantial financial strength. HRFA has more than four times the surplus of the leading fraternal in the US. Our surplus was 26%, whereas the rest of the industry is between 5%-10%. Surplus is that money which is over and above that required to meet policy obligations as determined by actuaries. We plan to maintain a high surplus level so that your policies will be safe long into the future. While our HRFA is very sound in terms of assets and the current financial security of our organization is above that of most fraternals, we need your ongoing support in order to obtain new memberships and to provide additional new services and insurances to existing members such as yourself. If you like the work HRFA has done and want to ensure that it is able to provide these services to the American and Hungarian American communities for many many years to come, please turn to your branch managers with all of your financial needs to see how we can provide additional products and services to meet them (or contact us at HRFA@HRFA.org). Within the next six months we will move into providing financial information and planning services to you so that we can serve you even better. Please fill out both sides of the questionnaire on page 25 and send it to me. I will personally read your responses. Jules Gyula Balogh Report of the Secretary-Treasurer The HRFA Board of Directors decided to obtain our insurance license in the State of Florida because it is a good market for our life insurance and annuity products. With the help of Mr. Doug Eckley and Miss Silvia Fedor of the Treasury Department, I was able to file all the necessary documents, business plans, and proforma statements in order to obtain our license. It has been a tremendously arduous and long process, but I am certain that our efforts will be rewarded through increased sales. With the assistance of former Board members, Mrs. Clara Csikesz and Mr. Tibor Nagy, both of whom have homes in Florida and know that state well, our success is certain. Since HRFA is domiciled in the District of Columbia, we work closely with the DC Insurance Commissioner and his staff. Unfortunately, Mr. Lawrence Mirel, the DC Insurance Commissioner, just resigned to enter private practice. He understood well our fraternal organization and attentively listened to our views. He decided to audit HRFA every five years instead of every three years which results in huge future savings in auditing costs. One such audit costs HRFA $70,000 and usually takes more than five months. Obviously, we will work hard to convince the next Commissioner to continue Mr. Mirel's decision. The offices of the Treasury Department have been consolidated on the second floor of the Kossuth House in our home office. Miss Erika Mason, our underwriting, claims and mortgage administrator, moved her office upstairs so that we can operate most effectively as a team. Mrs. Eva Princi, our newest employee, is also located on the second floor. She works well in processing commissions and premium receipts. I am thankful that Mr. Eckley, who has been fighting cancer, is doing well. He files our quarterly and annual reports with the eleven states where we sell insurance. Notwithstanding his medical challenges, he works extremely hard to meet the deadlines for filing set by the various insurance commissions. He also helps me monitor our investment performance.
