Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

The aggregate market value of the registrant's Common Stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant based on the closing price of the registrant's Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange and the shares outstanding on June 30, 2020,2023, was $1,481.4$1,167.8 million. 

Introduction

Measures within this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not based on accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (non-GAAP) are marked with an asterisk (*) the first time they are presented within Part I of this report.Annual Report on Form 10-K. An explanation of these measures is contained in the Glossary of Selected Terms included as Exhibit 99.1 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are reconciled to the most directly comparable measures prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) in the Appendix to the Company's Fourth Quarter 20202023 Investor Supplement.

Forward-looking Information

Statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not historical in nature are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Horace Mann Educators Corporation (referred to in this reportAnnual Report on Form 10-K as "we", "our", "us", the "Company", "Horace Mann" or "HMEC") is an insurance holding company. OurWe are not under any obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. It is important to note that our actual results could differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual resultsstatements due to differ materially from thosea number of risks and uncertainties inherent in forward-looking statements is contained inour business. See Part I - Item 1A and in Part II - Item 7 of this report.Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding risks and uncertainties.

Overview, History and Available Information

We are an insurance holding company incorporated in Delaware. ThroughOur headquarters is located in Springfield, Ill. We also operate corporate offices in Dallas, Tx., Madison, Wisc., and Cherry Hill, N.J.

Founded by Educators for Educators®, our business began in Springfield in 1945 when two school teachers saw a need to provide automobile insurance to their association members. Horace Mann Educators Corporation (HMEC) was originally named Illinois Education Association (IEA). The Company expanded its business to other states and broadened its product line to include group and individual life insurance in 1949, 403(b) taxqualified retirement annuities in 1961 and homeowners insurance in 1965. Over those first 30 years, the Company also pursued business activities outside the scope of today’s focus on educators and others who serve their communities.

HMEC was formed as an insurance holding company, and products and services were offered through its subsidiaries, we marketwhich included: Horace Mann Insurance Company (HMIC), Teachers Insurance Company (TIC), Horace Mann Property & Casualty Insurance Company (HMP) and underwrite:

In 1968, INA Corporation (INA), a Philadelphia-based insurance primarily automobile and property coveragesfinancial services corporation, acquired a 25% interest in Horace Mann. In 1974, INA began increasing its holdings of Horace Mann and by January 1975 had acquired the entire company. In 1982, INA Corporation merged with Connecticut General Corporation, forming a new holding company known as CIGNA Corporation (CIGNA). In August 1989, an investor group directed by Gibbons, Green, van Amerongen, L.P. ( subsequently Gibbons, Goodwin, van Amerongen) (GGvA) and certain members of the Company's senior management acquired what is now known as HMEC from CIGNA.

In 2019, the Company increased its market share when it acquired all of the equity interests in NTA Life Enterprises, LLC (NTA). NTA provides products and manageservices through its insurance subsidiaries, National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Company (NTALIC) and NTA Life Insurance Company of New York (NTALIC NY). In 2022, we enhanced our businessvalue proposition for school districts by acquiring Madison National Life Insurance Company, Inc. (Madison National) from its former parent, Independence Holding Company (IHC).

Today, we reach educators and others who serve their communities through a total of fivetwo divisions: Retail and Worksite. The Retail Division focuses on providing individual insurance and financial products directly to educators and others who serve the community. It includes both the Property & Casualty and Life & Retirement reporting segments. The four operating segments, representingWorksite Division provides benefits to educators and others who serve the major linescommunity through their employers as well as supplemental products distributed through the worksite channel. This division represents the Supplemental & Group Benefits reporting segment, which includes the results of insurance business, are: PropertyNTA and Casualty, Supplemental, Retirement and Life. Madison National.

We do not allocate the impact of corporate-level transactions to the four operatingthree reporting segments, consistent with the basis for management's evaluation of the results of those segments, but classify those items in the fiftha separate reporting segment, Corporate and& Other.

Also available in the Investors section of our website are our Corporate Governance Principles, Code of Conduct, Vendor Code of Conduct and other corporate governance principles, code of conduct, code of ethics, and corporate social responsibility reports,ESG commitments as well as the charters of the HMEC Board of Directors (Board), Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Executive Committee, Investment and Finance Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee. Copies also may be obtained by writing to Investor Relations, Horace Mann Educators Corporation, 1 Horace Mann Plaza, Springfield, Illinois 62715-0001. Our environmental, social and governance reporting is available through the corporate social responsibility section of our website, csr.horacemann.com.

On June 10, 2020,15, 2023, our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) submitted the Annual Section 12(a) CEO Certification to the NYSE without any qualifications. We filed with the SEC, as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019,2022, the CEO and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) certifications required under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Corporate Strategy

Our vision is to be the company of choice to provide insurance and financial solutions for all educators and others who serve their communities.communities, whether they engage with Horace Mann directly or through their district/employer. We believe the unique value of Horace Mann is providing solutions tailored for educators at each stage of their lives, empowering them to achieve lifelong financial success. Our motivation stems from our gratitude for educators: They are looking after our children's futures, and we believe they deserve someone to look after theirs. Our commitment to having a positive impact on our customers' lives extends to all our corporate stakeholders, including employees, agents, investors and the communities where we live and work.

Today, we serve approximately 470,000 educator households (approximately 600,000 total households) in roughly half of the K-12 public school buildings in our market footprint in the United States of America (U.S.), with significant opportunity to grow in this niche market. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that there are approximately 6.57.5 million K-12 public school teachers, administrators and support staff nationwide, a number thatnationwide. Horace Mann serves approximately 1 million of these households. Our customer base is steadily growing. Adjacent marketsabout 80% educators. (The remaining 20% are generally in other public sector occupations such as privatefirefighters.) The niche educator market has similar characteristics and preferred risk profiles, which allows for more precise underwriting processes and more targeted marketing operations.

A major motivator for people choosing careers in education staff may offer further opportunityis its intangible rewards: The ability to make a difference in students’ lives and contribute to the greater good and as the U.S. population increases, the need for educator positions grows proportionally. However, 86% of U.S. K-12 public schools reported challenges hiring teachers for the 2023-24 school year, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the statistical center of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES).

over time. In addition, approximately 20%The NCES reported that the biggest barriers to hiring teachers were too few candidates applying for open positions (cited by 70 percent of public schools) and a lack of qualified applicants applying for open positions (cited by 66 percent). Horace Mann research also indicates challenges to hiring and retention that include the burden of financial stress, heavier workloads due to the current U.S. educator shortage, and conflicting expectations of parents, administrators and lawmakers are driving more professionals out of the households added fromjob they love.

Our partnerships with a diverse group of national, state and local education associations also supports recruiting and retention. Working closely with the NTA acquisition are other public sector employees, such as firefighters.educational community helps us to identify emerging educator financial wellness issues and build solutions to address them.

Because of the primary focus on thisWe believe our niche market westrategy, combined with our Company's more than 75-year history serving the education market, helps us succeed in a highly competitive environment. The insurance industry consists of a large number of companies, some of which have a largely homogeneous customer set with similar characteristics and preferred risk profiles. This allows forsubstantially greater financial resources, widespread advertising campaigns, more precise underwriting processes and more targeteddiversified product lines, greater economies of scale and/or lower-cost marketing operations, amplifying the benefit of successful approaches. In addition, we have taken stepsapproaches compared to increase our value to administrators and business officials who make decisions on financial solution providers at the school district level.us.

We provide protection and Benefit Consultants Group, Inc. (BCG) as well as reinsuring a $2.9 billion block of legacy annuity business. The annuity reinsurance transaction reduced interest rate risk while releasing capital that was redeployed into higher-marginsavings products directly to educators through the acquisition of NTA.

Horace Mann is focused on meeting educators where they want to engage with us while leveraging the past few years, we have strengthened those offerings with the introductionvalue of our Retirement Advantage® open architecture platform for 403(b)(7)exclusive agency force to address educator needs. Our agents partner with their local educational community as a trusted advisor in financial wellness. Educators have specific financial challenges, such as navigating individual state teacher retirement systems, student loan debt, and other defined contribution plans, modernized our traditional life insurance products,personal spend on classroom supplies. Horace Mann shares financial education resources and made significant improvements in our automobilespecific programs to help educators address these challenges. This trusted adviser model builds particularly strong brand loyalty and property offerings.affinity.

We also offer other solutions relevant for educators. One example is Horace Mann's Student Loan Solutions relevant for mostprogram. For many educators and— particularly those new to the profession for whom— student loan debt is often substantial. Among other challenges, that debt may preclude early in career saving for retirement at the point when those savings would have the most time to grow and make a significant impact at retirement age. In 2020, Horace Mann expanded this successful program toWe offer complimentary online student loan management accounts for all educators nationwide. The programnationwide, which includes guidance on how to successfully qualify for federal student loan forgiveness available to educators.public sector employees.

Other solutions are valuableIndustry studies indicate that consumers gather information and shop for insurance using multiple sales outlets. In fact, only 20% shop solely through an agent; however, 60% of sales end with agent involvement. Our strengthened direct capabilities, available by phone or online, allow us to educators across all career stages. Many educators are concerned about the rising out-of-pocket expenses stemming from unexpected medical events. Added via the NTA acquisition in 2019, supplemental insurance products, including cancer, heart, hospital, supplemental disabilityrespond to questions or bind coverage when customers prefer that interaction. Customers can also secure auto, property and accident coverages, offer a defined dollar benefit that can be used for medical or non-medical expenses of an accident or health emergency. This can help customers address unexpected issues without needing to draw down retirement or other savings.

We aimcontinuously improve the infrastructure that supports our Retail Division. In particular, we are enhancing our digital capabilities to provide multiple complementary distribution channels to meet individual educator preferences. The largest component of this strategy isensure our local agency force, which builds strong relationships atoperation runs efficiently and educators can connect with us in the school and district level. Our more than 1,000 exclusive agents and licensed producers serve as partners to educational institutions, providing financial wellness workshops, consulting with educators and administrators, and supporting school events and activities. Our trusted adviser model builds particularly strong brand loyalty andmanner they

We provide protection products through the workplace as employee benefits or directly. The product set includes life insurance, group long- and easeshort-term disability, supplemental cancer, supplemental heart, supplemental disability, supplemental accident and supplemental hospital indemnity. Group products may be paid for by the employer, or provided as optional benefits for employee purchase. Individual products provide the opportunity for a school, district or association to make valuable financial protection benefits directly available to employees. The Division also reaches adjacent public sector markets, including firefighters and municipal employers that had been served for decades by NTA and Madison National.

Our core worksite distribution strategy is to market through the benefit brokers and others that bring employer-sponsored solutions for educators and others who serve their communities directly to employer-decision makers as part of use.the benefit design process. Our benefit enrollment teams can support the roll out of group solutions or manage the enrollment process for individual products.

WithOur understanding of the pandemic forcing most educators to work from home at least part time, we accelerated planned technologyeducational market and specialized solutions including video meetings software, enhanced e-signature capabilities, and dynamic online appointment setting tools. These upgrades made it easier for both agents and customers to conduct business online, including annual policy reviews where our agents address any new or additional coverage needs. These upgrades will serve us well in the future, allowingpackage allows us to easily pivot between in-personhelp these brokers design custom solutions that support recruitment and virtual customer engagement, dependingretention. For example, we can package our student loan solutions offering with other worksite benefits.

Following the integration of NTA and Madison National, we are focused on individual situations.ensuring the infrastructure for our Worksite Division is responsive to the needs of our distribution partners, employers, educators and others who serve their communities. In 2023, one area of focus was enhancing the platforms used by marketing partners.

Human Capital Resources

Horace Mann's missionMann has approximately 1,700 employees that work in four offices across the United States, including Springfield, Ill., Dallas, Tx., Madison, Wisc., and Cherry Hill, N.J., and throughout the country as part of helping educators achieve lifelong financial success resonates stronglyour remote workforce.

The Board of Directors' Compensation Committee oversees human capital management and DEI strategies. Our Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is the Executive Officer directly responsible for Human Capital Management. The CHRO regularly engages with our 1,490 employees. Almost 90%senior management and the Board of employeesDirectors to discuss topics involving talent acquisition, employee retention, employee engagement, total rewards, and agents said serving educators is an important reason why they work at development.

Horace Mann infosters an inclusive organizational culture for all our employees by focusing on talent attraction and retention, employee engagement, DEI education and cultural competence, community connections, and workforce development.

Our talent sourcing strategies, community partnerships, and campus outreach are strategically designed to build diverse pipelines of qualified candidate pools to meet our current and future workforce needs. We take a 2019 survey. In interactionsproactive approach to identifying, assessing, and engaging with customers, each othercandidates that have the potential to fill current and all stakeholders, we aim to reflect the core values at the heart of who we are: compassionate, trustworthy, straightforward, approachable, respectful and knowledgeable.future roles within our organization.

We believe that an engagedcomplete full, biennial employee base is criticalengagement surveys as well as pulse surveys during the year to delivergauge employee feedback on our commitment to educators and achieve our business objectives. Our strategy to attract and retain talented employees is based on offering a competitive Total Rewards package, company culture, DEI, and incentivizing high performers. This includes an annual bonus program based onorganizational goals. We take appropriate actions to respond to the feedback collected. In 2022, 74% of employees participated in our performanceemployee engagement survey. Employees identified manager support and effectiveness, department collaboration, work flexibility, and inclusion as strengths. Areas where employees encouraged additional focus were total rewards enhancements, ensuring understanding and connection to our vision and strategy, and systems and change management processes. Our team designed action plans for which all employeeseach of these areas and activities continue toward improvement.

Our cross-functional DEI Council has two executive sponsors: our CHRO, and our Executive Vice President and General Counsel. The DEI Council efforts are eligible.led by our Vice President of Talent and Culture, who is guided by our DEI Strategy Statement and supported by our Code of Conduct, and Human Rights Statement.

For the third year in a row,past four years, Horace Mann was named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which recognizes corporate commitment to transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s equality. Employee demographic information is available in the Corporate Social Responsibility section of the Horace Mann website.

Our Total Rewards strategy is based on providing competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, work/life flexibility, and robust employee training and development opportunities. All full- and part-time employees and employee agents who work a minimum of 20 hours per week are eligible for benefits, with no waiting period to access benefits. We continually evaluate our offerings against industry benchmarks and best practices to ensure our Total Rewards package helps to drive employee attraction and retention. We have no collective bargaining agreements with any employees.

Reporting Segments

Similarly, we have increased our offering of third-party vendor products in many areas to meet additional educator needs such as coverage for small business owners or classic/collector automobiles.autos.

The number of catastrophe events and the level of catastrophe losses can fluctuate significantly from year to year. Our catastrophe losses for the last five years are shown in the following table ($ in millions).

Fluctuations in catastrophe losses impact a property and casualty insurance company's claims and claim adjustment expenses incurred and paid.incurred.

Property and& Casualty unpaid claims and claim expenses (loss reserves)expense reserves (reserves) represent management's best estimate of ultimate unpaid costs of losses and settlement expenses for reported claims and claims that have been incurred but not yet reported (IBNR). We calculate and record a single best estimate of the reserve as of each reporting date in conformity with generally accepted actuarial standards.standards of practice. We engage an independent property and casualty actuarial consulting firm to prepare an independent study of our Property & Casualty reserves as of December 31 of each year. For additional information regarding the process used to estimate Property and& Casualty reserves and the risk factors involved, as well as a summary reconciliation of the beginning and ending Property and& Casualty insurance claims and claim expense reserves and prior years' reserve development recorded in each of the three years ended December 31, 2020,2023, see Part I - Item 1A - Risk Factors - "Our property and casualty loss reserves may not be adequate", Part II - Item 8, Note 7, Application of the Consolidated Financial Statements, and Part II - Item 7, Critical Accounting Estimates and Results of Operations for the Property and& Casualty Segment, forand Part II - Item 8, Note 5 in the Three Years Ended December 31, 2020Consolidated Financial Statements of this report.Annual Report on Form 10-K.

All of our reserves for Property and& Casualty unpaid claims and claim expenses are carried at the full value of estimated liabilities and are not discounted for interest expected to be earned on the reserves. Due to the nature of our personal lines business, we have no exposure to losses related to claims for toxic waste cleanup, other environmental remediation or asbestos-related illnesses other than claims under property insurance policies for environmental related items such as mold.

All reinsurance is obtained through contracts which generally are entered into for each calendar year. Although reinsurance does not legally discharge us from primary liability for the full amount of our risks, it does allow for recovery from assuming reinsurers to the extent of the reinsurance ceded. Past due reinsurance recoverables as of December 31, 20202023 were not material.

We maintain catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance coverage. For 2020,2023, our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance coverage consisted of one contract in addition to a minimal amount of coverage by the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. TheFor 2023, the catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance contract provided 95% coverage for catastrophe losses above a $25.0 million retention per occurrence up to $175.0 million per occurrence. This contract consisted of three layers, each of which provided for one mandatory reinstatement. The layers were $25.0coverage provided was 57% for the layer of $20.0 million excess of $25.0$30.0 million, 92% coverage for the layer of $40.0 million excess of $50.0 million and 95% coverage for the layer of $85.0 million excess of $90.0 million. Our 2021For 2024, our retention will increase to $35.0 million and the catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance coverage is unchanged from 2020.will provide 89% coverage for the layer of $25.0 million excess of $35.0 million, 90% coverage for the layer of $35.0 million excess of $60.0 million, and 92% coverage for the layer of $90.0 million excess of $95.0 million.

We have not joined the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). Our exposure to losses from earthquakes is managed through our underwriting standards, our earthquake policy coverage limits and deductible levels, and the geographic distribution of our business, as well as our reinsurance program. After reviewing the exposure to earthquake losses from our own risks and from what it would be with participation in the CEA, including estimated start-up and ongoing costs related to CEA participation, we believe it is in our best economic interest to offer earthquake coverage directly to our property policyholders.

For liability coverages in 20202023, we reinsured each loss above a retention of $1.0 million up to $5.0 million per occurrence andup to $20.0 million in a clash event. A clash cover is a reinsurance casualty excess contract requiring two or more casualty coverages or risks issued by us to be involved in the same loss occurrence for coverage to apply. Our 2021 liability contract provides 85%The clash event coverage is unchanged for losses of $1.0 million up to $5.0 million.2024.

We market personal lines excess liability risks. The limits of these risks are $1.0 million to $5.0 million in excess of $0.5 million of underlying automobileauto and homeowners liability coverage. We reinsureIn 2023, we reinsured these risks on a quota share basis with General Reinsurance Corporation who assumes 95% of losses, including allocated loss adjustment expenses and premiums for all states except Massachusetts.Massachusetts and Rhode Island. For business written in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the quota share portion is 75%. For 2024, the 95% quota share with General Reinsurance Corporation will be in run-off. Policies written in 2024 will be subject to a 25% quota share with Renaissance Reinsurance.

For automobileauto insurance sold in Michigan, Personal Injury Protection (PIP) unlimited coverage is offered in compliance with Michigan state law. For these risks with unlimited coverage, we participate in the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA). For risks issued in 2020,2023, MCCA reimbursesreimbursed PIP losses including allocated loss adjustment expenses in excess of $0.6 million.

ForOur property coverages, in 2020 we reinsured each loss above a retentionand casualty insurance subsidiaries are members of $1.0 million upan intercompany pooling arrangement. Pooling arrangements permit the participating companies to $5.0 million per risk, including catastrophe losses. Also, we could submit torely on the reinsurers two per riskcapacity of the entire pool's statutory capital and surplus rather than just on its own statutory capital and surplus. Under such arrangements, the members share substantially all insurance business that is written and allocate the combined premiums, losses, from the same occurrence for a total of $8.0 million of property recovery in any one event. Our 2021 property contract provides 85% coverage for losses of $1.0 million up to $5.0 million.and expenses.

Educators in our target market continue to benefit from the provisions of Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) which allows public school employees and employees of other tax-exempt organizations, such as not-for-profit private schools, to utilize pretax income to make periodic contributions to a qualified retirement plan (also see Regulation —- Regulation at Federal Level).

We entered the educator retirement annuity market in 1961 and are one of the largest participants in the K-12 educator portion of the 403(b) tax-qualified annuity market, measured by 403(b) net written premium on a statutory accounting basis. Our 403(b) tax-qualified annuities are voluntarily purchased by individuals employed by public school systems or other tax-exempt organizations through employee benefit plans of those entities.

In 2020, 49.2%2023, 45.2% of net annuity contract deposits* were for 403(b) tax-qualified annuities. At year-end 2020, 62.2%2023, 56.1% of accumulated annuity value on deposit werewas 403(b) tax-qualified. To further assist registered representatives in delivering our value proposition, we have entered into third-party vendor agreements to market 529 college savings programs and provide brokerage clearing arrangements.

Variable annuities combine a fixed account option with equity-linked and bond-linked sub-account options. By utilizing tools that provide assistance in determining needs and making asset allocation decisions, contractholders are able to choose the investment mix that matches their personal risk tolerance and retirement goals. As of December 31, 2020,2023, we had 120118 variable sub-account options including funds managed by some of the larger participants in the mutual fund industry.

In 2017, we introducedAnnuities are marketed under the Personal Retirement Planner annuity series, which includes a flexible premium deferred variable annuity, a flexible premium deferred fixed indexed annuity, a single premium deferred fixed annuity and a single premium immediate annuity. Consistent across all of these products is the elimination of any surrender charges for early withdrawal.

Effective April 1, 2019, we reinsuredWe reinsure a $3.1 billion block of approximately $2.9 billion of policy liabilities related to legacy individual annuities written in 2002 or earlier. The block includes $2.2 billion offorce fixed annuitiesand variable annuity business with a minimum guaranteed crediting rate of 4.5% that represented. The reinsured fixed business represents approximately 50% of our in force fixed annuity account balances. The arrangement contains investment guidelines and a trust to help meet our risk management objectives. Under the annuity reinsurance agreement, approximately $2.4 billion of fixed annuity reserves are reinsured on a coinsurance basis. The separate account assets under management at March 31, 2019, and $700 millionliabilities of variable annuities. The reinsurance is structured as coinsurance for the fixed annuities andapproximately $0.7 billion are reinsured on a modified coinsurance forbasis and thus, remain on our consolidated financial statements, but the variable annuities with RGArelated results of operations are fully reinsured. The annuity reinsurance agreement does not expose the reinsurer (RGA Reinsurance Company, a subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated (RGA). We determined that the

The maximum individual life insurance risk retained by our Life segment is $500,000 on any individual life, while either $100,000 or $125,000 is retained on each group life policy depending on the type of coverage.life. The excess of the amounts retained are reinsured with life reinsurers that are rated A (Excellent) or above by A.M. Best. We also maintain a life catastrophe reinsurance program. In 2020,2023, we reinsured 100% of the catastrophe risk in excess of $1.0 million up to $35.0 million per occurrence, with one reinstatement. For 2021,2024, our catastrophe risk coverage is unchanged. Our life catastrophe risk reinsurance program covers acts of terrorism and includes nuclear, biological and chemical explosions but excludes other acts of war.

Corporate and& Other includes capital raising activities (including debt financing and related interest expense), net investment gains (losses), certain public company expenses and other corporate-level transactions including expenses related to business acquisition activity. We do not allocate the impact of corporate-level transactions to the operatingother reporting segments, consistent with the basis for management's evaluation of the results of those segments.

Investments

Our investmentinvestments support our policy liabilities by serving as a resource for payment of benefits, losses, and expenses and as incremental source of income to support operations. Our strategy is primarily focused on generating income to support product liabilities and balanceswhile balancing principal protection and investment risk. Our investment objectives are implemented through portfolios managed by external investment managers with internal management oversight that primarily emphasize investment grade fixed maturity securities that are selected to matchconsider the anticipated duration of our liabilities. In addition to these securities, we also invest in limited partnership interests that are managed internally (which include commercial mortgage loan fundsfunds) and equity securities that are managed by external investment managers with internal management oversight to help improve overall returns. Our short-term investments include money market funds, commercial paper, U.S Treasury bills and other short-term investments that support our management of liquidity and investment strategies. Our other investments include Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLB) common stock, mortgage loans, and derivatives that support our other business operations and are not speculative investments.

We have separate investment strategies and guidelines for our Property and& Casualty, Supplemental,Life & Retirement and LifeSupplemental & Group Benefits portfolios, which recognize different characteristics of the associated insurance liabilities, as well as different tax and regulatory environments. We manage interest rate exposure for our portfolios through asset/liability management techniques that attempt to coordinateconsider the duration of the assets withcompared to the duration of the insurance policy liabilities. Duration of assets and liabilities will generally differ only because of opportunities to increase yields or because policy values are not interest rate sensitive, as is the case in Property and& Casualty and Supplemental.Supplemental & Group Benefits.

The investments of each insurance subsidiary must comply with the insurance laws of such insurance subsidiary's domiciliary state. These laws prescribe the type and amount of investments that may be purchased and held by insurance companies. In general, these laws permit investments, within specified limits and subject

Investment Portfolio atas of December 31, 20202023

For reporting purposes, we have classified the entire portfolio of fixed maturity securities as "availableavailable for sale"sale and the portfolio is carried at fair value. TheAn adjustment for net unrealized investment gains (losses) on fixed maturity securities available for sale is recognized as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (AOCI) within shareholders' equity, net of applicable deferred taxes and the related impact from deferred policy acquisition costs (DAC) associated with annuity contracts and life insurance products with account values.taxes. Fixed maturity securities held for indefinite periods of time include securities that we intend to use as part of our asset/liability management strategy and that may be sold in response to changes in interest rates, resultant prepayment risk and other related factors, other than securities that are in an unrealized loss position for which we have the stated intent to hold until recovery.

Fixed Maturity Securities Portfolio atas of December 31, 20202023

Cash Flow

Information regarding our sources and uses of cash, including payment of principal and interest with respect to our indebtedness, and payment of dividends to our shareholders, is contained in Part II - Item 8, Note 13 of the Consolidated Financial Statements and in Part II - Item 7, Liquidity and Financial Resources — Cash Flow and — Capital Resources of this report.Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if insurance regulators otherwise determine that payment of a dividend or any other payment to an affiliate would be detrimental to an insurance subsidiary's policyholders or creditors, because of the financial condition of the insurance subsidiary or otherwise, the regulators may block dividends or other payments to affiliates that would otherwise be permitted without prior approval.

Regulation

As an insurance holding company, we are subject to extensive regulation by the states in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled or transact business. Our principal insurance subsidiaries are domiciled in Illinois, New York, Wisconsin and Texas and are overseen by the Illinois Department of Insurance, the New York Department of Financial Services, the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and the Texas Department of Insurance. Some regulations, such as those addressing unclaimed property, generally apply to all corporations. In addition, the laws of the various states establish regulatory agencies with broad administrative powers, which relate to a wide variety of matters, including granting and revoking licenses to transact business, regulating trade practices and rate setting, licensing agents, requiring statutory financial statements, monitoring insurer solvency and reserve adequacy, and prescribing the type and amount of investments permitted and the manner in which they may be sold. On an ongoing basis, various state legislators and insurance regulators examine the nature and scope of state insurance regulation.

In addition to individual state monitoring and regulation, state regulators develop coordinated regulatory policies through the NAIC.National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC). States have adopted NAIC risk-based capital guidelines to evaluate the adequacy of statutory capital and surplus in relation to an insurance company's risks. Based on current guidelines, the risk-based capital statutory requirements are not expected to have a negative regulatory impact on our insurance subsidiaries. AtAs of December 31, 20202023 and 2019,2022, statutory capital and surplus of each of our insurance subsidiaries were above required levels. States have also adopted the NAIC's U.S. Own Risk and Solvency Assessment which requires insurance companies to submit their own assessment of their current and future risks and provide a consolidated group-level perspective on risk and capital formulated through an internal risk self-assessment process.

Regulation of insurance continues to evolve. Some changes arise as a result of economic developments, such as changes in investment laws made to recognize new investment products or to respond to perceived investment risks, while others reflect concerns about consumer privacy, insurance availability, prices, enterprise risk management guidelines, allegations of unfair-discriminatory pricing, underwriting practices, or solvency concerns. For example, many states impose restrictions on the ability of an insurer to withdraw from certain lines of business. Over the past several years, legislation, regulatory measures, and voter initiatives have been introduced, and in some cases adopted, which deal with use of non-public consumer information, cybersecurity, use of credit information in underwriting and rating, insurance rate development, rate of return limitations, and the ability of insurers to cancel or non-renew insurance policies.

Although the federal government generally does not directly regulate the insurance industry, federal initiatives often impact the insurance business. Current and proposed federal measures which may significantly affect insurance and retirement business include employee benefits regulation, standards applied to employer sponsored retirement plans, standards applied to broker-dealers and investment advisers, controls on the costs of medical care, medical entitlement programs such as Medicare, structure of retirement plans and accounts, changes to the insurance industry antitrust exemption, and minimum solvency requirements. Also, see Part I - Item 1A of this report.Annual Report on Form 10-K. In 2022, the SEC proposed a new disclosure rule that would require public companies to disclose on several climate-related factors, including climate-related risk management and greenhouse gas emissions, among others. This rule is expected to be finalized in 2024. Other federal regulationregulations such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and USA PATRIOT Act, including its anti-money laundering regulations, also impact our business.

The variable annuities underwritten by Horace Mann Life Insurance Company (HMLIC) are regulated by the SEC. Horace Mann Investors, Inc., and BCG Securities, Inc. (BCGS), our broker-dealer and Registered Investment Adviser subsidiaries, are also regulated by the SEC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA), the Municipal Securities Rule-making Board and various state securities regulators.

Changes in federal income taxation of the build-up of cash value within a life insurance policy or an annuity contract could have a materially adverse impact on our ability to market and sell such products. Various

federal and state laws and regulations could also affect the relative tax and other advantages of our annuity and life products.

In addition, from time to time, the United States Congress and certain federal agencies investigate the current condition of the insurance industry to determine whether federal regulation is necessary. For example, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) created the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) within the U.S. Department of the Treasury. FIO studies the current insurance regulatory system and is charged with monitoring and providing specific reports on various aspects of the insurance industry, including the collection of information about the insurance industry and monitoring the industry for systemic risk. However, FIO does not have general supervisory or regulatory authority over the insurance business.

We are subject to various federal and state laws and regulations with respect to privacy, data protection and cybersecurity. Some states have adopted NAIC’s Insurance Data Security Model Law, which establishes standards for data security and the investigation and notification of cybersecurity events. In 2023, the SEC adopted a new cybersecurity disclosure rule for public companies. This rule requires that public companies report material cybersecurity incidents on a Form 8-K within four business days of insurance.the materiality determination. In addition, state privacy laws continue to evolve. The California Consumer Privacy Act went into effect in January 2020, and provides additional privacy rights for California residents by enacting the California Privacy Rights Act, which became effective January 1, 2023. Colorado, Connecticut, Utah and Virginia have enacted similar privacy laws, all of which became effective in 2023. Federal and state regulators are expected to continue to enact legislation related to privacy and cybersecurity, which may require additional compliance efforts and changes to policies, procedures and operations.

Enterprise Risk Management

As a multi-line insurance company, we are exposed to many risks which are a function of the products we writeunderwrite and the environments within which we operate. Since certain risks can be correlated, an event or a series of events can impact multiple areas of our business simultaneously and have a material effect on our results of operations, financial position and liquidity. These exposures require an entity-wide view of risk and an understanding of the potential impact on all aspects of our operations. It also requires us to manage our risk-taking to be within our appetite in a prudent and balanced effort to create and preserve value for all our stakeholders. Our Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) activities involve both the identification and assessment of a broad range of risks and the execution of coordinated strategies to effectively manage them. ERM also includes an evaluation of our risk capital needs, which takes into account regulatory requirements and credit rating considerations, in addition to economic and other factors. ERM is an integral part of our business operations. All risk owners across all functions, all corporate leaders and the Board are engaged in ERM. ERM involves risk-based analytics, as well as reporting and feedback throughout the enterprise in support of our long-term financial strategies and objectives.

WeTo aid our risk analysis, we use property and casualty catastrophe models that are run by our reinsurance intermediary that provides the information to us.intermediary. Life and retirement& Retirement asset cash flows are projected using third-party software for certain security types. We also utilize proprietary third-party computer modeling processes to evaluate capital adequacy. These analytical techniques are an integral component of our ERM process and further support our long-term financial strategies and objectives.

Within Horace Mann, ERM is an ongoing assessment process used to identify and manage or mitigate risk, which will continue to influence our strategy and direction. The ERM Committee objectives include the following:

The ERM Committee is composed of senior executives from across Horace Mann and has ultimate oversight over the risk management process, with each leader having ownership and accountability over certain identified key risks. In 2020, aOur Chief Risk Officer (CRO) was appointed and,, in conjunction with the ERM Committee, is responsible for working with the business leaders to ensure that they are actively monitoring and managing their key risks. The CRO is also responsible for developingidentifying and monitoring key corporate level risks that encompass more than one business/division. There is ongoing and regular communication within the ERM Committee.

Members of the ERM Committee are responsible for updates to the Board and various Board committees on key risks and emerging risk topics. The interaction of all the various individuals, committees, reports, and processes results in an on-going process, which we believe puts us in the best position to effectively and efficiently manage risk.

Our ERM efforts build upon the foundation of an effective internal control environment. However, we can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that these objectives will be met. Further, the design of any risk management or control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. As a result, the possibility of material financial loss remains despite our significant and comprehensive ERM efforts. An investor should carefully consider the risks and all of the other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including disclosures in Part I - Item 1A—Risk Factors, Part II - Item 7A—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk, and Part II - Item 8—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

We have identified what we believe reflect key significant risks to the organization, and in turn to our shareholders, which are outlined below. Any of the risks described below could result in a significant or material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. In addition to these enumerated risks, we face numerous other strategic, operational and emerging risks that could in the aggregate lead to shortfalls to our long-term goals or add to short-term volatility in our earnings. Additionally, many risk factors are correlated, which could exacerbate the financial impact. The following are certainreview of important risk factors that could affect our business, financial positionshould not be construed as exhaustive and results of operations. The risks that we have highlightedshould be read in conjunction with the followingForward-looking Information section located in Part I - Item 1 of this report are not the only ones that we face.

Risks Related to Economic Conditions, Market Conditions and Investments

FinancialOur business and results of operations are materially affected by conditions in the capital markets and the U.S. economy, as well as by the global economy to the extent it affects the U.S. economy. Actual or perceived stressed conditions, volatility and disruptions in financial asset classes or various capital markets can have an adverse effect on us, both because we have a large investment portfolio and our benefit and claim liabilities are sensitive to changing market factors, including interest rates, credit spreads, derivative prices and availability, and volatility of capital markets. In an economic downturn characterized by higher unemployment and lower family income, the demand for our products could be adversely affected as customers are unwilling or unable to purchase them. In addition, we may experience an elevated incidence of claims, adverse utilization of benefits relative to our best estimate assumptions, and increased lapses or surrenders of policies. Such adverse changes in the economy could negatively affect our earnings and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and our ability to receive dividends from our insurance subsidiaries.

Recent increases in interest rates have increased our cost of borrowing and volatility in U.S. financial markets could impact our access to, or further increase the cost of, financing. Past disruptions in the U.S. and elsewhere can experience extreme volatility and disruption for uncertain periods of time. During such times, stresses affecting the global banking system can lead to economic volatility, which can exert significant downward pressure on prices of equity securities and many other investment asset classes and result in severely constrained credit and capitalequity markets particularlymade it more difficult for financial institutions,many businesses to obtain financing on acceptable terms. These conditions tended to increase the cost of borrowing and an overall lossif they recur, our cost of investor confidence. Many statesborrowing could increase and local governments can alsoit may be impacted by adverse economic conditions, whichmore difficult to obtain financing for our operations.

IfSome of our products and investments expose us to interest rate risks which may reduce our investment strategyspread and net income or increase our capital requirements.

Low interest rates may reduce income from our investment portfolio and increase our future policy benefit reserves. In addition, during periods of sustained lower interest rates, we may need to reinvest proceeds from certain investments at a lower yield, reducing our investment income. Moreover, borrowers may prepay or redeem the fixed income securities and loans in our investment portfolio with greater frequency. Although we may be able to lower interest crediting rates to help offset decreases in spread on Retirement products, our ability to lower these rates is limited to our products that have adjustable interest crediting rates, which could be limited by competition or contractually guaranteed minimum rates and may not successful,match the timing or magnitude of changes in asset yields. As a result, our investment spread on Retirement products may decrease or become negative.

Interest rate increases may also harm our profitability. During periods of rapidly increasing interest rates, we may not be able to replace the investments in our general account with higher yielding investments needed to fund the higher crediting rates required to stay competitive. This could suffer unexpectedresult in a lower spread, lower profitability, and decreased sales. In addition, policy loans, surrenders and withdrawals may increase as policyholders seek investments with higher perceived returns. This may result in cash outflows requiring the sale of investments on less favorable terms, resulting in investment losses. Interest rate increases may harm the value of our investment portfolio, for example by decreasing the estimated fair values of fixed income securities. Furthermore, if interest rates rise, our unrealized gains on fixed income securities will decrease and our unrealized losses may increase. In addition, our investment borrowings from the Federal Home Loan Bank are secured by collateral, the fair value of which can be significantly impacted by general market conditions. If the fair value of pledged collateral falls

The success of our investment strategy is crucial to the success of our business. Specifically,We are exposed to investment risk through our investments, which primarily consist of public and private fixed maturity securities, equity securities and alternative assets including private equity, commercial mortgage loan and real estate funds.

We report our fixed maturity securities portfolio is subject to a number of risks including:

We invest in limited partnership interests, which are accountedevaluate our investment portfolio for usingcredit losses. There can be no assurance that we have accurately assessed the equity methodlevel of accounting. This means that our proportionate share of the changes in fair value of the underlying net asset values are reported in net investment income in the Consolidated Statements of Operations. As a result, the amount of net investment income recognized from these investments can vary substantially from period to period. Equity and credit market volatilitylosses taken. Additional credit losses may reduce net investment income from these types of investments and negatively impact the results of operations. Changes in fair value from applying fair value accounting to equity securities, which are reported in net investment gains (losses) in the Consolidated Statements of Operations, may cause volatility in our results of operations.

Strategic Risks

We operate in a highly competitive environment and compete with numerous insurance companies, as well as mutual fund families, independent agent companies and financial planners. In some instances and geographic locations, competitors have specifically targeted the educator marketplace with specialized products and programs. We compete in our target market with a number of national providers of personal automobileauto and property insurance, and life insurance, retirement products and retirement products.supplemental group benefits.

The insurance industry consists of a large number of insurance companies, some of which have substantially greater financial resources, more diversified product lines, more sophisticated product pricing, greater economies of scale and/or lower-cost marketing approaches compared to us. In our target market, we believe that the principal competitive factors in the sale of property and casualty insurance products and supplemental insurance products are overall service, worksite sales and service, price, and name recognition. We believe that for our market, the principal competitive factors in the sale of retirement products, and life insurance products and supplemental group benefits are worksite sales and service, product features, perceived stability of the insurer, price, overall service and name recognition.

Particularly in the Property and& Casualty business, our insurance subsidiaries have experienced pricing and profitability cycles. During these periods of intense competition, they may be unable to add policyholders and increase revenues without adversely impacting profit margins. With respect to these cycles, the factors having the greatest impact include significant and/or rapid changes in loss costs, including changes in loss frequency and/or severity, prior approval and restrictions in certain states for price increases, intense price competition, less restrictive underwriting standards, aggressive marketing, and increased advertising, which have resulted in higher industry-wide combined loss and expense ratios. During the current cycle, and potentially beyond, competitionCompetition from direct writers and large, mass market carriers has been particularly aggressive, evidenced in part by their significant national advertising expenditures.

In addition, advancements in vehicle technology and safety features, such as accident prevention technologies or the development of autonomous or partially autonomous vehicles — once widely available and utilized, as well as expanded availability of usage-based insurance, could materially alter the way that automobileauto insurance is marketed, priced and underwritten. The

In the Retirement business, there are several factors driving increased competition. First, the current IRS Section 403(b) regulations have made the 403(b) market similar to the 401(k) market. These changes have increased and could continue to increase the number of competitors in the 403(b) market, as it has become more attractive to some of the larger companies experienced in 401(k) plans, including both insurance and mutual fund companies, thatwhich had not previously been active competitors in this business. Further, while not yet widespread, there has been continued pressure in some states to adopt state-sponsored or mandated 403(b) plans with single-provider or limited-provider options; this pressure has come from competitor lobbying efforts and state legislature pension reform initiatives. The inability of our insurance subsidiaries to compete successfully in these circumstances could adversely affect their financial condition and results of operations and the resulting ability to distribute cash to us.

Our success in marketing and selling our products is largely dependent upon the efforts of our independent exclusive agent sales force and the success of their agency operations. As we expand our business, we may need to expand the number of agencies marketing our products. If we are unable to appointrecruit additional agents, fail to develop and retain high-producing agents, are unable to maintain the productivity of those agency operations, or are unable to maintain market penetration in existing territories, sales of our products could likely decline and our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our ability to successfully increase new business in the educator market is largely dependent on our ability to effectively access educators either in their school buildings or through other approaches. While this is especially true for the sale of 403(b) tax-qualified retirement products via payroll deduction and worksite direct sales, any significant decrease in access, either through fewer payroll slots, increased security measures, impacts of state or federal level pension reform initiatives, requirements of national and state Do Not Call registries, or for other reasons, could adversely affect the sale of all lines of business and require us to change our traditional approach to worksite marketing and promotion, as well as contact with potential customers. With the current IRS regulations regarding Section 403(b) arrangements, including retirement products, our ability to maintain and increase our share of the 403(b) market, and the access it gives for other product lines, will depend on our ability to successfully compete in this market. Some school districts and benefit consultants have placed emphasis on the relative financial strength ratings of competing companies, as well as low costlow-cost product and distribution approaches, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to other more highly-ratedhighly rated insurance companies.

Our ability to maintain and obtain product and corporate endorsements from, and/or marketing agreements with, local, state and national education-related associations is important to our marketing strategy. In addition to teacher organizations, we have established relationships with various other educator, principal, school administrator and school business official groups. These contacts and endorsements help to establish our brand name and presence in the educational community and to enhance access to educators.

Operational Risks

A large-scale pandemic, the occurrence of terrorism or military and other actions may result in loss of life, property damage, and disruptions to commerce and reduced economic activity. Some of the assets in our

The effects of the outbreaka global pandemic on the U.S. economy, our customers, our agents, our employees, our investments and our communities, as well as any preventative or protective actions that we, our employees and agency force, our third-party service providers and suppliers, or governments may take to mitigate the impact of COVID-19a global pandemic could have an adverse effect on our ability to conduct business and on our financial condition and results of operations. Impacts to our business have been and could continue to be widespread and may result in the following:

The full extent to which COVID-19pandemics or terrorist acts could affect the global economy, the financial markets and our business, our financial condition and our results of operations will depend on future developments and factors that cannot be predicted.

Climate change presents risk to us and there are concerns that the increased frequency, severity and geographic spread of weather-related catastrophes and other losses, as well as time of year of occurrence are indicative of changing weather patterns, whether as a result of climate-warming trends (global climate change) caused by human activities or denialotherwise, which could cause such events to persist. Increased weather-related catastrophes could lead to higher overall losses, which we may not be able to recoup, particularly in a highly regulated and competitive environment, and higher reinsurance costs. Certain catastrophe models assume an increase in frequency and severity of servicecertain weather or other events, which could result in a disproportionate impact on insurers with certain geographic concentrations of risk. This could also likely increase the risks of writing property insurance in coastal areas or areas susceptible to wildfires or hail and wind activity, particularly in jurisdictions that restrict pricing and underwriting flexibility. The threat of rising sea levels or other catastrophe losses as a result of global climate change may also cause property values in coastal or such other communities to decrease, reducing the total amount of insurance coverage that is required.

In addition, global climate change could have an impact on our websitesfixed maturity securities and limited partnership portfolios, resulting in realized and unrealized losses in future periods that could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows. It is not possible to foresee which, if any, assets,

Unauthorized accessCybersecurity threats and incidents have increased in recent years in frequency, levels of persistence, sophistication and intensity, and we may be subject to heightened cyber-related risks. Our business depends on the proper functioning and unintentional disseminationavailability of our confidential, highly-sensitive customer, employeeinformation technology platform, including communications and data processing systems, our proprietary systems, and systems of our third-party service providers. We have implemented and maintain what we believe to be reasonable security measures, but we cannot guarantee that the controls and procedures we have in place to protect or company datarecover our respective systems and the information stored on such systems will be effective, successful or sufficiently rapid to avoid harm to our business. Moreover, while we generally perform cybersecurity due diligence on our key service providers, we cannot ensure the cybersecurity measures they take will be sufficient to protect any information we share with them. Due to applicable laws, regulations, rules, standards and contractual obligations, we may be held responsible for cyber-attacks, security breaches or other breaches of data securitysimilar incidents attributed to our service providers as they relate to the information we share with them.

Cybersecurity threats are evolving in our facilities, networks or databases, or those of our agents or third-party vendors - including information technologynature and software vendors, could result in loss or theft of assets or sensitive information, data corruption or operational disruption that may expose usbecoming increasingly difficult to liability and/or regulatory actiondetect, and may have an adverse impact on our customers, employees, investors, reputationcome from a variety of sources, including organized criminal groups, “hacktivists,” terrorists, and business. In addition, any compromise of the security of company data or prolongednation state-supported actors. These threats include, among other things, computer viruses, worms, malware, ransomware, denial of service attacks, defective software, credential stuffing, social engineering, phishing attacks, human error, fraud, theft, or improper access by employees or service providers, and other similar threats. Any cybersecurity incident, including system failure, cyber-attacks, security breaches, disruption by malware or other damage, with respect to our or our service providers’ information technology systems, could interrupt or delay our operations, result in a violation of applicable cybersecurity, privacy, data protection or other laws, regulations, rules, standards or contractual obligations, damage our reputation, cause a loss of customers or expose sensitive customer data, give rise to civil litigation, injunctions, damages, monetary fines or other penalties, subject us to additional regulatory scrutiny or notification obligations, and/or increase our compliance costs, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial conditions and results of operations.

We may not be able to anticipate all cyber-attacks, security breaches or other similar incidents, detect or react to such incidents in a timely manner, or adequately remediate any such incident. In addition, recent disclosure requirements add additional risk that bad actors might use the information with malicious intent, exacerbating the impacts of a breach. While management is not aware of any cyber-attack, security breach or other similar incident that has had a material effect on our websitesoperations, there can be no assurances that such an incident that could harm our business and reputation. Additionally, we recognize the increased external threats of data breacheshave a material impact on us will not occur in the marketplace resultingfuture.

Further, the cybersecurity, privacy and data protection regulatory environment is evolving, and it is likely that the costs of complying with new or developing regulatory requirements will increase. For example, we operate in non-publica number of jurisdictions with strict cybersecurity, privacy, data of customers becoming increasingly availableprotection and other related laws, regulations, rules and standards, which could be violated in the public domain.event of a significant cyber-attack, security breach or other similar incident affecting personal, proprietary or confidential information or in the event of noncompliance by our personnel with such obligations.

Our ability to effectively execute our business growth strategy and leverage potential economies of scale is dependent on our ability to provide the requisite technology components for that strategy. While we have effectively upgraded our infrastructure technologies with improvements in our data center, a new communications platform and enhancements to our disaster recovery capabilities, ourOur ability to replace or supplement dated, monolithic legacy business systems — such as our Life & Retirement and Property and

We increasingly rely on services and products provided by a number of vendors in the U.S. and abroad. These include, for example, vendors of computer hardware and software, including on-demand software, and vendors of services such as investment management advisement, third-party administrators of our supplemental group benefit products, information technology services — such as those associated with the Life, Retirement and Property and Casualty policy administrative systems — and delivery services for customer policy-level communications. In the event that one or more of our vendors suffers a bankruptcy or otherwise becomes unable to continue to provide products or services, we may suffer operational difficulties and financial losses.

Competition from within the insurance industry and from other industries, including the technology sector, for qualified employees with highly specialized knowledge in areas such as underwriting, data and analytics, technology and e-commerce, has often been intense and we have experienced increased competition in hiring and retaining employees.

Factors that affect our ability to attract and retain such employees include:

The unexpected loss of key personnel could have a material adverse impact on our business because of the loss of their skills, knowledge of our products and offerings and years of industry experience and, in some cases, the difficulty of promptly finding qualified replacement personnel. The risks to attracting and retaining the necessary talent may be exacerbated by recent labor constraints and inflationary pressures on employee wages and benefits.

Financial Strength, Credit and Counterparty Risks

Third-party debtors may not pay or perform their obligations. These parties may include the issuers whose securities we hold, customers, reinsurers, borrowers under mortgage loans, trading counterparties, derivative counterparties, clearing agents, exchanges, clearing houses and other financial intermediaries. These parties may default on their obligations to us due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, downturns in the economy or real estate values, operational failure or other reasons.

During or following an economic downturn, our municipal bond portfolio could be subject to a higher risk of default or impairment due to declining municipal tax bases and revenue. States are currently barred from seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court. However, federal legislation could possibly be enacted to allow states to declare bankruptcy in connection with deficit reductions or mounting unfunded pension liabilities, which could adversely impact the value of our municipal bond portfolio.

The default of a major market participant could disrupt the securities markets or clearance and settlement systems in the U.S. or abroad. A failure of a major market participant could cause some clearance and