LINCOLN NATIONAL CORP

Liquidity

Liquidity refers to our ability to generate adequate amounts of cash from our normal operations to meet cash requirements with a prudent margin of safety. Our ability to generate and maintain sufficient liquidity depends on the profitability of our businesses, general economic conditions and access to the capital markets and other sources of liquidity and capital as described below.

When considering our liquidity, it is important to distinguish between the needs of our insurance subsidiaries and the needs of the holding company, LNC. As a holding company with no operations of its own, LNC is largely dependent upon the dividend capacity of its insurance and other subsidiaries as well as their ability to advance or repay funds to it through inter-company borrowing arrangements, which may be affected by factors influencing the subsidiaries’ capital position, as discussed further below. Based on the sources of liquidity available to us as discussed below, we currently expect to be able to meet the holding company’s ongoing cash needs.

Capital

Capital refers to our long-term financial resources to support the operations of our businesses, to fund long-term growth strategies and to support our operations during adverse conditions. Our ability to generate and maintain sufficient capital depends on the profitability of our businesses, general economic conditions and access to the capital markets and other sources of liquidity and capital as described below.

Disruptions, uncertainty or volatility in the capital and credit markets may materially affect our business operations and results of operations and may adversely affect our subsidiaries’ capital position that may cause them to retain more capital, which may pressure their ability to pay dividends to LNC, which may lead us to take steps to preserve or raise additional capital. We believe we have appropriate capital to operate our business in accordance with our strategy. For more information, see “Subsidiaries’ Capital” below.

For factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in this section and that could affect our expectations for liquidity and capital, see “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Forward-Looking Statements – Cautionary Language” above.

Consolidated Sources and Uses of Liquidity and Capital

Our primary sources of liquidity and capital are insurance premiums and fees, investment income, maturities and sales of investments, issuance of debt or other types of securities and policyholder deposits. We also have access to alternative sources of liquidity as discussed below. Our primary uses are to pay policy claims and benefits, to fund commissions and other general operating expenses, to purchase investments, to fund policy surrenders and withdrawals, to pay dividends to our common and preferred stockholders, to repurchase our common stock and to repay debt. Our operating activities provided (used) cash of $(2.0) billion, $(2.1) billion and $3.6 billion in 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The use of cash flows from operating activities for 2024 was attributable primarily to cash payments on certain derivatives used to hedge exposure to product-related risks. The use of cash flows from operating activities for 2023 was attributable primarily to net operating cash payments related to closing the fourth quarter 2023 reinsurance transaction and cash payments on certain derivatives used to hedge exposure to product-related risks.

Holding Company Sources and Uses of Liquidity and Capital

The primary sources of liquidity and capital at the holding company level are dividends, return of capital and interest payments from subsidiaries, augmented by holding company short-term investments, bank lines of credit and the ongoing availability of long-term public financing under an effective shelf registration statement, which allows us to issue, in unlimited amounts, securities, including debt securities, preferred stock, common stock, warrants, stock purchase contracts, stock purchase units and depository shares. These sources support the general corporate needs of the holding company, including its common and preferred stock dividends, common stock repurchases, interest and debt service, funding of callable securities, acquisitions and investment in core businesses.

Details underlying the primary sources of the holding company’s liquidity (in millions) were as follows:

The table above focuses on significant and recurring cash flow items and excludes the effects of certain financing activities, including the periodic issuance and retirement of debt, issuance of preferred stock, cash flows related to our inter-company cash management program and certain investing activities, including capital contributions to subsidiaries. These activities are discussed below. Taxes have been eliminated from the analysis due to a tax sharing agreement among our primary subsidiaries resulting in a modest effect on net cash flows at the holding company. Also excluded from this analysis is the modest amount of investment income on short-term investments of the holding company and employee stock exercise activity related to our stock-based incentive compensation plans. See “Part IV – Item 15(a)(2) Financial Statement Schedules – Schedule II – Condensed Financial Information of Registrant” for the holding company cash flow statement.

During the second quarter of 2024, LNL made a $929 million extraordinary dividend in the form of investments to LNC for the purpose of the initial capitalization of LPINE. See “Introduction – Executive Summary” above and “Subsidiaries’ Capital” below for more information about LPINE.

Restrictions on Subsidiaries’ Dividends

Our insurance subsidiaries are subject to certain insurance department regulatory restrictions as to the transfer of funds and payment of dividends to the holding company. Under Indiana laws and regulations, our Indiana insurance subsidiaries, including our primary insurance subsidiary, LNL, may pay dividends to LNC without prior approval of the Indiana Insurance Commissioner (the “Commissioner”) only from unassigned surplus or must receive prior approval of the Commissioner to pay a dividend if such dividend, along with all other dividends paid within the preceding 12 consecutive months, would exceed the statutory limitation. The current statutory limitation is the greater of 10% of the insurer’s contract holders’ surplus, as shown on its last annual statement on file with the Commissioner or the insurer’s statutory net gain from operations for the previous 12 months, but in no event to exceed statutory unassigned surplus. Indiana law gives the Commissioner broad discretion to disapprove requests for dividends in excess of these limits. LNL’s subsidiary LLANY, a New York-domiciled insurance company, is bound by similar restrictions under New York law, with the applicable statutory limitation on dividends equal to the lesser of 10% of surplus to contract holders as of the end of the immediately preceding calendar year or net gain from operations for the immediately preceding calendar year, not including realized capital gains. Indiana law also provides that following the payment of any dividend, the insurer’s contract holders’ surplus must be reasonable in relation to its outstanding liabilities and adequate for its financial needs, and permits the Commissioner to bring an action to rescind a dividend that violates these standards. In the event the Commissioner determines that the contract holders’ surplus of one subsidiary is inadequate, the Commissioner could use his or her broad discretionary authority to seek to require us to apply payments received from another subsidiary for the benefit of that insurance subsidiary.

Our Bermuda-based reinsurance subsidiary, LPINE, and our Barbados-based reinsurance subsidiary, Lincoln National Reinsurance Company (Barbados) Limited (“LNBAR”), are regulated by the BMA and the Barbados Financial Services Commission, respectively. Similar to our domestic insurance subsidiaries, our reinsurance subsidiaries in Barbados and Bermuda are subject to regulatory restrictions as to the transfer of funds and payment of dividends imposed by the jurisdictions in which they are domiciled. These requirements may include satisfying certain earnings, reserve or solvency thresholds in order to pay a dividend or obtaining regulatory approval for payment of any dividend in excess of such thresholds.

We expect our direct domestic insurance subsidiaries could pay dividends to LNC of approximately $730 million in 2025 without prior approval from the respective state commissioners. The amount of surplus that our insurance subsidiaries could pay as dividends is constrained by the amount of surplus we hold to maintain our ratings, to provide an additional layer of margin for risk protection and for future investment in our businesses. See “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors – Liquidity and Capital Position – A decrease in the capital and surplus of our insurance subsidiaries may result in a downgrade to our credit and insurer financial strength ratings.”

We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, types and maturities. These investments are subject to general credit, liquidity, market and interest rate risks. An extended disruption in the credit and capital markets could adversely affect LNC and its subsidiaries’ ability to access sources of liquidity, and there can be no assurance that additional financing will be available to us on favorable terms, or at all, in the current market environment. In addition, further impairment could reduce our statutory surplus, leading to lower RBC ratios and potentially reducing future dividend capacity from our insurance subsidiaries. See “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors – Liquidity and Capital Position – Adverse capital and credit market conditions may affect our ability to meet liquidity needs, access to capital and cost of capital.”

Subsidiaries’ Capital

Our insurance subsidiaries must maintain certain regulatory capital levels. We utilize the RBC ratio as a primary measure of the capital adequacy of our insurance subsidiaries. The RBC ratio is an important factor in the determination of the credit and financial strength ratings of LNC and its subsidiaries, as a reduction in our insurance subsidiaries’ surplus will affect their RBC ratios and dividend-paying capacity. For additional information on RBC ratios, see “Part I – Item 1. Business – Regulatory – Insurance Regulation – Risk-Based Capital.”

Our insurance subsidiaries’ regulatory capital levels are affected by statutory accounting rules, which are subject to change by each applicable insurance regulator. For instance, our term products and UL products containing secondary guarantees subject to the NAIC RBC framework require reserves calculated pursuant to the Valuation of Life Insurance Policies Model Regulation (“XXX”) and Actuarial Guideline XXXVIII (“AG38”), respectively. Our insurance subsidiaries employ strategies to reduce the strain caused by XXX and AG38 by reinsuring the business to reinsurance captives or reinsurance subsidiaries. Our captive reinsurance and reinsurance subsidiaries provide a mechanism for financing a portion of the excess reserve amounts in a more efficient manner and free up capital the insurance subsidiaries can use for any number of purposes, including paying dividends to the holding company. We use long-dated LOCs and debt financing as well as other financing strategies to finance those reserves. Included in the LOCs issued as of December 31, 2024, was $1.8 billion of long-dated LOCs issued to support inter-company reinsurance agreements for term products and UL products containing secondary guarantees. For information on the LOCs, see the credit facilities table in Note 13. Our captive reinsurance and reinsurance subsidiaries have also issued long-term notes of $3.7 billion to finance a portion of the excess reserves associated with our term and UL products with secondary guarantees as of December 31, 2024; of this amount, $3.1 billion involve exposure to VIEs. For information on these long-term notes issued by our captive reinsurance and reinsurance subsidiaries, see Note 4. We have also used the proceeds from senior note issuances of $875 million to execute long-term structured solutions primarily supporting reinsurance of UL products containing secondary guarantees. LOCs and related capital market solutions lower the capital effect of term products and UL products containing secondary guarantees.

Statutory reserves for variable annuity guaranteed benefit riders and guaranteed benefits on VUL policies, as well as certain components of the NAIC RBC calculation that are impacted by such guaranteed benefits, are sensitive to changes in the equity markets and interest rates, and such statutory reserves and our RBC levels are also affected by the level of account balances relative to the level of any guarantees, product design and reinsurance arrangements. As a result, the relationship between reserve changes and equity market performance is non-linear during any given reporting period. Our insurance subsidiaries’ cede a portion of the variable annuity guaranteed benefit riders to LNBAR through a modified coinsurance agreement. Our variable annuity hedge program mitigates the risk to LNBAR from guaranteed benefit riders and continues to focus on generating sufficient income to fund future claims with a goal of maximizing distributable earnings and explicitly protecting capital. LNL also uses a partial hedge that mitigates potential capital volatility from guaranteed benefits on VUL policies. Market conditions greatly influence the ultimate capital required due to its effect on the valuation of reserves and supporting derivatives. In December 2022, LNC issued a long-term note to a non-affiliated variable interest entity in exchange for notes of like principal and duration classified as AFS securities. LNC contributed the securities to LNBAR to address asset value volatility based on market conditions. Under the current terms of the note facility, the maximum permissible principal amount of the note is $1.5 billion, the full amount of which was outstanding as of December 31, 2024. There are no impacts to the LNC Consolidated Balance Sheets based on the set-off right provided in the note facility. For more information, see Note 4.

Changes in equity markets may also affect the capital position of our insurance subsidiaries. We may decide to reallocate available capital among our insurance subsidiaries, as well as our captive reinsurance or reinsurance subsidiaries, which would result in different RBC ratios for our insurance subsidiaries. In addition, changes in the equity markets can affect the value of our variable annuity and VUL separate accounts. When the market value of our separate account assets increases, the statutory surplus within our insurance subsidiaries also increases, all else equal. Contrarily, when the market value of our separate account assets decreases, the statutory surplus within our insurance subsidiaries also decreases, all else equal, which will affect RBC ratios, and in the case of our separate account assets becoming less than the related product liabilities, we must allocate additional capital to fund the difference.

During the second quarter of 2024, LNC contributed $929 million of investments and $22 million in cash to LPINE, a wholly owned subsidiary of LNC and a licensed Bermuda-based life and annuity reinsurance company, in support of an inter-company reinsurance agreement with LNL.

LNC made capital contributions in cash to other subsidiaries of $5 million, $7 million, and $925 million in 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

On May 6, 2024, we closed the sale of all of the ownership interests in the subsidiaries of the Company that comprised the Company’s wealth management business operated through LFN to Osaic. We received $723 million in cash that was primarily used to increase LNL’s RBC ratio. We also used a portion of the proceeds to reduce our leverage ratio. For more information on the sale of our wealth management business, see Note 1.

Debt

Although our subsidiaries currently generate adequate cash flow to meet the needs of our normal operations, periodically LNC may issue debt to maintain ratings and increase liquidity, as well as to fund internal growth, acquisitions and the retirement of its debt.

Details underlying our debt activities (in millions) for the year ended December 31, 2024, were as follows:

(1)Includes the non-cash reclassification of long-term debt to current maturities of long-term debt, accretion (amortization) of discounts and premiums, amortization of debt issuance costs and amortization of adjustments from discontinued hedges, as applicable.

(2)As of December 31, 2024, consisted of $300 million principal amount of our 3.35% Senior Notes due March 9, 2025.

(3)We use interest rate swaps to partially hedge the variability in rates.

On March 14, 2024, we completed the issuance and sale of $350 million aggregate principal amount of our 5.852% Senior Notes due 2034. We used a portion of the net proceeds to fund the repayments of $47 million of our term loan due December 3, 2024. We intend to use the remaining net proceeds from the offering to fund the repayment of the Company’s 3.35% Senior Notes due 2025 on or prior to their maturity, and possible repurchases of other of our outstanding debt securities, as well as to pay fees and expenses in respect of the foregoing.

During June 2024, we repaid $53 million of our term loan originally due December 3, 2024, using available cash to deleverage the balance sheet. On July 18, 2024, we refinanced this term loan into a $150 million term loan due July 16, 2027.

LNC made interest payments to service debt to third parties of $308 million, $311 million and $278 million for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

For additional information about our short-term and long-term debt and our credit facilities, see Note 13.

Preferred Stock

Details underlying preferred stock dividends paid (in millions) were as follows:

For additional information on preferred stock, see Note 18.

Return of Capital to Common Stockholders

One of our primary goals is to provide a return to our common stockholders through share price accretion, dividends and stock repurchases. In determining dividends, the Board of Directors takes into consideration items such as current and expected earnings, capital needs, rating agency considerations and requirements for financial flexibility. The amount and timing of share repurchases depends on key capital ratios, rating agency expectations, the generation of dividends from our subsidiaries and an evaluation of the costs and benefits associated with alternative uses of capital. We did not repurchase any shares of common stock under our buyback program during 2024. For additional information regarding share repurchases, see “Part II – Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities – (c) Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.”

Details underlying return of capital to common stockholders (in millions) were as follows:

Alternative Sources of Liquidity

Inter-Company Cash Management Program

To meet short-term liquidity needs that arise in the ordinary course of business, we utilize an inter-company cash management program between LNC and participating subsidiaries whereby participating subsidiaries can borrow cash from or lend cash to LNC. Loans under the inter-company cash management program are permitted under applicable insurance laws subject to certain restrictions. For our Indiana-domiciled insurance subsidiary, the borrowing and lending limit is currently 3% of the insurance company’s admitted assets as of its most recent year end. For our New York-domiciled insurance subsidiary, it may borrow from LNC less than 2% of its admitted assets as of its most recent year end but may not lend any amounts to LNC. As of December 31, 2024, LNC had $83 million of outstanding borrowings from the cash management program related primarily to collateral posting requirements on derivatives. Holding company borrowing activity is reported in loans from and accrued interest due to subsidiaries on the holding company’s balance sheet. Holding company lending activity is reported in loans to and accrued interest due from subsidiaries on the holding company’s balance sheet. As of December 31, 2024, LNC did not have outstanding lending into the cash management program. See “Part IV – Item 15(a)(2) Financial Statement Schedules – Schedule II – Condensed Financial Information of Registrant” for the holding company balance sheet.

Facility Agreement for Senior Notes Issuance

LNC entered into a facility agreement in 2020 with a Delaware trust that gives LNC the right over a 10-year period to issue, from time to time, up to $500 million of 2.330% senior notes to the trust in exchange for a corresponding amount of U.S. Treasury securities held by the trust. By agreeing to purchase the 2.330% senior notes in exchange for U.S. Treasury securities upon exercise of the issuance right, the trust will provide a source of liquid assets for the Company. The issuance right will be exercised automatically in full upon our failure to make certain payments to the trust, if the failure to pay is not cured within 30 days, or upon certain bankruptcy events involving LNC. We are also required to exercise the issuance right in full if our consolidated stockholders’ equity (excluding AOCI) falls below a minimum threshold (which was $2.75 billion as of December 31, 2024, and is subject to adjustment from time to time in certain cases) and upon certain other events described in the facility agreement. For additional information, see Note 13.

Federal Home Loan Bank

Our primary insurance subsidiary, LNL, is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) of Indianapolis (“FHLBI”). Membership allows LNL access to the FHLBI’s financial services, including the ability to obtain loans and to issue funding agreements as an alternative source of liquidity that are collateralized by qualifying mortgage-related assets, agency securities or U.S. Treasury securities. Borrowings under this facility are subject to the FHLBI’s discretion and require the availability of qualifying assets at LNL. As of December 31, 2024, LNL had an estimated maximum borrowing capacity of $7.0 billion under the FHLBI facility and maximum available borrowing based on qualifying assets of $4.9 billion. As of December 31, 2024, LNL had outstanding borrowings of $2.7 billion under this facility reported within payables for collateral on investments on the Consolidated Balance Sheets. LLANY is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (“FHLBNY”) with an estimated maximum borrowing capacity of $750 million. Borrowings under this facility are subject to the FHLBNY’s discretion and require the availability of qualifying assets at LLANY. As of December 31, 2024, LLANY had no outstanding borrowings under this facility. For additional information, see “Payables for Collateral on Investments” in Note 3.

Repurchase Agreements and Securities Lending Programs

Our insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries had access to $2.6 billion through committed repurchase agreements, of which none was utilized as of December 31, 2024. Our insurance subsidiaries, by virtue of their general account fixed-income investment holdings, can also access liquidity through securities lending programs. As of December 31, 2024, our insurance subsidiaries had securities pledged under securities lending agreements with a carrying value of $157 million. The cash received in our securities lending programs is typically invested in cash and invested cash or fixed maturity AFS securities. For additional information, see “Payables for Collateral on Investments” in Note 3.

Collateral on Derivative Contracts

Our cash flows associated with collateral received from counterparties (when we are in a net collateral payable position) and posted with counterparties (when we are in a net collateral receivable position) change as the market value of the underlying derivative contract changes. The net collateral position depends on changes in interest rates and equity markets related to the amount of the exposures hedged. As of December 31, 2024, we were in a net collateral payable position of $7.1 billion compared to $5.0 billion as of December 31, 2023. In the event of adverse changes in fair value of our derivative instruments, we may need to return, post or pledge collateral to counterparties. If we do not have sufficient high quality securities or cash to provide as collateral to counterparties, we have alternative sources of liquidity. In addition to the liquidity from repurchase agreements and FHLB facilities discussed above, we also have a five-year revolving credit facility discussed in Note 13. For additional information, see “Credit Risk” in Note 5.

Material Cash Outflows

Details underlying our estimated material cash outflows as of December 31, 2024, were as follows:

(1)Estimates are based on financial projections over 40 years and are not discounted for the time value of money. New business issued or acquired, business ceded or sold, changes to or variances from actuarial assumptions and economic conditions will cause these amounts to change over time, possibly materially. See Note 1 for details of what these liabilities include and represent.

(2)Represents principal amounts of debt only. See Note 13 for additional information.

(3)Estimates are based on the level of capacity we expect to utilize during the life of the LOCs and other reserve financing arrangements. See Note 13 for additional information.

(4)Excludes collateral payable held for derivative investments. See Note 3 for additional information.

(5)See Note 3 for additional information.

(6)See Note 17 for additional information.

(7)Represents certain financing arrangements that did not meet the requirements to be classified as a sale-leaseback arrangement. See Note 17 for additional information.

(8)Includes anticipated funding for benefit payments for our retirement and postretirement plans through 2034 and known payments under deferred compensation arrangements. In addition to these benefit payments, we periodically fund the employees’ defined benefit plans. See Note 15 for additional information.

Ratings

Financial Strength Ratings

See “Part I – Item 1. Business – Financial Strength Ratings” for information on our financial strength ratings.

Credit Ratings

Our indicative credit ratings published by the primary rating agencies are set forth below. Securities are rated at the time of issuance so actual ratings may differ from the indicative ratings. There may be other rating agencies that also provide credit ratings, which we do not disclose in our reports. Each rating should be evaluated independently of any other rating. Our credit ratings assigned by AM Best, Fitch, Moody’s and S&P are on outlook stable.

As of February 13, 2025, our indicative long-term credit ratings as published by the principal rating agencies that rate our long-term credit are indicated in the following table.

As of February 13, 2025, our indicative short-term credit ratings as published by the principal rating agencies that rate our short-term credit are indicated in the following table.

All of our credit ratings are subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the rating agencies, and therefore, no assurance can be given that we can maintain these ratings. A downgrade of our credit ratings could affect our ability to raise additional debt with terms and conditions similar to our current debt, and accordingly, likely increase our cost of capital. In addition, a downgrade of these ratings could make it more difficult to raise capital to refinance any maturing debt obligations, to support business growth at our insurance subsidiaries and to maintain or improve the current financial strength ratings of our insurance subsidiaries described in “Part I – Item 1. Business – Financial Strength Ratings.”

If our current financial strength ratings or credit ratings were downgraded in the future, terms in our derivative agreements and/or certain repurchase agreements may be triggered, which could negatively affect overall liquidity. For the majority of our derivative counterparties, there is a termination event if the long-term credit ratings of LNC drop below BBB-/Baa3 (S&P/Moody’s) or if the financial strength ratings of LNL drop below BBB-/Baa3 (S&P/Moody’s). For certain repurchase agreements, there is a termination event if the long-term credit ratings of LNC drop below BBB-/Baa3 (S&P/Moody’s) or if the financial strength ratings of LNL drop below BBB+/Baa1 (S&P/Moody’s). In addition, contractual selling agreements with intermediaries could be negatively affected, which could have an adverse effect on overall sales of annuities, life insurance and investment products. See “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors – Covenants and Ratings – A downgrade in our financial strength or credit ratings could limit our ability to market products, increase the number or value of policies being surrendered and/or hurt our relationships with creditors” for more information.