Northwestern Mutual is a financial services company founded in 1857. In its initial days, the company established its office in Wisconsin. Later, however, in 1869, the company relocated to Milwaukee. Northwestern Mutual was founded by John Johnston and offered life insurance products in its early days, through the 20th century.

By 1969, the company began offering disability insurance and before the 1980s, retirement annuities were offered as employee benefits. In the 1990s, the company began offering long-term care insurance. By 2000, the company changed its name from Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance to Northwestern Mutual. In 2001, the financial services company launched a fully-owned subsidiary called Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company. The subsidiary is a federal savings bank and offers a range of financial products and services like investment management services, fee-based financial planning services, business retirement plans, as well as trust and private client services.

In 2015, the financial services company bought LearnVest, a financial planning company, for more than $250 million, and began the construction of Northwestern Mutual Towers and Commons, a 550-foot, 32-story office in Milwaukee. The office began operations in 2017. The financial services firm was ranked at the 367th spot for America’s Best Employers Awards by Forbes in 2019.