text: **H**ow do you secure the future when the present is 
  
  puzzling enough? It’s a big challenge, and The Hartford’s 
  
  primary objective. Everything we do is designed to help 
  
  our customers deal with the uncertainties that lie ahead. 
  
  The Hartford believes the best way to secure the 
  
  future is to provide customers with the right products, 
  
  and then back those products with outstanding per- 
  
  formance and great service. Staying focused on this 
  
  objective was never more important—or more chal- 
  
  lenging—than in 2001. 
  
  True to form, The Hartford’s life operations’ annu- 
  
  ities and mutual funds delivered high-quality perform- 
  
  ance in a time of market turmoil. Despite an anemic stock 
  
  market, 87 percent of the funds in The Hartford’s Director 
  
  variable annuity remained in the ﬁrst or second quartile 
  
  of three-year returns within the Lipper Peer Group in 
  
  2001. Sixty-four percent of the funds in the Leaders suite 
  
  of annuities and 91 percent of The Hartford’s mutual 
  
  funds remained in the ﬁrst or second quartile over the 
  
  three-year period. 