HORACE MANN EDUCATORS CORP DE

The personal lines insurance, retirement and supplemental group benefit markets are highly competitive and our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by competitive forces.

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 auto and property insurance, life insurance, retirement products and 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, 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 & 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. Competition 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 auto insurance is marketed, priced and underwritten. The inability of our insurance subsidiaries to effectively anticipate the impact of these issues on our business and compete successfully in the property and casualty business could adversely affect their financial condition and results of operations and the resulting ability to distribute cash to us.

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, which 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.

The development and maintenance of our various distribution channels are critical to growth in product sales and profits.

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. If we are unable to recruit 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.

We also distribute group benefits under agreements with third-party distribution partners with distribution highly concentrated in one partner. If we are unable to retain our critical distribution partner or are unable expand to additional distribution partners, our sales could be adversely impacted.

In addition, a failure to effectively develop new methods of reaching consumers or realize cost efficiencies could impact our ability to grow our business and generate revenues as new sales could suffer.

If we are not able to maintain secure access to educators, 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, 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-cost product and distribution approaches, which may put us at a competitive disadvantage relative to other more highly 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.

Lack of successful execution on acquisition integration strategies could result in impairment of goodwill and intangible assets that could adversely affect our results of operations.

We accounted for the NTA and Madison National acquisitions using the acquisition method of accounting, which requires that the assets acquired and liabilities assumed be recognized on our consolidated balance sheet at their respective fair values as of the acquisition date, including recognition of intangible assets. Any excess of the purchase consideration over the fair value of the acquired net tangible and intangible assets is recognized as goodwill.

As of December 31, 2023, the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheet reflected goodwill of $34.9 million and intangible assets of $156.9 million recognized in connection with the recent acquisitions (see Part II - Item 8, Note 9 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for more information). To the extent the acquisitions do not provide the modeled returns, the value of goodwill or intangible assets could become impaired and thus, we may be required to recognize material non-cash charges relating to such impairment, which could adversely affect our results of operations.