Ameriprise 2005 Annual Report Download - page 8

Download and view the complete annual report

Please find page 8 of the 2005 Ameriprise annual report below. You can navigate through the pages in the report by either clicking on the pages listed below, or by using the keyword search tool below to find specific information within the annual report.

Page out of 106

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • 15
  • 16
  • 17
  • 18
  • 19
  • 20
  • 21
  • 22
  • 23
  • 24
  • 25
  • 26
  • 27
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34
  • 35
  • 36
  • 37
  • 38
  • 39
  • 40
  • 41
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • 52
  • 53
  • 54
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • 60
  • 61
  • 62
  • 63
  • 64
  • 65
  • 66
  • 67
  • 68
  • 69
  • 70
  • 71
  • 72
  • 73
  • 74
  • 75
  • 76
  • 77
  • 78
  • 79
  • 80
  • 81
  • 82
  • 83
  • 84
  • 85
  • 86
  • 87
  • 88
  • 89
  • 90
  • 91
  • 92
  • 93
  • 94
  • 95
  • 96
  • 97
  • 98
  • 99
  • 100
  • 101
  • 102
  • 103
  • 104
  • 105
  • 106

To Our Shareholders:
On September 30, 2005, we launched Ameriprise Financial, Inc., successfully completing the sixth-
largest spin-off in U.S. history. Throughout our history as IDS and American Express Financial Advisors,
we have had a long tradition of serving clients. Today, I am excited about our opportunities as an
independent company, and I believe that we are poised to usher in a new era for our clients and
our shareholders.
Helping clients realize their financial goals and dreams is the key principle upon which our company
was founded more than a century ago, and it endures as our core mission today. Since 1894, we have
focused on shaping financial solutions designed to meet clients’ needs. This began with our earliest
products, the investment certificate and our first mutual funds in the 1940s, and continues today with
our ongoing position as one of the industry’s leaders in insurance and annuities. We helped pioneer
financial planning in the 1970s, and this remains our core consumer value proposition today.
Our history of serving clients, strong capital base, broad capabilities, proven business model and
experienced management team position us well to build on our legacy as one of the nation’s leading
financial services companies.
Our Opportunity: Meeting the Financial Needs of the Mass Affluent
While our advisors and financial solutions serve a broad range of client segments, from the mass
market to the high-net-worth market, the mass affluent segment is our core focus. This segment,
currently comprising approximately 29 million U.S. households with $100,000 to $1 million in
investable assets, holds more than 50 percent of the nation’s investable funds.1 It’s a large and
fast-growing demographic group2, and our research shows that 54 percent of this group prefers a
face-to-face, long-term financial planning relationship to help them define and reach their goals.
Along with the mass affluent segment, baby boomers — the 78 million Americans born between
1946 and 1964 — consistently rank planning for retirement as their most important financial need.
The first wave of boomers turned 60 on January 1, 2006, signaling the beginning of a strong market
need as the baby boomer generation faces retirement over the next two decades.
1Source: Macro Monitor 2004–2005 consumer survey prepared by SRI Consulting Business Intelligence.
2Source: BCG Wealth Market Sizing Database.
| Ameriprise Financial, Inc. 6