Good morning. Welcome to the 2018 annual meeting of the stockholders of Primerica. I am Rick Williams, Chairman of the Board, and now call this meeting to order. The board has appointed Ms. Deborah Baker to act as our Inspector of Elections. Ms. Baker, please stand. Thank you. At this time, I am pleased to introduce our directors. Please stand as I call your name. John Addison, CEO of Addison Leadership Group and former co-chief executive officer. Joel Babbit, co-founder and chief executive officer of Narrative Content Group. George Benson, former president of the College of Charleston and our lead director. Senator Saxby Chambliss, a partner at the law firm of DLA Piper. Gary Crittenden, a private investor and a former managing partner and chairman of HGGC. Cynthia Day, the President and CEO of Citizens Bancshares Corporation and Citizens Trust Bank.
Mark Mason, the Chief Financial Officer of the Institutional Clients Group of Citigroup. Beatriz Perez, SVP and Chief Public Affairs, Communications, and Sustainability Officer for The Coca-Cola Company. Glenn Williams, the company's chief executive officer. Barbara Yastine, a private investor. Thank you. I'd like to recognize Bob McCullough, who has been a director of the company since March 2010. He joined the board of directors immediately prior to the completion of our initial public offering, and he served as our first audit committee chairman. Bob is retiring from the board and will not be standing for re-election. Although Bob could not be with us today, we would like to thank him for his years of distinguished service. Seated to my left is Stacey Geer, Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel, Chief Governance Officer, and Corporate Secretary of the company, who will act as secretary of this meeting.
I'd also like to introduce our other senior executives who are with us today. Peter Schneider is our President. Greg Pitts is our Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Alison Rand is our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Thank you. At this time, I am pleased to introduce Scott Stein of our independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG. The Inspector of Elections has reported that holders of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of common stock as of the record date are present in person or represented by proxy. A quorum is present, and the meeting is duly convened. Each of you were provided with a copy of the agenda and procedures for conducting today's meeting. If you did not receive one, please raise your hand and you will be provided with a copy.
According to Ms. Stacey Geer, notice of the meeting was distributed on or about April 5th, 2018, to all stockholders of record on March 21, 2018. A list of all stockholders of record as of that day is available for inspection by stockholders at any time during the meeting. There are three matters for consideration today. These matters are listed in the notice of annual meeting that is attached to the proxy statement. Under our bylaws, certain procedures must be followed for director nominations and other business proposals to be brought before the meeting. No nominations or other proposals have been received other than those described in the proxy statement. Nominations for directors are closed and no proposal other than those described in the proxy statement can come before the meeting.
Only holders of the common stock on March 21st, 2018, the record date for this meeting, or persons holding a valid proxy for such shares may address the meeting. If you are a record holder and you have voted by proxy, you do not need to complete a ballot in person at this meeting. If you wish to revoke a proxy previously submitted and vote in person, or if you have not previously submitted a proxy and wish to vote in person, please raise your hand and a ballot will be brought to you. It is now 10:04 A.M. The polls are now open for anyone who wants to cast a vote or change an earlier vote. The stockholders will consider the proposal in our proxy statement to elect 11 directors to serve until the annual meeting of stockholders in 2019.
Information about each nominee is contained in the proxy statement, along with the recommendation of the board for the election of our 11 nominees. Is there any discussion on this slate of directors? I see that there are no questions at this time. The stockholders will consider the proposal in our proxy statement to approve, on an advisory basis, our executive compensation or say on pay. Is there any discussion on this proposal? I see that there are no questions at this time. The final item of business is consideration of a proposal to ratify the appointment by the audit committee of KPMG LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm to audit the financial statements, books, and records of the company for the fiscal year ending December 31st, 2018. Mr. Stein of KPMG is available to answer questions. Is there any discussion on this proposal?
I see that there are no questions at this time. I hereby declare the polls on the matters presented at this meeting are now closed as of 10:06 A.M. today. The proxies will be held in the possession of the Inspector of Elections. The Inspector of Elections will now count the votes. Glenn Williams, our CEO, will now make a few remarks.
Thank you, Rick. Good morning, everyone. At Primerica, we have a clear purpose. That's to create financially independent families. The need for what we do is greater on Main Street today than ever before. Our focus is to continue to build on the strong growth we've experienced and achieved over the last few years. In order to accomplish this mission, we must continue to expand distribution. In 2017, we increased our life insurance license sales force by 8% to over 126,000 representatives. Our investment sales force grew 3% to over 24,000 representatives. This distribution growth drove positive results in both term life and investment and savings production. In 2017, we issued 313,000 new policies, up 5% over 2016, bringing our face amount in force to $764 billion. We also invested a record $6.2 billion on behalf of our clients, bringing client asset values to $61 billion.
This strong business performance allowed us to continue to effectively deploy capital. We increased our quarterly dividend to $0.20 per share in 2017, with a further increase to $0.25 per share in the first quarter of 2018. We also repurchased $150 million of stock in 2017, retiring 4% of our common stock outstanding. Our plan is to repurchase around $200 million of stock in addition to stockholder dividends in 2018. In 2017, we experienced another year of strong financial results. Our diluted adjusted operating EPS grew 22% to $5.52, and ROAE expanded 20.6%, giving us an ROE among the best in our industry. Our total stockholder return remained strong at 48% for one year and 259% for five years, both periods ending 12/31/2017. As we look forward, our business fundamentals are strong, and we're well-positioned to achieve solid distribution growth and operational results for our shareholders.
I feel good about our opportunities for the future. Thank you for your continued support of Primerica.
We will now report on the results of the voting. Ms. Geer, do you have the preliminary report of the inspector?
Yes, I do. The inspector reports that more than 96% of the votes cast at this meeting have been voted for the election of each of the 11 directors recommended and nominated. Over 99% of the votes cast at this meeting have been voted on an advisory basis in favor of our executive compensation. Over 99% of the votes cast at this meeting have been voted for the ratification of the appointment of KPMG as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the 2018 fiscal year. The inspector will furnish me with a written report of the final vote count with respect to these matters, which will be included in the minutes of this meeting. Final results, including the results for each director nominee, will be included in a Form 8-K filed with the SEC within four business days, and it will be posted on our investor relations website.
Thank you, Ms. Geer. I declare the report of the inspector is approved, that based on the preliminary results, the nominees for directors have been duly elected, the advisory vote on executive compensation has been approved, and the appointment of KPMG for fiscal year 2018 has been ratified. Glenn Williams and I will now begin the question and answer period. Glenn, please join me at the podium. If you are a stockholder and wish to ask a question, please raise your hand and a microphone will be brought to you. Please state your name, the number of shares you own, or for which you hold a valid proxy. If you represent an institutional owner, please also state the name of your firm. Please adhere to the two-minute time period and the limit of two questions per stockholder, as described in the meeting procedures, as a courtesy to all present.