CNO Financial Group, Inc.

We are raising full-year operating earnings per share guidance and either improving or reaffirming our previously disclosed 2026 guidance, as discussed below.

Given our strong first-half results and confidence in the underlying performance of the business, we are increasing our operating earnings per diluted share guidance to be in the range of $4.60 to $4.80, excluding any significant items in the year (as compared to our previous guidance of $4.25 to $4.45). We are narrowing our expense ratio to be in the range of 18.8 percent to 19.0 percent (as compared to our previous guidance of 18.8 percent to 19.2 percent), reflecting improved operating leverage from continued strong sales results. We expect fee income of approximately $30 million for the year with roughly a third in the first half of the year, minimal contribution in the third quarter, and the balance in the fourth quarter. Fee income will benefit from the exit of the Worksite Division fee services business as explained below. We are lowering the effective tax rate assumption to approximately 21.5 percent (as compared to our previous guidance of 22.5 percent), primarily driven by favorable non-recurring tax deductions and the continued benefit of tax planning initiatives executed during the first half of the year.

In November 2025, the Company announced its intention to exit the fee services business within its Worksite Division to sharpen its focus on the core insurance business. The Worksite Division fee services business includes benefits administration technology, education, advocacy, and communications services. The exit was substantially complete as of June 30, 2026. The Company expects the exit from this business to reduce annual fee revenue by roughly $30 million (less than 1 percent of total revenue) and increase annual pre-tax income by roughly $20 million.

Our 2026 operating ROE is expected to exceed the three-year target of 12 percent we had previously established for year-end 2027.

We expect free cash flows to be in the range of $200 million to $250 million. We expect to continue to manage to: (i) a consolidated RBC ratio in the range of 360 percent to 390 percent for our U.S. based insurance subsidiaries; (ii) minimum holding company liquidity of $150 million; and (iii) a target debt to total capital, excluding accumulated other comprehensive loss, in the range of 25 percent to 28 percent.

In the second quarter of 2025, we began TechMod, a three-year initiative to modernize certain elements of our technology, enabling continued growth of the business over the long-term. The initiative is expected to cost approximately $170 million over three years, including approximately $76 million in 2026. The outlook metrics previously described include the expected impact of this initiative.

We expect to establish new operating ROE targets when we update our outlook in February 2027.