HMN US Equity☆

hmn-20221231

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022

or

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from ______ to ______

Commission file number 1-10890

HORACE MANN EDUCATORS CORPORATION

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

1 Horace Mann Plaza, Springfield, Illinois62715-0001

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant's Telephone Number, Including Area Code: 217-789-2500

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Name of each exchange on

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) which registered

Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share HMN New York Stock Exchange

Securities Registered Pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes☑ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐No☑

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes☑ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes☑ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ☑ Accelerated filer ☐

Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management's assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☑

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filling reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant's executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes ☐ No ☑

The aggregate market value of the registrant's Common Stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant based on the closing price of the registrant's Common Stock on the New York Stock Exchange and the shares outstanding on June 30, 2022, was $1,531.2 million.

As of February 16, 2023, the registrant had 40,836,057 shares of Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share, outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference

Certain portions of the registrant's Proxy Statement for the 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders are incorporated by reference into Part III Items 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 of this Form 10-K as specified in those Items and will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 120 days after December 31, 2022.

HORACE MANN EDUCATORS CORPORATION

FORM 10-K

YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2022

INDEX

Part Item Page

I 1. Business 1

Introduction 1

Forward-looking Information 1

Overview, History and Available Information 1

Corporate Strategy 2

Human Capital Resources 4

Reporting Segments 4

Investments 15

Cash Flow 17

Regulation 18

Changing Climate Conditions 19

Enterprise Risk Management 20

1A. Risk Factors 21

1B. Unresolved Staff Comments 35

2. Properties 35

3. Legal Proceedings 35

4. Mine Safety Disclosures 35

6. [Reserved] 38

Introduction 39

Consolidated Financial Highlights 40

Consolidated Results of Operations 41

Application of Critical Accounting Estimates 45

Results of Operations by Segment 54

Investment Results 61

Liquidity and Capital Resources 64

Future Adoption of New Accounting Standards 69

Effects of Inflation and Changes in Interest Rates 70

7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk 70

8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data 72

9A. Controls and Procedures 146

9B. Other Information 149

9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections 149

III 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance 149

11. Executive Compensation 149

13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence 150

14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services 150

IV 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules 150

PART I

ITEM 1.IBusiness

Introduction

Measures within this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not based on accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (non-GAAP) are marked with an asterisk (*) the first time they are presented within Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. An explanation of these measures is contained in the Glossary of Selected Terms included as Exhibit 99.1 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are reconciled to the most directly comparable measures prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) in the Appendix to the Company's Fourth Quarter 2022 Investor Supplement.

Forward-looking Information

Statements made in this Annual Report on Form 10-K that are not historical in nature are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. Horace Mann Educators Corporation (referred to in this Annual Report on Form 10-K as "we", "our", "us", the "Company", "Horace Mann" or "HMEC") is an insurance holding company. We are not under any obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. It is important to note that our actual results could differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties inherent in our business. See Part I - Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for additional information regarding risks and uncertainties.

Overview, History and Available Information

We are an insurance holding company incorporated in Delaware. Our headquarters is located in Springfield, Ill. We also operate corporate offices in Dallas; Madison, Wisc.; and Cherry Hill, N.J. Our common stock has traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol HMN since our initial public offering in November 1991.

Founded by Educators for Educators®, our business began in Springfield in 1945 when two school teachers started selling auto insurance to other teachers within Illinois. We expanded our business to other states and broadened our product line to include life insurance in 1949, 403(b) tax-qualified retirement annuities in 1961 and property insurance in 1965. In 2019, we increased our market share when we acquired all of the equity interests in NTA Life Enterprises, LLC (NTA). On January 1, 2022, we enhanced our value proposition for school districts by acquiring Madison National Life Insurance Company, Inc. (Madison National).

We conduct our business in two divisions: Retail and Worksite. The Retail Division focuses on providing individual insurance and financial products directly to educators and others who serve the community. It includes both the Property & Casualty and Life & Retirement reporting segments. The Worksite Division provides benefits to educators through their school district employers. This division includes the Supplemental & Group Benefits reporting segment, which includes the results of NTA and Madison National.

We do not allocate the impact of corporate-level transactions to the three reporting segments, consistent with the basis for management's evaluation of the results of those segments, but classify those items in a separate reporting segment, Corporate & Other.

Our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, Proxy Statements, and all amendments to those reports, are available free of charge through the Investors section of our website, investors.horacemann.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The EDGAR filings of such reports are also available at the SEC's website, www.sec.gov.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 1

Also available in the Investors section of our website are our corporate governance principles, Code of Conduct, and the charters of the HMEC Board of Directors (Board), Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Executive Committee, Investment and Finance Committee and Nominating and Governance Committee. Copies also may be obtained by writing to Investor Relations, Horace Mann Educators Corporation, 1 Horace Mann Plaza, Springfield, Illinois 62715-0001. Our environmental, social and governance reporting is available through the corporate social responsibility section of our website, csr.horacemann.com.

On June 21, 2022, our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) submitted the Annual Section 12(a) CEO Certification to the NYSE without any qualifications. We filed with the SEC, as exhibits to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, the CEO and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) certifications required under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Corporate Strategy

Our vision is to be the company of choice to provide insurance and financial solutions for all educators and others who serve their communities, whether they engage with Horace Mann directly or through their district/employer. We believe the unique value of Horace Mann is providing solutions tailored for educators at each stage of their lives, empowering them to achieve lifelong financial success. Our motivation stems from our gratitude for educators: They are looking after our children's futures, and we believe they deserve someone to look after theirs. Our commitment to having a positive impact on our customers' lives extends to all our corporate stakeholders, including employees, agents, investors and the communities where we live and work.

Education market focus

The U.S. Department of Education estimates that there are approximately 7.5 million K-12 school teachers, administrators and support staff nationwide. Horace Mann serves approximately 1 million of these households. Our customer base is about 80% educators. (The remaining 20% are generally in other public sector occupations such as firefighters.) The niche educator market has similar characteristics and preferred risk profiles, which allows for more precise underwriting processes and more targeted marketing operations.

As the U.S. population increases, the need for educator positions grows proportionally. However, fewer people are pursuing education as a career, and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated school district administrators' staffing concerns. One avenue administrators pursue to attract and retain educators is adding or improving employee benefit packages. Horace Mann's Worksite Division provides solutions that meet these needs.

We partner with a diverse group of national, state and local education associations. Working closely with the educational community helps us to identify emerging educator financial wellness issues and build solutions to address them.

We believe our niche market strategy, combined with our Company's more than 75-year history serving the education market, helps us succeed in a highly competitive environment. The insurance industry consists of a large number of companies, some of which have substantially greater financial resources, widespread advertising campaigns, more diversified product lines, greater economies of scale and/or lower-cost marketing approaches compared to us.

Our solutions orientation for both educator and school district customers focuses on products, distribution and infrastructure (PDI):

•Protection and savings products, as well as financial wellness resources and programs, designed to meet K-12 educators’ unique needs.

•Knowledgeable, trusted distribution tailored to educator preferences. In our Retail Division, the solutions are delivered directly to educators. In our Worksite Division, our solutions are often delivered as employee benefits or as part of an annual enrollment process.

•Modern, scalable infrastructure that is easy to do business with.

2 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Retail Division strategy

We provide protection and savings products directly to educators through local, trusted agents or by centralized phone and online options. These products include auto insurance, property insurance, liability insurance, 403(b) retirement plans, mutual funds and individual life insurance tailored to meet the needs of educators.

Our core retail distribution strategy is a captive agent force that partners with their local educational community as a trusted advisor in financial wellness. Educators have specific financial challenges, such as navigating individual state teacher retirement systems, high student loan debt, and personal spend on classroom supplies. Horace Mann shares financial education resources and specific programs to help educators address these challenges. This trusted adviser model builds particularly strong brand loyalty and affinity.

One example is Horace Mann's Student Loan Solutions program. For many educators — particularly those new to the profession — student loan debt is often substantial. Among other challenges, that debt may preclude saving for retirement at the point when those savings would have the most time to grow and make a significant impact at retirement age. We offer complimentary online student loan management accounts for all educators nationwide, which includes guidance on how to successfully qualify for federal student loan forgiveness available to public sector employees.

To meet the preferences of customers who prefer "on demand" services, our direct sales team is available by phone or online to respond to questions or bind coverages. Customers can also secure auto, property and life quotes and coverage comparisons online. As customer needs become more complex, they frequently seek the help of a trusted advisor.

We continuously improve the infrastructure that supports our Retail Division. In particular, we are enhancing our digital capabilities to ensure our operation runs efficiently and educators can connect with us in the manner they prefer. Key projects include the Guidewire property and casualty platform, which increases customer convenience through improved digital capabilities, e-signatures, real-time policy issuance and changes, coverage comparison features and consolidated billing; and the LifePro administration system for our life, retirement, annuity and supplemental products, which offers substantial benefits in terms of customer experience and operating efficiencies.

Worksite Division strategy

We provide protection products through the workplace as employee benefits or directly. The product set includes life insurance, group long- and short-term disability, supplemental cancer, supplemental heart, supplemental disability, supplemental accident and supplemental hospital indemnity. Group products may be paid for by the school district employer, or provided as optional benefits for employee purchase. Individual products provide the opportunity for a school, district or association to make valuable financial protection benefits directly available to educators.

Our core worksite distribution strategy is to market through the benefit brokers and others that bring employer-sponsored solutions for educators directly to district decision makers as part of the benefit design process. Our benefit enrollment teams can support the roll out of group solutions provided by a district or manage the enrollment process for individual products.

Our understanding of the educational market and specialized solutions package allows us to help these brokers design custom solutions for districts, particularly larger ones, that support educator recruitment and retention. For example, we can package our student loan solutions offering with other worksite benefits.

Following the integration of NTA and Madison National, we are focused on ensuring the infrastructure for our Worksite Division is responsive to the needs of our distribution partners, employers and educators. In 2023, one area of focus is enhancing the platforms used by marketing partners.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 3

Human Capital Resources

Horace Mann's mission of helping educators achieve lifelong financial success resonates strongly with our approximately 1,700 employees. In interactions with customers, each other and all stakeholders, we aim to reflect the core values at the heart of who we are: compassionate, trustworthy, straightforward, approachable, respectful and knowledgeable.

We strive to have policies and practices in place to attract top talent, maintain high levels of employee engagement and increase retention. Our Total Rewards strategy to attract and retain talented employees is based on providing competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, work/life flexibility, and robust employee training and development opportunities. Every Horace Mann employee is eligible for an annual bonus program based on company performance and annual merit increases based on individual performance. We contribute 3% of every employee’s eligible earnings to their 401(k), regardless of their contribution status. We then match up to an additional 5% of each employee’s eligible earnings annually. We provide mental and physical health resources and incentives to help support employee wellness.

Under our hybrid workforce model, more than 70% of our employees have the ability to work remotely as part of their regular weekly schedule. Our employee training and development program consists of instructor-led classes, peer-to-peer learning opportunities and support for self-directed learning.

Horace Mann has long strived to foster an inclusive culture in which individual differences are recognized, respected and appreciated. As part of our ongoing employee listening strategy, we regularly solicit employee feedback through pulse surveys on both specific items and broader topics. In 2022, we undertook a comprehensive employee engagement survey, with 74% of employees participating. Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council hosts educational events and corporate-wide book studies, with participants including senior leadership and directors. In 2022, we launched Employee Resource Groups aligned with employee identity, inclusion and wellness. For the fifth year in a row, Horace Mann was named to the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which recognizes corporate commitment to transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s equality.

We have no collective bargaining agreements with any employees.

Reporting Segments

In 2022, we conducted our business in two divisions. The Retail Division is made up of the Property & Casualty and Life & Retirement reporting segments, while the Worksite Division consists entirely of the Supplemental & Group Benefits reporting segment. The Corporate & Other reporting segment includes capital-raising activities and corporate-level transactions.

These segments are defined based on the way management organizes the business for making operating decisions and assessing performance. Management maintains discrete financial information for these segments to evaluate performance and allocate resources.

The calculations of segment data are described in more detail in Part II - Item 8, Note 19 of the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Additionally, the business operations of each segment are explained in this section. The financial performance of each segment is discussed in Part II - Item 7 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

4 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Property & Casualty segment

Within the Retail Division, the Property & Casualty segment's primary insurance products include private passenger auto insurance and residential home insurance.

We offer standard auto coverages, including liability, collision and comprehensive. Property coverage includes both homeowners and renters policies. For both auto and property coverage, we offer educators a discounted rate and the Educator Advantage® package of features. This includes value-added benefits specifically for educators, such as liability coverage for transporting students in an insured vehicle and reimbursement for stolen school fundraising items.

We have third-party programs in a majority of states to provide higher-risk auto and property coverages. We also have a number of other insurance coverages with third-party vendors that underwrite and bear the risk of such insurance. We receive commissions on these risks.

Similarly, we have increased our offering of third-party vendor products in many areas to meet additional educator needs such as coverage for small business owners or classic/collector autos.

366,602 auto risks in force and

170,760 property risks in force at December 31, 2022.

Geographic distribution

Our Property & Casualty business is geographically diversified. For the year ended December 31, 2022, based on direct premiums for all product lines, the top five states and their portion of total direct insurance premiums were California, 12.2%; Texas, 8.2%; North Carolina, 7.9%; Minnesota, 6.0%; and South Carolina, 4.8%.

Competition

Competition in this market for personal protection products is from a number of national providers of personal lines insurance, including State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, Liberty Mutual and Nationwide, as well as a number of regional companies. We also compete for auto business with other companies such as GEICO, Progressive and USAA, many of which feature direct marketing distribution. A number of technology start-ups have also entered the market.

In our target market, we believe that our principal competitive advantages in the sale of property and casualty products are overall service, school partnerships, price, and name recognition.

$612.6 million in direct premiums, defined as premiums earned before reinsurance as determined under statutory accounting principles. Our Property & Casualty subsidiaries are licensed to write business in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 5

Catastrophe Losses (Pretax)(1)

The number of catastrophe events and the level of catastrophe losses can fluctuate significantly from year to year. Our catastrophe losses for the last five years are shown in the following table ($ in millions).

Year Month Event Description States/Region Total

May Wind and Thunderstorm MN, WI 5.5

May Wind and Thunderstorm MN, NE, SD, WI 7.0

May Wind and Thunderstorm MI, MN, NJ, OH, PA, TX, WI 7.4

December Winter Storm Elliott Northern Plains, Midwest and North East 8.1

Other single events less than $5.0 million 52.0

February Winter Storm Viola AR, IL, LA, MO, OK, TN. TX 5.1

December Wildfire Marshall CO 5.3

Other single events less than $5.0 million 43.8

August Derecho IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, OH, SD, WI 6.5

August Hurricane Laura AR, LA, MS, TN, TX 9.5

October Hurricane Delta AL, AR, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TX 3.3

October Hurricane Zeta AL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC 2.7

Other single events less than $5.0 million 62.4

May Wind and Hail CO, IA, IL, IN, KS, MO, NE, OH, OK, PA, WY 5.5

Other single events less than $5.0 million 46.5

June Wind and Hail CO, UT 8.2

July Carr Fire CA 5.9

September Hurricane Florence Southeast and Mid-Atlantic 11.4

October Hurricane Michael Southeastern U.S. 4.5

November Camp Fire(2) CA 31.2

Other single events less than $5.0 million 52.9

(1) Net of reinsurance and before income tax benefits. Includes allocated loss adjustment expenses.

(2) As recognized in 2018 and excludes subrogation recoveries of $4.8 million pretax received in 2020.

Fluctuations in catastrophe losses impact a property and casualty insurance company's claims and claim adjustment expenses incurred.

6 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Claims and Claim Expenses Incurred(1), 2020 - 2022 ($ in millions)

(1) Claims and claim expenses incurred include the impact of prior years' reserve development as quantified in Property & Casualty reserves. Catastrophe totals are net of reinsurance and before income tax benefits.

Property & Casualty Reserves

Property & Casualty unpaid claims and claim expense reserves (reserves) represent management's best estimate of ultimate unpaid costs of losses and settlement expenses for reported claims and claims that have been incurred but not yet reported (IBNR). We calculate and record a single best estimate of the reserve as of each reporting date in conformity with generally accepted actuarial standards. We engage an independent property and casualty actuarial consulting firm to prepare an independent study of our Property & Casualty reserves at December 31st of each year. For additional information regarding the process used to estimate Property & Casualty reserves and the risk factors involved, as well as a summary reconciliation of the beginning and ending Property & Casualty insurance claims and claim expense reserves and prior years' reserve development recorded in each of the three years ended December 31, 2022, see Part I - Item 1A - Risk Factors - "Our property and casualty loss reserves may not be adequate", Part II - Item 7, Application of Critical Accounting Estimates and Results of Operations for the Property & Casualty Segment, and Part II - Item 8, Note 8 in the Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

All of our reserves for Property & Casualty unpaid claims and claim expenses are carried at the full value of estimated liabilities and are not discounted for interest expected to be earned on the reserves. Due to the nature of our personal lines business, we have no exposure to losses related to claims for toxic waste cleanup, other environmental remediation or asbestos-related illnesses other than claims under property insurance policies for environmental related items such as mold.

Property & Casualty Reinsurance

All reinsurance is obtained through contracts which generally are entered into for each calendar year. Although reinsurance does not legally discharge us from primary liability for the full amount of our risks, it does allow for recovery from assuming reinsurers to the extent of the reinsurance ceded. Past due reinsurance recoverables as of December 31, 2022 were not material.

We maintain catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance coverage. For 2022, our catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance coverage consisted of one contract in addition to a minimal amount of coverage by the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. The catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance contract provided 95% coverage for catastrophe losses above a $25.0 million retention per occurrence up to $175.0 million per occurrence. This contract consisted of three layers, each of which provided for one mandatory reinstatement. The layers were $25.0 million excess of $25.0 million, $40.0 million excess of $50.0 million and $85.0 million excess of $90.0 million. For 2023, our retention will increase to $30.0 million and the catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance coverage will provide 54% coverage for the layer of $20.0 million excess of $30.0 million, 92% coverage for the

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 7

layer of $40.0 million excess of $50.0 million, and 95% coverage for the layer of $85.0 million excess of $90.0 million.

We have not joined the California Earthquake Authority (CEA). Our exposure to losses from earthquakes is managed through our underwriting standards, our earthquake policy coverage limits and deductible levels, and the geographic distribution of our business, as well as our reinsurance program. After reviewing the exposure to earthquake losses from our own risks and from what it would be with participation in the CEA, including estimated start-up and ongoing costs related to CEA participation, we believe it is in our best economic interest to offer earthquake coverage directly to our property policyholders.

For liability coverages in 2022, we reinsured each loss above a retention of $5.0 million per occurrence up to $20.0 million in a clash event. A clash cover is a reinsurance casualty excess contract requiring two or more casualty coverages or risks issued by us to be involved in the same loss occurrence for coverage to apply. The clash event coverage is unchanged for 2023.

We market personal lines excess liability risks. The limits of these risks are $1.0 million to $5.0 million in excess of $0.5 million of underlying auto and homeowners liability coverage. We reinsure these risks on a quota share basis with General Reinsurance Corporation who assumes 95% of losses, including allocated loss adjustment expenses and premiums for all states except Massachusetts. For business written in Massachusetts, the quota share portion is 75%.

For auto insurance sold in Michigan, Personal Injury Protection (PIP) unlimited coverage is offered in compliance with Michigan state law. For these risks with unlimited coverage, we participate in the Michigan Catastrophic Claims Association (MCCA). For risks issued in 2022, MCCA reimbursed PIP losses including allocated loss adjustment expenses in excess of $0.6 million.

The following table identifies our most significant reinsurers under the catastrophe first event excess of loss reinsurance program, their percentage participation in this program and their ratings by A.M. Best Company (A.M. Best) and Standard & Poor's Global Inc. (S&P) as of January 1, 2023. No other single reinsurer's percentage participation in 2023 or 2022 exceeds 5%. We monitor reinsurers' financial strength by reviewing A.M. Best and S&P ratings.

Property Catastrophe First Event Excess of Loss Reinsurance Participants In Excess of 5%

A.M. Best Rating S&P Rating Reinsurer Parent 2023 2022

A A+ Lloyd's of London Syndicates 15.5 % 14.2 %

A+ A+ Everest Reinsurance Company Everest Re Group, Ltd. 10.0 % 10.7 %

NR A+ R+V Versicherung AG DZ BANK AG 9.0 % 8.9 %

A+ A+ Transatlantic Reinsurance Company Transatlantic Holdings, Inc. 8.9 % 5.3 %

A+ AA- SCOR Global P&C SE SCOR SE 6.5 % 6.7 %

NR - Not rated.

8 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Life & Retirement segment

Within the Retail Division, our Life & Retirement segment markets 403(b) tax-qualified fixed, fixed indexed and variable annuities; the Horace Mann Retirement Advantage® open architecture platform for 403(b)(7) and other defined contribution plans; traditional term and whole life insurance products and indexed universal life (IUL) products. We offer educator rates for our life insurance customers.

Educators in our target market continue to benefit from the provisions of Section 403(b) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) which allows public school employees and employees of other tax-exempt organizations, such as not-for-profit private schools, to utilize pretax income to make periodic contributions to a qualified retirement plan (also see Regulation - Regulation at Federal Level).

We are one of the largest participants in the K-12 educator portion of the 403(b) tax-qualified annuity market, measured by 403(b) net written premium on a statutory accounting basis. Our 403(b) tax-qualified annuities are voluntarily purchased by individuals employed by public school systems or other tax-exempt organizations through employee benefit plans of those entities.

In 2022, 47.2% of net annuity contract deposits* were for 403(b) tax-qualified annuities. At year-end 2022, 55.5% of accumulated annuity value on deposit was 403(b) tax-qualified. To further assist registered representatives in delivering our value proposition, we have entered into third-party vendor agreements to market 529 college savings programs and provide brokerage clearing arrangements.

We offer a lineup of several life product portfolios. Life by Design® is a portfolio of our manufactured and branded life insurance products that specifically address the financial planning needs of educators. The Life by Design® portfolio features individual whole life and individual term products, including 10, 15, 20 and 30-year level term policies. The Life by Design® policies have premiums that are guaranteed for the duration of the contract.

We offer a combination product called Life Select® that mixes a base of either traditional whole life, 20-pay life or life paid-up at age 65 with a variety of term riders to allow for more flexibility in tailoring the coverage to customers' varying life insurance needs. Additional products include single premium whole life products and Cash Value Term — a term policy that builds cash value while providing the income protection of traditional level term life insurance.

We offer an IUL product with interest crediting strategies linked to the S&P 500 Index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), offering a contingent return based on equity market performance. Along with expanded product offerings, new marketing support tools continue to be introduced to aid the agency force.

We also maintain a closed block of Experience Life® policies. This product, discontinued in 2006, represents a flexible premium life insurance contract consisting mainly of whole life and term elements, along with an interest bearing policy account.

During 2022, the average face amount of individual life insurance policies issued by us was approximately $198,000 and the average face amount of individual life insurance policies in force at December 31, 2022 was approximately $123,000.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 9

Retirement assets under management

We market both fixed and variable annuity contracts, primarily on a tax-qualified basis. Total accumulated fixed and variable annuity cash value on deposit at December 31, 2022 was $4.9 billion, net of reinsurance.

Fixed-only annuities provide a guarantee of principal and a guaranteed minimum rate of return. These contracts are backed by our general account investments. We bear the investment risk associated with the investments and may change the declared interest rate on these contracts subject to contract guarantees.

We also offer fixed indexed annuity (FIA) products with interest crediting strategies linked to the S&P 500 Index and the DJIA.

227,539 annuity contracts in force at December 31, 2022.

Variable annuities combine a fixed account option with equity-linked and bond-linked sub-account options. By utilizing tools that provide assistance in determining needs and making asset allocation decisions, contractholders are able to choose the investment mix that matches their personal risk tolerance and retirement goals. As of December 31, 2022, we had 119 variable sub-account options including funds managed by some of the larger participants in the mutual fund industry.

Annuities are marketed under the Personal Retirement Planner annuity series, which includes a flexible premium deferred variable annuity, a flexible premium deferred fixed indexed annuity, a single premium deferred fixed annuity and a single premium immediate annuity. Consistent across all of these products is the elimination of any surrender charges for early withdrawal.

Retirement assets under administration

In addition to annuities, we market the Horace Mann Retirement Advantage® open architecture platform for 403(b)(7) and other defined contribution plans. This platform combines a wide array of mutual funds integrated with a group unallocated fixed annuity stable value fund. This platform provides us with greater flexibility to offer customized 403(b)(7) and other qualified plan solutions to better meet the needs of school districts and other non-for-profit plan sponsors. In 2019, we acquired a recordkeeping administrator, Benefit Consultants Group, Inc. (BCG) and we migrated the administration of our Horace Mann Retirement Advantage® platform from a third-party vendor to the BCG platform. We offer our group unallocated fixed annuity and Horace Mann Stable Value Solution, as an option within a number of the 401(k) plans BCG administers. BCG had $1.2 billion of recordkeeping assets under administration as of December 31, 2022.

10 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Retirement Assets Under Administration, 2020 - 2022 ($ in billions)

Geographic distribution

Our Life & Retirement business is geographically diversified. For the year ended December 31, 2022, based on direct premiums and contract deposits for all product lines, the top five states and their portion of total direct premiums and contract deposits were Pennsylvania 9.2%; North Carolina, 6.1%; Minnesota 5.5%; Indiana, 5.3%; and California, 5.3%.

Competition

National providers of annuities and other financial service platforms that serve the retirement needs of educators and others that serve the community, include The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of American International Group, Inc.; AXA, Voya Financial, Inc., Life Insurance Company of the Southwest, a subsidiary of National Life Insurance Company; Security Benefit, and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equities Fund. Select mutual fund families and financial planners also compete in this marketplace.

We believe that our principal competitive advantages in the sale of retirement products and life insurance are school-based sales and service, product features, perceived stability of the insurer, price, overall service and name recognition.

$599.2 million in direct premiums and contract deposits, defined as premiums collected before reinsurance as determined under statutory accounting principles. Our principal life subsidiary is licensed to write business in 49 states and the District of Columbia.

The market for tax-deferred retirement products in our target market has been impacted by the revised Code Section 403(b) regulations, which made the 403(b) market more comparable to the 401(k) market than it was in the past. This change has made the 403(b) market more attractive to some of the larger companies experienced in 401(k) plans, including both insurance and mutual fund companies, that had not previously been active competitors in this business.

Annuity Reinsurance

We reinsure a $3.1 billion block of in force fixed and variable annuity business with a minimum crediting rate of 4.5%. The reinsured fixed business represents approximately 50% of our in force fixed annuity account

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 11

balances. The arrangement contains investment guidelines and a trust to help meet our risk management objectives. Under the annuity reinsurance agreement, approximately $2.5 billion of fixed annuity reserves are reinsured on a coinsurance basis. The separate account assets and liabilities of approximately $0.6 billion are reinsured on a modified coinsurance basis and thus, remain on our consolidated financial statements, but the related results of operations are fully reinsured. The annuity reinsurance agreement does not expose the reinsurer (RGA Reinsurance Company, a subsidiary of Reinsurance Group of America, Incorporated) to a reasonable possibility of a significant loss from insurance risk. Therefore, we recognize the annuity reinsurance agreement using the deposit method of accounting.

Life Reinsurance

The maximum individual life insurance risk retained by our Life segment is $500,000 on any individual life, while either $100,000 or $125,000 is retained on each group life policy depending on the type of coverage. The excess of the amounts retained are reinsured with life reinsurers that are rated A (Excellent) or above by A.M. Best. We also maintain a life catastrophe reinsurance program. In 2022, we reinsured 100% of the catastrophe risk in excess of $1.0 million up to $35.0 million per occurrence, with one reinstatement. For 2023, our catastrophe risk coverage is unchanged. Our life catastrophe risk reinsurance program covers acts of terrorism and includes nuclear, biological and chemical explosions but excludes other acts of war.

Supplemental & Group Benefits segment

Within the Worksite Division, the Supplemental & Group Benefits segment offers employer-sponsored products including accident, critical illness, limited-benefit fixed indemnity insurance, term life, short-term disability and long-term disability, as well as worksite direct products including supplemental heart, supplemental cancer, supplemental disability and supplemental accident coverages.

Our product line is designed to help districts and other employers improve recruitment and retention. As the competition for top talent intensifies, public sector employers are increasingly looking to offer benefits that are competitive with those of the private sector. The products we provide are part of a typical "total rewards" compensation package, including some products paid by the employer and provided to groups of employees, as well as products that employees can select as part of their benefit enrollment process.

268,037 total worksite direct policies in force and 735,199 total employer-sponsored covered lives at December 31, 2022

Group products may be purchased by employers to include in benefit packages for all employees or offered as a voluntary option for employees to purchase. Our typical group products are guaranteed issue - meaning no individual underwriting is required; in some instances an employee can expand the coverage with simplified underwriting at an additional expense. Group products can be customized to complement each employer's benefit package features. These group products typically have minimum participation rates and are underwritten at the group level to account for population size, industry, gender and age distribution, and other applicable risk factors.

Our typical worksite direct supplemental policies provide "HIPAA Excepted" benefits with simplified underwriting. They are most often purchased after face-to-face consultation and discussion in the workplace, often during a benefit enrollment process. Payment for worksite direct supplemental products can be made directly to Horace Mann via recurring bank draft or credit card payments or through payroll deduction. These

12 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

products offer defined benefit amounts that are paid directly to the insured, and are payable in addition to any other insurance coverages. An insured can use the supplemental payments to cover medical or non-medical costs.

Supplemental products remain an important tool in the changing healthcare landscape, particularly with the prevalence of high deductible health care plans and an increasing focus on employee health and wellness. Our supplemental products offer indemnity benefits rather than the reimbursement of actual costs. Benefit risks are well controlled with specified limitations regarding preexisting conditions, the frequency of occurrences, maximum benefits per occurrence, and maximum occurrences. Diagnosis or treatment is a required element when establishing proof of loss necessary for benefit payments. Our supplemental disability products have various elimination periods and only provide short-term benefit periods. Sound underwriting strategies and disciplined underwriting methods help ensure loss experience is commensurate with pricing expectations.

$145.8 million in direct premiums, defined as premiums earned before reinsurance as determined under statutory accounting principles. Our principal employer-sponsored insurance subsidiary is licensed to write business in 49 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

$121.5 million in direct premiums, defined as premiums earned before reinsurance as determined under statutory accounting principles. Our principal worksite direct insurance subsidiary is licensed to write business in all 50 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the District of Columbia.

Geographic distribution of business

Our employer-sponsored line of business is concentrated in the Upper Midwest, while our worksite direct business is concentrated in the Southern states including California. This provides opportunities for growth for both lines of business. For the year ended December 31, 2022, based on direct premiums and contract deposits for all product lines, the top five states and their portion of total direct insurance premiums and contract deposits for the worksite direct business were California, 28.7%; Texas, 13.7%; Florida, 6.3%; North Carolina, 5.7%; and Louisiana, 5.4%. The top five states for the employer-sponsored business were Minnesota, 16.0%; Wisconsin, 14.2%; Indiana, 9.0%; Pennsylvania, 8.3%; and Michigan, 8.1%.

Competition

Competition in this market includes American Fidelity, Aflac, Colonial (Unum), Reliance Standard, The Standard, Washington National (CNO) and Trustmark.

Employer-Sponsored Reserves

Employer-sponsored unpaid claims and claim expense reserves (reserves) represent management's best estimate of ultimate unpaid costs of losses and settlement expenses for reported claims and claims that are

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 13

IBNR. We calculate and record a single best estimate of the reserve as of each reporting date in conformity with generally accepted actuarial standards. For additional information regarding the process used to estimate employer-sponsored reserves and the risk factors involved, as well as a summary reconciliation of the beginning and ending employer-sponsored insurance claims and claim expense reserves and prior years' reserve development recorded for the year ended December 31, 2022, see Part I - Item 1A - Risk Factors - "Actual experience may differ from actuarial assumptions, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition", Part II - Item 7, Application of Critical Accounting Estimates and Results of Operations for the Supplemental & Group Benefits Segment, and Part II - Item 8, Note 8 of the Consolidated Financial Statements of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Employer-Sponsored Reinsurance

We retained approximately 72.6% of gross and assumed group disability and specialty health benefits in 2022. We have legacy blocks of individual life, annuity and long term care benefits that are effectively 100% ceded and are in run off. We purchase quota share reinsurance and excess reinsurance in amounts deemed appropriate by our risk committee. We monitor our retention amounts by product line and have the ability to adjust our retention as appropriate.

Reinsurance is used to reduce the potentially adverse financial impact of large individual or group risks, and to reduce the strain on statutory income and surplus related to new business. By using reinsurance, we are able to write policies in amounts larger than we could otherwise accept. The amount reinsured is the portion of each policy in excess of the retention limit on a particular policy.

The following reinsurers represent approximately 98.0% of total ceded premium for the year ended December 31, 2022:

A.M. Best Rating % of

Reinsurer Ceded Premiums

A National Guardian Life Insurance Company 61.0 %

A- Clear Spring Life and Annuity Company 25.0 %

A+ RGA Reinsurance Company 12.0 %

We remain liable with respect to the insurance in force, which has been reinsured in the unlikely event that the assuming reinsurers are unable to satisfy their obligations. The ceding of reinsurance does not discharge us from the primary liability of the insured.

Worksite Direct Reserves

Worksite direct policy reserves represent our best estimate of the present value of future ultimate benefits, net of future premiums, to be provided for cancer, heart, hospital, supplemental disability and accident claims. The reserves are a single best estimate calculated in accordance with generally accepted actuarial standards. Unpaid claims and claim expenses provide provisions for claims reported to us plus an estimated accrual for claims that are IBNR. For additional information regarding the process used to estimate worksite direct reserves and the risk factors involved, see Part I - Item 1A - Risk Factors - "Actual experience may differ from actuarial assumptions, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition”and Part II - Item 7, Results of Operations for the Supplemental & Group Benefits Segment of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Worksite Direct Reinsurance

We retain all of the risk on our supplemental health product lines, including accidental death risk embedded within certain products. However, our other accidental death and dismemberment risks issued through all other policies and riders are ceded 100%. The maximum life insurance risk retained on any individual life is $100,000. The excess risk on the life insurance products is ceded to and reinsured by a third party that is rated A (Excellent) by A.M. Best.

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Corporate & Other

Corporate & Other includes capital raising activities (including debt financing and related interest expense), net investment gains (losses), certain public company expenses and other corporate-level transactions including expenses related to business acquisition activity. We do not allocate the impact of corporate-level transactions to the other reporting segments, consistent with the basis for management's evaluation of the results of those segments.

Investments

Our investment strategy is primarily focused on generating income to support product liabilities, and balances principal protection and risk. Our investment objectives are implemented through portfolios that primarily emphasize investment grade fixed maturity securities that are selected to match the anticipated duration of our liabilities. In addition to these securities, we also invest in limited partnership interests (which include commercial mortgage loan funds) and equity securities to help improve overall returns.

We have separate investment strategies and guidelines for our Property & Casualty, Life & Retirement and Supplemental & Group Benefits portfolios, which recognize different characteristics of the associated insurance liabilities, as well as different tax and regulatory environments. We manage interest rate exposure for our portfolios through asset/liability management techniques that attempt to coordinate the duration of the assets with the duration of the insurance policy liabilities. Duration of assets and liabilities will generally differ only because of opportunities to increase yields or because policy values are not interest rate sensitive, as is the case in Property & Casualty and Supplemental & Group Benefits.

The investments of each insurance subsidiary must comply with the insurance laws of such insurance subsidiary's domiciliary state. These laws prescribe the type and amount of investments that may be purchased and held by insurance companies. In general, these laws permit investments, within specified limits and subject to certain qualifications, in federal, state and municipal obligations, corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities, other asset-backed securities, preferred stocks, common stocks, real estate mortgages, real estate and alternative investments.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 15

Investment Portfolio as of December 31, 2022

($ in millions) % of TotalFair Value Fair Value

U.S. Government and agency obligations:(1)

Equity securities:

Non-redeemable preferred stocks, investment grade 1.0 68.5 63.0 5.5 — 68.5

Non-redeemable preferred stocks, non-investment grade 0.2 13.4 11.7 0.7 1.0 13.4

Common stocks — 0.8 0.8 — — 0.8

Other Invested Assets:

(1)All investment grade that includes $309.0 million fair value of investments guaranteed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government and $604.1 million fair value of federally sponsored agency securities which are not backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.

(2)A non-investment grade rating is assigned to a security when it is acquired or when it is downgraded from investment grade, primarily on the basis of the S&P rating for such security, or if there is no S&P rating, the Moody's Investors Service, Inc. (Moody's) or Fitch Ratings, Inc. (Fitch) rating for such security, or if there is no S&P, Moody's or Fitch rating, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' (NAIC) rating for such security. The rating agencies monitor securities and their issuers regularly, and make changes to the ratings as necessary. We incorporate rating changes on a monthly basis.

(3)Includes commercial mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities, other mortgage-backed securities and collateralized loan obligations.

(4)Short-term investments mature within one year of being acquired and are carried at cost, which approximates fair value. Short-term investments of $109.4 million are all money market funds and are not rated.

(5)Mortgage loans are carried at amortized cost, net and policy loans are carried at unpaid principal balances.

(6)Approximately 6.6% of our investment portfolio, having a carrying amount of $435.8 million as of December 31, 2022, consisted of securities with some form of credit support, such as insurance. Of the securities with credit support. municipal bonds represented $330.0 million of the carrying amount.

(7)Includes $0.2 million of fixed maturity securities, $1.0 million of equity securities and $0.8 million of short-term investments held in Corporate & Other.

(8)Under the equity method of accounting, the carrying amounts of limited partnership interests approximate fair value.

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Fixed Maturity Securities

For reporting purposes, we have classified the entire portfolio of fixed maturity securities as available for sale and the portfolio is carried at fair value. An adjustment for net unrealized investment gains (losses) on fixed maturity securities available for sale is recognized as a separate component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) (i.e., AOCI) within shareholders' equity, net of applicable deferred taxes and the related impact from deferred policy acquisition costs (DAC) associated with annuity contracts and life insurance products with account values. Fixed maturity securities held for indefinite periods of time include securities that we intend to use as part of our asset/liability management strategy and that may be sold in response to changes in interest rates, resultant prepayment risk and other related factors, other than securities that are in an unrealized loss position for which we have the stated intent to hold until recovery.

Fixed Maturity Securities Portfolio as of December 31, 2022

% of Fixed MaturitySecurities Portfolio % of TotalInvestment Portfolio

Non-investment grade 8.0 % 6.3 %

Average credit quality A+ A+

Average option-adjusted duration 6.4 6.4

Percent maturing in next 5 years 30.6 % 24.1 %

Cash Flow

Information regarding our sources and uses of cash, including payment of principal and interest with respect to our indebtedness, and payment of dividends to our shareholders, is contained in Part II - Item 8, Note 14 of the Consolidated Financial Statements and in Part II - Item 7, Liquidity and Capital Resources — Cash Flow, Liquidity Sources and Uses and — Capital Resources of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

The ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay cash dividends to us is subject to state insurance department regulations which generally permit dividends to be paid for any 12 month period in amounts equal to the greater of (i) net income for the preceding calendar year or (ii) 10% of surplus, determined in conformity with statutory accounting principles, as of the preceding December 31st. Any dividend in excess of these levels requires the prior approval of the Director or Commissioner of the state insurance department of the state in which the dividend paying insurance subsidiary is domiciled. The aggregate amount of dividends that may be paid in 2023 from all of our insurance subsidiaries without prior regulatory approval is approximately $110.3 million, excluding the impact and timing of prior year dividends, of which $179.9 million was paid during the year ended December 31, 2022.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, if insurance regulators otherwise determine that payment of a dividend or any other payment to an affiliate would be detrimental to an insurance subsidiary's policyholders or creditors, because of the financial condition of the insurance subsidiary or otherwise, the regulators may block dividends or other payments to affiliates that would otherwise be permitted without prior approval.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 17

Regulation

General Regulation at State Level

As an insurance holding company, we are subject to extensive regulation by the states in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled or transact business. Our principal insurance subsidiaries are domiciled in Illinois, New York, Wisconsin and Texas and are overseen by the Illinois Department of Insurance, the New York Department of Financial Services, the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance and the Texas Department of Insurance. Some regulations, such as those addressing unclaimed property, generally apply to all corporations. In addition, the laws of the various states establish regulatory agencies with broad administrative powers, which relate to a wide variety of matters, including granting and revoking licenses to transact business, regulating trade practices and rate setting, licensing agents, requiring statutory financial statements, monitoring insurer solvency and reserve adequacy, and prescribing the type and amount of investments permitted and the manner in which they may be sold. On an ongoing basis, various state legislators and insurance regulators examine the nature and scope of state insurance regulation.

In addition to individual state monitoring and regulation, state regulators develop coordinated regulatory policies through the NAIC. States have adopted NAIC risk-based capital guidelines to evaluate the adequacy of statutory capital and surplus in relation to an insurance company's risks. Based on current guidelines, the risk-based capital statutory requirements are not expected to have a negative regulatory impact on our insurance subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, statutory capital and surplus of each of our insurance subsidiaries were above required levels. States have also adopted the NAIC's U.S. Own Risk and Solvency Assessment which requires insurance companies to submit their own assessment of their current and future risks and provide a consolidated group-level perspective on risk and capital formulated through an internal risk self-assessment process.

Regulation of insurance continues to evolve. Some changes arise as a result of economic developments, such as changes in investment laws made to recognize new investment products or to respond to perceived investment risks, while others reflect concerns about consumer privacy, insurance availability, prices, allegations of unfair-discriminatory pricing, underwriting practices, or solvency concerns. Over the past several years, legislation, regulatory measures, and voter initiatives have been introduced, and in some cases adopted, which deal with use of non-public consumer information, cybersecurity, use of credit information in underwriting and rating, insurance rate development, rate of return limitations, and the ability of insurers to cancel or non-renew insurance policies.

Assessments Against Insurers and Mandatory Insurance Facilities

Under insurance insolvency or guaranty laws in most states in which we operate, insurers doing business therein can be assessed for policyholder losses related to insolvencies of other insurance companies, and many assessments paid by us pursuant to these laws may be used as credits for a portion of our premium taxes in certain states. Also, we are required to participate in various mandatory insurance facilities in proportion to the amount of our direct writings in the applicable state. For the three years ended December 31, 2022, the impacts of the above industry items were not material to our results of operations.

Regulation at Federal Level

Although the federal government generally does not directly regulate the insurance industry, federal initiatives often impact the insurance business. Current and proposed federal measures which may significantly affect insurance and retirement business include employee benefits regulation, standards applied to employer sponsored retirement plans, standards applied to broker-dealers and investment advisers, controls on the costs of medical care, medical entitlement programs such as Medicare, structure of retirement plans and accounts, changes to the insurance industry antitrust exemption, and minimum solvency requirements. Also, see Part I - Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Other federal regulation such as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and USA PATRIOT Act, including its anti-money laundering regulations, also impact our business.

The variable annuities underwritten by Horace Mann Life Insurance Company (HMLIC) are regulated by the SEC. Horace Mann Investors, Inc., and BCG Securities, Inc. (BCGS), our broker-dealer and Registered Investment Adviser subsidiaries, are also regulated by the SEC, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc., the Municipal Securities Rule-making Board and various state securities regulators.

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Changes in federal income taxation of the build-up of cash value within a life insurance policy or an annuity contract could have a materially adverse impact on our ability to market and sell such products. Various legislation to this effect has been proposed in the past, but has not been enacted. Although no such legislative proposals are known to exist at this time, such proposals may be made again in the future. Changes in other federal and state laws and regulations could also affect the relative tax and other advantages of our annuity and life products.

Financial Regulation Legislation

In addition, from time to time, the United States Congress and certain federal agencies investigate the current condition of the insurance industry to determine whether federal regulation is necessary. For example, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) created the Federal Insurance Office (FIO) within the U.S. Department of the Treasury. FIO studies the current insurance regulatory system and is charged with monitoring and providing specific reports on various aspects of the insurance industry, including the collection of information about the insurance industry and monitoring the industry for systemic risk. However, FIO does not have general supervisory or regulatory authority over the insurance business.

Changing Climate Conditions

Horace Mann continually works to better understand and manage climate risks that directly affect our stakeholders. This is an important issue for the insurance industry. We recognize climate change is a growing concern, and continually work to better understand and manage climate risks that directly affect our customers, insurance products and investment portfolio. Our Board formally recognizes the importance of carbon neutrality.

Our Board oversees our Enterprise Risk Management Committee’s risk assessments and risk mitigation strategies, including recommended actions to address climate change risks. These actions include managing climate risks through our ongoing risk assessments to help us improve the accuracy of our climate-related risk models, refine how we price and underwrite policies, and avoid an over concentration of insurance coverages and investments in geographies likely to be affected by climate risk. We also have in place a conservative reinsurance program as an additional layer of protection against large property and casualty catastrophe losses. Our 2023 coverage for $30 million to $175 million of losses shares the risk with other insurance companies.

We also are working to mitigate the impact of climate risks on our results. Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns in recent years are widely associated with more frequent and severe weather events and natural catastrophes, leading to higher insurance claims and costs and creating additional uncertainty as to future trends and exposures. We want to be there for our customers in the event of a loss of our customers' property and help them recover from hurricanes, windstorms, hail, severe winter weather, wildfires and earthquakes.

As we look ahead, we believe climate change risks should be understood, modeled and priced into our insurance products and services. There are also public policy implications, such as discouraging overbuilding in high-risk areas through flood insurance requirements and state regulatory approaches to insurance premium approvals; and modifying and enforcing building codes to better protect at-risk communities against the effects of natural catastrophes.

Similar to other insurers, we may be subject to increased losses from catastrophes and other weather-related events that are exacerbated by weather/climate variability.

As we discuss in Part I - Item 1A—Risk Factors—“Climate change may adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows" of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, several factors make increased losses more likely:

•More people living in high-risk areas combined with population growth in areas with weaker enforcement of building codes, urban expansion and an increase in the average size of a house. For example, hurricane activity has impacted areas further inland than previously experienced, and demographic changes have resulted in larger populations located in coastal areas that historically have been subject to severe storms and related storm surge, expanding the potential for losses from hurricanes.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 19

•Elevated frequency and severity of wildfire losses due, in part, to record droughts in western states that some climate studies suggest are likely to increase over time, as well as demographic changes in areas prone to wildfires.

•Less reliable catastrophe models due to the increased unpredictability in frequency and severity of severe weather events, emerging trends in climate conditions, inadequate reflection of regulatory changes and the other factors mentioned above.

In addition, changing climate conditions may present other issues for our business as discussed in Part I - Item 1A - Risk Factors of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. For example, among other things:

•Changing climate conditions could also impact the creditworthiness of issuers of securities in which we invest. For example, water supply adequacy could impact the creditworthiness of bond issuers with significant assets or business activities in the Southwestern United States, and more frequent and/or severe hurricanes could impact the creditworthiness of issuers with significant assets or business activities in the Southeastern United States, among other areas. See Part I - Item 1A—Risk Factors— “Climate change may adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

•Increased regulation adopted in response to potential changes in climate conditions may impact us and our customers, including state insurance regulations that could impact our ability to manage property exposures in areas vulnerable to significant climate driven losses. For example, one state passed legislation that restricted a carrier's ability to cancel or non-renew certain policies within or adjacent to declared state of emergency zip codes. If we are unable to implement risk-based pricing, modify policy terms or reduce exposures to the extent necessary to address rising losses related to catastrophes and smaller scale weather events (should those increased losses occur), our business may be adversely affected.

Enterprise Risk Management

As a multi-line insurance company, we are exposed to many risks which are a function of the products we underwrite and the environments within which we operate. Since certain risks can be correlated, an event or a series of events can impact multiple areas of our business simultaneously and have a material effect on our results of operations, financial position and liquidity. These exposures require an entity-wide view of risk and an understanding of the potential impact on all aspects of our operations. It also requires us to manage our risk-taking to be within our appetite in a prudent and balanced effort to create and preserve value for all our stakeholders. Our Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) activities involve both the identification and assessment of a broad range of risks and the execution of coordinated strategies to effectively manage them. ERM also includes an evaluation of our risk capital needs, which takes into account regulatory requirements and credit rating considerations, in addition to economic and other factors. ERM is an integral part of our business operations. All risk owners across all functions, all corporate leaders and the Board are engaged in ERM. ERM involves risk-based analytics, as well as reporting and feedback throughout the enterprise in support of our long-term financial strategies and objectives.

To aid our risk analysis, we use property and casualty catastrophe models that are run by our reinsurance intermediary. Life & Retirement asset cash flows are projected using third-party software for certain security types. We also utilize proprietary third-party computer modeling processes to evaluate capital adequacy. These analytical techniques are an integral component of our ERM process and further support our long-term financial strategies and objectives.

Within Horace Mann, ERM is an ongoing assessment process used to identify and manage or mitigate risk, which will continue to influence our strategy and direction. The ERM Committee objectives include the following:

•Apply appropriate consideration to risk in strategic and operational decision-making

•Define and communicate risk appetite and risk management policies

•Approve and oversee processes aimed at identifying, evaluating, and managing risk

•Monitor and discuss emerging risks and risk management capabilities

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The ERM Committee is composed of senior executives from across Horace Mann and has ultimate oversight over the risk management process, with each leader having ownership and accountability over certain identified key risks. Our Chief Risk Officer (CRO) in conjunction with the ERM Committee, is responsible for working with the business leaders to ensure that they are actively monitoring and managing their key risks. The CRO is also responsible for developing and monitoring key corporate level risks that encompass more than one business/division. There is ongoing and regular communication within the ERM Committee.

Members of the ERM Committee are responsible for updates to the Board and various Board committees on key risks and emerging risk topics. The interaction of all the various individuals, committees, reports, and processes results in an on-going process, which we believe puts us in the best position to effectively and efficiently manage risk.

Our ERM efforts build upon the foundation of an effective internal control environment. However, we can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that these objectives will be met. Further, the design of any risk management or control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. As a result, the possibility of material financial loss remains despite our significant and comprehensive ERM efforts. An investor should carefully consider the risks and all other information set forth in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including disclosures in Part I - Item 1A—Risk Factors, Part II - Item 7A—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk, and Part II - Item 8—Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

ITEM 1A. I Risk Factors

Index to Risk Factors

Page

Introduction 21

Risks Related to Economic Conditions, Market Conditions and Investments 22

Risks Related to Property & Casualty Segment 23

Risks Related to Life & Retirement Segment 25

Risks Related to Supplemental & Group Benefits Segment 26

Strategic Risks 26

Operational Risks 28

Financial Strength, Credit and Counterparty Risks 30

Regulatory and Legal Risks 32

Introduction

We have identified what we believe reflect key significant risks to the organization, and in turn to our shareholders, which are outlined below. Any of the risks described below could result in a significant or material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. In addition to these enumerated risks, we face numerous other strategic, operational and emerging risks that could in the aggregate lead to shortfalls to our long-term goals or add to short-term volatility in our earnings. Additionally, many risk factors are correlated, which could exacerbate the financial impact. The following review of important risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the Forward-looking Information section located in Part I - Item 1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as Part II - Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K and other reports and materials we submit to the SEC. The words or phrases believe, anticipate, estimate, project, plan, expect, intend, hope, forecast, evaluate, will likely result or will continue or words or phrases of similar import generally involve forward-looking statements. All of the risks that may affect our financial or operating performance may not be material at this time but may become material in the future.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 21

Risks Related to Economic Conditions, Market Conditions and Investments

Volatile financial markets and adverse economic environments can affect financial market risk as well as our financial condition and results of operations.

Financial markets in the U.S. and elsewhere can experience extreme volatility and disruption for uncertain periods of time. During such times, stresses affecting the global banking system can lead to economic volatility, which can exert significant downward pressure on prices of equity securities and many other investment asset classes and result in severely constrained credit and capital markets, particularly for financial institutions, and an overall loss of investor confidence. Many states and local governments can also be impacted by adverse economic conditions, which could have an impact on both our niche market and our investment portfolio. Like other financial institutions that face significant financial market risk in their operations, we have been adversely affected by these conditions and could be adversely impacted by similar circumstances in the future. Our ability to access the capital markets to refinance outstanding indebtedness or raise capital could be impaired during significant financial market disruptions.

As discussed further in subsequent risk factors, in addition to the effects of financial markets volatility, a prolonged economic recession may have other adverse impacts on our financial condition and results of operations.

If our investment strategy is not successful, we could suffer unexpected losses.

The success of our investment strategy is crucial to the success of our business. Specifically, our fixed maturity securities portfolio is subject to a number of risks including:

•interest rate risk, which is the risk that interest rates may decline and funds reinvested would earn less than expected;

•market value risk, which is the risk that invested assets will decrease in value due to changes in yields realized on the assets and prevailing market yields for similar assets, an unfavorable change in the liquidity of the asset or an unfavorable change in the financial prospects or a downgrade in the credit rating of the issuer of the asset that would result in realized losses on funds disposed before their maturity;

•credit risk, which is the risk that the value of certain investments become impaired due to deterioration in the financial condition of one or more issuers of those instruments or the deterioration in performance or credit quality of the underlying collateral of certain structured securities and, ultimately, the risk of permanent loss in the event of default by an issuer or underlying credit;

•market fundamentals risk, which is the risk that there are changes in the market that can have an unfavorable impact on securities valuation such as availability of credit in the capital markets, re-pricing of credit risk, reduced market liquidity due to broker-dealers' unwillingness to hold inventory, and increased market volatility;

•concentration risk, which is the risk that the portfolio may be too heavily concentrated in the securities of one or more issuers, sectors or industries, which could result in a significant decrease in the value of the portfolio in the event of deterioration in the financial condition of those issuers or the market value of their securities;

•liquidity risk, which is the risk that liabilities are surrendered or mature sooner than anticipated requiring the sale of assets at an undesirable time to provide for policyholder surrenders, withdrawals or claims; and,

•regulatory risk, which is the risk that regulatory bodies or governments, in the U.S. or in other countries, may make substantial investments or take significant ownership positions in, or ultimately nationalize, financial institutions or other issuers of securities held in our investment portfolio, which could adversely impact the seniority or contractual terms of the securities. Regulatory risk could also come from changes in tax laws or bankruptcy laws that could adversely impact the valuation and/or after tax yields of certain invested assets.

22 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Although our defined benefit pension plan has been frozen since 2002, declining financial markets could also cause, and in the past have caused, the value of the investments in this plan to decrease, resulting in additional pension expense, a reduction in other comprehensive income and an increase in required contributions to this plan, which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The determination of fair value of our fixed maturity securities portfolio includes methodologies, estimations and assumptions that are subject to differing interpretations and could result in changes to investment valuations that may materially affect our financial condition and results of operations.

The determination of fair value is made at a specific point in time, based on available market information and judgments about financial instruments, including estimates of the timing and amounts of expected future cash flows and the credit standing of the issuer or counterparty. The use of different methodologies and assumptions may have a material effect on the estimated fair value amounts. During periods of market disruption, including periods of rapidly widening credit spreads or illiquidity, it may be difficult to value certain securities if trading becomes less frequent and/or market data becomes less observable. There may be certain asset classes that were in active markets with significant observable data that become illiquid due to the financial environment. In such cases, fair value determination may require more subjectivity and management judgment and those fair values may differ materially from the value at which the investments could ultimately be sold. Further, rapidly changing and unprecedented credit and equity market conditions could materially impact the valuation of securities and the period-to-period changes in fair value could vary significantly. The difference between fair value and amortized cost, net of applicable deferred income taxes and the related impact on DAC associated with annuity contracts and life insurance products with account values is reflected as a component of AOCI within shareholders' equity. Decreases in the fair value of investments could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Equity method adjustments on investments in limited partnership interests as well as fair value accounting for equity securities and derivatives may reduce profitability and/or cause volatility in our results of operations.

We invest in limited partnership interests, which are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. This means that our proportionate share of the changes in fair value of the underlying net asset values are reported in net investment income in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income (Loss). As a result, the amount of net investment income recognized from these investments can vary substantially from period to period. Equity and credit market volatility may reduce net investment income from these types of investments and negatively impact the results of operations. Changes in fair value from applying fair value accounting to equity securities, which are reported in net investment gains (losses) in the Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive (Loss), may cause volatility in our results of operations.

The application of fair value accounting for derivatives and derivatives embedded in FIA and IUL products may cause volatility in our results of operations.

Risks Related to Property & Casualty Segment

Catastrophe events, as well as significant weather events not designated as catastrophes, can have a material adverse affect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Underwriting results of property and casualty insurers are subject to weather and other conditions prevailing in an accident year. While one year may be relatively free of major weather or other disasters — not all of which are designated by the insurance industry as a catastrophe, another year may have numerous such events causing results for such a year to be materially worse than for previous years.

Our Property & Casualty insurance subsidiaries have experienced, and we anticipate that in the future they will continue to experience, catastrophe losses. A catastrophe event, a series of multiple catastrophe events or a series of non-catastrophe severe weather events could have a material adverse effect on the financial condition and results of operations of our insurance subsidiaries.

Various events can cause catastrophes, including hurricanes, windstorms, hail, severe winter weather, wildfires, earthquakes, explosions and terrorism. The frequency and severity of these catastrophes are inherently

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 23

unpredictable. The extent of losses from a catastrophe is a function of both the total amount of insured exposures in the area affected by the event and the severity of the event. Although catastrophes can cause losses in a variety of property and casualty lines, most of the catastrophe-related claims of our insurance subsidiaries are related to property coverages. Our ability to provide accurate estimates of ultimate catastrophe losses is based on several factors, including:

•the proximity of the catastrophe occurrence date to the date of our estimate;

•potential inflation of property repair costs in the affected area;

•supply chain interruptions resulting in cost increases, including availability of services and materials;

•the occurrence of multiple catastrophes in a geographic area over a relatively short period of time; and

•the outcome of litigation which may be filed against us by policyholders, state attorneys general and other parties relative to loss coverage disputes and loss settlement payments.

Based on 2022 direct premiums earned, 58.1% of the total annual premiums for our Property & Casualty business were for policies issued in the ten largest states in which the insurance subsidiaries write property and casualty coverage. Included in this top ten group are certain states which are considered to be more prone to catastrophe occurrences: California, Texas, North Carolina, Minnesota, South Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana.

Our property and casualty loss reserves may not be adequate.

Our Property & Casualty insurance subsidiaries maintain loss reserves to provide for their estimated ultimate liability for losses and loss adjustment expenses with respect to reported and unreported claims incurred as of the end of each reporting date. If these loss reserves prove inadequate, a loss is recognized and measured by the amount of the shortfall and, as a result, the financial condition and results of operations of the insurance subsidiaries may be adversely affected, potentially affecting their ability to distribute cash to us.

Reserves do not represent an exact calculation of liability. Reserves represent estimates, generally involving actuarial projections at a given time, of what the insurance subsidiaries expect the ultimate settlement and adjustment of claims will cost, net of salvage and subrogation. Estimates are based on assessments of known facts and circumstances, assumptions related to the ultimate cost to settle such claims, estimates of future trends in claims severity and frequency, changing judicial theories of liability and other factors. These variables are affected by both internal and external events, including changes in claims handling procedures, economic inflation, unpredictability of court decisions, plaintiffs' expanded theories of liability, risks inherent in major litigation and legislative changes. Many of these items are not directly quantifiable, particularly on a prospective basis. Significant reporting lags may exist between the occurrence of an insured event and the time it is actually reported. Our insurance subsidiaries adjust their reserve estimates regularly as experience develops and further claims are reported and settled.

The rise in inflation in recent periods has significantly increased our loss costs in our auto and property businesses. It is possible that inflation could remain at elevated levels for a prolonged period, or increase from these high levels, which could in turn lead to further increases in our loss costs. The impact of inflation on loss costs could be more pronounced for those lines of business that are considered “longer tail,” such as auto liability, as they require a relatively long period of time to finalize and settle claims for a given accident year. Recent changes in the macroeconomic environment have impacted medical labor and materials costs, the potential persistency of which could result in future loss costs which are higher than our current expectations. The estimation of loss reserves may also be more difficult during extreme events, such as a pandemic, or during volatile or uncertain economic conditions, due to unexpected changes in behavior of claimants and policyholders, including an increase in fraudulent reporting of exposures and/or losses, reduced maintenance of insured properties, increased frequency of small claims or delays in the reporting or adjudication of claims.

Due to the inherent uncertainty in estimating reserves for losses and loss adjustment expenses, we cannot be certain that the ultimate liability will not exceed amounts reserved, with a resulting adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

24 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Risks Related to Life & Retirement Segment

A sustained period of low interest rates or interest rate fluctuations could negatively affect net interest margin derived from the difference between interest earned on investments and interest paid under fixed annuity and life insurance products with account values.

Significant changes in interest rates expose us to the risk of not earning the appropriate level of income or experiencing losses based on the differences between the interest earned on investments and the credited interest paid on outstanding fixed annuity and life insurance products with account values. Significant changes in interest rates may affect:

•the ability to maintain appropriate interest rate spreads over the rates guaranteed in fixed annuity and life products with account values;

•the book yield of the investment portfolio; and

•the net unrealized investment gains (losses) in the portfolio and the related after tax effect on shareholders' equity and total capital.

Both rising and declining interest rates can negatively affect the income derived from interest rate spreads on annuity and life insurance products with account values. During periods of falling interest rates or a sustained period of low interest rates, investment earnings will be lower because new investments in fixed maturity securities likely will bear lower interest rates. We may not be able to fully offset the decline in investment earnings with lower crediting rates on fixed annuity products, particularly in a multi-year period of low interest rates.

During periods of rising interest rates, there may be competitive pressure to increase the crediting rates on fixed annuity products. We may not, however, immediately have the ability to acquire investments with interest rates sufficient to offset an increase in crediting rates under fixed annuity products. Therefore, changes in interest rates could affect interest rate spreads.

Changes in interest rates may also affect business in other ways. For example, a rapidly changing interest rate environment may result in less competitive crediting rates on certain fixed rate products which could make those products less attractive, leading to lower sales and/or increases in the level of life insurance and fixed annuity product surrenders and withdrawals. New business volume also could be negatively impacted by product or agent compensation changes which we might make to mitigate the income effect of spread compression.

The Retirement business may be, and in the past has been, adversely affected by volatile or declining financial market conditions.

Conditions in the U.S. and international financial markets affect the sale and profitability of retirement products. In general, sales of fee-based products decrease when financial markets are declining or experiencing a higher than normal level of volatility over an extended period of time. Therefore, weak and/or volatile financial market performance may adversely affect sales of fee-based products to potential customers, may cause current customers to withdraw or reduce the amounts invested in fee-based products and may reduce the market value of existing customers' investments in fee-based products, in turn reducing the amount of fee-based product revenues generated. In addition, some variable annuity products offer guaranteed minimum death benefit features, which provide for a benefit if the contractholder dies and the contract value is less than a specified amount. A decline in the financial markets could cause the contract value to fall below this specified amount, increasing exposure to losses from variable annuity products featuring guaranteed minimum death benefits.

Deviations from assumptions regarding business persistency, mortality and morbidity used in calculating life and annuity reserves and DAC amortization and market risk benefits related to annuities could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

The processes of calculating reserves and DAC amortization for the life and annuity businesses involve the use of a number of assumptions, including those related to business persistency (how long a contract stays with us), mortality (the relative incidence of death over a given period of time) and morbidity (the relative incidence of disability resulting from disease or physical impairment). We review, and if there is a change, update

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 25

assumptions at least annually which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

A reduction or elimination of the tax advantages of retirement and life products and/or a change in the tax benefits of various government-authorized retirement programs, such as 403(b) products and individual retirement accounts (IRAs), could make our products less attractive to clients and adversely affect our results of operations.

A significant part of our retirement business involves fixed and variable 403(b) tax-qualified products, which are purchased voluntarily by individuals employed by public school systems or other tax-exempt organizations. Our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected by changes in federal and state laws and regulations that affect the relative tax and other advantages of our life and retirement products to clients or the tax benefits of programs utilized by our customers. As a result of persisting economic conditions, revenue challenges exist at federal, state and local government levels. These challenges could increase the risk of future adverse impacts on current tax-advantaged products or result in notable reforms to educator pension programs. Also, see Part I - Item 1, Regulation of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Current federal income tax laws generally permit the tax-deferred accumulation of earnings on the premiums paid by holders of retirement and life insurance products. Taxes, if any, are generally payable on income attributable to a distribution under the contract for the year in which the distribution is made. From time to time, Congress has considered legislation that would reduce or eliminate the benefit of such deferral of taxation on the accretion of value within life insurance and non-qualified annuity contracts. Enactment of this legislation, or other tax reform efforts could result in fewer sales of life insurance and retirement products.

Risks Related to Supplemental & Group Benefits Segment

Actual experience may differ from actuarial assumptions, which could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

Historical results may not be indicative of future performance due to, among other things, changes in our mix of business, regulatory actions or changes in legal doctrine impacting our products or lines of business, or any number of economic cyclical effects including inflation. Reserves do not represent an exact calculation of future benefit liabilities but are instead actuarial and statistical-based estimates. Actual experience may differ from our reserve assumptions. There are no assurances that reserves will be sufficient to fund our future liabilities in all scenarios. Future loss development may require reserves to be increased, which could adversely affect earnings in current and future periods. Adjustments to reserve amounts may be required in the event of changes from the assumptions regarding future morbidity, mortality, persistency and interest rates used in calculating the reserve amounts, which could have a material adverse affect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Strategic Risks

The integration of Madison National may not be as successful as anticipated.

The Madison National acquisition involves numerous operational, strategic, financial, accounting, legal, tax and other risks. Difficulties in executing the acquisition strategy may cause our financial results to differ from our expectations or the expectations of the investor community. Potential difficulties that may be encountered in the integration process include, among other factors:

•the inability to successfully integrate the businesses and distribution relationships of Madison National in a manner that permits us to achieve the full revenue and cost savings desired from the acquisition;

•complexities associated with managing the larger, more complex, business;

•loss of key employees;

•disruption of, or loss of momentum in, each company's ongoing business; and,

•Madison National's distribution risk inherent in its in force block, which is highly concentrated with one distribution partner.

26 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

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 BCG, BCGS, 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, 2022, the Company's Consolidated Balance Sheet reflected goodwill of $34.9 million and intangible assets of $171.8 million recognized in connection with the BCG, BCGS, NTA and Madison National acquisitions (see Part II - Item 8, Note 7 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.

The personal lines insurance and retirement 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 and life insurance and retirement products.

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 and life insurance products 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. During the current cycle, and potentially beyond, 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, that 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.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 27

If we are not able to effectively develop and expand our marketing operations, including agents and other points of distribution, our financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our Retail Division agencies are owned primarily by non-employee, independent contractor Exclusive Distributors with most agencies operating in outside offices with licensed producers. The economic viability of each agency is directly dependent on the productivity of the agency and the success at penetrating, serving and cross-selling our educator market.

Our success in marketing and selling our products is largely dependent upon the efforts of our agent sales force and the success of their agency operations. As we expand our business, we may need to expand the number of agencies marketing our products. If we are unable to appoint additional agents, fail to 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.

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, requirements of national and state Do Not Call registries, 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.

Operational Risks

A large-scale pandemic, the occurrence of terrorism or military actions may have an adverse effect on our business.

A large-scale pandemic, the occurrence of terrorism or military and other actions, may result in loss of life, property damage, and disruptions to commerce and reduced economic activity. Some of the assets in our investment portfolio may be adversely affected by declines in the equity markets, changes in interest rates, reduced liquidity and economic activity caused by a large-scale pandemic. Additionally, a large-scale pandemic or terrorist act could have a material effect on sales, liquidity and operating results.

The effects of a global pandemic on the U.S. economy, our customers, our agents, our employees, our investments and our communities, as well as any preventative or protective actions that we, our employees and agency force, our third-party service providers and suppliers, or governments may take to mitigate the impact of a global pandemic could have an adverse effect on our ability to conduct business and on our financial condition and results of operations. Impacts to our business have been and could continue to be widespread and may result in the following:

•employees contracting effects from a global pandemic;

•increased competition in hiring and retaining employees and agents;

28 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

•sustained lack of access to schools and educators that could materially impact our sales and premium volumes;

•public school systems facing budget constraints due to the economic impacts of the pandemic that could result in educator layoffs;

•unprecedented volatility in financial markets that could materially affect our investment portfolio valuations and returns as well as our ability to generate targeted spreads on indexed products;

•regulatory mandates and/or legislative changes, including premium grace periods and premium credits;

•changes in frequency and/or severity of claims;

•supply chain interruptions resulting in cost increases, including availability of services and materials;

•increased credit risk;

•business disruption for insurance agents who market and sell our insurance products; and,

•business disruptions to third parties at which we outsource certain business functions to or on which we rely for technology.

The full extent to which pandemics could affect the global economy, the financial markets and our business, our financial condition and our results of operations will depend on future developments and factors that cannot be predicted.

Climate change may adversely affect our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.

Climate change presents risk to us and there are concerns that the increased frequency and severity of weather-related catastrophes and other losses is indicative of changing weather patterns, whether as a result of climate-warming trends (global climate change) caused by human activities or otherwise, which could cause such events to persist. Increased weather-related catastrophes could lead to higher overall losses, which we may not be able to recoup, particularly in a highly regulated and competitive environment, and higher reinsurance costs. Certain catastrophe models assume an increase in frequency and severity of certain weather or other events, which could result in a disproportionate impact on insurers with certain geographic concentrations of risk. This could also likely increase the risks of writing property insurance in coastal areas or areas susceptible to wildfires or flooding, particularly in jurisdictions that restrict pricing and underwriting flexibility. The threat of rising sea levels or other catastrophe losses as a result of global climate change may also cause property values in coastal or such other communities to decrease, reducing the total amount of insurance coverage that is required.

In addition, global climate change could have an impact on our fixed maturity securities and limited partnership portfolios, resulting in realized and unrealized losses in future periods that could have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations and cash flows. It is not possible to foresee which, if any, assets, industries or markets may be materially and adversely affected, nor is it possible to foresee the magnitude of such effect. Further, it is also possible that the legal, regulatory and social responses to climate change could have an adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Data security breaches or denial of service on our websites could have an adverse effect on our business and reputation.

Unauthorized access to and unintentional dissemination of our confidential, highly-sensitive customer, employee or company data or other breaches of data security in our facilities, networks or databases, or those of our agents or third-party vendors - including information technology and software vendors, could result in loss or theft of assets or sensitive information, data corruption or operational disruption that may expose us to liability and/or regulatory action and may have an adverse impact on our customers, employees, investors, reputation and business. In addition, any compromise of the security of company data or prolonged denial of service on our websites could harm our business and reputation. Additionally, we recognize the increased external threats of data breaches in the marketplace resulting in non-public data of customers becoming increasingly available in the public domain.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 29

Successful execution of our business growth strategy is dependent on effective implementation of new or enhanced technology systems and applications.

Our ability to effectively execute our business growth strategy and leverage potential economies of scale is dependent on our ability to provide the requisite technology components for that strategy. While we have effectively upgraded our infrastructure technologies with improvements in our data center, a new communications platform and enhancements to our disaster recovery capabilities, our ability to replace or supplement dated, monolithic legacy business systems — such as our Life, Retirement and Property & Casualty policy administrative systems — with more flexible, maintainable, and customer accessible solutions will be necessary to achieve our plans. The inherent difficulty in replacing and/or modernizing these older technologies, coupled with our limited experience in these endeavors, presents an increased risk of failing to deliver these technology solutions in a cost effective and timely manner. Our scale will require us to develop innovative solutions to address these challenges, including consideration of "software as a service" arrangements and other third-party based information technology capabilities. More modern approaches to software development and utilization of third-party vendors can augment our internal capacity for these implementations, but may not adequately reduce the operational risks of timely and cost effective delivery.

Loss of key vendor relationships could affect our operations.

We increasingly rely on services and products provided by a number of vendors in the U.S. and abroad. These include, for example, vendors of computer hardware and software, including on-demand software, and vendors of services such as investment management advisement, information technology services — such as those associated with the Life, Retirement and Property & Casualty policy administrative systems — and delivery services for customer policy-level communications. In the event that one or more of our vendors suffers a bankruptcy or otherwise becomes unable to continue to provide products or services, we may suffer operational difficulties and financial losses.

Our ability to attract, develop, engage, and retain top talent, maintain optimal staffing levels, and foster/sustain a highly inclusive and engaging culture is critical to our success.

Competition from within the insurance industry and from other industries, including the technology sector, for qualified employees with highly specialized knowledge in areas such as underwriting, data and analytics, technology and e-commerce, has often been intense and we have experienced increased competition in hiring and retaining employees.

Factors that affect our ability to attract and retain such employees include:

•competitive total rewards; including compensation and benefits;

•robust training and development programs;

•reputation as a successful business with a culture of fair hiring, and of training and promoting qualified employees; and,

•recognition and responsiveness to changing trends (i.e., remote/hybrid work arrangements) and other circumstances that affect employees.

The unexpected loss of key personnel could have a material adverse impact on our business because of the loss of their skills, knowledge of our products and offerings and years of industry experience and, in some cases, the difficulty of promptly finding qualified replacement personnel. The risks to attracting and retaining the necessary talent may be exacerbated by recent labor constraints and inflationary pressures on employee wages and benefits.

Financial Strength, Credit and Counterparty Risks

Losses due to defaults by others could reduce our profitability or negatively affect the value of our investments.

Third-party debtors may not pay or perform their obligations. These parties may include the issuers whose securities we hold, customers, reinsurers, borrowers under mortgage loans, trading counterparties, derivative counterparties, clearing agents, exchanges, clearing houses and other financial intermediaries. These parties

30 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

may default on their obligations to us due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, downturns in the economy or real estate values, operational failure or other reasons.

During or following an economic downturn, our municipal bond portfolio could be subject to a higher risk of default or impairment due to declining municipal tax bases and revenue. States are currently barred from seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court. However, federal legislation could possibly be enacted to allow states to declare bankruptcy in connection with deficit reductions or mounting unfunded pension liabilities, which could adversely impact the value of our municipal bond portfolio.

The default of a major market participant could disrupt the securities markets or clearance and settlement systems in the U.S. or abroad. A failure of a major market participant could cause some clearance and settlement systems to assess members of that system, including our broker-dealer and Registered Investment Adviser regulatory entities, or could lead to a chain of defaults that could adversely affect us. A default of a major market participant could disrupt various markets, which could in turn cause market declines or volatility and negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations.

Uncollectible reinsurance, as well as reinsurance availability and pricing, can have a material adverse effect on our business volume and profitability.

Reinsurance is a contract by which one insurer, called a reinsurer, agrees to cover a portion of the losses incurred by a second insurer in the event a claim is made under a policy issued by the second insurer. Although a reinsurer is liable to our insurance subsidiaries according to the terms of the reinsurance policy, the insurance subsidiaries remain primarily liable as the direct insurers on all risks reinsured. As a result, reinsurance does not eliminate the obligation of our insurance subsidiaries to pay all claims, and each insurance subsidiary is subject to the risk that one or more of its reinsurers will be unable or unwilling to honor its obligations.

Although we limit participation in our reinsurance programs to reinsurers with high financial strength ratings and also limit the amount of coverage from each reinsurer, our insurance subsidiaries cannot guarantee that their reinsurers will pay in a timely fashion, if at all. Reinsurers may become financially unsound by the time that they are called upon to pay amounts due, which may not occur for many years.

Additionally, the availability and cost of reinsurance are subject to prevailing market conditions beyond our control. For example, significant losses from hurricanes or terrorist attacks, an increase in capital requirements, or a future lapse of the provisions of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act could have a significant adverse effect on the reinsurance market.

If one of our insurance subsidiaries is unable to obtain adequate reinsurance at reasonable rates, that insurance subsidiary would have to increase its risk exposure and/or reduce the level of its underwriting commitments, which could have a material adverse effect upon the business volume and profitability of the subsidiary. Alternatively, the insurance subsidiary could elect to pay the higher than reasonable rates for reinsurance coverage, which could have a material adverse effect upon its profitability until policy premium rates could be raised, in some cases subject to approval by state regulators, to incorporate this additional cost.

We are subject to the credit risk of our counterparties, including reinsurers who reinsure business from our insurance companies.

Our insurance subsidiaries may cede certain risks to third-party insurance companies through reinsurance. HMLIC entered into a reinsurance agreement with RGA to effectuate the reinsurance of a block of in force fixed and variable annuities on a coinsurance and modified coinsurance basis. The variable portion of the reinsured annuities is reinsured on a modified coinsurance basis and assets supporting the variable account liabilities are still held in separate accounts. Because the reinsurance agreement covers a large volume of our in force annuity business, the transaction exposes us to a concentration of credit risk with respect to this counterparty. RGA's financial obligations for the general account liabilities of the reinsured annuity contracts are secured by its assets placed in a comfort trust for our sole use and benefit. Upon RGA's material breach of the reinsurance agreement, deterioration of its risk-based capital ratio to a certain level, or certain other events, we may recapture the reinsured business. However, in the event of RGA's insolvency, our right to use the assets in the trust account may be delayed. Also, if at the time of its insolvency the comfort trust account is not funded at a level to fully discharge all its obligations, our claims to the extent not covered by the assets in the comfort trust would be those of a general creditor.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 31

Any downgrade in or adverse change in outlook for our claims-paying ratings, financial strength ratings or credit ratings could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Claims-paying ratings and financial strength ratings have become an increasingly important factor in establishing the competitive position of insurance companies. In the evolving 403(b) retirement market, school districts and benefit consultants have placed an emphasis on the relative financial strength ratings of competing companies. Each rating agency reviews its ratings periodically and from time to time may modify its rating criteria including, among other factors, its expectations regarding capital adequacy, profitability and revenue growth. A downgrade in the ratings or adverse change in the ratings outlook of any of our insurance subsidiaries by a major rating agency could result in substantial loss of business for that subsidiary if school districts, policyholders or independent agents move their business to other companies having higher claims-paying ratings and financial strength ratings than we have. This loss of business could have a material adverse effect on the results of operations and financial condition of that subsidiary.

A downgrade of our debt rating also could adversely affect our cost and flexibility of borrowing, which could have an adverse effect on our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.

Increases in interest rates, or volatility in the U.S. financial markets could impede access to, or increase the cost of, financing our operations.

Recent increases in interest rates have increased our cost of borrowing and volatility in U.S. financial markets could impact our access to, or further increase the cost of, financing. Past disruptions in the U.S. credit and equity markets made it more difficult for many businesses to obtain financing on acceptable terms. These conditions tended to increase the cost of borrowing and if they recur, our cost of borrowing could increase and it may be more difficult to obtain financing for our operations.

An inability to access Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago (FHLB) funding could adversely affect our results of operations.

Any changes in requirements to retain membership in the FHLB, or changes in regulation, could impact our eligibility for continued FHLB membership or our FHLB funding capacity. Any event that adversely affects amounts received from FHLB could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. See Part II - Item 7, Financing Activities of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information about FHLB activities.

Regulatory and Legal Risks

The results of U.S. Presidential and Congressional elections may create significant changes in tax rates, laws or regulations which could adversely impact our financial results.

With the change in administration, there are initiatives at the federal level to reverse the corporate tax cuts in the favorable Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), increasing the federal corporate income tax from the current rate of 21%. Any future legislative action could increase our costs, the impact of which could be significant. We are unable to predict the outcome or effects of any of these potential actions or any other legislative or regulatory proposals as they relate to our businesses. For example, any proposals to make changes related to U.S. tax law, such as those involving a reduction or elimination of the tax advantages of retirement and life products as noted in Part I - Item 1A – Risk Factors, Risks Related to Life & Retirement Segments of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, may have a material adverse effect on our future business, financial condition, results of operations, and growth prospects.

The insurance industry is highly regulated.

We are subject to extensive regulation and supervision in the jurisdictions in which we do business. Each jurisdiction has a unique and complex set of laws and regulations. Furthermore, certain federal laws impose additional requirements on businesses, including insurers. Regulation generally is designed to protect the interests of policyholders, as opposed to stockholders and non-policyholder creditors. Such regulations, among other things, impose restrictions on the amount and type of investments our insurance subsidiaries may hold. Certain states also regulate the rates insurers may charge for certain property and casualty products. Legislation and voter initiatives have expanded, in some instances, the states' regulation of rates and have increased data reporting requirements. Consumer-related pressures to roll back rates, even if not enacted by legislation or upheld upon judicial appeal, may affect our ability to obtain timely rate increases or operate at desired levels of

32 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

profitability. Changes in insurance regulations, including those affecting the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to distribute cash to us and those affecting the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to write profitable property and casualty insurance policies in one or more states, may adversely affect the financial condition and results of operations of the insurance subsidiaries. In addition, consumer privacy requirements may increase our cost of processing business. Our ability to comply with laws and regulations, at a reasonable cost, and to obtain necessary regulatory action in a timely manner, is and will continue to be critical to our success.

The NAIC has adopted a system of assessing minimum capital adequacy that is applicable to our insurance subsidiaries. This system, known as risk-based capital, is used to identify companies that may merit further regulatory action by analyzing the adequacy of the insurer's surplus in relation to statutory requirements. Our insurance subsidiaries could be adversely affected by regulations that change statutory surplus and risk-based capital requirements. Insurance companies write business based, in part, upon guidelines including capital ratios considered by the NAIC and various rating agencies. Some of these ratios include risk-based capital ratios for property and casualty insurance companies, supplemental insurance companies and life insurance companies, as well as a ratio of premiums to surplus for property and casualty insurance companies. Risk-based capital ratios measure an insurer's capital adequacy and consider various risks such as underwriting, investment, credit, asset concentration and interest rate. If our insurance subsidiaries cannot maintain profitability in the future or if significant investment valuation losses are incurred, they may be required to draw on their surplus, thereby reducing capital adequacy, in order to pay dividends to us to enable us to meet our financial obligations. As their surplus is reduced by the payment of dividends, continuing losses or both, our insurance subsidiaries' ability to write business and maintain acceptable financial strength ratings could also be reduced. This could have a material adverse effect upon the business volume and profitability of the insurance subsidiaries as well as result in increased regulatory scrutiny or action by state regulatory authorities.

Because state legislatures remain concerned about the availability and affordability of property and casualty insurance and the protection of policyholders, our insurance subsidiaries expect that they will continue to face efforts by those legislatures to expand regulations to address these concerns. Resulting new legislation could adversely affect the financial condition and results of operations of our insurance subsidiaries.

In the event of insolvency, liquidation or other reorganization of any of our insurance subsidiaries, our creditors and stockholders would have no right to proceed against any such insurance subsidiary or cause the liquidation or bankruptcy of any such insurance subsidiary under federal or state bankruptcy laws. The insurance laws of the domiciliary state would govern such proceedings and the relevant insurance commissioner would act as liquidator or rehabilitator for the insurance subsidiary. Creditors and policyholders of any such insurance subsidiary would be entitled to full payment from the assets of the insurance subsidiary before we, as a stockholder, would be entitled to receive any distribution.

The financial position of our insurance subsidiaries also may be affected by court decisions that expand insurance coverage beyond the intention of the insurer at the time it originally issued an insurance policy.

Dodd-Frank created FIO within the U.S. Department of the Treasury. FIO studies the current insurance regulatory system and is charged with monitoring and providing specific reports on various aspects of the insurance industry. However, FIO does not have general supervisory or regulatory authority over the business of insurance. FIO has suggested an expanded federal role in some circumstances. Additional regulations could adversely affect the efficiency and effectiveness of business processes, financial condition and results of operations of us, insurers of similar size and/or the insurance industry as a whole.

Statutory and regulatory developments could adversely impact our business by increasing costs or making our business less profitable.

The costs of running our business and its profitability could be adversely impacted by laws, rules and regulations that affect the business and financial communities, including changes to the interpretation or enforcement of laws governing standards of care applicable to broker-dealers and investment advisors. New laws, rules and regulations, or changes to the interpretation or enforcement of existing laws, rules or regulations, could also result in limitations on the products and services we offer or plan to offer to clients, modifications to our current or future business practices, compressed margins, increased capital requirements, and additional costs. The DOL recently adopted its final rule regarding ERISA fiduciary investment advice, which focuses on, among other things, the fiduciary status of rollover recommendations made by financial professionals to retirement investors. We expect that these laws, regulations and proposals could negatively impact our business, including by increasing our legal, compliance and information technology costs, and potentially other costs, including greater

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 33

risks of client lawsuits and enforcement activity by regulators. These changes may also affect the products and services we choose to offer to clients, as well as the compensation that we and our financial professionals receive in connection with such products and services, which could adversely impact our ability to recruit and retain key personnel.

It is also unclear how and whether other regulators, such as other state securities and insurance regulators may respond to, or enforce elements of, these new laws and regulations, or develop their own similar laws and regulations. The impacts, degree and timing of the effect of these laws and regulations on our business cannot now be anticipated or planned for, and may have further adverse impacts on our products and services, and the results of our operations.

Further, the Dodd-Frank Act enacted wide-ranging changes in the supervision and regulation of the financial industry providing greater oversight of financial industry participants, enhanced public company corporate governance practices and executive compensation disclosures, and greater protections to individual consumers and investors. Certain elements of the Dodd-Frank Act remain subject to implementing regulations that are yet to be adopted by the applicable regulatory agencies. Compliance with adopted regulations could affect the products and services we choose to offer and would likely result in increased compliance costs.

Our business costs and profitability may be adversely impacted by current and future rule making and enforcement activity by the various federal, state and other regulatory organizations to which we are subject.

Litigation may harm our financial strength or reduce our profitability.

Companies in the insurance industry have been subject to substantial litigation resulting from claims, disputes and other matters. Most recently, they have faced expensive claims, including class action lawsuits, alleging, among other things, improper sales practices and improper claims settlement procedures. Negotiated settlements of certain such actions have had a material adverse effect on many insurance companies. The resolution of similar future claims against any of our insurance subsidiaries, including the potential adverse effect on our reputation and charges against the earnings of our insurance subsidiaries as a result of legal defense costs, a settlement agreement or an adverse finding or findings against our insurance subsidiaries in such a claim, could have a material adverse effect on the financial condition and results of operations of our insurance subsidiaries.

Events, including those external to our operations, could damage our reputation.

There are many events which may harm our reputation, including, but not limited to, those discussed in this Item 1A regarding regulatory investigations, legal proceedings, and cyber or other information security incidents. Any negative public perception, founded or otherwise, can be widely and rapidly shared over social media or other means, and could cause damage to our reputation. Damage to our reputation could reduce demand for our insurance products, reduce our ability to recruit and retain employees, or lead to greater regulatory scrutiny of our operations.

As an insurance company, we are paid to accept certain risks. Those who conduct our business, including executive officers and members of management, employees and independent agents, do so in part by making decisions that involve exposing us to risk. These include decisions such as maintaining effective underwriting and pricing discipline, maintaining effective claims management and customer service performance, managing our investment portfolio, delivering effective technology solutions, complying with established sales practices, executing our capital management strategy, exiting a line of business and/or pursuing strategic growth initiatives, and other decisions. Although we employ controls and procedures designed to monitor business decisions and prevent us from taking excessive risks or unintentionally failing to comply with internal policies and practices, there can be no assurance that these controls and procedures will be effective. If our employees and independent agents take excessive risks and/or fail to comply with internal policies and practices, the impact of those events may damage our market position and reputation.

Individual states may impose additional cybersecurity regulations, increasing the complexity of compliance.

Our businesses must comply with regulations to control the privacy of customer, employee and third party data. State and federal regulations regarding data privacy, including the California Consumer Privacy Act, are becoming increasingly more onerous. A misuse or mishandling of confidential or proprietary information could result in legal liability, regulatory action and reputational harm. Third parties, including third party administrators

34 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

and cloud-based systems, are also subject to cyber-breaches of confidential information, along with the other risks outlined above, any one of which may result in us incurring substantial remediation costs and other negative consequences, including a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity.

ITEM 1B. I Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

ITEM 2. I Properties

As of December 31, 2022, we owned four buildings located in Springfield, Ill. comprised of our headquarters of approximately 225,000 square feet, a warehouse of approximately 11,000 square feet and two other buildings of approximately 39,000 square feet in aggregate. In addition, we lease office space in suburban Dallas (approximately 114,000 of rentable square feet), suburban Raleigh, N.C., Cherry Hill, N.J and Madison, Wis. which are utilized by one or more of all four reporting segments, depending on the location. For more information regarding our reporting segments, see Part I - Item 1, Reporting Segments of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We believe our properties and facilities are suitable and adequate for current operations.

ITEM 3. I Legal Proceedings

At the time of issuance of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, we do not have pending litigation from which there is a reasonable possibility of material loss.

ITEM 4. I Mine Safety Disclosures

Not applicable.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 35

PART II

ITEM 5. I Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Market Information and Dividends

Our common stock is traded on the NYSE under the symbol HMN. The following table provides the high and low bid information of our common stock on the NYSE Composite Tape and the cash dividends paid per share of common stock during the periods indicated.

Market Price Dividends

Fiscal Period High Low Paid

The payment of dividends in the future is subject to the discretion of the Board and will depend upon general business conditions, legal restrictions and other factors the Board may deem to be relevant. Additional information is contained in Part I - Item 1, Cash Flow and in Part II - Item 8, Note 14 of the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

36 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Shareholder Return Performance Graph

The graph below sets forth the total five-year shareholder return on our common stock. The graph assumes a $100 investment as of December 31, 2017. The S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Insurance Index assume an annual reinvestment of dividends in calculating total return. We assume reinvestment of quarterly dividends when paid.

Comparison of Cumulative Five Year Total Return to Shareholders

Holders and Shares Issued

As of February 16, 2023, the number of holders of our common stock was approximately 50,000.

During 2022, no stock options were exercised for the issuance of our common stock.

For information required by Item 201(d) of Regulation S-K regarding the equity compensation plan, see Part III - Item 12, of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 37

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

On May 25, 2022, our Board of Directors authorized a share repurchase program allowing repurchases of up to $50 million (i.e., the 2022 Program) to begin following the completion of the current $50 million repurchase plan which was authorized on September 30, 2015 (i.e., the 2015 Program). Both Programs authorize the repurchase of our common shares in open market or privately negotiated transactions, from time to time, depending on market conditions. The Programs do not have expiration dates and may be limited or terminated at any time without notice. During the three months ended September 30, 2022, the 2015 Program was completed and we began repurchasing shares under the 2022 Program.

For the quarterly periods ended 2022 and 2021, we repurchased shares of our common stock under the Programs as follows:

Fourth Quarter — $ — — $41.3 million

ITEM 6. I [Reserved]

38 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

ITEM 7. I Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A)

($ in millions, except per share data)

Measures within this MD&A that are not based on accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (non-GAAP) are marked with an asterisk (*) the first time they are presented within this Part II - Item 7. An explanation of these measures is contained in the Glossary of Selected Terms included as Exhibit 99.1 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and are reconciled to the most directly comparable measures prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) in the Appendix to the Company's Fourth Quarter 2022 Investor Supplement.

Increases or decreases in this MD&A that are not meaningful are marked "N.M.".

This MD&A covers the following:

Page

Introduction 39

Consolidated Financial Highlights 40

Consolidated Results of Operations 41

Application of Critical Accounting Estimates 45

Results of Operations by Segment 54

Property & Casualty 54

Life & Retirement 57

Supplemental & Group Benefits 60

Corporate & Other 61

Investment Results 61

Liquidity and Capital Resources 64

Future Adoption of New Accounting Standards 69

Effects of Inflation and Changes in Interest Rates 70

Introduction

The purpose of our MD&A is to provide an understanding of our consolidated results of operations and financial condition and should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto contained in Part II - Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our MD&A generally discusses the results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. For a discussion of the results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, please refer to Part II - Item 7, "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 25, 2022.

HMEC is an insurance holding company focused on helping America’s educators and others who serve the community achieve lifelong financial success. Through our subsidiaries, we market and underwrite individual and group insurance and financial solutions tailored to the needs of the educational community including:

•personal lines of property and casualty insurance, primarily auto and property coverages

•retirement products, primarily tax-qualified fixed and variable annuities

•life insurance, primarily traditional term and whole life insurance products

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Annual Report on Form 10-K 39

•worksite direct insurance products, including cancer, heart, hospital, supplemental disability and accident

•employer-sponsored insurance products, primarily long-term disability and short-term disability

We market our products primarily to K-12 teachers, administrators and other employees of public schools and their families, whether they engage with Horace Mann directly or through their district/employer.

Effective January 1, 2022, we acquired all the equity interests in Madison National Life Insurance Company, Inc., an insurance company organized under the laws of the State of Wisconsin (Madison National), for $172.3 million which added employer-sponsored products. The Seller has a potential earn-out of up to $12.5 million payable in cash, if specified financial targets are achieved by the end of 2023. As a result of the acquisition, Madison National became a wholly owned subsidiary of HMEC.

We conduct and manage our business in four reporting segments. The three reporting segments representing the major lines of business, are: (1) Property & Casualty (primarily personal lines of auto and property insurance products), (2) Life & Retirement (primarily tax-qualified fixed and variable annuities as well as life insurance products), and (3) Supplemental & Group Benefits (primarily cancer, heart, hospital, supplemental disability, accident, short-term and long-term group disability, and group term life coverages). We do not allocate the impact of corporate-level transactions to these reporting segments, consistent with the basis for management's evaluation of the results of those segments, but classify those items in the fourth reporting segment, Corporate & Other. In addition to ongoing transactions such as corporate debt service, net investment gains (losses) and certain public company expenses, such items also have included corporate debt retirement costs, when applicable. See Part II - Item 8, Note 19 of the Consolidated Financial Statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for more information.

Consolidated Financial Highlights

Per diluted share:

Net investment losses, after tax (1.06) (0.20) N.M.

Net income return on equity - last twelve months (0.2) % 8.0 % -8.2 pts

For 2022, net income decreased $145.4 million, primarily due to the impact of higher net investment losses mainly from changes in fair values of equity securities and realized losses on disposition of fixed maturity securities, higher inflation and other factors driving auto loss severity, impacts of equity market declines on deferred policy acquisition costs (DAC) unlocking, asset-based fees and returns on limited partnership interests, as well as increases in interest credited and interest expense due to the rising interest rate environment.

40 Annual Report on Form 10-K Horace Mann Educators Corporation

Consolidated Results of Operations

Net premiums and contract charges earned $ 1,029.0 $ 889.6 15.7 %

Net investment losses (56.5) (11.0) N.M.

Benefits, claims and settlement expenses 761.6 617.7 23.3 %

DAC unlocking and amortization expense 98.7 94.7 4.2 %

Intangible asset amortization expense 16.8 13.0 29.2 %