Jackson Financial Inc

In addition to presenting our results of operations and financial condition in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we use and report selected non-GAAP financial measures. Management believes that the use of these non-GAAP financial measures, together with relevant U.S. GAAP financial measures, provides a better understanding of our results of operations, financial condition and the underlying performance drivers of our business. These non-GAAP financial measures should be considered supplementary to our results of operations and financial condition that are presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP and should not be viewed as a substitute for the U.S. GAAP financial measures. Other companies may use similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures that are calculated differently from the way we calculate such measures. Consequently, our non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similar measures used by other companies. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be viewed as substitutes for the most directly comparable financial measures calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Adjusted Operating Earnings

Adjusted Operating Earnings is an after-tax non-GAAP financial measure, which we believe should be used to evaluate our financial performance on a consolidated basis by excluding certain items that may be highly variable from period to period due to accounting treatment under U.S. GAAP or that are non-recurring in nature, as well as certain other revenues and expenses that we do not view as driving our underlying performance. Adjusted Operating Earnings should not be used as a substitute for net income as calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. However, we believe the adjustments to net income are useful for gaining an understanding of our overall results of operations.

Adjusted Operating Earnings equals our Net income (loss) attributable to Jackson Financial Inc.'s common shareholders (which excludes income attributable to non-controlling interest and dividends on preferred stock) adjusted to eliminate the impact of the items described in the following numbered paragraphs. These items are excluded as they may vary significantly from period to period due to near-term market conditions or are otherwise not directly comparable or reflective of the underlying performance of our business. We believe these exclusions provide investors a better picture of the drivers of our underlying performance.

1. Net Hedging Results: Comprised of: (i) fees attributed to guaranteed benefits; (ii) net gains (losses) on hedging instruments which includes: (a) changes in the fair value of freestanding derivatives, and related commissions and expenses, used to manage the risk associated with market risk benefits and other guaranteed benefit features, excluding earned income from periodic settlements and changes in settlement accruals on cross-currency swaps; and (b) investment income and change in fair value of certain non-derivative assets used to manage the risk associated with market risk benefits and other guaranteed benefit features; (iii) the movements in reserves, market risk benefits, guaranteed benefit features accounted for as embedded derivative instruments, and related claims and benefit payments; (iv) amortization of the balance of unamortized deferred acquisition costs, at January 1, 2021, the date of transition to current accounting guidance (LDTI), associated with items excluded from adjusted operating earnings prior to transition; and (v) the impact on the valuation of Guaranteed Benefits and Net Hedging Results arising from changes in underlying actuarial assumptions. We believe excluding these items removes the impact to both revenue and related expenses associated with Guaranteed Benefits and Net Hedging Results.

2. Net Realized Investment Gains and Losses: Comprised of: (i) realized investment gains and losses associated with the periodic sales or disposals of securities, excluding those held within our trading portfolio, and (ii) impairments of securities, after adjustment for the non-credit component of the impairment charges.

3. Change in Value of Funds Withheld Embedded Derivative and Net investment income on funds withheld assets: Composed of: (i) the change in fair value of funds withheld embedded derivatives, and (ii) net investment income on funds withheld assets related to funds withheld reinsurance transactions.

4. Other items: Comprised of: (i) the impact of investments that are consolidated in our financial statements due to U.S. GAAP accounting requirements, such as our investments in collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), but for which the consolidation effects are not consistent with our economic interest or exposure to those entities, and (ii) one-time or other non-recurring items, such as costs relating to our separation from Prudential.

Operating income taxes are calculated using the prevailing corporate federal income tax rate of 21% while taking into account any items recognized differently in our financial statements and federal income tax returns, including the dividends received deduction and other tax credits. For interim reporting periods, the Company uses an estimated annual effective tax rate (“ETR”)in computing its tax provision including consideration of discrete items.

The following is a reconciliation of Adjusted Operating Earnings to net income (loss) attributable to Jackson Financial common shareholders, the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure.

Adjusted Book Value Attributable to Common Shareholders and Adjusted Operating ROE Attributable to Common Shareholders

We use Adjusted Operating Return on Equity ("ROE") Attributable to Common Shareholders to manage our business and evaluate our financial performance that: (i) excludes items that vary from period to period due to accounting treatment under U.S. GAAP or that are non-recurring in nature, as such items may distort the underlying performance of our business; and (ii) is calculated by dividing our Adjusted Operating Earnings by average Adjusted Book Value Attributable to Common Shareholders.

Adjusted Book Value Attributable to Common Shareholders excludes Preferred Stock and AOCI attributable to Jackson Financial, which does not include AOCI arising from investments held within the funds withheld account related to the Athene Reinsurance Transaction.

We exclude AOCI attributable to Jackson Financial from Adjusted Book Value Attributable to Common Shareholders because our invested assets are generally invested to closely match the duration of our liabilities, which are longer duration in nature, and therefore we believe period-to-period fair market value fluctuations in AOCI to be inconsistent with this objective. We believe excluding AOCI attributable to Jackson Financial is more useful to investors in analyzing trends in our business. Changes in AOCI within the funds withheld account related to the Athene Reinsurance Transaction offset the related non-operating earnings from the Athene Reinsurance Transaction resulting in a minimal net impact on Adjusted Book Value of Jackson Financial.

Adjusted Book Value Attributable to Common Shareholders and Adjusted Operating ROE Attributable to Common Shareholders should not be used as substitutes for total shareholders’ equity and ROE as calculated using annualized net income and average equity in accordance with U.S. GAAP. However, we believe the adjustments to equity and earnings are useful to gaining an understanding of our overall results of operations.

The following is a reconciliation of Adjusted Book Value Attributable to Common Shareholders to total shareholders’ equity and a comparison of Adjusted Operating ROE Attributable to Common Shareholders to ROE Attributable to Common Shareholders, the most comparable U.S. GAAP measure: