Primerica, Inc. - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020

OR

For the transition period from                      to                     

Commission File Number: 001-34680

Primerica, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (770) 381-1000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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.

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.            ☒

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 voting common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2020, was $4,603,734,941. The number of shares of the registrant’s Common Stock outstanding at February 28, 2021, with $0.01 par value, was 39,344,207.

Documents Incorporated By Reference

Certain information contained in the Proxy Statement for the Company’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on May 12, 2021 is incorporated by reference into Part III hereof.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENT CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Investors are cautioned that certain statements contained in this report as well as some statements in periodic press releases and some oral statements made by our officials during our presentations are “forward-looking” statements. Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, any statement that may project, indicate or imply future results, events, performance or achievements, and may contain the words “expect”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “believe”, “will be”, “will continue”, “will likely result”, and similar expressions, or future conditional verbs such as “may”, “will”, “should”, “would”, and “could”. In addition, any statement concerning future financial performance (including future revenues, earnings or growth rates), ongoing business strategies or prospects, and possible actions taken by us or our subsidiaries are also forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve external risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” included herein.

Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events and are inherently subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of our management team. All forward-looking statements in this report and subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us, or to persons acting on our behalf, are expressly qualified in their entirety by these risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, among others:

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Developments in any of these areas could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated or projected or cause a significant reduction in the market price of our common stock.

The foregoing list of risks and uncertainties may not contain all of the risks and uncertainties that could affect us. In addition, in light of these risks and uncertainties, the matters referred to in the forward-looking statements contained in this report may not in fact occur. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by law.

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PART I

Primerica, Inc. (“Primerica”, “we”, “us” or the “Parent Company”) is a leading provider of financial products to middle-income households in the United States and Canada with 134,907 licensed sales representatives as of December 31, 2020. These independent licensed representatives (“sales representatives” or “sales force”) assist our clients in meeting their needs for term life insurance, which we underwrite, and mutual funds, annuities, managed investments and other financial products, which we distribute primarily on behalf of third parties. We insured over 5.5 million lives and had approximately 2.6 million client investment accounts as of December 31, 2020. Our business model uniquely positions us to reach underserved middle-income consumers in a cost-effective manner and has proven itself in both favorable and challenging economic environments.

Our mission is to serve middle-income families by helping them make informed financial decisions and providing them with a strategy and tools to gain financial independence. Our distribution model is designed to:

We believe there is significant opportunity to meet the increasing array of financial services needs of our clients.  We intend to leverage the sales force to meet such client needs, which will drive long-term value for all of our stakeholders.  Our strategy is organized across four primary areas:

Corporate Structure

We conduct our core business activities in the United States through three principal entities, all of which are direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries of the Parent Company:

Primerica Life is domiciled in Tennessee, and its wholly owned subsidiary, National Benefit Life Insurance Company (“NBLIC”), is a New York-domiciled life insurance underwriting company.  

We conduct our core business activities in Canada through three principal entities, all of which are indirect wholly owned subsidiaries of the Parent Company:

Primerica was incorporated in the United States as a Delaware corporation in October 2009 to serve as a holding company for the Primerica businesses (collectively, the “Company”). Our businesses, which prior to April 1, 2010, were wholly owned indirect subsidiaries of Citigroup Inc. (“Citigroup”), were transferred to us by Citigroup on April 1, 2010 in a reorganization pursuant to which we completed an initial public offering in April 2010 (the “IPO”). On March 31, 2010, we entered into certain coinsurance transactions to cede between 80% and 90% of the risks and rewards of our term life insurance policies that were in force at year-end 2009. We administer all policies subject to these coinsurance agreements.

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Our Clients

Our clients are generally middle-income consumers, which we define as households with $30,000 to $100,000 of annual income. According to the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Survey, the latest period for which data is available, almost 50% of U.S. households fall in this range. We believe that we understand the financial needs of the middle-income segment, which include:

Our Distribution Model

Our distribution model, which is a modified traditional insurance agency model, is designed to reach and serve middle-income consumers efficiently through the sales force. Key characteristics of our unique distribution model include:

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Structure and Scalability of the Sales Force

New sales representatives are recruited by existing sales representatives. When these new recruits become sales representatives, they become part of the sales organization of the sales representative who recruited them as well as the sales organizations to which the recruiting sales representative belongs. We encourage sales representatives to bring in new recruits to build their own sales organizations, enabling the Company to reach more middle-income families.

RVPs establish and maintain their own offices, which we refer to as field offices. Additionally, they are responsible for funding the costs of their administrative staff, marketing materials, travel, training and certain recognition events for the sales representatives in their respective sales organizations. Field offices provide a location for sales representatives to conduct recruiting meetings, training events and sales-related meetings, disseminate our Intranet-streamed broadcasts, conduct compliance functions, and house field office business records. Some business locations house more than one field office. At December 31, 2020, approximately 5,500 field offices in 3,000 locations were managed by sales representatives that served as RVPs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in-person meetings were limited during 2020.  Many meetings and functions of field offices have been performed using remote communication tools. RVPs play a major role in training, motivating and monitoring their sales force organization.

Because the sales representative’s compensation grows with the productivity of his or her sales organization, our distribution model provides financial rewards to sales representatives who successfully develop, support and monitor productive sales representatives. In addition to our commission structure, we offer the Primerica Ownership Program. This program provides qualifying RVPs a contractual right, upon meeting certain criteria, to transfer their Primerica businesses to another RVP or a qualifying family member at such time as they desire. Furthermore, we have developed proprietary tools and technology to enable RVPs to reduce the time spent on administrative responsibilities associated with their sales organizations so they can devote more time to the sales, recruiting and training activities that drive our growth. We believe that our tools and technology, coupled with our sales compensation programs, further incentivize sales representatives to become RVPs.

Both the structure of the sales force and the capacity of our support capabilities provide us with a high degree of scalability as we grow our business. Our support systems and technology are capable of supporting a large sales force and a high volume of transactions. In addition, by sharing training and compliance activities with RVPs, we are able to grow the Company without incurring proportionate overhead expenses.

Recruitment of Sales Representatives

The recruitment of sales representatives is undertaken by existing sales representatives, who identify prospects and share with them the benefits of associating with our organization. Sales representatives showcase the Company as dynamic and capable of improving the lives of middle-income families.

After the initial contact, prospective recruits typically are invited to an opportunity meeting, conducted in person or through remote communication tools, which is conducted by an RVP. The objective of an opportunity meeting is to inform prospective recruits about our mission and their opportunity to start their own businesses by becoming sales representatives. At the conclusion of each opportunity meeting, attendees who are interested are asked to complete an application and pay a nominal fee to commence their pre-licensing training and licensing examination preparation programs and, depending on the state or province, to cover their licensing exam registration costs, which are provided by the Company generally at no additional charge. Recruits are not obligated to purchase any of the products we offer in order to become sales representatives, though they may elect to make such purchases.

Recruits may become our clients or provide us with access to their friends, family members and personal acquaintances. As a result, we continually work to improve our systematic approach to recruiting and training new sales representatives.

Similar to other distribution systems that rely upon part-time sales representatives and typical of the life insurance industry in general, we experience wide disparities in the productivity of individual sales representatives. Many new recruits do not get licensed, often due to the time commitment required to obtain licenses and various regulatory and licensing hurdles. Many licensed sales representatives are only marginally active, as there are no minimum life insurance production requirements. As a result, we plan for this disparate level of productivity and view a continuous recruiting cycle as a key component of our distribution model. Our distribution model is designed to address the varying productivity associated with sales representatives by paying production-based compensation, emphasizing recruiting, and developing initiatives to address barriers to licensing new recruits. By providing commissions to sales representatives on the sales generated by their sales organization, our compensation structure aligns the interests of sales representatives with our interests in recruiting new representatives and creating sustainable sales production.

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The following table provides information on new recruits and life insurance-licensed sales representatives:

We define new recruits as individuals who have submitted an independent business application to become sales representatives together with payment of the nominal fee to commence their pre-licensing training. Certain recruits may not meet the compliance standards to become a sales representative, and others elect to withdraw prior to becoming actively engaged.

On average, it takes approximately three months for sales representatives to complete the necessary applications and pre-licensing coursework and to pass the applicable state or provincial examinations to obtain a license to sell our term life insurance products. Challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic led to a temporary suspension of in-person licensing preparation classes and the temporary closing of examinations centers, both of which led to representatives taking additional time to complete the licensing process in 2020. As a result, individuals recruited to become sales representatives within a given fiscal period may not become licensed sales representatives or meet compliance standards until a subsequent period.

Sales Force Motivation, Training, Communication and Sales Support Tools

Motivating, training and communicating with the sales force are critical to our success and that of the sales force.

Motivation. Through our proven system of sales force recognition events, contests and communications, we provide incentives that drive our results. Motivation is driven largely by sales representatives’ desire to achieve higher levels of financial success by building their own businesses as sales representatives. The opportunity to help underserved middle-income households address financial challenges is also a source of motivation for many sales representatives.

We motivate sales representatives to succeed in their businesses by:

We have historically hosted a biennial international convention.  In previous years, tens of thousands of sales representatives, including new recruits, have attended our conventions and associated meetings at their own expense, which we believe further demonstrates their commitment to our organization and mission. In July 2021, we planned to host our biennial international convention and associated meetings. However, due to the current level of uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social-distancing requirements that might still be in place, we have made the decision to reschedule the biennial international convention to the summer of 2022.

Training, Communication and Sales Support Tools. Primerica Online (“POL”), delivered through a secure Intranet website and a cross-platform mobile application (“Primerica App”), is our primary tool designed to support sales representatives and assist them in building their own businesses. We provide sales representatives with communication, training, and sales support tools on POL that allow both new and experienced sales representatives to offer financial information and products to our clients. POL provides sales representatives with access to various business tracking and management tools, licensing support tools, product-specific training, and sales procedures and tools. Additionally, POL provides access to internal training programs and videos covering sales, management skills, business ownership, and compliance. We also use POL to provide real-time recognition of sales representatives’ successes and scoreboards for sales force production, contests, and incentive trips. In addition, POL is a gateway to our product providers and product support. Subscribers generally pay a small monthly fee to subscribe to POL, which helps cover the cost of developing new resources and maintaining this support system. A limited version of POL that provides access to Primerica e-mail, compliance and compensation information, newsletters and bulletins is available at no cost.

The primary features and tools available on POL include:

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In addition, our publications department produces materials to support, motivate and inform the sales force. We sell recruiting materials, sales brochures, business cards and stationery and provide communications services that include web design, print presentations, graphic design and script writing. We also produce a weekly mailing that includes materials promoting our current incentives, as well as the latest news about our product offerings.

Performance-Based Compensation Structure

Our commission structure is rooted in our origin as an insurance agency. Sales representatives, who are independent contractors, can receive compensation in multiple ways, including:

Our compensation structure pays commissions to the sales representative who sells the product and to several representatives above the selling representative within their sales organization.

With respect to term life insurance sales, commissions are calculated based on the total first-year premium (excluding the policy fee) for all policies and riders. To motivate the sales force, we compensate sales representatives for term life insurance product sales as quickly as possible. We advance a majority of the insurance commission upon the submission of a completed application and the first month’s premium payment. As the client makes his or her premium payments, the commission is earned by the sales representative and the commission advance is recovered by the Company. If premium payments are not made by the client and the policy terminates,

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any outstanding advance commission is charged back to the sales representative. The chargeback, which only occurs in the first year of a policy, equals that portion of the advance that was made, but not earned, by the sales representative because the client did not pay the full premium for the period of time for which the advance was made to the sales representative. Chargebacks, which occur in the normal course of business, may be recovered by reducing any cash amounts otherwise payable by the Company to the sales representative.

Sales representatives and representatives above them in their sales organizations are contractually obligated to repay us any commission advances that are ultimately not earned due to the underlying policy lapsing prior to the full commission being earned. Additionally, we hold back a portion of the commissions earned by sales representatives as a reserve out of which we may recover chargebacks. The amounts held back are referred to as deferred compensation account commissions (“DCA commissions”). DCA commissions are available to reduce amounts owed to the Company by sales representatives and they provide a sales representative with a cushion against the chargeback obligations of representatives in their sales organization. DCA commissions, unless applied to amounts owed, are ultimately released to sales representatives.

We pay most term life insurance commissions during the first policy year. One of our term riders provides for coverage increases after the first year. For such riders, we pay first-year and renewal commissions only for premium increases related to the increased coverage. Additionally, we pay renewal commissions on some older in-force policies. At the end of a policy’s level premium paying period, we pay commissions on policy exchanges and bonuses on some policy exchanges and continuations.

We also pay bonuses as a percentage of premiums to RVPs with respect to sales of term life policies and riders, up to a maximum premium. Bonuses are paid to RVPs for achieving specified production levels.

For most mutual funds (non-managed investments) and annuity products, commissions are paid both on the sale and on the value of assets under management. Commissions are calculated based on the dealer reallowance and trail compensation actually paid to us. For managed investment products, fees earned are based on the assets under management and represent the fee we receive as compensation for as long as we retain the account. For our Canadian segregated fund investment products, we pay sales representatives a sales commission based on the amount invested and a monthly fee based on clients’ asset values.

We also pay the sales force with respect to mortgage originations, sales of prepaid legal services subscriptions, and referrals for customers purchasing other distributed products. Mortgage originations commissions paid to the sales force are earned for each closed mortgage loan based on a fixed percentage of the loan amount. Prepaid legal services commissions paid to the sales force are earned in fixed amounts on a monthly basis as long as the prepaid legal service subscription remains active. Commissions related to other distributed products are calculated based on the type of product sold or referred.

In addition to these methods of compensation, RVPs can earn quarterly agent equity awards based largely on sales production.  

Sales Force Licensing and Support

The states, provinces and territories in which sales representatives operate generally require sales representatives to obtain and maintain licenses to sell our insurance and securities products, requiring sales representatives to pass applicable examinations. Sales representatives may also be required to maintain licenses to sell certain of our other distributed products. To encourage new recruits to obtain their life insurance licenses, we either pay directly or reimburse the sales representative for certain licensing-related fees and expenses once he or she passes the applicable exam and obtains the applicable life insurance license.  In addition, new recruits are eligible to earn compensation if they participate in field training observations with experienced sales representatives and complete the licensing process within a specified timeframe. To sell insurance products, sales representatives must be licensed by their resident state, province or territory and by any other state, province or territory in which they do business. In most states, sales representatives must also be appointed by our applicable insurance subsidiary. Our in-house life insurance licensing program offers new recruits a significant number of classroom life insurance pre-licensing courses to meet applicable state and provincial licensing requirements and prepares recruits to pass applicable licensing exams.

To sell mutual funds and variable annuity products, U.S. sales representatives must be registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and hold the appropriate license(s) designated by each state in which they sell securities products, as well as be appointed by the annuity underwriter in the states in which they market annuity products. Sales representatives must meet all state and federal regulatory requirements and be designated as an investment advisor representative in order to sell our managed investment products. We contract with third-party training firms to conduct securities license exam preparation for sales representatives, and we also offer supplemental training tools.

To offer mortgage loan products, sales representatives must be individually licensed as mortgage loan originators by the states in which they do business and, in some states, they must also be individually licensed as mortgage brokers.

Canadian sales representatives selling mutual fund products are required to be registered by the securities regulators in the provinces and territories in which they sell mutual fund products. Canadian sales representatives who are licensed to sell our insurance products do not need any further licensing to sell our segregated funds products.

For sales of our other distributed products, appropriate state, provincial and territorial licensing may be required.

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Supervision and Compliance

To ensure compliance with various federal, state, provincial and territorial legal requirements, we and the RVPs share responsibility for maintaining an overall compliance program that involves compliance training and supporting as well as monitoring the activities of sales representatives. We work with the RVPs to develop and maintain appropriate compliance procedures and systems.

Generally, RVPs must obtain a principal license (FINRA Series 26 in the United States and Branch Manager license in Canada), and, as a result, they assume additional regulatory responsibility over the activities of their sales organizations. Additional supervision is provided by designated principal-licensed home office personnel, referred to as Regional Securities Principals (“RSPs”).  RSPs are required to supervise and monitor activity across all product lines and report any compliance issues they observe to our Compliance Department.  In addition, our Compliance Department regularly runs surveillance reports designed to monitor the activity of the sales force and investigates any unusual or suspicious activity identified during these reviews or during periodic inspections of RVP offices.

All sales representatives are required to participate, in person or through remote communication tools, in our annual compliance meeting, a program administered by our senior management and our legal and compliance staff. We provide a compliance training overview across all product lines and require the completion of compliance checklists by each licensed sales representative for each product he or she offers. Additionally, sales representatives receive periodic compliance communications, both in writing and through videos, regarding new compliance developments and business issues of significance.

Our Field Audit Department regularly conducts audits of all sales representative offices, including scheduled and no-notice audits. Our Field Audit Department reviews regulatory-required records that are not maintained at our home office. Any compliance deficiencies noted in the audit must be corrected, and we carefully monitor all corrective action. Audit deficiencies are addressed through reprimands, probations and contract terminations.

Our Product Offerings

Reflecting our philosophy of helping middle-income clients with their financial product needs and ensuring compatibility with our distribution model, our product offerings generally meet the following criteria:

We use three operating segments to organize, evaluate and manage our business: Term Life Insurance; Investment and Savings Products; and Corporate and Other Distributed Products.

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The following table provides information on our principal product offerings and the principal sources thereof by operating segment as of December 31, 2020.

Term Life Insurance

Through our three life insurance subsidiaries – Primerica Life, NBLIC and Primerica Life Canada – we offer term life insurance to clients in the United States, its territories, the District of Columbia and Canada. In 2019, the latest period for which data is available from LIMRA, we ranked as a leading provider of individual term life insurance in the United States.

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We believe that term life insurance is generally a better alternative for middle-income clients than cash value life insurance. Term life insurance provides a guaranteed death benefit if the insured dies during the fixed coverage period of an in-force policy, thereby providing financial protection for his or her named beneficiaries in return for the periodic payment of premiums. Term insurance products, which are sometimes referred to as pure protection products, have no savings or investment features. By buying term life insurance rather than cash value life insurance, a policyholder initially pays a lower premium and, as a result, may have funds available to invest for retirement and other needs. We also believe that a person’s need for life insurance is inversely proportional to that person’s need for retirement savings, a concept we refer to as the theory of decreasing responsibility. Young adults with children, new mortgages and other obligations need to buy higher amounts of insurance to protect their family from the loss of future income resulting from the death of a primary bread winner. With its lower initial premium, term life insurance lets young families buy more coverage for their premium dollar when their needs are greatest and still have the ability to have funds for their retirement and other savings goals.

We design our term life insurance products to be easily understood by, and meet the needs of, our clients. Clients purchasing our term life insurance products generally seek stable, longer-term income protection products for themselves and their families. In response to this demand, we offer term life insurance products with initial level-premium coverage periods that range from 10 to 35 years and a wide range of coverage face amounts.  Policies remain in force until expiration or until the policyholder ceases to make premium payments and terminates the policy. Our in-force term life insurance policies have level premiums for the stated term period. As such, the policyholder pays the same amount each year. After the initial policy term, the policyholder has the option to continue coverage or by renewing or converting their contract.  Both options result in higher premiums due to the policyholder’s attained age.

One of the innovative term life insurance products that we offer is TermNow, our rapid issue term life product that provides for face amounts of up to $300,000 (local currency). TermNow allows a sales representative to submit an application via TurboApps and, with the client’s permission, allows the Company to access databases, including Medical Information Bureau (“MIB”) data in the United States and Canada and prescription drug, clinical lab, motor vehicle, and criminal records in the United States, as part of the underwriting process. The Company uses this data and the client’s responses to application questions to determine any additional underwriting requirements. Results of these processes are reported in real time to our underwriting system, which then determines whether or not we can rapidly issue a policy.

The average face amount of our in-force policies issued in 2020 was approximately $240,600. The following table sets forth selected information regarding our term life insurance product portfolio:

Pricing and Underwriting. We believe that effective pricing and underwriting are significant drivers of the profitability of our life insurance business and we have established our pricing assumptions to be consistent with our underwriting practices. We set pricing assumptions for expected claims, lapses and expenses based on our experience and other factors while also considering the competitive environment. These other factors include:

Under our current underwriting guidelines, we individually assess each insurable adult applicant and place each applicant into a risk classification based on current health, medical history, and other risk factors. Each classification (generally preferred plus, preferred, non-tobacco and tobacco) has specific criteria. We may decline an applicant’s request for coverage if his or her health or activities create unacceptable risks.

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Sales representatives ask applicants a series of questions regarding the applicant’s medical history. We may also consider information about the applicant from third-party sources, such as the MIB, prescription drug databases, motor vehicle records and physician statements. If we believe that further information regarding an applicant’s medical history is necessary, we use a third-party provider and its trained personnel to contact the applicant by telephone to obtain a more detailed medical history. The report resulting from this process is electronically transmitted to us and is evaluated in our underwriting process. Paramedical requirements are also normally required on applicants applying for Custom Advantage, our traditionally-underwritten term life product.

To accommodate the significant volume of insurance business that we process, we and the sales force use specialized technology. We offer sales representatives an electronic life insurance application that supports term life insurance products. Approximately 97% of the life insurance applications we received in 2020 were submitted electronically via TurboApps. Sales representatives utilize video collaboration tools to assist with the completion of the life insurance application and submit completed applications through TurboApps.  The majority of applications completed in 2020 resulted from remote meetings with applicants. Our electronic life insurance application reduces errors in submitted applications, collects the applicant’s electronic signatures and populates the RVP’s sales log. Once an application is complete, the pertinent application data is uploaded to our life insurance administrative systems, which manage the underwriting process by electronically analyzing data, recommending underwriting decisions, identifying requirements for higher face amounts or older ages and communicating with the sales representative and third-party service providers.

Claims Management. Our insurance subsidiaries processed over 18,200 life insurance benefit claims in 2020 on policies underwritten by us and sold by sales representatives. In 2020, we experienced elevated claims volumes due to premature deaths of our insureds caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.  For additional information regarding the impact of COVID-19 on our claims expense, the related reinsurance effects, and policyholder persistency, see Item 7 (Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations) included elsewhere in this report.

Claims fall into three categories: death, waiver of premium (applicable to disabled policyholders who purchased this benefit for which we agree to waive life insurance premiums during a qualifying disability), or terminal illness. The claim may be reported by a sales representative, a beneficiary or, in the case of qualifying disability or terminal illness, the policyholder. Following are the benefits paid by us for each category of claim:

In the United States, after coverage has been in force for two years, we may not contest the policy for misrepresentations in the application or the suicide of the insured. In Canada, we have a similar two-year contestability period, but we are permitted to contest insurance fraud at any time. As a matter of policy, we do not contest any coverage issued by us to replace the face amount of another insurance company’s individual coverage to the extent the replaced coverage would not be contestable by the replaced company. We believe this approach helps sales representatives sell replacement policies, as it reassures clients that claims made under their replacement policies are not more likely to be contested as to the face amount replaced. Through our claims administration system, we record, process and pay the appropriate benefit for any reported claim. Our claims system is used by our home office claims adjusters to order medical and investigative reports from third-party providers, calculate amounts due to the beneficiary (including interest), and report payments to the appropriate reinsurance providers.

Primerica Life and NBLIC regularly consult the Social Security Administration’s Death Master File in accordance with applicable state requirements. These processes help identify potential deceased insureds for whom claims have not been presented in the normal course of business. If unreported deaths are identified, Primerica Life and NBLIC attempt to determine if a valid claim exists, to locate beneficiaries, and to pay benefits accordingly.  

Reinsurance. We use reinsurance primarily to reduce the volatility risk with respect to mortality. Since 1994, we have reinsured death benefits in the United States on a first dollar quota share yearly renewable term basis. We pay premiums to each reinsurer based on rates in the applicable agreement.

We generally reinsure between 80% and 90% of the mortality risk for all term life insurance policies, excluding coverage under certain riders. We also reinsure substandard cases on a facultative basis to capitalize on the extensive experience some of our reinsurers have with substandard cases. A substandard case has a level of risk that is acceptable to us, but at higher premium rates than a standard case because of the health, habits or occupation of the applicant.

While our reinsurance agreements have indefinite terms, both we and our reinsurers are entitled to discontinue any reinsurance agreement as to future policies by giving advance notice of 90 days to the other. Each reinsurer’s ability to terminate coverage for existing policies is limited to circumstances such as a material breach of contract or nonpayment of premiums by us. Each reinsurer has the right to increase rates with certain restrictions. If a reinsurer increases rates, we have the right to immediately recapture the

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business. Either party may offset any balance due from the other party. For additional information on our reinsurance, see Note 1 (Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies) and Note 6 (Reinsurance) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.

Financial Strength Ratings. Ratings with respect to financial strength are an important factor in establishing our competitive position and maintaining public confidence in us and our ability to market products. Ratings organizations review the financial performance and condition of most insurers and provide opinions regarding financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet obligations to policyholders. For additional information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources – Financial Ratings.”

Investment and Savings Products

We believe that many middle-income families have significant unmet retirement and savings needs. Using our FNA tool, sales representatives help our clients understand their current financial situations and how they can use time-tested financial principles, such as prioritizing personal savings, to reach their savings goals. Our product offerings include saving and investment vehicles that seek to meet the needs of clients in all stages of life.

Through PFS, PFS Investments, Primerica Life Canada, PFSL Investments Canada, and licensed sales representatives, we distribute and sell to our clients a variety of mutual funds, managed investments, variable, index-linked, and fixed annuities, fixed indexed annuities and segregated funds. As of December 31, 2020, approximately 25,859 sales representatives were licensed to distribute mutual funds in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada. As of December 31, 2020, approximately 13,689 sales representatives were licensed and appointed to distribute annuities in the United States and approximately 12,244 sales representatives were licensed to sell segregated funds in Canada.

Mutual Funds. In 2020, in the United States, licensed sales representatives primarily distribute mutual funds from the following select asset management firms: American Century Investments, American Funds, Franklin Templeton, Legg Mason (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Franklin Templeton as of July 31, 2020), and Invesco. These firms have diversified product offerings, including domestic and international equity, fixed-income and money market funds. Each firm continually evaluates its fund offerings and adds new funds on a regular basis. Additionally, their product offerings reflect diversified asset classes and varied investment styles. We have selling agreements with a number of other fund companies, and we believe that, collectively, these asset management firms provide funds that meet the investment needs of our clients.

During 2020, Franklin Templeton, Legg Mason, Invesco, and American Funds accounted for approximately 97% of our mutual fund sales in the United States. Legg Mason and Invesco each have large wholesaling teams that support the sales force in distributing their mutual fund products. Our selling agreements with these firms all have indefinite terms and provide for termination at will.  

A wholly owned indirect subsidiary of the Parent Company and affiliate of PFS Investments, Primerica Shareholder Services, Inc. (“PSS”), provides transfer agent recordkeeping services to investors who purchase shares of mutual funds offered by certain of our fund families through PFS Investments. In exchange for these services, PSS receives recordkeeping and account maintenance fees from the applicable fund company.  PSS has retained BNY Mellon Asset Servicing to perform the necessary transfer agent recordkeeping services for these accounts on its proprietary SuRPAS system.  PFS Investments serves as the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) approved non-bank custodian for customers that open individual retirement accounts (“IRA”) (or certain other retirement accounts) with PFS Investments and invest in shares of mutual funds offered by certain of our fund families. For these services, PFS Investments receives an annual custodian fee.

In Canada, sales representatives offer Primerica-branded Concert™ Series funds, which accounted for approximately 26% of our Canadian mutual fund product sales in 2020. Our Concert™ Series funds consist of five different asset allocation funds and a money market fund with varying investment objectives. Each Concert™ Series fund is a money market fund and a fund of funds that allocates fund assets among equity, income and money market mutual funds of AGF Investments, a leading asset management firm in Canada. The asset allocation within each Concert^™ Series fund is determined on an advisory contract basis by Morneau Shepell Asset and Risk Management Ltd. The principal non-proprietary funds that we offer our clients in Canada are funds of AGF Investments, Mackenzie Investments, Fidelity Investments, and Invesco. Sales of these non-proprietary funds accounted for approximately 72% of mutual fund product sales in Canada in 2020. Like our U.S. fund family list, the asset management partners we have chosen in Canada have a diversified offering of equity, fixed-income and money market funds, including domestic and international funds with a variety of investment styles.

A key part of our investment philosophy for our clients is the long-term benefits of dollar cost averaging through systematic investing. To accomplish this, we assist our clients by facilitating monthly contributions to their investment account by bank draft against their checking accounts for as little as $25 per month. During the year ended December 31, 2020, average client assets held in individual retirement accounts in the United States and Canada accounted for an estimated 74% and 69% of total average client account assets, respectively. The Canadian counterpart to our individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”) are Registered Retirement Savings Plans (“RRSPs”).  RRSPs and IRAs behave similarly, providing up-front tax deductions on contributions and enabling clients to earn income on a tax-deferred basis. Our high concentration of retirement plan accounts and our systematic savings philosophy are beneficial to us as these accounts tend to have lower redemption rates than the industry and, therefore, generate more recurring asset-based revenues.

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Managed Investments. PFS Investments (dba PFS Advisors) is a registered investment advisor in the United States, and it offers a managed investments program, Primerica Advisors Lifetime Investment Platform (the “Lifetime Investment Platform”), which we launched in 2017. The Lifetime Investment Platform is a robust advisory offering designed for clients who have at least $25,000 of investable assets. It provides our customers access to mutual fund and exchange-traded fund investment models designed and managed by several unaffiliated investment advisers. PFS Investments, as sponsor and portfolio manager of the program, evaluates models for inclusion in the program and conducts ongoing due diligence of the models and unaffiliated investment advisers made available through the program. TD Ameritrade Institutional, an unaffiliated broker-dealer, provides custody, trade execution, clearing, settlement and other services for customer assets invested through the Lifetime Investment Platform.      

Variable Annuities. U.S. securities licensed sales representatives also distribute variable annuities issued by American General Life Insurance Company and its affiliates (“AIG”), Equitable Financial Life Insurance Company (“Equitable Life”), Lincoln National Life Insurance Company and its affiliates (“Lincoln National”), and Brighthouse Life Insurance Company (“Brighthouse Life”). Variable annuities are insurance products that enable our clients to invest in accounts with attributes similar to mutual funds, but also have benefits not found in mutual funds, including death benefits that protect beneficiaries from losses due to a market downturn and income benefits that guarantee future income payments for the life of the policyholder(s). We also offer index-linked annuities issued by Equitable Life, Brighthouse Life, and Lincoln National. Index-linked annuities are insurance contracts that provide investors with potential growth, subject to a cap, and partial downside protection against losses. Gains and losses are measured over a fixed period, typically three to six years, based on the performance of a securities index. Although linked to an index, an investment in these contracts does not involve ownership of any underlying portfolio securities by the client.  Each of these companies bears the insurance risk on its variable annuities and index-linked variable annuities that we distribute.

Fixed Indexed Annuities. We offer fixed indexed annuity products in the U.S. through Lincoln National, AIG, and Universal Life Insurance Company (“Universal Life”) (Puerto Rico). These products combine safety of principal and guaranteed rates of return with additional investment options tied to equity market indices that allow for returns that move based on the performance of an index. We believe these and other fixed annuity products give both life and securities representatives more ways to assist our clients with their retirement planning needs.

Fixed Annuities. We sell fixed annuities underwritten by Brighthouse Financial, Inc. in the U.S. Our current offering includes a fixed premium deferred annuity and a single premium immediate annuity. The fixed premium deferred annuity allows our clients to accumulate savings on a tax deferred basis with safety of principal and a guaranteed rate of return. The single premium immediate annuity provides clients with an immediate income alternative. In Puerto Rico, we currently offer two annuity products: a fixed annuity and a fixed bonus annuity underwritten by Universal Life. These products provide guarantees against loss with several income options.

Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans. In the United States, we also offer Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans (“ESRPs”), such as 401(k) plans, primarily to small and medium-sized businesses.  The ESRPs we distribute are offered by a limited number of third-party providers, including American Funds Distributors, Inc. (“American Funds”), Equitable Distributors, LLC, and VOYA Financial, Inc., which together account for most of our ESRP business. In addition, we distribute 457(b) plans to governmental entities. Our licensed representatives generally provide educational and administrative services with respect to ESRPs, which includes helping our ESRP clients understand the benefits of offering a tax-deferred retirement plan and assisting their employees realize the need to save for retirement and the benefits of doing so in an ESRP.  

Segregated Funds. In Canada, we offer segregated fund products, branded as our Common Sense Funds^TM, that have some of the characteristics of our variable annuity products distributed in the United States. Our Common Sense Funds^TM are underwritten by Primerica Life Canada and offer our clients the ability to participate in a diversified managed investments program that can be opened for as little as $25. While the assets and corresponding liability (reserves) are recognized on our consolidated balance sheets, the assets are held in separate accounts for the benefit of the segregated fund contract owners and are not commingled with the general assets of the Company.

There are three fund products within our segregated funds offerings: the Asset Builder Funds, the Strategic Retirement Income Fund (“SRIF”), and a money market fund known as the Cash Management Fund. The investment objective of Asset Builder Funds is long-term capital appreciation combined with some guarantee of principal. Unlike mutual funds, our Asset Builder Funds product guarantees clients at least 75% of their net contributions (net of withdrawals) at the earlier of the date of their death or at the Asset Builder Funds’ maturity date, which is selected by the client. The portfolio consists of both equities and fixed-income securities with the equity component consisting of a pool of primarily large cap Canadian and U.S. equities and the fixed-income component consisting of Canadian federal government zero coupon treasuries and government-backed floating rate notes. The portion of the Asset Builder Funds’ portfolio allocated to zero coupon treasuries are held in sufficient quantity to satisfy the guarantees payable at the maturity date of each Asset Builder Fund. As a result, our potential loss exposure is very low as it comes from the guarantees payable upon the death of the client prior to the maturity date.

The investment objective of the SRIF is to provide income during retirement plus the opportunity for modest capital appreciation. The SRIF product guarantees clients 75% of their net contributions (net of withdrawals) at the earlier of the date of their death or age 100. The portfolio consists of both equities and fixed-income securities, with the equities consisting of a pool of primarily large cap Canadian and U.S. equities that are capped at 25% of the portfolio. The balance is a fixed-income portfolio consisting of investment-

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grade government and corporate bonds. The high quality of the investments and the percentage cap on equities results in a relatively low potential loss exposure. All accounts in the SRIF are held as Registered Retirement Income Funds which carry government-mandated minimum annual withdrawals. Similar to the Asset Builder Funds, our potential exposure for loss associated with the SRIF is very low because its investment allocations are conservatively aligned with the risks of the client contracts.

The Cash Management Fund invests in government guaranteed short-term bonds and short-term commercial and bank papers, with the principal investment objective being the provision of interest income while maintaining liquidity and preserving capital.

With the guarantee level at 75% and in light of the time until the scheduled maturity of our segregated funds contracts, we currently do not believe it is necessary to allocate any corporate capital as reserves for segregated fund contract benefits.

Investment and Savings Products Revenue. In the United States, we earn revenue from our ISP business in three ways: commissions and payments earned on the sale of such products; fees and payments earned based upon client asset values; and account-based revenue. On the sale of mutual funds (not including managed investments) and annuities, we earn a dealer re-allowance or commission on new purchases as well as trail commissions on the assets held in our clients’ accounts. We also receive marketing and distribution fees from most of our mutual fund and annuity providers. These payments are typically a percentage of sales or a percentage of the clients’ total asset values, or a combination of both. For investments into the Lifetime Investment Platform, we receive an asset-based fee as compensation for the investment advisory and other administrative services we provide.

As the IRS-approved non-bank custodian for certain funds noted above, PFS Investments receives annual fees on a per-account basis for as long as it services the account.  As explained above, PSS receives transfer agent recordkeeping fees for the services it provides to the fund families noted above in “Mutual Funds” section. An individual client account may include multiple fund positions for which we earn recordkeeping fees.

Because the total amount of these fees fluctuates with the number of such accounts and positions within those accounts, the opening or closing of accounts has a direct impact on our revenues. From time to time, the fund companies for which we provide these services request that accounts or positions with small balances be closed.

In Canada, we earn revenue from the sales of our investment and savings products in two ways: commissions (or dealer re-allowance) on mutual fund sales and fees paid based upon clients’ asset values (mutual fund trail commissions and investment advisory fees from segregated funds and Concert™ Series funds). On segregated funds, we may earn deferred sales charges for early withdrawals at an annual declining rate within seven years of an investor’s original contribution. We also offer our clients a product option in which there is no deferred sales charge.

Other Distributed Products

We distribute other products, including mortgage loans through mortgage-licensed loan originators, prepaid legal services, auto and homeowners’ insurance referrals, and home automation solutions. In Canada, we also offer mortgage loan referrals and insurance offerings for small businesses. While some of these products are Primerica-branded, all of them are underwritten or otherwise provided by a third party.

We have an arrangement with Quicken Loans, LLC. (“Quicken Loans”), a mortgage lender, whereby Primerica Mortgage, LLC (“Primerica Mortgage”), a state-licensed mortgage broker, offers mortgage loans through its mortgage loan originator licensed representatives. We launched the program as a pilot in 2019 offering refinance mortgages. During 2020, we introduced additional pilot programs, which included offering purchase-money mortgages, and expanded the number of states in which we are licensed. We plan to continue to expand our mortgage program in 2021. We receive compensation from Quicken Loans for each closed loan based on a fixed percentage of the loan amount for mortgage brokering services provided and pay compensation to the representatives for services rendered.

We offer our U.S. and Canadian clients a Primerica-branded prepaid legal services program on a subscription basis that is underwritten and provided by LegalShield. The prepaid legal services program offers a network of attorneys in each state, province or territory to assist subscribers with legal matters such as drafting wills, living wills and powers of attorney, trial defense and motor vehicle-related matters. We receive a commission based on sales and renewals of these subscriptions.

We have an arrangement with Answer Financial, Inc. (“Answer Financial”), an independent insurance agency, whereby U.S. sales representatives refer clients to Answer Financial to receive multiple, competitive auto and homeowners’ insurance quotes. Answer Financial’s comparative quote process allows clients to easily identify the underwriter that is most competitively priced for their type of risk. We receive commissions based on completed auto and homeowners’ placement of insurance and policy renewals and pay sales representatives a flat referral fee for each completed application and policy renewal.

We have an arrangement with Vivint, Inc. (“Vivint”), a company that offers homeowners in the U.S. and many provinces in Canada a comprehensive suite of products and services to protect and remotely control, monitor and manage their homes using any Internet-connected smart device. We receive commissions based on referrals that result in a subscription to Vivint’s home services and pay sales representatives a referral fee for each such subscription.

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In the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia (with respect to homeowners’ insurance only), we have an arrangement with SurexDirect.com Ltd. (“Surex Direct”), an independent insurance agency, whereby sales representatives refer clients to Surex Direct to receive multiple, competitive auto and homeowners’ insurance quotes. Surex Direct’s comparative quote process allows clients to easily identify the underwriter that is most competitively priced for their type of risk. We receive referrals based on completed auto and homeowners’ placement of insurance and policy renewals and pay sales representatives a flat referral fee for each completed application and policy renewal.

In Canada, we have a referral program for mortgage loan products offered by a third-party lender, B2B Bank and 8Twelve Mortgage Corp., a mortgage broker. Due to regulatory requirements, sales representatives in Canada only refer clients to the lender and are not involved in the loan application and closing process. We receive referral fees based on the funded loan amount and, in turn, pay a commission to sales representatives.

In Canada, we offer insurance products, including supplemental medical and dental, accidental death, and disability, to small businesses. These insurance products are underwritten and provided by The Edge Benefits Inc. and its affiliates. We receive a commission based on sales and renewals of these policies.

Regulation

Our business is subject to extensive laws and governmental regulations, including administrative determinations, court decisions and similar constraints. The purpose of the laws and regulations affecting our business is primarily to protect our clients and other consumers. Many of the laws and regulations to which we are subject are regularly re-examined, and existing or future laws and regulations may become more restrictive or otherwise adversely affect our operations.

Regulatory authorities periodically make inquiries regarding compliance by us and our subsidiaries with insurance, securities and other laws and regulations regarding the conduct of our insurance and securities businesses. At any given time, a number of financial or market conduct examinations of our subsidiaries may be ongoing. We cooperate with such inquiries and take corrective action when warranted.

Regulation of Our Insurance Business. Primerica Life, as a Tennessee-domiciled insurer, is regulated by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance and is licensed to transact business in the United States (except New York), the District of Columbia and certain U.S. territories. NBLIC, as a New York-domiciled life insurance underwriting company and a wholly owned subsidiary of Primerica Life, is regulated by the New York State Department of Financial Services (“NYDFS”) and is licensed to transact business in all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

State insurance laws and regulations regulate all aspects of our U.S. insurance business. Such regulation is vested in state agencies having broad administrative and, in some instances, discretionary power dealing with many aspects of our business, which may include, among other things, premium rates and increases thereto, reserve requirements, marketing practices, advertising, privacy, policy forms, grace periods, reinsurance reserve requirements, acquisitions, mergers, and capital adequacy.

Our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are required to file certain annual, quarterly and periodic reports with the supervisory agencies in the jurisdictions in which they do business, and their business and accounts are subject to examination by such agencies at any time. These examinations generally are conducted under National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”) guidelines. Under the rules of these jurisdictions, insurance companies are examined periodically (generally every three to five years) by one or more of the supervisory agencies on behalf of the states in which they do business. Our most recent examinations of the financial condition and affairs of Primerica Life and NBLIC, as well as Peach Re, Inc. (“Peach Re”) and Vidalia Re, Inc. (“Vidalia Re”), special purpose financial captive insurance companies and wholly owned subsidiaries of Primerica Life, performed by the respective domiciliary state insurance department at the time of the exams, were completed during 2016 with no material findings or recommendations noted.  As of December 31, 2020, Primerica Life and NBLIC were undergoing scheduled examinations by their respective domiciliary states.

Primerica Life Canada is federally incorporated and provincially licensed and is required to file periodic reports with Canadian regulatory agencies. It transacts business in all Canadian provinces and territories. Primerica Life Canada is regulated federally by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (“OSFI”) and provincially by the Superintendents of Insurance for each province and territory. Canadian federal and provincial insurance laws regulate all aspects of our Canadian insurance business. OSFI regulates insurers’ corporate governance, financial and prudential oversight, and regulatory compliance, while provincial and territorial regulators oversee insurers’ market conduct practices and related compliance.

Primerica Life Canada files quarterly and annual financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) and other locally accepted standards with OSFI in compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. OSFI conducts periodic detailed examinations of insurers’ business and financial practices, including the control environment, internal and external auditing and minimum capital adequacy, surpluses and related testing, legislative compliance and appointed actuary requirements. These examinations also address regulatory compliance with anti-money laundering practices, outsourcing, related-party transactions, privacy and corporate governance. Provincial regulators conduct periodic market conduct examinations of insurers doing business in their jurisdiction.

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In addition to federal and provincial oversight, Primerica Life Canada is also subject to the guidelines set out by the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (“CLHIA”). CLHIA is an industry association that works closely with federal and provincial regulators to establish market conduct guidelines and sound business and financial practices addressing matters such as sales representative suitability and screening, insurance illustrations and partially guaranteed savings products.

The laws and regulations governing our U.S. and Canadian insurance businesses include numerous provisions governing the marketplace activities of insurers, including policy filings, payment of insurance commissions, disclosures, advertising, product replacement, sales and underwriting practices and complaints and claims handling. The state insurance regulatory authorities in the United States and the federal and provincial regulators in Canada generally enforce these provisions through periodic market conduct examinations.

In addition, most U.S. states and Canadian provinces and territories, as well as the Canadian federal government, have laws and regulations governing the financial condition of insurers, including standards of solvency, types and concentration of investments, establishment and maintenance of reserves, reinsurance and requirements of capital adequacy.  As discussed previously, U.S. state insurance law and Canadian provincial insurance law also require certain licensing of insurers and their agents.

Insurance Holding Company Regulation; Limitations on Dividends. The states in which our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are domiciled have enacted legislation and adopted regulations regarding insurance holding company systems. These laws require registration of, and periodic reporting by, insurance companies domiciled within the jurisdiction that control, or are controlled by, other corporations or persons so as to constitute an insurance holding company system. These laws also affect the acquisition of control of insurance companies as well as transactions between insurance companies and companies controlling them.

The Parent Company is a holding company that has no significant operations. Our primary asset is the capital stock of our subsidiaries, and our primary liability is $375.0 million in principal amount of senior unsecured notes (the “Senior Notes”). As a result, we depend on dividends or other distributions from our insurance and other subsidiaries as the principal source of cash to meet our obligations, including the payment of interest on, and repayment of, principal of any debt obligations.

The states in which our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are domiciled impose certain restrictions on our insurance subsidiaries’ ability to pay dividends to us. In Canada, dividends can be paid subject to the paying insurance company’s continuing compliance with regulatory requirements and upon notice to OSFI. We determine the dividend capacity of our insurance subsidiaries using statutory accounting principles (“SAP”) promulgated by the NAIC and each subsidiary’s domiciliary state in the United States and using IFRS in Canada.

The following table sets forth the amount of cash and distributions paid or payable by our insurance subsidiaries:

For additional information on dividend capacity and restrictions, see Note 15 (Statutory Accounting and Dividend Restrictions) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.

Policy and Contract Reserve Sufficiency Analysis. Under the laws and regulations of their jurisdictions of domicile, our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are required to conduct annual analyses of the sufficiency of their life insurance statutory reserves. In addition, other U.S. jurisdictions in which our U.S. subsidiaries are licensed may have certain reserve requirements that differ from those of their domiciliary jurisdictions. In each case, a qualified actuary must submit an opinion that states that the aggregate statutory reserves, when considered in light of the assets held with respect to such reserves, make good and sufficient provision for the associated contractual obligations and related expenses of the insurer. If such an opinion cannot be provided, then the affected insurer must set up additional reserves by moving funds from surplus. Our U.S. insurance subsidiaries most recently submitted these opinions without qualification to applicable insurance regulatory authorities.

Primerica Life Canada is also required to conduct regular analyses of the sufficiency of its life insurance statutory reserves. Life insurance reserving and reporting requirements are completed by Primerica Life Canada’s appointed actuary. Materials provided by the appointed actuary are filed with OSFI as part of our annual filing and are subject to OSFI’s review. Based upon this review, OSFI may institute remedial action against Primerica Life Canada as OSFI deems necessary. Primerica Life Canada has not been subject to any such remediation or enforcement by OSFI.

Surplus and Capital Requirements. U.S. insurance regulators have the discretionary authority, in connection with the ongoing licensing of our U.S. insurance subsidiaries, to limit or prohibit the ability of an insurer to issue new policies if, in the regulators’ judgment, the insurer is not maintaining a minimum amount of surplus or is in hazardous financial condition. Insurance regulators may also limit the ability of an insurer to issue new life insurance policies and annuity contracts above an amount based upon the face amount and premiums of policies of a similar type issued in the prior year. We do not believe that the current or anticipated levels of statutory surplus of our U.S. insurance subsidiaries present a material risk that any such regulator would limit the amount of new policies that our U.S. insurance subsidiaries may issue.

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The NAIC has established risk-based capital (“RBC”) standards for U.S. life insurance companies, as well as a risk-based capital model act (the “RBC Model Act”) that has been adopted by the state insurance regulatory authorities. The RBC Model Act provides that life insurance companies must submit an annual RBC report to state regulators regarding their RBC based upon four categories of risk: asset risk; insurance risk; interest rate risk; and business risk. For each category, the capital requirement is determined by applying factors that vary based upon the degree of risk to various asset, premium and policy benefit reserve items. The formula is intended to be used by insurance regulators as an early warning tool to identify possible weakly capitalized companies for purposes of initiating further regulatory action. If an insurer’s RBC falls below specified levels, then the insurer would be subject to different degrees of regulatory action depending upon the level. These actions range from requiring the insurer to propose actions to correct the capital deficiency to placing the insurer under regulatory control.

In Canada, OSFI has authority to request an insurer to enter into a prudential agreement implementing measures to maintain or improve the insurer’s safety and soundness. OSFI also may issue orders to an insurer directing it to refrain from unsafe or unsound practices or to take action to remedy financial concerns. OSFI has neither requested that Primerica Life Canada enter into any prudential agreement nor has OSFI issued any order against Primerica Life Canada.

In Canada, OSFI oversees an insurer’s minimum capital requirement and determines the sum of capital requirements for five categories of risk: asset default risk; mortality/morbidity/lapse risks; changes in interest rate environment risk; segregated funds risk and foreign exchange risk.  These capital requirements are measured using the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Tests (“LICAT”) established by OSFI to determine if any regulatory action is required to be taken.

NAIC Pronouncements and Reviews. The NAIC promulgates model insurance laws and regulations for adoption by the states in order to standardize insurance industry accounting and reporting guidance. Although many state regulations emanate from NAIC model statutes and pronouncements, SAPs continue to be established by individual state laws, regulations and permitted practices. Certain changes to NAIC model statutes and pronouncements, particularly as they affect accounting issues, may take effect automatically without affirmative action by a given state. With respect to some financial regulations and guidelines, non-domiciliary states sometimes defer to the interpretation of the insurance department of the state of domicile. However, neither the action of the domiciliary state nor the action of the NAIC is binding on a non-domiciliary state. Accordingly, a non-domiciliary state could choose to follow a different interpretation.

The NAIC has established guidelines to assess the financial strength of insurance companies for U.S. state regulatory purposes. The NAIC conducts annual reviews of the financial data of insurance companies primarily through the application of 12 financial ratios prepared on a statutory basis. The annual statements are submitted to state insurance departments to assist them in monitoring insurance companies in their state.

Statutory Accounting Principles. SAP is a basis of accounting developed by U.S. insurance regulators to monitor and regulate the solvency of insurance companies. In developing SAP, insurance regulators were primarily concerned with evaluating an insurer’s ability to pay all of its current and future obligations to policyholders. As a result, statutory accounting focuses on conservatively valuing the assets and liabilities of insurers, generally in accordance with standards specified by the insurer’s domiciliary jurisdiction. Uniform statutory accounting practices are established by the NAIC and generally adopted by regulators in the various U.S. jurisdictions. These accounting principles and related regulations determine, among other things, the amounts our insurance subsidiaries may ultimately pay to us as dividends, and they differ in many instances from U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”), which are designed to measure a business on a going-concern basis. Under U.S. GAAP, incremental direct costs of successful policy acquisitions are capitalized when incurred and then amortized over the life of the associated policies. The valuation of assets and liabilities under U.S. GAAP is based in part upon best estimate assumptions made by the insurer. U.S. GAAP-basis stockholders’ equity represents the ownership interest in the U.S. GAAP-measured net assets held by stockholders. As a result, the values for assets, liabilities and equity reflected in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP will be different from those reflected in financial statements prepared under SAP.

State Insurance Guaranty Funds Laws. Under most state insurance guaranty fund laws, insurance companies doing business therein can be assessed up to prescribed limits for policyholder losses incurred by insolvent companies. Most insurance guaranty fund laws currently provide that an assessment may be excused or deferred if it would threaten an insurer’s own financial strength. In addition, assessments may be partially offset by credits against future state premium taxes.

Other Regulatory Changes. From time to time, various jurisdictions make changes to the state or provincial licensing examination process that may make it more difficult for sales representatives to obtain their life insurance licenses. In addition, certain jurisdictions have passed laws or proposed regulations that require insurers and insurance agents in the sale of life insurance, including term life insurance and annuities, to disclose conflicts of interest to consumers or meet standards of care requiring that their advice be in the customer’s best interest. The impact on our business and the level of resources necessary to conform to such new regulations will vary depending on the extent of changes required and the jurisdictions that adopt such regulations.

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Regulation of Our Investment and Savings Products Business. PFS Investments is registered with, and regulated by, FINRA and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). It is subject to regulation by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) with respect to certain retirement plans, and by state securities agencies. PFS Investments operates as an introducing broker-dealer, which does not hold client accounts, and is also registered in all 50 U.S. states and certain territories. All aspects of PFS Investments’ business are regulated, including sales methods and charges, trade practices, the use and safeguarding of customer securities, capital structure, recordkeeping, conduct and supervision of registered representatives.

PFS Investments is required to file monthly reports as well as annual audited financial statements with the SEC pursuant to Section 17 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), and Rule 17a-5 thereunder. As part of filing these reports, PFS Investments is subject to minimum net capital requirements, as mandated by Rule 15c3‑1 of the Exchange Act.

In the United States, clients acquire securities products from PFS Investments in either a brokerage or advisory relationship.  In a brokerage relationship, a PFS Investments registered representative making recommendations is subject to a “best interest” standard under SEC regulations and FINRA rules and in some cases, state rules. PFS Investments markets mutual funds and variable annuities on a brokerage basis.  In an advisory relationship, namely our managed investment offerings, PFS Investments and its investment advisory representative have a fiduciary obligation to the client and conduct ongoing monitoring of the client’s investments.

PFS Investments is also approved as a non-bank custodian under IRS regulations and, in that capacity, may act as a custodian or trustee for certain retirement accounts. In addition, PFS Investments is an SEC-registered investment advisor and, under the name Primerica Advisors, offers managed investment programs. In most states, sales representatives are required to obtain an additional license to offer these programs.

PSS is registered with the SEC as a transfer agent and, accordingly, is subject to SEC rules and examinations. Acting in this capacity, PSS and third-party vendors employed by PSS are responsible for certain client investment account shareholder services.

PFSL Investments Canada is a mutual fund dealer registered with and regulated by the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada (the “MFDA”), the national self-regulatory organization for the distribution side of the Canadian mutual fund industry. It is also registered with provincial and territorial securities commissions throughout Canada (collectively referred to as the “Canadian Securities Administrators” or “CSA”). As a registered mutual fund dealer, PFSL Investments Canada performs the suitability review of mutual fund investment recommendations, and like our U.S. broker-dealer, it does not hold client accounts. PFSL Investments Canada is subject to the rules and regulations established by the Canadian Securities Administrators for the sale of securities, which include standards of conduct for the firm and its sales representatives.

PFSL Investments Canada is required to file monthly and annual financial statements and reports with the MFDA that are prepared to comply with the prescribed MFDA reporting requirements.  The MFDA has established a risk adjusted capital standard for mutual fund dealers.  Its formula is designed to provide advance warning of a member encountering difficulties.  If a mutual fund dealer falls below specified levels, then restrictions would apply until rectified, including not being able to act on certain matters without prior written consent from the MFDA.

PFSL Investments Canada sales representatives are required to be registered in the provinces and territories in which they do business, including regulation by the Autorité des marchés financiers in Quebec, and are also subject to regulation by the MFDA. These regulators have broad administrative powers, including the power to limit or restrict the conduct of our business and impose censures or fines for failure to comply with the law or regulations.

PFSL Fund Management in Canada is registered as an Investment Fund Manager in connection with our Concert™ Series mutual funds and is regulated by provincial securities commissions.

PFSL Fund Management is required to file quarterly and annual financial statements with the Ontario Securities Commission (“OSC”) prepared to meet the requirements of National Instrument 31-103, Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations, based on the financial reporting framework specified in National Instrument 52-107, Acceptable Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards.  PFSL Fund Management is required to maintain a minimum level of capital and file its quarterly and annual calculation of excess working capital with the OSC. As an investment fund manager, PFSL Fund Management is required to file periodic reports with provincial and territorial securities commissions throughout Canada for its Concert™ Series mutual funds.  Such reports include semi-annual and annual financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS.

As the segregated funds are separate accounts of Primerica Life Canada, the segregated funds are also regulated by OSFI and included as part of the quarterly and annual financial statement filings for Primerica Life Canada.  In addition, the segregated funds are also subject to the guidelines set out by the CLHIA.

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Regulation of Mortgage Loan Products. In the United States, state mortgage banking, brokering and lending laws regulate our mortgage distribution business. In the United States, Primerica Mortgage, LLC is regulated by state banking commissioners and other equivalent regulators as well as by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Our mortgage distribution business must comply with the laws, rules and regulations, as well as judicial and administrative decisions, in all of the jurisdictions in which we are licensed to offer mortgage and unsecured loans, as well as an extensive body of federal laws and regulations. These state and federal laws and regulations address the type of loan products that can be offered to consumers through predatory lending and high cost loan laws and the type of licenses that must be obtained by individuals and entities seeking to solicit mortgage loan applications from consumers. As a mortgage broker licensee, Primerica Mortgage, LLC is subject to periodic examinations by regulators.

To offer mortgage loan products, sales representatives must be individually licensed as mortgage loan originators by the states in which they do business (and in some states as both mortgage brokers and mortgage loan originators).  See “Risk Factors — Other Risks Related to Our Business — Licensing requirements will impact the size of the mortgage loan sales force.”

In addition, our mortgage distribution business is subject to various other federal laws, including the Truth In Lending Act and its implementing regulation, Regulation Z, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and its implementing regulation, Regulation B, the Fair Housing Act and the Home Ownership Equity Protection Act. We are also subject to the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (“RESPA”) and its implementing regulation, Regulation X, which requires timely disclosures related to the nature and costs of real estate settlement amounts and limits those costs and compensation to amounts reasonably related to the services performed. We are also subject to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and any implementing regulations.

In Canada, our loan activities are more limited and the sales representatives only provide mortgage loan referrals to B2B Bank and 8Twelve Mortgage Corp. The sales representatives are not required to obtain mortgage loan licensure from any regulatory entity to make these referrals.

Other Laws and Regulations. Our business is subject to a number of additional laws and regulations.

The USA Patriot Act of 2001 (the “Patriot Act”) contains anti-money laundering and financial transparency laws and mandates the implementation of various regulations applicable to broker-dealers and other financial services companies, including insurance companies. The Patriot Act seeks to promote cooperation among financial institutions, regulators and law enforcement entities in identifying parties that may be involved in terrorism or money laundering.

U.S. federal and state laws and regulations require financial institutions, including insurance companies, to protect the security and confidentiality of consumer financial information and to notify consumers about their policies and practices relating to their collection and disclosure of consumer information and their policies relating to protecting the security and confidentiality of that information. Similarly, federal and state laws and regulations also govern the disclosure and security of consumer health information. In particular, regulations promulgated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulate the disclosure and use of protected health information by health insurers and others (including certain life insurers), the physical and procedural safeguards employed to protect the security of that information and the electronic storage and transmission of such information. Congress and state legislatures are expected to consider additional legislation relating to privacy and other aspects of consumer information.

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), through the Federal Trade Commission Act (the “FTC Act”), is responsible for protecting consumers and competition by preventing anticompetitive, deceptive, and unfair business practices.  This includes regulation of deceptive trade practices such as pyramiding and unsubstantiated earnings or lifestyle claims in advertisements, including on social media.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (“FCAC”), a Canadian federal regulatory body, is responsible for ensuring that federally regulated financial institutions, which include Primerica Life Canada, comply with federal consumer protection laws and regulations, voluntary codes of conduct and their own public commitments. The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (“FINTRAC”) is Canada’s financial intelligence unit. Its mandate includes ensuring that entities subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act comply with reporting, recordkeeping and other obligations under that act. We are also subject to privacy laws under the jurisdiction of federal and provincial privacy commissioners and the consumer complaints provisions of federal insurance laws under the mandate of the FCAC, which requires insurers to belong to a complaints ombud-service and file a copy of their complaints handling policy with the FCAC.

Competition

We operate in a highly competitive environment with respect to the sale of financial products and the retention of the more productive members of the sales force. Competitors with respect to our term life insurance products consist both of stock and mutual insurance companies, as well as other financial intermediaries. Competitive factors affecting the sale of life insurance products include the level of premium rates, benefit features, risk selection practices, compensation of sales representatives and financial strength ratings from ratings agencies such as A.M. Best.

In offering our securities products, sales representatives compete with a range of other advisors, broker-dealers and direct channels, including wirehouses, regional broker-dealers, independent broker-dealers, insurers, banks, asset managers, registered investment advisors, mutual fund companies and other direct distributors. The mutual funds that we offer face competition from other mutual

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fund families and alternative investment products, such as exchange-traded funds, while our managed investment programs compete with other fee-based advisory services offered by financial services firms. Our annuity products compete with products from numerous other companies. Competitive factors affecting the sale of annuity products include price, product features, investment performance, commission structure, perceived financial strength, claims-paying ratings, service, and distribution capabilities.

Privacy and Information Security

Our business is dependent on maintaining a secure, confidential environment for our clients, employees and other partners’ information. Information security and privacy is critically important as we rely more heavily on mobile technologies to conduct business and bring solutions to our clients who entrust their data to us.

We have built sophisticated information technology platforms to support our clients and operations and the sales force. Our data center houses an enterprise-class IBM mainframe as well as modern distributed and cloud technology infrastructure. Our business applications, many of which are proprietary, are supported by application developers and data center staff at our main campus.  

Primerica’s information security teams provide services, including project consulting, threat management, application and infrastructure assessments, secure configuration management, and information security administration.  Additionally, we support advanced business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities. The Company institutes a three-lines-of-defense model for information security risk assurance, in which management owns the risk, our enterprise risk management team assesses the risk and oversees compliance with internal guidelines and policies, and our internal audit team provides independent assurance of the effectiveness of the first two lines of defense. Primerica’s management continually assesses information security risk, working with industry experts for maturity and technical assessments. Primerica’s enterprise risk management and internal audit functions conduct regular assessments and audits, and report the results to Primerica’s Board of Directors (the “Board of Directors” or the “Board”) at least quarterly.

The Company has two core policies that govern our home office initiatives in this critical area: (i) Information Security Policy; and (ii) Data Loss Prevention Policy.  These policies are reviewed annually and updated as needed.  They address both the processes and technical requirements needed to protect the environments in which data is processed, as well as how it is maintained, governed, and protected. We also impose mandatory privacy and information security controls and various data security protection requirements on the sales force.  These required controls are based on varying governing laws and regulations.

Primerica’s senior executive leadership is actively involved in managing privacy and information security risk, including participation in a risk steering group that holds quarterly meetings, coordinates corporate security initiatives to enable Primerica to optimize spending, manage infrastructure, and minimize privacy and security risk. This group also provides high-level guidance on technology- and security-related issues of importance to the Company, and is composed of several of Primerica’s top executives.

We have an Incident Response Plan that is reviewed and updated regularly.  Our Incident Response Team consists of employees from our information security, legal, compliance, public relations, and operational teams.  This plan is designed to help Primerica identify and promptly respond to information security incidents, contain and eradicate such incidents, notify affected parties and, where appropriate, notify government and regulatory authorities. The roles and responsibilities of Primerica personnel and third-party vendors in responding to information security incidents are well-documented and include when and to whom incidents should be reported based on level of severity.  On a semi-annual basis, the team undertakes facilitator-led trainings and simulations of information security incidents.  Primerica also has purchased cyber insurance coverage.

The reporting of all cyber-related risks and assessments is ongoing to senior management and to our Board of Directors, and our Board of Directors has oversight responsibility for our cyber security program pursuant to the plan. The Board receives a quarterly report from management on cyber security.

We train our entire full- and part-time employee workforce and third parties with access to Company systems in information security, how to recognize and understand privacy-related risks, and ways to mitigate data and privacy issues, with certain positions requiring additional, specialized training.  We also perform regular tests to determine whether our employees can recognize phishing emails.  Similarly, maintaining data security and privacy is an integral part of our annual compliance training for our independent sales representatives.  

Human Capital Management

Employees

General.  As of December 31, 2020, we had 1,966 full-time employees in the United States and 264 full-time employees in Canada.  In addition, as of December 31, 2020, we had 525 on-call employees in the United States and 69 on-call employees in Canada who provided services on an as-needed hourly basis. The following table provides information about the diversity of our full-time and on-call U.S. employees⁽¹⁾ at December 31, 2020:

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Because management recognized that racial diversity at senior management levels lags other employee levels, we engaged a diversity consulting firm in late 2019 to review the racial and ethnic diversity of our employee workforce and provide recommendations to enhance the pipeline of racially diverse talent within the Company.  Further, in the fourth quarter of 2020 we enhanced our senior executive management team with a seasoned leader who brings deep experience in employee and leadership development to, among other things, serve as our Chief Administrative Officer, and lead our efforts to create and implement programs, processes and protocols that focus on diversity, equality, and inclusion.  For more information on the role and responsibilities of this new member of Primerica’s operating team, see “Information About Our Executive Officers and Certain Significant Employees.”

Primerica prides itself on having a collaborative culture with our employees.  As such, none of our employees are members of any labor union, and we have never experienced any business interruption as a result of any labor disputes.  For a more detailed description of our employee initiatives, see our 2020 Corporate Sustainability Report (available at www.investors.primerica.com), which is not incorporated by reference into this report or any filings with the SEC into which this report is incorporated by reference.

Talent Development.  A core strength is that our senior executives average approximately 30 years with the Company, and many employees have been with Primerica for over 20 years.  The result of this longevity and loyalty is that many of our long-term executives and employees will reach retirement age over the coming years.  Management is focused on enhancing succession planning and talent pipeline identification and development both through the hiring of external talent and the adoption of new internal programs that focus on performance management and employee development.  

Compensation and Total Rewards.  Primerica’s compensation philosophy is designed to attract, retain and motivate highly competent employees at all levels through compensation programs and practices.  The Company strives for a pay for performance culture with a combination of individual and Company performance as factors in determining total rewards.  Approximately 350 of our employees participate in an annual incentive program that reflects both corporate performance and individual achievement.  Incentive awards to officers are paid in both cash and equity (with a higher proportion being paid in equity for higher level officers) while Assistant Vice Presidents receive all of their incentive awards in cash.  Employees below the level of Assistant Vice President are eligible for cash bonuses based on individual performance.  In 2020, all non-bonus eligible employees received a small cash payment to recognize the results of their extraordinary efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among other things, our employee benefits package includes health and dental insurance, various paid-leave options, parental leave, in-office doctors’ visits, a robust employee assistance program, and a 401(k) retirement savings plan with a generous company match.  Although the Company was exempt from coverage under the Family First Coronavirus Response Act because we have more than 500 employees, we created a special paid sick leave policy that provided new sick leave benefits (in addition to our pre-existing policies) regarding planned and unplanned time off and short-term disability benefits.

Employee Engagement and Wellness.  Employees are highly satisfied at Primerica, as evidenced by our employee retention rate in 2020 of 92%. Further, in both 2019 and 2020 we were recognized by Forbes as a Best Employer for Women, and we were named to the 2020 Bloomberg Gender Equality Index.  In January 2021, we were named to the 2021 Bloomberg Gender Equality Index. We were also recognized as a regional “Top Workplace” by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for eight consecutive years from 2014 to 2021 with the most recent recognition being confirmed in mid-December 2020. In 2021, we were nationally recognized for the first time as a “Top Workplace USA” by the employee engagement service partner that conducted the regional survey.  In order to monitor employee satisfaction, we conduct annual employee surveys and provide detailed results to managers and our Board of Directors.  Changes to policies, programs, and benefits packages are made based on this feedback.  In addition, each year we hold a series of town hall meetings at our Georgia headquarters and our Canadian head office during which all employees hear Company updates and have the opportunity to ask questions of senior management.  Since March 2020, our Chief Executive Officer has shared a weekly video message with all employees and held a company-wide virtual Town Hall meeting with all employees.  It is anticipated this practice will continue in 2021 until it is safe to resume traditional engagement practices.

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The Company took, and continues to take, steps to ensure the health and safety of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.  In addition to moving the vast majority of employees to remote work, we developed a four stage plan to gradually repopulate our facilities as the risk of the pandemic declines.   The Company has been in stage two of its re-opening plan (based on the lifting of widespread stay at home orders) since July 2020 and will assess in the second quarter of 2021 when to move to stage three.  For those employees coming into our corporate offices, we followed the guidelines of nationally recognized health organizations to ensure we maintain a clean, safe and comfortable working environment.  In addition, we provided masks for employees, implemented sanitation stations and conducted temperature checks as warranted. Contact tracing protocols are in place and are activated upon learning that any employee has contracted COVID-19.  

Independent Contractors

A description of the independent contractor sales force is included elsewhere in this section.  See “— Our Distribution Model”, “— Recruitment of Sales Representatives”, “— Sales Force Motivation, Training, Communication and Sales Support Tools” “— Performance-Based Compensation Structure” and “— Supervision and Compliance.” The independent contractor sales force is extremely diverse, as it reflects the communities in which the sales representatives live and work.  Further, the sales force utilizes strategic market groups to encourage professional and personal growth and development, including Women in Primerica, the African American Leadership Council and the Hispanic American Leadership Council, which we refer to as our Strategic Markets.  These groups provide opportunities for networking and mentorship, sales and business management training and deep learning opportunities customized for these respective market segments. For a more detailed description of sales force initiatives, see our 2020 Corporate Sustainability Report (available at www.investors.primerica.com), which is not incorporated by reference into this report or any filings with the SEC into which this report is incorporated by reference.

Board of Directors

Primerica’s Board of Directors values diversity among its members.  As of December 2020, 27% of our Board members were racially or ethnically diverse and 27% of our Board members were women. In August 2020, the Board adopted a Board Diversity policy, requiring consideration of Board candidates based on merit against objective criteria tied to the needs of the Board and the Company at the time of nomination to the Board while giving due regard to diverse characteristics such as gender, race, ethnicity, country of origin, nationality or cultural background and other personal characteristics. Further, diverse Board candidates are to be considered whenever the Board commences a director search.  The Board Diversity policy is available on the investor relations page of our corporate website (www.investors.primerica.com). In addition, our Board receives regular updates on the Company’s efforts to improve diversity, equality and inclusion among its employees and independent contractors. 

Available Information

We make available free of charge on our website (www.primerica.com) our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable upon filing such information with, or furnishing it to, the SEC. The Company’s reports are also available on the SEC’s website. The SEC maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, at www.sec.gov. We routinely post financial and other information, including information about our corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts on the investor relations page of our corporate website (www.investors.primerica.com). Information included on any Company websites is not incorporated by reference into this report or any other filings with the SEC into which this report is incorporated by reference.

ITEM 1A.RISK FACTORS.

Risks Related to Our Distribution Structure

Our failure to continue to attract new recruits, retain sales representatives or license or maintain the licensing of sales representatives would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

New sales representatives provide us with access to new clients, enable us to increase sales and provide the next generation of successful sales representatives. As is typical with distribution businesses, we experience a high rate of turnover among part-time sales representatives, which requires us to attract, retain and motivate a large number of sales representatives. Recruiting is performed by current sales representatives, and the effectiveness of recruiting is generally dependent upon our reputation as a provider of a rewarding and potentially lucrative income opportunity, as well as the general competitive and economic environment. Whether recruits are motivated to complete their training and licensing requirements and commit to selling our products depends in part on the effectiveness of our compensation and promotional programs, as well as the competitiveness of such programs compared with other companies, including other part-time business opportunities and the recruits’ desire to help middle-income families in their communities.

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If our new business opportunity and the products we distribute do not generate sufficient interest to attract new recruits, motivate them to become licensed sales representatives and maintain their licenses, and incentivize them to sell our products and recruit other new sales representatives, our business would be materially adversely affected.

Certain key RVPs have large sales organizations that include thousands of sales representatives. These key RVPs are responsible for attracting, motivating, supporting and assisting the sales representatives in their sales organizations. The loss of one or more key RVPs together with a substantial number of their sales representatives for any reason could materially adversely affect our financial results and could impair our ability to attract new sales representatives.

Furthermore, if we or any other businesses with a similar distribution structure engage in practices resulting in increased negative public attention for our business model, the resulting reputational challenges could adversely affect our ability to attract new recruits. Companies such as ours that use independent agents to sell directly to customers can be the subject of negative commentary on website postings, social media and other non-traditional media. This negative commentary can spread inaccurate or incomplete information about distribution companies in general or our Company in particular, which can make our recruiting more difficult.

From time to time, various jurisdictions make changes to the state or provincial licensing examination process that may make it more difficult for sales representatives to obtain their life insurance and/or securities licenses.   For example, FINRA is considering changing the continuing education (“CE”) regulatory requirement from a three-year period to an annual requirement for securities-licensed representatives. In addition, the North American Securities Administrators Association approved a model rule for participating states that imposes a CE requirement for investment advisor representatives for the first time. Such changes could place an increased burden on representatives to maintain their securities licenses, which could negatively impact the size of the active securities sales force in the event that representatives do not complete the applicable CE requirements on a timely basis.

There are a number of laws and regulations that could apply to our distribution model, which could require us to modify our distribution structure.

We have not been, and are not currently, subject to business opportunity laws because the amounts paid by the new sales representatives to us: (i) are less than the minimum thresholds set by many state and provincial statutes and (ii) are not fees paid for the right to participate in a business, but rather are for bona fide expenses such as state and provincial-required insurance examinations and pre-licensing training. We have not been, and are not currently, subject to franchise laws for similar reasons. However, there is a risk that a governmental agency or court could disagree with our assessment or that these laws and regulations could change. In addition, although we do not believe that the FTC’s Business Opportunity Rule applies to our Company, it could be interpreted in a manner inconsistent with our interpretation. Becoming subject to business opportunity or franchise laws or regulations could require us to provide additional disclosures and regulate the manner in which we recruit sales representatives that may increase the expense of, or adversely impact our recruitment of new sales representatives.

There are various laws and regulations, including laws of general application such as the FTC Act, that prohibit fraudulent or deceptive practices including but not limited to pyramid schemes. Historically, the FTC has defined a pyramid scheme as an arrangement in which new participants are required to pay a fee for the right to sell a product and the right to receive, for recruiting other persons to participate, rewards that are primarily unrelated to the sale of products to ultimate users. The application of these laws and regulations to a given set of business practices is inherently fact-based and, therefore, is subject to interpretation by applicable enforcement authorities. Although we believe that our business practices comply with applicable laws and regulations, there is a risk that a governmental agency or court could disagree with our assessment, or that these laws and regulations could change in actuality or in application, which could require us to restructure our operations or result in regulatory fines, penalties, or other costs, or reputational harm or could otherwise adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Various unfair and deceptive trade practices laws and regulations could potentially be invoked to challenge aspects of our recruiting of sales representatives. In particular, we and the sales representatives use promotional materials in recruiting that describe the potential business opportunity available if someone becomes a sales representative and information with respect to earnings and lifestyle statements. These materials and statements made by us or the sales representatives may be deemed to be unfair, deceptive, or misleading under the FTC Act or other federal, state and provincial laws or regulations and could result in regulatory fines, penalties or other costs, or reputational harm. Being out of compliance with the aforementioned laws and regulations could require changes to the recruiting of sales representatives, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

There may be adverse tax, legal or financial consequences if the independent contractor status of sales representatives is overturned.

Sales representatives are independent contractors who operate their own businesses. Although we believe that we have properly classified sales representatives as independent contractors, there is a risk that the IRS, the Canada Revenue Agency, a court or other authority will take a different view. Furthermore, the tests governing the determination of whether an individual is considered to be an independent contractor or an employee are fact-sensitive and vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Laws and regulations that govern the status and misclassification of independent sales representatives are subject to change or interpretation.

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The classification of workers as independent contractors has been the subject of increasing federal, state and provincial legislative, regulatory and judicial interest over the last several years. Legislative and regulatory proposals have been introduced by federal and state authorities, and judicial decisions have been made, that call for or result in greater scrutiny of independent contractor classifications.  There is no assurance that our business activities would be excluded. We cannot predict the outcome of any such legislative, regulatory, or judicial activity.

If there is an adverse determination with respect to the classification of some or all of the independent contractors by a court or governmental agency, we could incur significant costs in complying with such laws and regulations, including in respect of tax withholding, social security payments, retirement plan contributions and recordkeeping, employee benefits, payment of wages or modification of our business model, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, there is the risk that we may be subject to significant monetary liabilities arising from fines or judgments as a result of any such actual or alleged non-compliance with federal, state, or provincial laws.

The Company’s or the independent sales representatives' violation of, or non-compliance with, laws and regulations and related claims and proceedings could expose us to material liabilities.

Extensive federal, state, provincial and territorial laws regulate our product offerings and our relationships with our clients, imposing certain requirements that sales representatives must follow. At any given time, we may have pending state, federal or provincial examinations or inquiries of our investment and savings products, insurance, mortgage, and other businesses. In addition to imposing requirements that sales representatives must follow in their dealings with clients, these laws and regulations generally require us to maintain a system of supervision reasonably designed to ensure that sales representatives comply with the requirements to which they are subject. We have policies and procedures to comply with these laws and regulations. However, despite these compliance and supervisory efforts, the breadth of our operations and the broad regulatory requirements could result in oversight failures and instances of non-compliance on the part of the Company or the sales representatives.

From time to time, we are subject to private litigation as a result of alleged misconduct by sales representatives. Non-compliance with laws or regulations by the sales representatives could result in adverse findings in either examinations or litigation and could subject us to sanctions, monetary liabilities, restrictions on or the loss of the operation of our business, or reputational harm, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Any failure to protect the confidentiality of client information could adversely affect our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Various government bodies have established rules protecting the privacy and security of personal information, which vary significantly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Many sales representatives, employees, and third-party service providers have access to, and routinely process, personal information of clients on paper and on personal and company-owned hardware, the cloud and mobile devices through a variety of media, including the Internet and software applications. We rely on internal processes and controls to protect the confidentiality of client information that is accessible to, or in the possession of, our Company, our employees and the sales representatives. If a sales representative, employee, or third-party service provider intentionally or unintentionally discloses or misappropriates confidential client information or our data is the subject of a cybersecurity attack, or if we fail to maintain adequate internal controls or sales representatives, employees, or service providers fail to comply with our policies and procedures, misappropriation or intentional or unintentional inappropriate disclosure or misuse of client information could occur. Such internal control inadequacies or non-compliance could materially damage our reputation or lead to civil or criminal penalties, which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Insurance Business and Reinsurance

We may face significant losses if our actual experience differs from our expectations regarding mortality or persistency.

We set prices for life insurance policies based upon expected claim payment patterns derived from assumptions we make about the mortality rates, or likelihood of death, of our policyholders in any given year. The long-term profitability of these products depends upon how our actual mortality rates compare to our pricing assumptions. For example, if mortality rates are higher than those assumed in our pricing assumptions, we could be required to make more death benefit payments under our life insurance policies or to make such payments sooner than we had projected, which may decrease the profitability of our term life insurance products and result in an increase in the cost of our subsequent reinsurance transactions.

The prices and expected future profitability of our life insurance products are also based, in part, upon assumptions related to persistency. Actual persistency that is lower than our persistency assumptions could have an adverse effect on profitability, especially in the early years of a policy, primarily because we would be required to accelerate the amortization of expenses we deferred in connection with the acquisition of the policy. Actual persistency that is higher than our persistency assumptions could have an adverse effect on profitability in the later years of a block of policies because the anticipated claims experience is higher in these later years. If actual persistency is significantly different from that assumed in our pricing assumptions, our reserves for future policy benefits may prove to be inadequate. We are precluded from adjusting premiums on our in-force business during the initial term of the policies, and our ability to adjust premiums on in-force business after the initial policy term is limited to the maximum premium rates in the policy.

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Our assumptions and estimates regarding mortality and persistency require us to make numerous judgments and, therefore, are inherently uncertain.  If we conclude, based on our current expectations for mortality, persistency and other assumptions, that our future policy benefit reserves, together with future premiums, are insufficient to cover actual or expected claims payments and the scheduled amortization of our deferred policy acquisition costs ("DAC"), we would be required to first accelerate our amortization of DAC and then increase our future policy benefit reserves in the period in which we make the determination, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our insurance business is highly regulated, and statutory and regulatory changes may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.  

Life insurance statutes and regulations are generally designed to protect the interests of the public and policyholders.  Those interests may conflict with the interests of our stockholders. Currently, in the United States, the power to regulate insurance resides almost exclusively with the states, which grant state insurance regulators broad powers to regulate almost all aspects of our insurance business. Much of this state regulation follows model statutes or regulations developed or amended by the NAIC, which is composed of the insurance commissioners of each U.S. jurisdiction. The NAIC re-examines and amends existing model laws and regulations (including holding company regulations), in addition to determining whether new ones are needed.

The Federal Insurance Office is authorized to, among other things, study methods to modernize and improve insurance regulation. We cannot predict with certainty whether, or in what form, reforms will be enacted and, if so, whether the enacted reforms will materially affect our business. Changes in federal statutes, financial services regulation and federal taxation, in addition to changes to state statutes and regulations, may be more restrictive than current requirements or may result in higher costs, and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

On July 18, 2018, the NYDFS issued final amendments to its suitability regulation for annuities (the “NY Amended Suitability Rule”), which imposes certain duties and obligations on insurers and insurance producers in the sale of life insurance, including term life insurance, and annuities. Firms and insurance representatives are required to ensure that transactions are suitable and consistent with the customer’s “best interest”. The NY Amended Suitability Rule became effective for annuity products on August 1, 2019 and for life insurance products on February 1, 2020.  In February 2020, the NAIC approved revisions to the Suitability in Annuity Transactions Model Regulation (“NAIC Annuities Best Interest Rule”) requiring producers to act in the “best interest” of consumers when recommending an annuity, and several states have adopted, and others are proposing to adopt, the NAIC Annuities Best Interest Rule. The NY Amended Suitability Rule and the NAIC Annuities Best Interest Rule impose a higher standard of care, enhanced disclosure, and other obligations with respect to life and/or annuities recommendations, which may increase our regulatory or litigation risk.  

Federal and provincial insurance laws regulate all aspects of our Canadian insurance business. Changes to federal or provincial statutes and regulations may be more restrictive than current requirements or may result in higher costs, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If OSFI determines that our corporate actions do not comply with applicable Canadian law, Primerica Life Canada could face sanctions or fines, and be subject to increased capital requirements or other requirements.

The Minister of Finance (Canada) approved our indirect acquisition of Primerica Life Canada in 2010 with the expectation that we will provide ongoing financial, managerial or operational support to this subsidiary as necessary. If OSFI determines Primerica Life Canada is not receiving adequate support from the Parent Company under applicable Canadian law, Primerica Life Canada may be subject to increased capital requirements or other requirements deemed appropriate by OSFI.

If there are extraordinary changes to U.S. or Canadian statutory or regulatory requirements, we may be unable to fully comply with or maintain all required insurance licenses and approvals and the regulatory authorities could preclude or temporarily suspend us from carrying on some or all of our insurance activities or impose fines or penalties on us, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. We cannot predict with certainty the effect any proposed or future legislation or regulatory initiatives may have on the conduct of our business.

A decline in the regulatory capital ratios of our insurance subsidiaries could result in increased scrutiny by insurance regulators and ratings agencies and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Each of our U.S. insurance subsidiaries is subject to RBC standards (imposed under the laws of its respective jurisdiction of domicile). The RBC formula for U.S. life insurance companies generally establishes capital requirements relating to asset, insurance, interest rate and business risks. Our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are required to report RBC calculations annually to the applicable state department of insurance and the NAIC. Our Canadian life insurance subsidiary is subject to the Life Insurance Capital Adequacy Test Guideline (“LICAT”), and is required to provide its capital ratio calculations to the Canadian regulators. The capitalization of our insurance subsidiaries is maintained at levels in excess of the effective minimum requirements of the NAIC in the United States and OSFI in Canada. In any particular year, statutory capital and surplus amounts and RBC and LICAT ratios may increase or decrease depending on a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control.

Our financial strength and credit ratings are significantly influenced by the statutory surplus amounts and RBC and LICAT ratios of our insurance company subsidiaries. Ratings agencies may change their internal models, effectively increasing or decreasing the amount of statutory capital our insurance subsidiaries must hold to maintain their current ratings. Ratings agencies also may

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downgrade the ratings of securities held in our insurance subsidiaries’ portfolios, which could result in a reduction of our insurance subsidiaries’ statutory capital and surplus and RBC. Our insurance subsidiaries may need additional capital and, if needed, we may not be able to provide it to maintain the targeted RBC and LICAT levels to support their business operations, either of which may impact our financial strength and credit ratings.

The failure of any of our insurance subsidiaries to meet its applicable RBC and LICAT requirements or minimum capital and surplus requirements could subject it to further examination or corrective action imposed by insurance regulators, including limitations on its ability to write additional business, supervision by regulators or seizure or liquidation. Any corrective action imposed could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. A decline in RBC or LICAT also limits the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends or make distributions and could be a factor in causing ratings agencies to downgrade the financial strength ratings of all our insurance subsidiaries. Such downgrades would have an adverse effect on our ability to write new insurance policies and, therefore, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A significant ratings downgrade by a ratings organization could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Each of our insurance subsidiaries, with the exception of Peach Re and Vidalia Re, has been assigned a financial strength rating by A.M. Best. Primerica Life currently also has an insurer financial strength rating from each of Standard & Poor's (“S&P”) and Moody's.  

The financial strength ratings of our insurance subsidiaries are subject to periodic review using, among other things, the ratings agencies' proprietary capital adequacy models, and are subject to revision or withdrawal at any time. Insurance financial strength ratings are directed toward the concerns of policyholders and are not intended for the protection of stockholders or as a recommendation to buy, hold or sell securities. Our financial strength ratings will affect our competitive position relative to other insurance companies. If the financial strength ratings of our insurance subsidiaries fall below certain levels, some of our policyholders may move their business to our competitors. In addition, the models used by ratings agencies to determine financial strength are different from the capital requirements set by insurance regulators.

Ratings organizations review the financial performance and financial conditions of insurance companies, and provide opinions regarding financial strength, operating performance and ability to meet obligations to policyholders. A significant downgrade in the financial strength ratings of any of our insurance subsidiaries, or the announced potential for a downgrade, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations

If the rating agencies or regulators change their approach to financial strength ratings and statutory capital requirements, we may need to take action to maintain current ratings and capital adequacy ratios, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Parent Company currently has investment grade credit ratings from S&P, Moody's, and A.M. Best. These ratings are indicators of a debt issuer's ability to meet the terms of debt obligations and are important factors in its ability to access liquidity in the debt markets. A rating downgrade by a rating agency can occur at any time if the rating agency perceives an adverse change in our financial condition, results of operations or ability to service debt. If such a downgrade occurs, it could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations in many ways, including adversely limiting our access to capital in the unsecured debt market and potentially increasing the cost of such debt.

The failure by any of our reinsurers or reserve financing counterparties to perform its obligations to us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.  

We extensively use reinsurance in the United States to diversify our risk and to manage our loss exposure to mortality risk. Reinsurance does not relieve us of our direct liability to our policyholders, even when the reinsurer is liable to us. We, as the insurer, are required to pay the full amount of death benefits even in circumstances where we are entitled to receive payments from the reinsurer. Our reinsurers may be unable to pay the amounts they owe us on a timely basis or at all. Further, reinsurers might refuse or fail to pay losses that we cede to them or might delay payment. Since death benefit claims may be paid long after a policy is issued, we bear credit risk with respect to our reinsurers. The creditworthiness of our reinsurers may change before we can recover amounts to which we are entitled. Any such failure to pay by our reinsurers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Two of our reinsurers are in receivership, both of which are associated with small blocks of business that are in runoff.   While it is uncertain at this time how much of their claim obligations these reinsurers will ultimately be able to pay, we have recognized an allowance for the expected credit losses associated with their reinsurance recoverable balances in our statement of financial position.

We also have in place coinsurance agreements that we originally entered into at the time of our IPO, pursuant to which we ceded between 80% and 90% of the risks and rewards of our term life insurance policies that were in force at year-end 2009. Under this arrangement, our existing reinsurance agreements remain in place. Each coinsurer entered into trust agreements with our respective insurance subsidiaries and a trustee pursuant to which the coinsurer placed assets (primarily treasury and fixed-income securities) in trust for such subsidiary's benefit to secure the coinsurer's obligations to such subsidiary. Each such coinsurance agreement requires each coinsurer to maintain assets in trust, which amount will not be less than the amount of the reserves for the coinsured liabilities. In Canada, the IPO coinsurer must hold pledged assets in an amount sufficient for us to take credit for reinsurance in a Canadian

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financial institution, not affiliated with the IPO coinsurer, with our Canadian insurance company having an enforceable security interest that has priority over any other security interest for the pledged assets.  Furthermore, our insurance subsidiaries have the right to recapture the business upon the occurrence of an event of default under their respective coinsurance agreement subject to any applicable cure periods. While any such recapture would be at no cost to us, such recapture would result in a substantial increase in our insurance exposure and require us to be fully responsible for the management of the assets set aside to support statutory reserves. The type of assets we might obtain as a result of a recapture may not be as liquid as our current invested asset portfolio and could result in an unfavorable impact on our risk profile.

There is no assurance that the relevant coinsurer will pay the coinsurance obligations owed to us now or in the future or that it will pay these obligations on a timely basis. If any of the coinsurers becomes insolvent, the trust account to support the obligations of such coinsurer is insufficient to pay such coinsurer's obligations to us and we fail to enforce our right to recapture the business, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have entered into transactions by which we finance redundant statutory reserves of certain issue years of our term life insurance business.  Under these transactions, we pay a fee to financial counterparties for their commitment to support redundant reserves and provide corresponding statutory reinsurance credit, allowing us to more efficiently manage our capital.  If the financial strength of these counterparties was significantly impaired to the extent that their support of our redundant reserves could no longer be relied upon, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Investments and Savings Products Business

Our Investment and Savings Products segment is heavily dependent on mutual fund and annuity products offered by a relatively small number of companies, and, if these products fail to remain competitive with other investment options or we lose our relationship with one or more of these companies, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

We earn a significant portion of our earnings through our relationships with a small group of mutual fund and annuity companies. A decision by one or more of these companies to alter or discontinue their current arrangements or product offerings with us, or a change in law or regulation that compels us to alter or discontinue such arrangements, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If any of our investment and savings products fail to achieve satisfactory investment performance, our clients may seek higher yielding or lower cost alternative investment products, and we could experience higher redemption rates. In addition, we earn a growing portion of our earnings through our asset-based advisory platform.  A mix shift of new investments to our advisory platform could materially impact cash flows to our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In recent years there has been an increase in the popularity of alternative investments such as exchange traded funds (ETFs), which we do not currently offer on our brokerage platform, but which are available indirectly to our clients on our advisory platform. These investment options typically have low fee structures and provide some of the attributes of mutual funds, such as risk diversification. If these products continue to gain traction among our client base as viable alternatives to mutual fund investments, or if other product innovations not offered by us gain traction, our investment and savings products revenues could decline.

In addition to sales commissions and asset-based compensation, a portion of our earnings from investment and savings products comes from recordkeeping services that we provide to mutual fund companies and from fees earned for custodial services that we provide to clients with retirement plan accounts in the funds of these mutual fund companies. We also receive marketing and support fees from each of these mutual fund companies. A decision by one or more of these fund companies to alter or discontinue their current arrangements with us, or a change in law or regulation that compels us to alter or discontinue such arrangements, would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The Company’s or the securities-licensed sales representatives' violations of, or non-compliance with, laws and regulations could expose us to material liabilities.

Our subsidiary broker-dealer and registered investment advisor, PFS Investments, and the sales representatives, are subject to federal and state regulation of its securities business. Investment advisory representatives likewise are held to a high standard of conduct. Our subsidiary, PSS, is a registered transfer agent engaged in the recordkeeping business and is subject to SEC regulation. Violations of laws or regulations applicable to the activities of PFS Investments or PSS, or violations by a third party with which PFS Investments or PSS contracts, could subject us to regulatory actions and/or litigation and could result in the imposition of cease and desist orders, fines or censures, restitution to clients, suspension or revocation of SEC registration, suspension or expulsion from FINRA, reputational damage and legal expense, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our Canadian broker-dealer subsidiary, PFSL Investments Canada and the sales representatives are subject to the securities laws of the provinces and territories of Canada in which we sell our mutual fund products and to the rules of the MFDA, the self-regulatory organization governing mutual fund dealers. PFSL Investments Canada is subject to periodic review by both the MFDA and the provincial and territorial securities commissions to assess its compliance with, among other things, applicable capital requirements and sales practices and procedures. These regulators have broad administrative powers and may impose sanctions that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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If heightened standards of conduct or more stringent licensing requirements, such as those adopted by the SEC and those proposed or adopted by the Department of Labor (“DOL”) state legislatures or regulators or Canadian securities regulators, are imposed on us or the sales representatives, or selling compensation is reduced as a result of new legislation or regulations, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The U.S. sales representatives are subject to federal and state regulation as well as state licensing requirements. PFS Investments, Inc., which is regulated as a broker-dealer, and U.S. sales representatives are currently subject to general anti-fraud limitations under the Exchange Act and SEC rules and regulations, as well as other conduct standards prescribed by the FINRA. These standards generally require that broker-dealers and their sales representatives disclose conflicts of interest that might affect the advice or recommendations they provide and require them to make suitable investment recommendations to their customers. On June 5, 2019, the SEC adopted rules and interpretations addressing the standards of conduct applicable to broker-dealers and investment advisers and their associated persons (collectively, the “SEC Rulemaking”).  Among other things, the SEC Rulemaking: (i) creates a new “best interest” standard of conduct for broker-dealers  (“Reg BI”), and (ii) imposes new disclosure requirements through summary forms intended to clarify relationships among brokers, advisers, and their retail customers (“Form CRS”). The SEC Rulemaking had a compliance date of June 30, 2020 for Reg BI and Form CRS.  On December 15, 2020, the DOL published an interpretation of, and class exemption regarding, the rules governing fiduciary investment advice with respect to IRAs and other retirement accounts (the “DOL Rule”).  The effective date of the DOL Rule is February 16, 2021 and the DOL extended its non-enforcement policy through December 20, 2021. The SEC Rulemaking and the DOL Rule in their current forms impose higher standards of care and enhanced obligations that increase regulatory and litigation risk to our business.

In addition to federal regulators, certain states have proposed or passed laws or proposed or issued regulations requiring investment advisers, broker-dealers, and/or insurance agents to meet fiduciary standards or standards of care that their advice be in the customer’s best interest, and to mitigate and disclose conflicts of interest to consumers of investment and insurance products. The severity of the impact that such state laws or regulations could have on our business vary from state to state depending on the content of the legislation or regulation and how it would be applied by state regulators and interpreted by the courts, but such laws or regulations could disrupt our brokerage business in the relevant state. We cannot quantify the financial impact, if any, of any changes to our business that may be necessary in order to comply with such laws or regulations at this time.

On February 20, 2020, the CSA published final rule amendments, applicable in all provinces except Ontario, to prohibit upfront sales commissions by fund companies for the sale of mutual funds offered under a prospectus in Canada (“DSC Ban”). The final amendments have an effective date of June 1, 2022.  The CSA indicated that the participating provinces’ prohibition of upfront sales commissions by fund companies will require firms to discontinue the use of the mutual fund deferred sales charge compensation model, which is the primary model for the mutual funds we distribute in Canada.  These rules will result in changes in compensation arrangements with both the fund companies that offer the mutual fund products we distribute and sales representatives in the participating provinces.  The deferred sales charge compensation model is permitted to be used until the effective date.  While Ontario has disagreed with the prohibition of upfront sales commissions by fund companies and is not at this time participating in adoption of the DSC Ban, the Ontario Securities Commission has proposed several restrictions on the use of the deferred compensation model, including a $50,000 maximum account size and a limitation on the maximum term of the deferred sales charge schedule to three years compared to current industry practice where the maximum term can be up to seven years.  These restrictions, if any, will also be effective June 1, 2022.  We have not finished the process of determining the types of changes we will make in response to the DSC Ban and the restrictions in Ontario, therefore, we are unable to quantify the potential impact on our financial condition or results of operations.

In Canada, on October 3, 2019, the CSA published final rule amendments intended to better align the interest of securities dealers and representatives with the interests of their clients, improve outcomes for clients, and make clearer to clients the nature and terms of their relationship with registered firms and their representatives.  Collectively these amendments are referred to as the Client Focused Reforms (“CFRs”).  The CFRs, among other things, require registered firms to identify and mitigate conflicts of interest between registered firms and their representatives, on one hand, and clients, on the other, such that recommendations may be made in clients’ best interest. The CFRs are subject to ministerial approval and have staggered implementation dates.  The implementation date to address conflicts and to improve disclosure was December 31, 2020 and the implementation date to enhance overall suitability rules, know your client rules, and know your product requirements is December 31, 2021.  The implementation date to address conflicts changed from December 31, 2020 to June 30, 2021 to provide additional time due to COVID-19.  CFRs will require changes to our sales process and back-office systems and processes and may necessitate changes in compensation arrangements with the fund companies that offer the mutual fund products we distribute in Canada. Although not expected at this time, the impact of such changes could have a material adverse effect on our investment and savings products business in Canada.

Heightened standards of conduct or restrictions on compensation as a result of any of the above items or other similar proposed rules or regulations could also increase the compliance and regulatory burdens on the sales representatives and could lead to increased litigation and regulatory risks, changes to our business model, a decrease in the number of licensed representatives and a reduction in the products we offer to our clients, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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If our suitability policies and procedures, or our policies and procedures for compliance with federal or state regulations governing standards of care, were deemed inadequate, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We review the account applications that we receive for our investment and savings products for suitability, for compliance with the SEC Rulemaking and the DOL Rule, and for compliance with other federal or state regulations governing standards of care. We believe that the policies and procedures we implement to help sales representatives assist clients in making investment choices are reasonably designed to achieve compliance with applicable securities laws and regulations and to satisfy other applicable federal, state, and provincial standards of care.  Nonetheless, it is possible that the SEC, FINRA, the DOL, the IRS, state securities and insurance regulators or MFDA may not agree. Further, we could be subject to regulatory actions or private litigation, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The support tools we make available to the sales force are designed to educate potential and existing clients, help identify their financial needs, generally introduce the potential benefits of our product offerings, and identify suitable investment products. The tools themselves or the assumptions and methods of analyses embedded in them could be challenged and subject us to regulatory action by the SEC, the DOL, FINRA or other regulators, or private litigation, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Non-compliance with applicable regulations could lead to revocation of our subsidiary's status as a non-bank custodian.

PFS Investments is a non-bank custodian of retirement accounts, as permitted under Treasury Regulation 1.408-2. A non-bank custodian is an entity that is not a bank and that is permitted by the IRS to act as a custodian for retirement plan account assets of our clients. The IRS retains authority to revoke or suspend that status if it finds that PFS Investments is unwilling or unable to administer retirement accounts in a manner consistent with the requirements of the applicable regulations. Revocation of PFS Investments' non-bank custodian status would affect its ability to earn revenue for providing such services and, consequently, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Our Mortgage Distribution Business

Licensing requirements will impact the size of the mortgage loan sales force.

To offer mortgage loan products, sales representatives must be individually licensed as mortgage loan originators by the states in which they do business and, in some states, they must also be individually licensed as mortgage brokers.  These licensing requirements include enrollment in the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System, application to state regulators for individual licenses, a minimum of 20 hours of pre-licensing education, an annual minimum of eight hours of continuing education, and the successful completion of both national and state tests or a national test with uniform state content.  Compliance with these licensing regimes (including background and credit checks) have proven to be a barrier for many sales representatives.  In addition, the tests have historically been challenging for the sales representatives to pass. Primerica Mortgage, LLC must also be licensed at the company level as a Mortgage Broker (or equivalent) and, in almost all states, representatives’ offices, must be licensed as branch offices.  To offer mortgage loans in a state, individual representatives, offices, and Primerica Mortgage, LLC must be licensed as required by state law.  These licenses must be renewed on an annual basis.  Failure of sales representatives to obtain the required licenses and comply with ongoing licensing requirements would adversely affect the size of the mortgage loan sales force, which could materially adversely affect our mortgage distribution business.

Our mortgage distribution business is highly regulated and subject to various federal, state and provincial laws and regulations in the U.S. and Canada, changes in which could affect the cost or our ability to distribute our products and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our U.S. mortgage distribution business is subject to a wide array of laws at the federal, state, and local levels, and it is regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state mortgage regulators, which have the authority to examine, supervise and enforce applicable laws, regulations and policies.  Federal law and regulations impose prohibitions and restrictions on the manner and amount of compensation paid in connection with a mortgage loan transaction and establish a federal ability to repay standard for all mortgage loans.  Other laws could have the effect of limiting the availability of certain loan products in the market and adversely impact the range of products offered and the volume of loan business.   

Additionally, we must comply with various state and local laws and policies concerning our lender, compensation, fair lending, supervision, the provision of consumer disclosures, net branching, predatory lending and high cost loans and recordkeeping.  Differing interpretations of, changes in, or violations of, any of these laws or regulations could subject us to damages, fines, or sanctions and could affect the cost or our ability to distribute our products, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Remediation for noncompliance with federal, state or local laws could be costly and significant fines may be incurred. Failure to comply with applicable laws could result in potential litigation liability.  Further, the lender must comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations, and any noncompliance by such lender may adversely impact our U.S. mortgage distribution business.  

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In Canada, sales representatives offer mortgage loans on a referral basis only. Various provincial mortgage brokerage laws strictly prescribe the requirements applicable to a mortgage referral program in order for individuals who make the referrals to be exempt from the requirement to be licensed as mortgage brokers. Differing interpretations of, changes in, or violations of, any of the applicable exemptions under mortgage brokerage laws could subject us to damages, fines or sanctions and could have a material adverse effect on our ability to offer mortgage loan referrals in Canada. In addition, sales representatives selling mutual funds must comply with the disclosure requirements of the MFDA and applicable securities laws governing mortgage referral arrangements. Failure to comply with such disclosure requirements could result in regulatory sanctions, which could have a material adverse effect on our ability to offer mortgage loan referrals in Canada.

Risks Related to Economic Downcycles, Public Health Crises or Catastrophes, and Disasters

The effects of economic down cycles could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected by economic downturns in the United States and Canada, as well as issues in the global economy that may have repercussions on our local markets. Economic downturns, which are often characterized by higher unemployment, lower household income, lower valuation of retirement savings accounts, lower corporate earnings, lower business investment and lower consumer spending, have adversely affected the demand for the term life insurance, investment and savings and other financial products that we sell. We may experience an elevated incidence of lapses or surrenders of insurance policies, and some of our policyholders may choose to defer paying insurance premiums or stop paying insurance premiums altogether.

Our investment and savings products business is sensitive to the performance of the equity markets. A protracted long-term downturn in equity market performance brought about in an economic downturn could adversely affect new sales and cause clients to liquidate mutual funds and other investments sold by sales representative. This could cause a decrease in the asset value of client accounts, reduce our trailing commission revenues and result in a decline in the fair value of our invested asset portfolio. Further, volatility in equity markets or downturns could discourage purchases of the investment products that we distribute and could have a materially adverse effect on our business, including our ability to recruit and retain sales representatives.

Major public health pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks, specifically, the COVID-19 pandemic, or other catastrophic events, could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our operations are exposed to the risk of major public health pandemics, epidemics or outbreaks (a “major public health crisis”), such as the COVID-19 pandemic, or other catastrophic events (“catastrophic events”), which, among other things, could cause a large number of premature deaths of our insureds. Although we have ceded a significant majority of our mortality risk to reinsurers, a major public health crisis or catastrophic event could cause substantial volatility in our financial results for a period of time and could also materially harm the financial condition of our reinsurers, increase the probability of default on reinsurance recoveries or decrease the availability of reinsurance on new business.  In addition, most of the jurisdictions in which our insurance subsidiaries are licensed to transact business require life insurers to participate in guaranty associations, which raise funds to pay contractual benefits owed pursuant to insurance policies issued by impaired, insolvent or failed issuers. A major public health crisis or catastrophic event could require extraordinary assessments on our insurance companies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A major public health crisis or catastrophic event could negatively impact our ability to attract new recruits, train and license the sales force, and incentivize the sales force to sell our products. If a significant number of sales representatives were to be impacted by a major public health crisis or catastrophic event, it could have a material adverse effect on recruiting, licensing, and our ability to write new business. A major public health crisis or catastrophic event could also cause significant volatility in global financial markets and disrupt the economy and the demand for the term life insurance, investment and savings and other financial products that we sell. Our investment portfolio and the valuations of invested assets we hold could also be materially adversely affected.

Specifically with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing recommendations (collectively, “prevention measures”) inhibited and continue to inhibit the face-to-face setting sales representatives primarily used to meet the needs of clients, attract new recruits, and retain and motivate sales representatives. Such face-to-face interactions may not be adequately replaced by technological solutions. Further, prevention measures have negatively impacted and may continue to impact completion of paramedical tests necessary to underwrite some of our life insurance applicants. Prevention measures also caused and continue to cause limited availability and capacity of licensing test centers, which negatively impact the ability of sales representatives to obtain the licenses necessary to sell certain of our products, including life insurance, securities and mortgages. Finally, prevention measures have caused the cancellation of large meetings that we use to motivate the sales force to sell our products. Throughout 2020 and into 2021, prevention measures have been adopted, relaxed and re-adopted by various jurisdictions, and this is unlikely to change until a vaccine is widely available in the United States and Canada.  We cannot predict the impact that any such measures could have on our business and results of operations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an economic downturn and it is uncertain how long this economic downturn will last.  This economic downturn has resulted in higher unemployment rates, lower household income and significant fluctuations in consumer

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spending, all of which could adversely affect the persistency of in force business, the demand for the term life insurance, investment and savings and other financial products that we sell, our liquidity and our ability to attract new recruits. It could also negatively impact product providers and business partners with whom we have long-standing business relationships, which could materially adversely affect our business. Many state governments required that insurance companies temporarily extend grace periods, and we have adopted other measures intended to enable customers to maintain life insurance policies when facing financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We do not yet know the impact this will have on the future persistency of our life insurance policies.  Further, the significant volatility in the North American equity markets in the first quarter of 2020 impacted, and potential future volatility could impact, the value of clients’ investment accounts and may have a negative effect on the Company’s sales of investment and savings products, both of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We cannot predict accurately how legal and regulatory responses to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our business. For example, liability could result if persons are infected with COVID-19 at one of our offices or by one of the sales representatives and it is determined that we did not exercise reasonable precautions in how we protect our workplaces. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic may impact our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments that are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted accurately, including new information that may emerge concerning the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic, the duration of the pandemic and actions taken to contain or mitigate its impact.  

In the event of a disaster, our business continuity plan may not be sufficient, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our infrastructure supports a combination of local and remote recovery solutions for business resumption in the event of a disaster, including a security incident. In the event of either a campus-wide destruction or the inability to access our data center or main campus in Duluth, Georgia, our business recovery plan provides for a limited number of our employees to perform their work functions via a dedicated business backup/recovery site located around 20 miles from our main campus or by remote access from an employee's home. However, in the event of campus-wide destruction, our business recovery plan may be inadequate, and our employees and the sales representatives may be unable to carry out their work, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Related to Information Technology and Cybersecurity

If one of our, or a third-party partner’s, significant information technology systems fails, if its security is compromised, or if the Internet becomes disabled or unavailable, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

Our business is highly dependent upon the effective operation of our information technology systems and third-party technology systems, networks and clouds to record, process, transmit and store information, including sensitive customer and proprietary information. We rely on these systems throughout our business for a variety of functions including to conduct many of our business activities and transactions with customers, sales representatives, vendors and other third parties, to prepare our financial statements and to communicate with our Board of Directors. Further, our information technology systems and applications run a variety of third-party and proprietary software intended to support the sales force. Our business also relies on the use by employees, representatives and other third parties of electronic mobile devices, such as laptops, tablets and smartphones, which are particularly vulnerable to loss and theft.

Maintaining the integrity of these systems and networks is critical to the success of our business operations, including the retention of sales representatives and customers, and to the protection of our proprietary information and our customers’ confidential and personal information. We could experience a failure of one or more of these systems or could fail to complete all necessary data reconciliation or other conversion controls when implementing new software systems.  In addition, despite the implementation of security and back-up measures, our information technology systems may be vulnerable to physical or electronic intrusions, viruses or other attacks, programming errors and similar disruptions.

We are subject to international, federal and state regulations, and in some cases contractual obligations, that require us to establish and maintain policies and procedures designed to protect sensitive customer, employee, sales representative and third-party information.  We have implemented and maintain security measures, including industry-standard commercial technology, designed to protect against breaches of security and other interference with our systems and networks resulting from attacks by third parties, including hackers, and from employee or representative error or malfeasance.  We continually assess our ability to monitor, respond to, and recover from such threats. We also require third-party vendors, who in the provision of services to us are provided with or process information pertaining to our business or our customers, to meet certain information security standards. Despite the measures we have taken and may in the future take to address and mitigate cybersecurity and technology risks, we cannot assure that our systems and networks will not be subject to breaches or interference. Any such breaches or interference by third parties or by sales representatives or employees that may occur in the future including the failure of any one of these systems for any reason, could cause significant interruptions to our operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Anyone who is able to circumvent our security measures and penetrate our information technology systems could access, view, misappropriate, alter, or delete information in the systems, including personally-identifiable client information, health information, and proprietary business information.  In addition, an increasing number of jurisdictions require that regulators and clients be notified if a security breach results in the disclosure of personally-identifiable client information or health information, which could exacerbate the harm to our business, financial condition or results of operations. We cannot be certain that advances in criminal capabilities, discovery of new vulnerabilities, attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in our systems, data thefts, physical system or network break-ins or inappropriate access, or other developments will not compromise or breach the technology or other security measures protecting the networks and systems used in connection with our business.

Operating system failures, ineffective system implementation, loss of the Internet or the compromise of security with respect to internal, external or third-party operating systems or electronic devices could subject us to significant civil and criminal liability, harm our reputation, interrupt our business operations, deter people from purchasing our products, require us to incur significant technical, legal and other expenses, and adversely affect our internal control over financial reporting, business, financial condition, or results of operations.

The current legislative and regulatory climate with regard to cybersecurity may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Various international, federal and state legislative and regulatory bodies are considering or have considered, proposed, or adopted new standards and rules regarding protection of personally-identifiable information. NYDFS’s Cybersecurity Requirements for Financial Services Companies require covered financial services institutions to implement a cybersecurity program designed to protect information systems.  The NAIC has adopted the Insurance Data Security Model Law (“Model Law”), which, among other things, would require insurers and insurance producers to develop and maintain a written information security program, conduct risk assessments, and assess the data security practices of third-party service providers.  The Model Law, which has some similarities as well as differences from the NYDFS’s cybersecurity regulation, has been adopted by a significant number of states. In addition, the California Consumer Protection Act of 2018 and related laws and regulations (“CCPA”) are designed to give consumers more control over their personal data.  The CCPA, which imposes strict liability for security incidents under certain circumstances, became effective in January 2020. All 50 U.S. states and Canada have breach notification requirements.

Such laws or regulations could require us to implement new technologies or revise and maintain policies and procedures designed to protect sensitive customer, employee, representative and third-party information. Being subject to, or out of compliance with, the aforementioned laws and regulations could result in material costs, fines, penalties or litigation, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Financial Risks Affecting Our Business

Credit deterioration in, and the effects of interest rate fluctuations and changes to benchmark reference interest rates on, our invested asset portfolio and other assets that are subject to changes in credit quality and interest rates could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A large percentage of our invested asset portfolio is invested in fixed-income securities. As a result, credit deterioration and interest rate fluctuations could materially affect the value of and earnings generated by our invested asset portfolio. During periods of declining market interest rates, we must invest the cash we receive as interest, return of principal on our investments and cash from operations in lower-yielding, high-grade instruments or in lower-credit instruments to maintain comparable returns. Issuers of fixed-income securities could also decide to prepay their obligations to borrow at lower market rates, which would increase our reinvestment risk. If interest rates generally increase, the fair value of our fixed rate income portfolio decreases. Additionally, if the fair value of any security in our invested asset portfolio decreases, we may realize losses if we deem the value of the security to be other-than-temporarily impaired.  We also have an asset on deposit with a coinsurer backing a 10% coinsurance agreement entered into at the time of our IPO.  The fair value of this asset is influenced by fluctuation in credit spreads and interest rates, and changes in fair value are recognized in income.  To the extent that any fluctuations in fair value or interest rates are significant or we recognize impairments that are material, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The value of certain of our investments are tied to benchmark reference interest rates, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”). In 2022, financial markets will begin transitioning away from LIBOR as a reference interest rate for securities and contract terms, with full transition expected by June 30, 2023.  The discontinuation of LIBOR or a switch to an alternative reference rate could adversely impact the value and liquidity of certain investments that use LIBOR as a reference rate and could cause increased cost or uncertainties regarding changes required to be made to contracts that reference LIBOR.  As of December 31, 2020, investments that are tied to LIBOR represent less than 5% of our invested asset portfolio.  

Valuation of our investments and the determination of expected credit losses when the fair value of our available-for-sale invested assets is below amortized cost are both based on estimates that may prove to be incorrect.

Our portfolio of invested assets primarily consists of fixed-maturity securities that are classified as available-for-sale.  When the fair value of any of our available-for-sale invested assets declines below amortized cost, an impairment exists and we recognize a loss in either our statement of income or in other comprehensive income based on our assessment of expected credit losses. The

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determination of the fair value of certain invested assets, particularly those that do not trade on a regular basis, requires an assessment of available data and the use of assumptions and estimates. Once it is determined that the fair value of an available-for-sale security is below its carrying value, we first determine if we intend to sell or will more-likely-than-not be required to sell the security before the expected recovery of its amortized cost. If we intend to sell or will more-likely-than-not be required to sell the security, then we recognize the impairment as a credit loss in our condensed consolidated statements of income by writing down the security’s amortized cost to its fair value. If we do not intend to sell or it is not more-likely-than-not that we will be required to sell the security before the expected recovery of its amortized cost, we recognize the portion of the impairment that is due to a credit loss, if any, in our condensed consolidated statement of income through an allowance. The portion of the impairment that is due to factors other than a credit loss is recognized in other comprehensive income in the condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive income as an unrealized loss.  The determination of whether an impairment is due to credit factors is subjective and involves a variety of assumptions and estimates.

There are various risks and uncertainties associated with determining whether an impairment is due to credit factors when the fair value of available-for-sale securities declines below amortized cost. To the extent that we are incorrect in our determination of the fair value of our investment securities or our determination of whether an impairment is due to factors for available-for-sale securities, we may realize losses that never actually materialize or may fail to recognize losses within the appropriate reporting period.

Changes in accounting standards can be difficult to predict and could adversely impact how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations.

Our accounting policies and methods are fundamental to how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. U.S. GAAP is a continuously evolving set of financial accounting and reporting standards that govern the preparation of our financial statements. Changes to U.S. GAAP can be difficult to implement and can materially impact how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. An upcoming change in U.S. GAAP that will impact how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations is Accounting Standards Update No. 2018-12, Financial Services—Insurance (Topic 944) — Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts ("ASU 2018-12"). The amendments in this update will change the accounting guidance we follow for long-duration insurance contracts. The most notable amendment included in ASU 2018-12 will require us to update assumptions used in measuring future policy benefits, including mortality, persistency, and disability rates, at least annually instead of locking those assumptions at contract inception and reflecting differences in assumptions and actual performance as the experience occurs. ASU 2018-12 also includes changes to how we amortize DAC and determine and update the discount rate assumptions used in measuring future policy benefits reserves while increasing the level of financial statement disclosures required. The amendments in ASU 2018-12 are scheduled to be effective for the Company beginning in 2023 as of the earliest period presented in the consolidated financial statements. We anticipate that the adoption of ASU 2018-12 will have a pervasive impact on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures and will require changes to certain of our processes, systems, and controls. This new accounting standard, in addition to other financial reporting standard changes being discussed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) and the SEC, could adversely impact both our financial condition and results of operations as reported on a U.S. GAAP basis.

Additionally, the Company’s insurance company subsidiaries prepare statutory financial statements in accordance with accounting principles designated by regulators in the jurisdictions in which they are domiciled. The financial statements of our U.S. insurance subsidiaries are prepared in accordance with SAPs prescribed or permitted by state insurance departments and the NAIC. SAPs, including actuarial methodologies for estimating reserves, are subject to continuous evaluation by the NAIC and state insurance departments. Similarly, our Canadian life insurance subsidiary is required to prepare statutory financial statements in accordance with IFRS, as prescribed by the OSFI in Canada. The International Accounting Standard Board’s (the “IASB”) new accounting standard for insurance contracts (“IFRS 17”) will become effective in 2023.  IFRS 17 will significantly overhaul the measurement model for insurance contracts at our Canadian life insurance subsidiary for statutory reporting purposes. The statutory financial statements of our insurance company subsidiaries, which are used to determine dividend capacity and risk-based capital, could be adversely affected by this and other future changes implemented by jurisdictional insurance departments. Therefore, the ability of our insurance companies to comply with regulatory minimum capital requirements and ultimately pay dividends to the Parent Company could be adversely impacted.  

The inability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or make distributions or other payments to us in sufficient amounts would impede our ability to meet our obligations and return capital to our stockholders.

Operations of the Company are conducted by its subsidiaries. As such, Primerica, Inc. is a holding company that has no significant operations. Our primary asset is the capital stock of our subsidiaries and our primary liability is our Senior Notes. We rely primarily on dividends and other payments from our subsidiaries to meet our operating costs, other corporate expenses, and Senior Note obligations, as well as to return capital to our stockholders. The ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends to us depends on their earnings, covenants contained in existing and future financing or other agreements and on regulatory restrictions. The ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends will further depend on their statutory income and surplus. If the cash we receive from our subsidiaries pursuant to dividend payments and tax sharing arrangements is insufficient for us to fund our obligations or if a subsidiary is unable to pay dividends to us, we may be required to raise cash through the incurrence of debt, the issuance of equity or the sale of assets. However, given the historic volatility in the capital markets, there is no assurance that we would be able to raise cash by these means.

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The jurisdictions in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled impose certain restrictions on their ability to pay dividends to us. In the United States, these restrictions are based, in part, on the prior year's statutory income and surplus. In general, dividends up to specified levels are considered ordinary and may be paid without prior approval.  Dividends in larger amounts are subject to approval by the insurance commissioner of the state of domicile. In Canada, dividends can be paid, subject to the paying insurance company continuing to meet the regulatory requirements for capital adequacy and liquidity and upon 15 days' minimum notice to OSFI. More stringent restrictions could be adopted from time to time by jurisdictions in which our insurance subsidiaries are domiciled, and such restrictions could have the effect, under certain circumstances, of significantly reducing dividends or other amounts payable to us by our subsidiaries without prior approval by regulatory authorities. In addition, in the future, we may become subject to debt covenants or other agreements that limit our ability to return capital to our stockholders. The ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends to us is also limited by our need to maintain the financial strength ratings assigned to us by the ratings agencies.

If any of our subsidiaries were to become insolvent, liquidate, or otherwise reorganize, we, as sole stockholder, will have no right to proceed against the assets of that subsidiary. Furthermore, with respect to our insurance subsidiaries, we, as sole stockholder, will have no right to cause the liquidation, bankruptcy, or winding-up of the subsidiary under the applicable liquidation, bankruptcy or winding-up laws, although, in Canada, we could apply for permission to cause liquidation. The applicable insurance laws of the jurisdictions in which each of our insurance subsidiaries is domiciled would govern any proceedings relating to that subsidiary. The insurance authority of that jurisdiction would act as a liquidator or rehabilitator for the subsidiary. Both creditors of the subsidiary and policyholders (if an insurance subsidiary) would be entitled to payment in full from the subsidiary's assets before we, as the sole stockholder, would be entitled to receive any distribution from the subsidiary.

If the ability of our insurance or non-insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends or make other distributions or payments to us is materially restricted by regulatory requirements, bankruptcy, or insolvency, or our need to maintain our financial strength ratings, or is limited due to operating results or other factors, it could materially adversely affect our ability to fund our obligations and return capital to our stockholders.

Risks Related to Legislative and Regulatory Changes

We are subject to various federal, state and provincial laws and regulations in the United States and Canada, changes in which or violations of which may require us to alter our business practices and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is subject to many regulations that relate to, among other things, consumer protection, fair credit reporting, financial privacy, consumer fraud, anti-money laundering, worker classification standards, corporate taxation and transactions with certain countries. These laws and regulations often are subject to the political climate.

Changes in, or violations of, any of these laws or regulations may require additional compliance procedures, or result in enforcement proceedings, sanctions or penalties, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The current legislative and regulatory climate with regard to financial services may adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

The volume of legislative and regulatory activity relating to financial services has increased substantially in recent years, and the level of enforcement actions and investigations by federal, state and provincial regulators may increase correspondingly. Legislative, regulatory and enforcement activity at the federal level may contribute to heightened activity at the state and provincial level. If we or the sales representatives become subject to new requirements or regulations, it could result in increased litigation, regulatory risks, changes to our business model, a decrease in the number of securities-licensed representatives or a reduction in the products we offer to our clients or the profits we earn, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Regulators could also adopt laws or interpret existing laws in a way that would require retroactive changes to our business, accounting practices, or redundant reserve financing structures. Any such retroactive changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

General Risks Factors

Litigation and regulatory investigations and actions may result in financial losses and harm our reputation.

We face a risk of litigation and regulatory investigations and actions in the ordinary course of operating our businesses. From time to time, we are subject to private litigation as a result of alleged sales representative misconduct or alleged failure of the Company to follow applicable insurance, securities or other laws or regulations. If we become subject to any such litigation, the associated legal expense and any judgment or settlement of the claims could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

For example, multi-state treasurer unclaimed property audits by 30 jurisdictions are focused on the life insurance claims paying practices of our subsidiaries, Primerica Life and NBLIC, but have been inactive in recent years. The potential outcome of such actions is difficult to predict but could subject us to adverse consequences. We cannot reasonably estimate the likelihood or the impact of

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additional costs or liabilities that could result from resolution of these matters, or the effect these matters may have on the conduct of our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are also routinely subject to regulatory inquiries, such as information requests, subpoenas and books and record examinations, from state, provincial and federal regulators and other authorities and from time to time, regulatory investigations as a result of alleged sales representative misconduct or alleged failure of the Company to follow applicable laws or regulations. A substantial legal liability or a significant regulatory action against us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Moreover, even if we ultimately prevail in any litigation, regulatory action or investigation, we could suffer significant reputational harm and we could incur significant legal expenses, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, increased regulatory scrutiny and any resulting investigations or proceedings could result in new legal precedents and industry-wide regulations or practices that could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A significant change in the competitive environment in which we operate could negatively affect our ability to maintain or increase our market share and profitability.

We face competition in all of our business lines. Our competitors include financial services companies, banks, investment management firms, broker-dealers, insurance companies, insurance brokers, direct sales companies, and technology companies. In many of our product offerings, we face competition from competitors that may have greater market share or breadth of distribution, offer a broader range of products, services or features, assume a greater level of risk, have lower profitability expectations, have lower fee and expense ratios, have higher financial strength ratings or offer more robust digital tools and self-service capabilities than we do. More recently, significant capital has been invested in direct-to-consumer offerings, including wealth management, retirement and life insurance products. In addition, regulatory changes and competitive factors are leading to innovations in product offerings and compensation structures.  To the extent these entrants create a significant change in the competitive environment, our ability to maintain or increase our market share and profitability could be materially adversely affected.

The loss of key employees could negatively affect our financial results and impair our ability to implement our business strategy.

Our success substantially depends on our ability to attract and retain key members of our senior management team. The efforts, personality and leadership of our senior management team have been, and will continue to be, critical to our success. The loss of service of our senior management team due to disability, death, retirement or some other cause could reduce our ability to successfully motivate the sales representatives, or implement our business plan which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although our executive officers have entered into employment agreements with us, there is no assurance that they will complete the term of their employment agreements or that they or the Company will renew them upon expiration.

We may be materially adversely affected by currency fluctuations in the United States dollar versus the Canadian dollar.

The Canadian dollar is the functional currency for our Canadian subsidiaries and our financial results, reported in U.S. dollars, are affected by changes in the currency exchange rate. The assets, liabilities, revenues, and expenses of our Canadian subsidiaries are generally all denominated in Canadian dollars. However, the Canadian dollar financial statements of our Canadian subsidiaries are translated into U.S. dollars in our consolidated financial statements.  Therefore, significant exchange rate fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. A weaker Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar would result in lower levels of reported revenues, expenses, net income, assets, liabilities and accumulated other comprehensive income as translated in our U.S. dollar reporting currency financial statements. In addition, our net investment in our Canadian subsidiaries is significantly affected by fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the Canadian dollar.

Any acquisition of or investment in businesses that we may undertake that does not perform as we expect or that is difficult for us to integrate could materially adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

At any particular time, we may be in various stages of assessment, discussion, and negotiation with regard to one or more potential acquisitions or investments, not all of which will be consummated. Acquisitions involve numerous risks and uncertainties and may be of businesses in which we lack operational or market experience. If we complete one or more acquisitions, our results of operations and financial condition may be adversely affected by a number of factors, including but not limited to: regulatory or compliance issues that could arise; a rating downgrade by a rating agency if it perceives an adverse change in our financial condition; changes in regulations and laws; the failure of the acquired businesses to achieve the results we have projected in either the near or long term; the assumption of unexpected liabilities, including litigation risks; the difference between the estimated and actual fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed; the difficulties of imposing adequate financial and operating controls on the acquired companies and their management and the potential cost that might be incurred to implement adequate controls; the difficulties in the integration of the operations, technologies, services and products of the acquired companies; and the failure to achieve the strategic objectives of these acquisitions.  Further, completion of one or more acquisitions may cause our Board to suspend the payment of dividends and/or share repurchases.

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The market price of our common stock may fluctuate.

The stock market in general, and the market for companies in the financial services industry in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of these companies. Also, broad market and industry factors may negatively affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our actual operating performance. Our stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in price in response to various factors, many of which are beyond our control.

Not applicable.

Our executive offices and business operations are housed primarily at our home office facility located in Duluth, Georgia. Our home office facility consists of general office space where our primary business operations are maintained including our information technology infrastructure and our media production studios. We lease the building, which is approximately 345,000 square feet, under a lease expiring in June 2028.

We also maintain a regional head office location for our Canadian operations in Mississauga, Ontario. Our Canadian head office location consists of general office space under a lease expiring in October 2030.

We lease general office space for our NBLIC subsidiary in Long Island City, New York under a lease expiring in March 2030.

Each of these leased properties is used by all of our operating segments. We believe that our existing facilities in the U.S. and Canada are adequate for our current requirements and for our operations for the foreseeable future.

We are involved from time to time in legal disputes, regulatory inquiries and arbitration proceedings in the normal course of business. Additional information regarding certain legal proceedings to which we are a party is described under “Contingent Liabilities” in Note 16 (Commitments and Contingent Liabilities) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report, and such information is incorporated herein by reference. As of the date of this report, we do not believe any pending legal proceeding to which Primerica or any of its subsidiaries is a party is required to be disclosed pursuant to this item.

Not applicable.

Our executive officers are elected by our Board of Directors.

The name, age at March 1, 2021, and position of each of our executive officers and certain significant employees are presented below. These officers comprise our senior management team.

Set forth below is biographical information concerning our executive officers.

Glenn J. Williams has served as Chief Executive Officer since April 2015. He served as President from 2005 to April 2015, as Executive Vice President of Field and Product Marketing for international operations from 2000 to 2005, as President and Chief

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Executive Officer of Primerica Canada from 1996 to 2000, and in roles of increasing responsibility as part of Primerica’s international expansion team in Canada from 1985 to 2000. He began his career with Primerica in 1981 as a member of the Company’s sales force and joined the home office team in 1983. Mr. Williams earned his B.S. in education from Baptist University of America. He currently serves on the board of trustees for the Georgia Baptist Foundation.

Peter W. Schneider has served as President since April 2015. He served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Administrative Officer from 2000 to April 2015 and as Corporate Secretary from 2000 through January 2014. He was a Partner at the law firm of Rogers & Hardin LLP in Atlanta, Georgia from 1988 to 2000. Mr. Schneider earned both his B.S. in political science and industrial relations and his J.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves on the boards of directors of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the Camp John W. Hanes (YMCA).

Alison S. Rand has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer since 2000 and in various capacities at the Company since 1995. Prior to 1995, Ms. Rand worked in the audit department of KPMG LLP. Ms. Rand earned her B.S. in accounting from the University of Florida and is a certified public accountant. She is Chair of the board of directors of Cool Girls, Inc., Vice Chair of the Audit Committee of the University of Florida National Foundation board of directors and a member of the Executive Committee of the board of directors of Junior Achievement of Georgia. She also serves on the Terry College of Business Executive Education CFO Roundtable Advisory Board.

Gregory C. Pitts has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer since December 2009, as Executive Vice President since 1995 with responsibilities within the Term Life Insurance and Investment and Savings Products segments, and the information technology division and in various capacities at the Company since 1985. Mr. Pitts earned his B.S.B.A. in general business from the University of Arkansas. He serves on the board of directors of the Boy Scouts of America Atlanta Area Council.

Set forth below is biographical information concerning certain significant employees.

John A. Adams has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Primerica Life Insurance Canada since 2003.  He previously served Primerica Life Canada as Chief Financial Officer and before that as Vice President of Finance.  Before joining Primerica, Mr. Adams served as the Director of Finance of a major Canadian university and Treasurer of an insurance group of companies.  He began his career in 1980 with KPMG LLP. He graduated from Trinity College at the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Commerce, and is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Professional Accountant.  Mr. Adams has provided industry leadership as a board member of the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (the mutual fund industry association) since 2005, having served as its Board Chairman from 2015 to 2017. He has also served as a board member of the Federation of Mutual Fund Dealers.

Michael C. Adams has served as Co-Head of Business Technology since December 2017, as Chief Business Technology Officer since April 2010, as Executive Vice President responsible for business technology since 1998 and in various capacities at the Company since 1980. Mr. Adams earned his B.A. in business and economics from Hendrix College in 1978.

Lisa A. Brown has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer since October 2020. She oversees the Company’s Human Resources, Talent Management, Facilities and Physical Securities functions and leads the Company’s efforts to create and implement programs, processes and protocols that focus on diversity, equality and inclusion.  She also works closely with Marketing leaders to support our Strategic Markets affinity groups in the field. Prior to joining Primerica, Ms. Brown held several leadership positions at Delta Air Lines for more than 20 years overseeing Delta’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, fleet, procurement, talent development and operations functions. She earned her B.S. degree in Human Resources Administration from Michigan State University and a Masters of Business Administration from Kennesaw State University. Ms. Brown is a member of the board of directors of Cool Girls, Inc.

Estee Faranda has served as Chief Executive Officer of PFS Investments since March 2020 and as Executive Vice President from January 2020 to March 2020. Before joining the Company in January 2020, she was at Envestnet from March 2015 to January 2020 where she held several leadership positions, built an asset management network and was responsible for all asset management products on the Envestnet platform. Prior to Envestnet, Ms. Faranda spent eight years at Morningstar Investment Management. Ms. Faranda serves on the board of directors of the American Securities Association (ASA). She attended Kean University and spent six years in the United States Naval Reserve.

Jeffrey S. Fendler has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Compliance and Risk Officer of the Company since February 2014. He served as President of Primerica Life from 2005 through January 2014 and in various capacities at the Company since 1980. Mr. Fendler received a B.A. in economics from Tulane University.  

William A. Kelly has served as Executive Vice President and Co-Head of Business Technology since December 2017. He served as Executive Vice President of PFS Investments from March 2020 to August 2020, as Chief Executive Officer from May 2018 to March 2020, as President and Chief Executive Officer from 2005 to May 2018, and in various capacities at the Company since 1985.  Mr. Kelly graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.B.A. in accounting.

Kathryn E. Kieser has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Reputation Officer of Primerica, Inc. and President and Chair of the Primerica Foundation since January 2019. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President of Investor Relations from April 2010 to December 2018. Ms. Kieser joined Primerica in October 1995 and has held many positions over her career including Vice President of Sales and Product Marketing, Senior Vice President of Auto and Homeowners Insurance, and Chief Marketing Officer for Primerica Life Insurance Company. Ms. Kieser earned her B.S. degree in Business Administration from Auburn University and a

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Master of Science degree from Georgia State University. She serves on the boards of directors for the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation for Northeast Georgia.

Michael W. Miller has served as Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Development and Strategic Planning since September 2015. He leads the Company’s strategic undertakings, including strategic partnerships, organic growth initiatives, M&A and long-term business planning.  He has also been President of Primerica Mortgage, LLC since January 2018. He was previously a senior investment banker at Lazard from 2006 to September 2015, where he specialized in providing strategic advice to a broad array of financial institutions and their regulators. While at Lazard, Mr. Miller advised on over $85 billion of successful transactions and restructuring assignments. Mr. Miller also worked in the insurance industry in various capacities. He holds a B.S. from Brigham Young University in Business Administration and Finance and earned the Charted Property & Casualty Underwriter designation.

Robert H. Peterman, Jr. has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer since June 2018. He previously served as President of Primerica Distribution from December 2013 to June 2018, where he was responsible for recruiting, licensing, licensing education, field compensation, field equity, and decision support. In 2005, he became Executive Vice President and was given responsibility for the Company’s Grow the Sales Force initiative. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of Primerica’s New York life insurance company from January 2017 to June 2018. Mr. Peterman joined the Company in October 1984 and has served in many varying roles throughout the business.  

Brett “Ben” A. Rogers has served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel since May 2019. Previously, he was a Partner at Rogers & Hardin LLP in Atlanta, Georgia, where he represented Primerica as outside counsel for more than 20 years. At Rogers & Hardin, his practice focused on complex business matters, including securities litigation, arbitration, and general commercial litigation. Mr. Rogers received a B.A. from Dickinson College and his J.D. with honors from Florida State University.

Julie A. Seman has served since May 2018 as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Field Distribution, Digital Distribution, Primerica Life, Client Solutions, and Strategic Markets. From August 2014 she has been responsible for sales force growth and increased product distribution through the training and development of financial services representatives in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Guam. In addition, Ms. Seman augments Primerica’s strategic markets which include African American, Hispanic, Partnership and Women with a focus on personal financial education and entrepreneurship. Prior thereto, she was Senior Vice President of Client Solutions from April 2010 to August 2014 where she supervised all front-end products, including Auto & Home Marketing and Legal Protection and oversaw field communication tools. Ms. Seman joined the Company in September 1998 and has served in many roles with increasing responsibility. Ms. Seman received her B.S. in Business Management from Southern Illinois University.

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PART II

Market Information

Our common stock of is listed for trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the symbol “PRI.”

Holders

As of February 28, 2021, we had 140 holders of record of our common stock.

Dividends

In the first quarter of 2021, we declared a quarterly dividend to stockholders of $0.47 per share. We currently expect to continue to pay comparable quarterly cash dividends to holders of our common stock. Our payment of cash dividends is at the discretion of our Board of Directors in accordance with applicable law after taking into account various factors, including our financial condition, operating results, current and anticipated cash needs and plans for growth. Under Delaware law, we can only pay dividends either out of surplus or out of the current or the immediately preceding year’s earnings. Therefore, no assurance is given that we will continue to pay any dividends to our common stockholders, or as to the amount of any such dividends.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

Depending on market conditions, shares of our common stock may be repurchased from time to time at prevailing market prices through open market or privately negotiated transactions.

The Parent Company has no obligation to repurchase any shares. Subject to applicable corporate and securities laws, repurchases may be made at such times and in such amounts as management deems appropriate. Repurchases under a publicly announced program can be discontinued at any time if management believes additional repurchases are not warranted.  

During the quarter ended December 31, 2020, we repurchased shares of our common stock as follows:

For more information on our share repurchases, see Note 12 (Stockholders’ Equity) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.

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Stock Performance Table ⁽¹⁾

The following graph compares the performance of our common stock to the S&P MidCap 400 Index and the S&P 500 Insurance Index by assuming $100 was invested in each investment option as of December 31, 2015 and the reinvestment of all dividends. The S&P MidCap 400 Index measures the performance of the United States middle market capitalization (“mid-cap”) equities sector. The S&P 500 Insurance Index is a capitalization-weighted index of domestic equities of insurance companies traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ. Our common stock is included in the S&P MidCap 400 index.

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Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) is intended to inform the reader about matters affecting the financial condition and results of operations of Primerica, Inc. (the “Parent Company”) and its subsidiaries (collectively, “we”, “us” or the “Company”) for the three-year period ended December 31, 2020. As a result, the following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes that are included herein. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that constitute our plans, estimates and beliefs. These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those discussed in “Risk Factors”. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.

This section generally discusses 2020 and 2019 items and comparisons between 2020 and 2019 financial results.  Discussions of 2018 items and comparisons between 2019 and 2018 financial results can be found in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2019 (the “2019 MD&A”).

This MD&A is divided into the following sections:

Business Trends and Conditions

The relative strength and stability of financial markets and economies in the United States and Canada affect our growth and profitability. Our business is, and we expect will continue to be, influenced by a number of industry-wide and product-specific trends and conditions. Economic conditions, including unemployment levels and consumer confidence, influence investment and spending decisions by middle-income consumers, who are generally our primary clients. These conditions and factors also impact prospective recruits’ perceptions of the business opportunity that becoming a sales representative offers, which can drive or dampen recruiting. Consumer spending and borrowing levels affect how consumers evaluate their savings and debt management plans. In addition, interest rates and equity market returns impact consumer demand for the savings and investment products we distribute. Our customers’ perception of the strength of the capital markets may influence their decisions to invest in the investment and savings products we distribute. The financial and distribution results of our operations in Canada, as reported in U.S. dollars, are affected by changes in the currency exchange rate. As a result, changes in the Canadian dollar exchange rate may significantly affect the result of our business for all amounts translated and reported in U.S. dollars.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, market conditions changed rapidly due to the impact of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 (“COVID-19”) pandemic. Measures taken to combat the spread of COVID-19 led to economic uncertainty and market volatility in the United States and Canada that will continue to impact our business for an uncertain period of time. To date, this economic decline, partial recovery and continued uncertainty have resulted in elevated unemployment rates, lower household income, sharp fluctuations in consumer spending, and historic levels of government stimulus. In addition, market volatility has led to large fluctuations in the fair value of securities held in our invested asset portfolio. The impact on our operating results for the year ended December 31, 2020 caused by the spread of COVID-19 is discussed in more detail later in this section, the Results of Operations section, and the Financial Condition section.

Due to the evolving and uncertain nature of this event, it currently is not possible to estimate the impact the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our business in future periods. However, we believe COVID-19 will continue to create uncertainty in the following business trends and conditions:

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The effects of these trends and conditions are discussed below and in the Results of Operations section.

Size of the Independent Sales Force. Our ability to increase the size of the independent sales force (“sales representatives” or “sales force”) is largely based on the success of the sales force’s recruiting efforts as well as training and motivating recruits to get licensed to sell life insurance. We believe that recruitment and licensing levels are important to sales force trends, and growth in recruiting and licensing is usually indicative of future growth in the overall size of the sales force. Recruiting changes do not always result in commensurate changes in the size of the licensed sales force because new recruits may obtain the requisite licenses at rates above or below historical levels.

Details on new recruits activity and life-licensed sales representative activity were as follows:

New recruits increased in 2020 compared to 2019 due to positive recruiting momentum at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic combined with the effect of offering discounted business application fees for several months during the year. After the discounted fee offerings expired in July 2020, recruiting momentum remained strong through December 2020. The number of new life-licensed sales representatives increased in 2020, but faced challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic that included the suspensions of in-person licensing preparation classes and the closing of licensing examination centers. In order to address these challenges, we enhanced current incentive programs that encourage recruits to complete the licensing process, expanded the reach of online offerings for licensing exam preparation and facilitated the use of remote testing where offered. As examination centers have reopened, we have noted delays in available testing dates due to the backlog that accumulated during COVID-19 related closures. In response to this backlog, many states are issuing temporary licenses and are offering remote testing options. In addition, many states are extending renewal dates to allow licensees adequate time to complete the renewal process.

At December 31, 2020, the Company had 134,907 independent life-licensed representatives compared to 130,522 at December 31, 2019. The number of independent life-licensed representatives at year end included 3,597 individuals with COVID-19 temporary licenses and 2,508 licenses with extended renewals dates. We estimate that approximately 4,200 of these individuals will either not pursue the steps necessary to obtain a permanent license or not renew an expiring license.

Term Life Insurance Product Sales and Face Amount In Force. The average number of life-licensed sales representatives and the number of term life insurance policies issued, as well as the average monthly rate of new policies issued per life-licensed sales representative (historically between 0.18 and 0.22), were as follows:

New policies issued during 2020 increased significantly compared to 2019 as a result of continued favorable public sentiment for protection products in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.  The ability of life-licensed representatives to adopt virtual communication tools, when combined with extensive point-of-sales technologies and existing products, allowed them to readily meet our client’s needs.  These factors drove productivity in 2020 to the high end of our historical range. While sales of new policies were strong in 2020, the effect of continued weakness in household income caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and a change in public sentiment that is less favorable to protection products following the pandemic could adversely impact sales in future periods.

The changes in the face amount of our in-force book of term life insurance policies were as follows:

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The face amount of term life policies in force increased from 2019 to 2020 as the level of face amount issued continued to exceed the face amount terminated.  As a percentage of the beginning face amount in force, issued face amount increased while terminated face amount decreased, highlighting the strong demand for both buying and maintaining protection products in 2020. Our average issued face amount per policy decreased in 2020 compared to 2019 to approximately $240,600 from $248,500 primarily due to the increased use of TermNow, our rapid issue term life product that provides for face amounts up to $300,000. A lower percentage of applicants purchased our traditionally-underwritten product in response to challenges in satisfying paramedical underwriting requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Investment and Savings Product Sales, Asset Values and Accounts/Positions. Investment and savings products sales and average client asset values were as follows:

The rollforward of asset values in client accounts was as follows:

Average number of fee-generating positions was as follows:

Product sales. The increase in investment and savings product sales in 2020 from 2019 was due to a combination of strong demand for mutual funds and, to a lesser degree, higher sales of managed accounts as a result of continued equity market recovery following the negative market reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.  This was partially offset by lower sales of fixed and variable

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annuity products, which experienced lower demand as product providers offered less attractive benefits due to the historically low interest rate environment.

Average client asset values. Average client asset values increased as of December 31, 2020 from December 31, 2019 despite market volatility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first quarter of 2020, market volatility led to a significant decline in client asset values primarily due to market reaction and economic uncertainty associated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. After the initial decline, equity markets recovered and expanded, which led to average client asset values being higher than the prior year.  Also contributing to the increase were continued higher inflows and lower redemption activity in 2020 compared to 2019.  

Rollforward of client asset values.  Ending client asset values increased in 2020 from 2019, which was largely attributable to overall market appreciation experienced during 2020 as market values recovered from lows in the first quarter of 2020 and proceeded to increase to levels higher than the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. Also contributing to the increases was lower redemption activity in 2020 as clients opted to hold investments in the face of market volatility, and higher net sales of mutual funds and managed accounts.  

Average number of fee-generating positions. The average number of fee-generating positions increased in 2020 from 2019 primarily due to the cumulative effect of retail mutual fund sales in recent periods that led to an increase in the number of retail mutual fund positions serviced on our transfer agent recordkeeping platform.

Significant regulatory changes.

Standards of care. On June 5, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted rules and interpretations addressing the standards of conduct applicable to broker-dealers and investment advisers and their associated persons (collectively, the “SEC Rulemaking”).  Among other things, the SEC Rulemaking: (i) creates a new “best interest” standard of conduct for broker-dealers  (“Reg BI”), and (ii) imposes new disclosure requirements through summary forms intended to clarify relationships among brokers, advisers, and their retail customers (“Form CRS”). The SEC Rulemaking had a compliance date of June 30, 2020 for Reg BI and Form CRS. We made certain changes to our sales processes, policies, and procedures in order to comply with the SEC Rulemaking.  While we acknowledge that its higher standards of care and enhanced obligations increase regulatory and litigation risk, the SEC Rulemaking has not caused significant disruption to our business.

On December 15, 2020, the Department of Labor (“DOL”) published an interpretation of, and class exemption regarding, the rules governing fiduciary investment advice with respect to Individual Retirement Accounts (“IRAs”) and other retirement accounts (the “DOL Rule”).  The effective date of the DOL Rule is February 16, 2021 and the DOL extended its non-enforcement policy through December 20, 2021.  The DOL Rule in its current form imposes a higher standard of care and enhanced obligations that increase regulatory and litigation risk to our business.

In addition to federal regulators, certain states have proposed or passed laws or proposed or issued regulations requiring investment advisers, broker-dealers, and/or insurance agents to meet fiduciary standards or standards of care that their advice be in the customer’s best interest, and to mitigate and disclose conflicts of interest to consumers of investment and insurance products. The severity of the impact that such state laws or regulations could have on our business vary from state to state depending on the content of the legislation or regulation and how it would be applied by state regulators and interpreted by the courts, but such laws or regulations could disrupt our brokerage or advisory businesses in the relevant state. We cannot quantify the financial impact, if any, of any changes to our business that may be necessary in order to comply with such laws or regulations at this time.  

Restrictions on compensation models in Canada. On February 20, 2020, the organization of provincial and territorial securities regulators (collectively referred to as the “Canadian Securities Administrators” or “CSA”) published final rule amendments, applicable in all provinces except Ontario, to prohibit upfront sales commissions by fund companies for the sale of mutual funds offered under a prospectus in Canada (“DSC Ban”). The final amendments have an effective date of June 1, 2022.  The CSA indicated that the participating provinces’ prohibition of upfront sales commissions by fund companies will require firms to discontinue the use of the mutual fund deferred sales charge compensation model, which is the primary model for the mutual funds we distribute in Canada.  These rules will result in changes in compensation arrangements with both the fund companies that offer the mutual fund products we distribute and sales representatives in the participating provinces.  The deferred sales charge compensation model is permitted to be used until the effective date.  While Ontario has disagreed with the prohibition of upfront sales commissions by fund companies and is not at this time participating in adoption of the DSC Ban, the Ontario Securities Commission has proposed several restrictions on the use of the deferred compensation model, including a $50,000 maximum account size and a limitation on the maximum term of the deferred sales charge schedule to three years compared to current industry practice where the maximum term can be up to seven years.  These restrictions, if any, will also be effective June 1, 2022.  We have not finished the process of determining the types of changes we will make in response to the DSC Ban and the restrictions in Ontario, therefore, we are unable to quantify the potential impact on our financial condition or results of operations.

Factors Affecting Our Results

Term Life Insurance Segment. Our Term Life Insurance segment results are primarily driven by sales volumes, how closely actual experience matches our pricing assumptions, terms and use of reinsurance, and expenses.

Sales and policies in force. Sales of term policies and the size and characteristics of our in-force book of policies are vital to our results over the long term. Premium revenue is recognized as it is earned over the term of the policy, and eligible acquisition expenses are deferred and amortized ratably with the level premiums of the underlying policies. However, because we incur significant cash

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outflows at or about the time policies are issued, including the payment of sales commissions and underwriting costs, changes in life insurance sales volume in a period will have a more immediate impact on our cash flows than on revenue and expense recognition in that period.

Historically, we have found that while sales volume of term life insurance products between fiscal periods may vary based on a variety of factors, the productivity of sales representatives generally remains within a range (i.e., an average monthly rate of new policies issued per life-licensed sales representative between 0.18 and 0.22). The volume of our term life insurance products sales will fluctuate in the short term, but over the longer term, our sales volume generally correlates to the size of the independent sales force.

Pricing assumptions. Our pricing methodology is intended to provide us with appropriate profit margins for the risks we assume. We determine pricing classifications based on the coverage sought, such as the size and term of the policy, and certain policyholder attributes, such as age and health. In addition, we generally utilize unisex rates for our term life insurance policies. The pricing assumptions that underlie our rates are based upon our best estimates of mortality, persistency, disability, and interest rates at the time of issuance, sales force commission rates, issue and underwriting expenses, operating expenses and the characteristics of the insureds, including the distribution of sex, age, underwriting class, product and amount of coverage. Our results will be affected to the extent there is a variance between our pricing assumptions and actual experience.

Reinsurance. We use reinsurance extensively, which has a significant effect on our results of operations. We have generally reinsured between 80% and 90% of the mortality risk on our term life insurance (excluding coverage under certain riders) on a quota share yearly renewable term (“YRT”) basis. To the extent actual mortality experience is more or less favorable than the contractual rate, the reinsurer will earn incremental profits or bear the incremental cost, as applicable. In contrast to coinsurance, which is intended to eliminate all risks (other than counterparty risk of the reinsurer) and rewards associated with a specified percentage of the block of policies subject to the reinsurance arrangement, the YRT reinsurance arrangements we enter into are intended only to reduce volatility associated with variances between estimated and actual mortality rates.

In 2010, as part of our corporate reorganization and the initial public offering of our common stock, we entered into significant coinsurance transactions (the “IPO coinsurance transactions”) with entities then affiliated with Citigroup, Inc. (collectively, the “IPO coinsurers”) and ceded between 80% and 90% of the risks and rewards of our term life insurance policies that were in force at year-end 2009. We administer all such policies subject to these coinsurance agreements. Policies reaching the end of their initial level term period are no longer ceded under the IPO coinsurance transactions.

The effect of our reinsurance arrangements on ceded premiums and benefits and expenses on our statement of income follows:

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We may alter our reinsurance practices at any time due to the unavailability of YRT reinsurance at attractive rates or the availability of alternatives to reduce our risk exposure. We presently intend to continue ceding approximately 90% of our U.S. and Canadian mortality risk on new business.

Expenses. Results are also affected by variances in client acquisition, maintenance and administration expense levels.

Investment and Savings Products Segment. Our Investment and Savings Products segment results are primarily driven by sales, the value of assets in client accounts for which we earn ongoing management, marketing and support, and distribution fees, and the number of transfer agent recordkeeping positions and non-bank custodial fee-generating accounts we administer.

Sales. We earn commissions and fees, such as dealer re-allowances and marketing and distribution fees, based on sales of mutual fund products and annuities. Sales of investment and savings products are influenced by the overall demand for investment products in the United States and Canada, as well as by the size and productivity of the independent sales force. We generally experience seasonality in our Investment and Savings Products segment results due to our high concentration of sales of retirement account products. These accounts are typically funded in February through April, coincident with our clients’ tax return preparation season. While we believe the size of the independent sales force is a factor in driving sales volume in this segment, there are a number of other variables, such as economic and market conditions, which may have a significantly greater effect on sales volume in any given fiscal period.

Asset values in client accounts. We earn marketing and distribution fees (trail commissions or, with respect to U.S. mutual funds, 12b-1 fees) on mutual fund and annuity assets in the United States and Canada. In the United States, we also earn investment advisory and administrative fees on assets in managed investments. In Canada, we earn management fees on certain mutual fund assets and on the segregated funds for which we serve as investment manager. Asset values are influenced by new product sales, ongoing contributions to existing accounts, redemptions and the change in market values in existing accounts. While we offer a wide variety of asset classes and investment styles, our clients’ accounts are primarily invested in equity funds.

Positions. We earn transfer agent recordkeeping fees for administrative functions we perform on behalf of several of our mutual fund providers. An individual client account may include multiple fund positions for which we earn transfer agent recordkeeping fees. We may also receive fees earned for non-bank custodial services that we provide to clients with retirement plan accounts.

Sales mix. While our investment and savings products all provide similar long-term economic returns to the Company, our results in a given fiscal period will be affected by changes in the overall mix of products within these categories. Examples of changes in the sales mix that influence our results include the following:

Corporate and Other Distributed Products Segment. We earn revenues and pay commissions and referral fees within our Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment for mortgage loan originations, prepaid legal services, auto and homeowners’ insurance referrals, and other financial products, all of which are originated by third parties. Our Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment also includes in-force policies from several discontinued lines of insurance underwritten by National Benefit Life Insurance Company (“NBLIC”).  

Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment net investment income reflects actual net investment income recognized by the Company less the amount allocated to our Term Life Insurance segment based on the assumed net interest accreted to the segment’s U.S. GAAP-measured future policy benefit reserve liability less DAC. Actual net investment income reflected in the Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment is impacted by the size and performance of our invested asset portfolio, which can be influenced by interest rates, credit spreads, and the mix of invested assets.

The Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment also includes corporate income and expenses not allocated to our other segments, general and administrative expenses (other than expenses that are allocated to our Term Life Insurance or Investment and Savings Products segments), interest expense on notes payable, redundant reserve financing transactions and our revolving credit facility, as well as realized gains and losses on our invested asset portfolio.

Capital Structure. Our financial results are affected by our capital structure, which includes our senior unsecured notes (the “Senior Notes”), redundant reserve financing transactions, our revolving credit facility, and our common stock. See Note 10 (Debt), Note 12 (Stockholders’ Equity) and Note 16 (Commitments and Contingent Liabilities) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report for more information on changes in our capital structure.

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Foreign Currency. The Canadian dollar is the functional currency for our Canadian subsidiaries and our consolidated financial results, reported in U.S. dollars, are affected by changes in the currency exchange rate. As such, the translated amount of revenues, expenses, assets and liabilities attributable to our Canadian subsidiaries will be higher or lower in periods where the Canadian dollar appreciates or weakens relative to the U.S. dollar, respectively.

The year-end exchange rates (USD per CAD) used by the Company to translate our Canadian dollar functional currency assets and liabilities into U.S. dollars increased by 2% in 2020 from 2019. The average exchange rates used by the Company in 2020 to translate our Canadian dollar functional currency revenues and expenses into U.S. dollars decreased 1% compared to 2019.

See “Results of Operations” and “Financial Condition” and “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk – Canadian Currency Risk” and Note 3 (Segment and Geographical Information) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report for more information on our Canadian subsidiaries and the impact of foreign currency on our financial results.

Income Taxes. The profitability of the Company and its subsidiaries is affected by income taxes assessed by federal, state, and U.S. territorial jurisdictions in the U.S. and federal and provincial jurisdictions in Canada.  Changes in tax legislation may impact the measurement of our deferred tax assets and liabilities and the amount of income tax expense we incur.

Critical Accounting Estimates

We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP. These principles are established primarily by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions based on currently available information when recording transactions resulting from business operations. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 1 (Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report. The most significant items on our consolidated balance sheets are based on fair value determinations, accounting estimates and actuarial determinations, which are susceptible to changes in future periods and could affect our results of operations and financial position.

The estimates that we deem to be most critical to an understanding of our results of operations and financial position are those related to DAC, future policy benefit reserves and corresponding amounts recoverable from reinsurers, income taxes, and the valuation of investments. The preparation and evaluation of these critical accounting estimates involve the use of various assumptions developed from management’s analyses and judgments. Subsequent experience or use of other assumptions could produce significantly different results.

Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs. We defer incremental direct costs of successful contract acquisitions that result directly from and are essential to the contract transaction(s) and that would not have been incurred had the contract transaction(s) not occurred. These costs include commissions and policy issue expenses. Deferrable term life insurance policy acquisition costs are amortized over the initial level premium-paying period of the related policies in proportion to premium income and include assumptions made by us regarding persistency, expenses, interest rates and claims, which are updated on new business to reflect recent experience. These assumptions may not be modified, or unlocked on in-force term life insurance business, unless recoverability testing deems estimated future cash flows to be inadequate. DAC is subject to recoverability testing annually and when circumstances indicate that recoverability is uncertain.

In particular, the balance of DAC in our Term Life Insurance segment is susceptible to differences between estimated persistency assumptions and actual persistency experienced. If actual lapses are different from pricing assumptions for a particular period, the amount of DAC amortized for that period will be affected. For example, if actual annual lapses at each policy duration are 10% higher, we would recognize approximately $26 million of additional amortization of DAC expense as of December 31, 2020. Conversely, if actual annual lapses are 10% lower than anticipated, we would recognize approximately $26 million of lower amortization of DAC expense as of December 31, 2020   We believe that a plus or minus 10% annual lapse rate is a reasonably possible variation. In 2020, we experienced extraordinarily lower lapse rates as a result of policyholder sentiment associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact of the lower lapse rates, which were approximately 20% lower than 2019 (varying by duration), resulted in approximately $53 million of lower DAC amortization expense year-over-year.  Differences between actual and expected persistency also impact the balance of future policy benefit reserves and reinsurance recoverables as discussed below.  For additional information on DAC, see Note 1 (Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies) and Note 7 (Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.

Future Policy Benefit Reserves and Reinsurance. Liabilities for future policy benefits on our term life insurance products are reserves established for death claims and waiver of premium benefits and have been computed using a net level method and include assumptions as to mortality, persistency, interest rates, disability rates, and other assumptions based on our historical experience, modified as necessary for new business to reflect anticipated trends and to include provisions for possible adverse deviation. Reserves related to reinsured policies are accounted for using assumptions consistent with those used to determine the future policy benefit reserves and are included in reinsurance recoverables in our consolidated balance sheets. Similar to the term life insurance DAC discussion above, we do not modify the assumptions used to establish future policy benefit reserves during the policy term unless recoverability testing deems them to be inadequate and there is no remaining DAC associated with the underlying policies. Our results depend significantly upon the extent to which our actual experience is consistent with the assumptions we used in determining our future policy benefit reserves. Our future policy benefit reserve assumptions and estimates require significant judgment and, therefore, are inherently uncertain. We cannot determine with precision the ultimate amounts that we will pay for actual claims or the timing of those payments.

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The net impact of differences between actual and expected persistency on future policy benefit reserves and reinsurance recoverables will partially offset the earnings impact recognized from DAC amortization noted above. In our Term Life Insurance segment, if actual annual lapses at each policy duration are 10% higher, the additional future policy benefit reserves that would be released is approximately $26 million, partially offset by the release of the corresponding recoverable from reinsurers asset of approximately $10 million using balances as of December 31, 2020. Conversely, the impact of a 10% decrease to lapse rates would increase future policy reserves approximately $26 million, partially offset by the recognition of approximately $10 million of reinsurance recoverables.  Higher lapses in later policy durations would have a greater effect on the release of future policy benefit reserves since the future policy benefit reserves are higher at the later durations. Actual lapses in 2020 were approximately 20% lower than 2019, and as opposed to the example provided, the reductions were somewhat weighted to early durations.  The earnings impact was approximately $26 million of higher benefits and claims expense net of reinsurance recoverables year-over-year.

For additional information on future policy benefits and reinsurance, see Note 1 (Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies) and Note 6 (Reinsurance) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.

Income Taxes. We account for income taxes using the asset and liability method. We recognize deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences attributable to (i) temporary differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases and (ii) operating loss and tax credit carryforwards. Deferred tax assets are recognized subject to management’s judgment that realization is more likely than not applicable to the periods in which we expect the temporary difference will reverse. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled.

In light of the multiple tax jurisdictions in which we operate, our tax returns are subject to routine audit by the Internal Revenue Service and other taxation authorities. These audits at times may produce alternative views regarding particular tax positions taken in the year(s) of review. As a result, the Company records uncertain tax positions, which require recognition at the time when it is deemed more likely than not that the position in question will be upheld. Although management believes that the judgment and estimates involved are reasonable and that the necessary provisions have been recorded, changes in circumstances or unexpected events could adversely affect our financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.

For additional information on income taxes, see Note 1 (Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies) and Note 11 (Income Taxes) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.

Invested Assets. We hold primarily fixed-maturity securities, including bonds and redeemable preferred stocks. We have classified these invested assets as available-for-sale, except for the securities of our U.S. broker-dealer subsidiary, which we have classified as trading securities. We also hold a credit-enhanced note, which we classified as a held-to-maturity security that was issued in exchange for a surplus note (the “Surplus Note”) with an equal principal amount as part of a redundant reserve financing transaction. All of these securities are carried at fair value, except for the held-to-maturity security, which is carried at amortized cost. Unrealized gains and losses on available-for-sale securities are included as a separate component of other comprehensive income in our consolidated statements of comprehensive income.

We also hold equity securities, including common and non-redeemable preferred stock. These equity securities are measured at fair value and changes in unrealized gains and losses are recognized in net income. Changes in fair value of trading securities are included in net income in the accompanying consolidated statements of income in the period in which the change occurred.

Fair value. Fair value is the price that would be received upon the sale of an asset in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. Fair value measurements are based upon observable and unobservable inputs. Observable inputs reflect market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs reflect our view of market assumptions in the absence of observable market information. We classify and disclose all invested assets carried at fair value in one of the three fair value measurement categories prescribed by U.S. GAAP.

As of each reporting period, we classify all invested assets in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Significant levels of estimation and judgment are required to determine the fair value of certain of our investments. The factors influencing these estimations and judgments are subject to change in subsequent reporting periods.

Credit Losses for Available-for-sale Fixed-maturity Securities. For available-for-sale securities in an unrealized loss position that we intend to sell or would more-likely-than-not be required to sell before the expected recovery of the amortized cost basis, we recognize the impairment as a credit loss in our consolidated statements of income by writing down the amortized cost basis to the fair value. For available-for-sale securities in an unrealized loss position that we do not intend to sell or it is not more-likely-than-not that we will be required to sell before the expected recovery of the amortized cost basis, we recognize the portion of the impairment that is due to a credit loss in our consolidated statements of income through an allowance. We reverse credit losses previously recognized in the allowance in situations where the estimate of credit losses on those securities has declined. We do not consider the length of time an available-for-sale security has been in an unrealized loss position when estimating credit losses.

Analyses that we perform to determine whether an impairment is due to a credit loss or other factors involve the use of estimates, assumptions, and subjectivity. We evaluate a number of quantitative and qualitative factors when determining the credit loss on individual securities, including issuer-specific risks as well as relevant macroeconomic risks. If these factors or future events change, we could experience material credit losses recognized in our consolidated statements of income for available-for-sale securities in

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future periods, which could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and the size and quality of our invested assets portfolio.

For additional information on our invested assets, see Note 1 (Description of Business, Basis of Presentation, and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies), Note 4 (Investments) and Note 5 (Fair Value of Financial Instruments) to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.

Results of Operations

Revenues. Our revenues consist of the following:

Benefits and Expenses. Our operating expenses consist of the following:

Insurance expenses and other operating expenses directly attributable to the Term Life Insurance and the Investment and Savings Products segments are recorded directly to the applicable segment. We allocate certain other revenue and operating expenses that are not directly attributable to a specific operating segment using methods expected to reasonably measure the benefit received by each reporting segment. Such methods include time studies, recorded usage, revenue distribution, and sales force representative distribution. These allocated items include fees charged for access to POL and costs incurred for technology, sales force support, occupancy and other general and administrative costs. Costs that are not directly charged or allocated to our two primary operating segments are included in our Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment.

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Primerica, Inc. and Subsidiaries Results. Our results of operations for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019, and 2018 were as follows: