LINCOLN NATIONAL CORP

Details underlying the results for Retirement Plan Services (in millions) were as follows:

•Higher net investment income, net of interest credited, driven by impacts to portfolio yields from the current interest rate environment, higher average general account balances and a decrease in crediting rates.

•Higher fee income driven by higher average daily separate account and mutual fund balances.

•Higher other revenues due to an impact in the first quarter of 2025 related to a plan termination during the fourth quarter of 2024.

The increase in income from operations was partially offset by higher commissions and other expenses driven by higher other costs pertaining to business operations and higher trail commissions resulting from higher average daily separate account balances.

Net flows in this business fluctuate based on the timing of larger plans being implemented and terminating over the course of the year.

New deposits are an important component of net flows and key to our efforts to grow our business. Although deposits do not significantly affect current period income from operations, they can significantly impact future income from operations. The other component of net flows relates to the retention of the business. An important measure of retention is the reduction in account balances caused by plan sponsor terminations and participant withdrawals. These outflows as a percentage of average account balances were 14% and 22% for the three months ended March 31, 2026, and 2025, respectively. The higher outflow rate for the three months ended March 31, 2025, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2026, was attributable primarily to a large plan termination during the first quarter of 2025.

Our net flows are negatively affected by the continued net outflows from our oldest blocks of annuities business (as presented on our Net Flows By Market table below as “Multi-Fund® and other”), which are among our higher margin product lines in this segment, due to the fact that they are mature blocks with low distribution and servicing costs. The proportion of these products to our total account balances was 11% and 13% as of March 31, 2026 and 2025, respectively. Due to this overall shift in business mix toward products with lower returns, new deposit production continues to be necessary to maintain earnings at current levels.

Our fixed annuity business includes products with discretionary and index-based crediting rates that are reset on either a quarterly or semi-annual basis. Our ability to retain quarterly or semi-annual reset annuities will be subject to current competitive conditions at the time crediting rates for these products reset. We expect to manage the effects of spreads on near-term income from operations through portfolio management and, to a lesser extent, crediting rate actions, which assumes no significant changes in net flows into or out of our fixed accounts or other changes that may cause interest rate spreads to differ from our expectations. For information on interest rate spreads and interest rate risk, see “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors – Market Conditions – Changes in interest rates and sustained low interest rates may cause interest rate spreads to decrease, impacting our profitability, and make it more challenging to meet certain statutory requirements,” “Part I – Item 1A. Risk Factors – Market Conditions – Increases in interest rates and sustained higher interest rates may negatively affect our profitability, capital position and the value of our investment portfolio and may also result in increased contract withdrawals and surrenders” and “Part II – Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk – Interest Rate Risk” in our 2025 Form 10-K. For information on the interest rate environment, see “Part II – Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Introduction – Executive Summary – Industry Trends – Interest Rate Environment” in our 2025 Form 10-K.

Details underlying fee income (in millions) were as follows:

Our fee income is primarily composed of expense assessments that we charge to cover insurance, administrative, recordkeeping and other services and mutual fund fees earned for services we provide to our mutual fund programs. Fee income is primarily based on average account balances, including general, separate and mutual fund accounts, which are driven by net flows and the equity markets. Fee income is also driven by non-account balance-related items such as participant counts. We may collect surrender charges when our policyholders surrender their contracts during the surrender charge period to protect us from premature withdrawals.

(2)Represents net investment income on the required statutory surplus for this segment and includes the effect of investment income on alternative investments for such assets that are held in the portfolios supporting statutory surplus versus the portfolios supporting product liabilities. See “Consolidated Investments – Alternative Investments” below for more information on alternative investments.

A portion of our investment income earned is credited to the policyholders of our fixed annuity products, including the fixed portion of variable annuity contracts. We expect to earn a spread between what we earn on the underlying general account investments supporting the fixed annuity product line, including the fixed portion of variable annuity contracts, and what we credit to our policyholders’ accounts.

Commercial mortgage loan prepayments and bond make-whole premiums, investment income on alternative investments and surplus investment income can vary significantly from period to period due to a number of factors and, therefore, may contribute to investment income results that are not indicative of the underlying trends.

Account Balances

Details underlying account balances (dollars in millions) were as follows:

(1)Excludes the fixed portion of variable annuities.

(2)We generally use the S&P 500 Index as a benchmark for the performance of our separate account balances. The account balances of our variable annuity contracts are invested by our policyholders in a variety of investment options including, but not limited to, domestic and international equity securities and fixed income, which do not necessarily align with S&P 500 Index performance.

(3)Mutual funds are not included in the separate accounts reported on the Consolidated Balance Sheets as we do not have any ownership interest in them.

(1)Formerly referred to as “Small Market.”

For more information on account balances, see Notes 9 and 10.

Commissions and other expenses that result directly from and are essential to the successful acquisition of new or renewal business are deferred to the extent recoverable and are amortized on a constant level basis over the expected term of the related contracts using the groupings and actuarial assumptions consistent with those used for calculating the related policyholder liability balances. Certain types of commissions, such as trail commissions that are based on account balances, are expensed as incurred rather than deferred and amortized. Distribution expenses associated with the sale of mutual fund products are expensed as incurred.