CITIZENS, INC. (CIA) FY 2023 MD&A

Item 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

This section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K generally discusses 2023 and 2022 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2023 and 2022. This discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this report.

OVERVIEW

For 55 years, we have been fulfilling the needs of our policyholders and their families by providing insurance products that offer both living and death benefits. Citizens conducts insurance related operations through its insurance subsidiaries, which provide benefits to policyholders throughout the United States and in over 75 different countries. We specialize in offering primarily ordinary whole life insurance, endowment products and final expense insurance in niche markets where we believe we can optimize our competitive position.

As an insurance provider, we collect premiums on an ongoing basis from our policyholders and invest the majority of the premiums to pay future benefits, including claims, surrenders and policyholder dividends. Accordingly, the Company derives its revenues principally from: (1) life insurance premiums earned for insurance coverages provided to insureds in our two operating segments – Life Insurance and Home Service Insurance; and (2) net investment income. In addition to paying and reserving for insurance benefits that we pay to our policyholders, our expenses consist primarily of the costs of selling our insurance products (e.g., commissions, underwriting, marketing expenses), operating expenses and income taxes.

Objective of our Management's Discussion and Analysis

We refer to our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations as our “MD&A”. The objective of our MD&A is to provide investors with a succinct analysis of the Company's financial performance from management's perspective. We start by discussing the factors that we believe drive our operating results and then we discuss how industry developments and economic circumstances in general (e.g., interest rate environment) affected or could affect our financial performance. After telling you about our industry, we discuss in detail our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2023 so an investor or potential investor understands the various line items of our profit and loss statements from management’s perspective. Since our investments are one of two principal sources of our revenues, we describe them in detail. Finally, we discuss our capital resources and liquidity so investors better understand how those resources are utilized and how we are able to meet our cash needs.

Throughout the MD&A, we describe how we view the Company and which matters we believe are reasonably likely to affect future operations. We describe our priorities for the business in Item 1. Business - “Strategic Initiatives” and in the MD&A, we describe how we performed on those initiatives and any known trends or uncertainties that might impact our ability to achieve our goals.

Impact of LDTI on Prior Financial Statements

In 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2018-12, Financial Services – Insurance (Topic 944): Targeted Improvements to the Accounting for Long-Duration Contracts, also known as long-duration targeted improvements, or "LDTI", which impacts all insurers that issue long-duration contracts, such as life insurance. The goal of LDTI is to improve, simplify and enhance aspects of accounting for long-duration contracts generally issued by life insurance companies. The changes are intended to result in improvements to our accounting records in the following ways.

•In the new model, cash flow assumptions utilized in determining the liability for future policyholder benefits for certain insurance contracts are required to be updated on at least an annual basis. This varies from the prior model which only required us to update the assumptions if a triggering event occurred, like if a premium deficiency is recognized.

•The discount rate used in determining the liability for future policyholder benefits has been standardized and is based on upper medium grade (low credit risk) fixed income instruments. The effect of discount rate changes is recorded immediately through other comprehensive income.

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•Deferred acquisition costs ("DAC") are now amortized on a constant basis over the expected life of the contract, therefore eliminating the prior amortization methods such as proportion to premium (for traditional life), estimated gross profit (for nontraditional life) or estimated gross margin (for participating life). Additionally, amortization rates are now updated prospectively with DAC being reduced when actual terminations and lapses are greater than expected. By conducting this change, the interest accretion and impairment assessment have been eliminated.

LDTI became effective on January 1, 2023 and required us to make certain changes to our financial statements requiring retrospective application back to January 1, 2021, which is known as the transition date. This Form 10-K includes financial statements that reflect the impact of LDTI. See Part II. Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data and Part IV, Item 15, Note 1 "Significant Accounting Policies" and "Accounting Pronouncements" in the notes to our consolidated financial statements. As a result of implementing LDTI,

•we have included results for the year ended December 31, 2021 in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income (loss) ("Operating Statement") rather than just the years ended December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, as required for a smaller reporting company; and

•the discussion of financial results included in this MD&A for the periods ending December 31, 2022 and 2021 may differ, possibly materially, from the discussions included in the MD&A of our previously filed Annual Report on Form 10-K for each respective year.

The implementation of LDTI did not impact our key operating metrics, which are described below in "The Factors that Drive our Operating Results." Accordingly, while we present operating results for the year ended December 31, 2021, we will only discuss the 2021 results or year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 where they were impacted by the implementation of LDTI. Discussions of 2021 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 that are not included in this Form 10-K 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 Reports on Form 10-K for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022 (the "2022 10-K") and December 31, 2021 (the "2021 10-K").

The Factors that Drive our Operating Results

We see the following as the primary factors that drive our operating results:

•Sales (i.e., premium revenues)

•Investments

•Claims and surrenders

•Operating expenses

Premium revenues and investment income are our two primary sources of income and thus key to our profitability.

Premium revenues consist of all money deposited by customers into new and existing insurance policies. We believe sales statistics are meaningful to gaining an understanding of, among other things, the attractiveness of our new products, how expansion of our distribution channels affects our revenue, customer retention and the performance of our business from period-to-period. Throughout the MD&A and in Item 1 - Business, we describe the actions and initiatives that we are taking to increase sales and improve retention, sales performance in each period and as compared to prior periods, and how we view trends with respect to sales and retention. Because we ceased

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operations in our property insurance business effective June 30, 2023, the premiums charts below only reflect life insurance and accident and health insurance ("A&H") premium results.

First year premiums (i.e, new sales) increased 12% from 2022 to 2023. In our Life Insurance segment first year premiums increased by 13% from 2022 to 2023 due to the introduction of critical illness and whole life products in 2022 in our international markets, as well as expansion of our white label distribution network in our domestic market. In our Home Service Insurance segment, first year premiums increased from 2022 to 2023 by 8% due to focused marketing campaigns and higher critical illness premiums, but were lower in 2022 as compared to 2021, which we believe is attributed to inflationary pressures beginning in 2022, which impacted this market more than our international market, as well as COVID-19 government aid programs in 2021 that we believe led to increased sales that year.

Renewal premiums declined primarily from our Life Insurance segment due to the impact from a higher level of surrenders during the last few years (and thus a lower amount of policies paying renewal premiums) and from matured endowment benefits, which we expected due to contractual expiration dates.

Our net investment income increased by $3.8 million from 2022 to 2023 due primarily to investment income from our limited partnership investments, a growing diversified invested asset base and reinvesting matured or called fixed income maturity securities into a higher interest rate environment.

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Payment of policyholder benefits for claims and surrenders is our largest expense and thus also key to our profitability. The three largest components of this expense are death claims, surrenders and matured endowments.

Our death claim benefits paid have decreased over the 3-year period ending December 31, 2023 due to a lower number of reported death claims. We believe death claims in 2021, and to a lesser extent in 2022, were negatively impacted by COVID-19-related deaths.

Our surrenders increased from 2022 to 2023, which we believe is due to the number of our international life policies that are nearing maturity as well as policies that have passed their surrender charge period.

Matured endowments have increased as expected due to many of our endowment policies reaching their contractual maturity dates.

Operating expenses are our second largest expense and thus also drive our operating results. Operating expenses are meaningful to gaining an understanding of how we manage our business, including among other things, salaries, benefits, and spending on growth initiatives. Our general operating expenses increased by $2.0 million in 2023 as compared to 2022, driven by costs related to strategic growth initiatives, our search for a new CEO, and costs related to moving our international business from Bermuda to Puerto Rico. The transfer of the international business was completed on August 31, 2023.

ECONOMIC AND INSURANCE INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS

Over the last decade, life insurers have faced numerous disruptions as an industry, including profitability challenges driven by low interest rates, a global pandemic, high inflation followed by a rapid rise in interest rates, volatility in equity markets, and geopolitical uncertainty. These significant trends and developments have and are impacting our business and industry as follows:

•Increase in Interest Rates; Volatility in Equity and Credit Markets; Inflation. The material uptick in interest rates over the past year has benefited the life insurance sector with respect to increased yields, net investment income and spreads. However, this benefit was offset by inflation and macroeconomic volatility in 2022. The volatility was substantial and the industry moved into material unrealized loss positions on fixed-income portfolios.

Inflation has also impacted our industry over the past year. As the price of energy and food rises, customers will have less discretionary income to spend on insurance products. As the inflationary

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environment continues, the industry may see policy lapses rise, especially among lower and middle-income customers.

•Sustained Low Interest Rate Environment Prior to 2022. Market interest rates are a key driver of our results. The multi-year sustained low interest rate environment significantly reduced the overall yield on investments, as regulations require that the vast majority of a life insurance company's portfolio consist of fixed income securities, which are primarily callable. As interest rates declined, these fixed income securities were called and had to be re-invested in lower rate investments. This has reduced and may continue to reduce profit margins for life insurers by:

◦Reducing the spread between guaranteed interest rates credited to policyholders and interest earned on supporting assets. As older endowment and annuity products are maturing, the guaranteed interest rates may be higher than current yields;

◦Products sold during the last several years with lower interest rate guarantees may be surrendered or lapsed, as customers look to invest in higher interest rate products; or

◦Because products may have been priced with assumptions of higher interest rates (and higher interest earned on supporting assets), life insurance companies may have to increase reserves or trigger loss recognition that could accelerate amortization of COIA.

•Impact of COVID-19. COVID-19 and its related economic conditions have caused significant uncertainty in the world in the past four years. Initially, COVID-19 caused global lockdowns. In response to the pandemic, the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered interest rates to near zero in order to stimulate the economy. COVID-19 has since created significant issues, from supply chain disruptions and staffing issues to surging production costs and high demand of products and services due to financial help from the government. All of these have a role to play in the dramatic rise of inflation.

•Availability of Reinsurance. Reinsurance market dynamics including increased cybersecurity concerns, significant weather-related losses, pandemic losses, and similar to the life insurance industry, economic-related market losses, have led to a decline in the availability of reinsurance, tighter terms (such as, for example, pandemic exclusions) and/or increased reinsurance prices. While we currently cede a limited amount of our primary insurance business to reinsurers, we may encounter difficulty in obtaining reinsurance in the future, forcing us to resort to a more expensive reinsurance market.  If we are unable to obtain affordable reinsurance coverage, this may impact our net exposures and the number of underwriting commitments.

•Technology Adoption. Innovation and digital development strategies continue to evolve and impact all industries, including the insurance industry. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused companies to adapt to a more digital operations platform, almost overnight. The insurance industry is focused on digitizing distribution channels and empowering agents with advanced digital capabilities. Access to real-time data has streamlined the way we underwrite our products. The rapid development of artificial intelligence and the demand for fee-based, value-added services are challenging our industry. Therefore, it is critical that we embrace these changes for the benefit of our policyholders, agents, employees and stockholders.

EVENTS THAT IMPACTED OUR BUSINESS

From time-to-time, certain events may affect our business in ways that cause current or future results to differ from past results. In addition to factors described in Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors", the following events may impact our results of operations or financial condition:

Inflation and Market Volatility

As discussed above, the impact of inflation, which has led to market volatility and rising interest rates, had a material impact on both our results of operations and balance sheet in both 2022 and 2023.

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Market volatility has significantly affected the fair value of our equity securities over the past 3 years and led to large swings in our earnings. Our investment related gains and losses were a gain of $0.8 million in 2023, a loss of $10.3 million in 2022 and a gain of $11.0 million in 2021. Investment related gains and losses derive principally from our investments in equity securities and include unrealized gains and losses from market price changes in these equities during the period. As evidenced, investment related gains and losses can cause significant fluctuations from period to period and while they are included in our operating revenue, are not indicative of our operating results. We believe that investment related gains and losses, whether realized from dispositions or unrealized from changes in market prices of equity securities, have no bearing in understanding our reported results or in evaluating the economic performance of our business. These gains and losses have caused and will continue to cause significant volatility in our periodic earnings.

We could experience higher surrenders and lapses and fewer sales as our policyholders conserve cash due to concerns over inflation and rising costs, particularly in our Home Service Insurance segment, whose customer base is primarily middle- and lower-income individuals.

Rising Interest Rates

To combat the inflation that began as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, interest rates rose significantly starting in 2022 after being ultra-low for almost a decade. In just a 16-month span starting in March 2022, the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve lifted their key benchmark rate from near-zero percent to a 22-year high of 5.25% - 5.5%. Higher interest rates typically reduce the market values of fixed income assets, as the interest payments from existing fixed income assets become less competitive relative to newer higher rate fixed income instruments. Long duration fixed maturity securities, which constitute the vast majority of our investment portfolio as a life insurer because we strive to match our asset duration to our liability duration, were particularly impacted by the rising rates. Higher interest rates resulted in a pre-tax net unrealized loss of $150.1 million on our available-for-sale securities at December 31, 2023 compared to pre-tax net unrealized loss of $201.7 million at December 31, 2022. While the 10 year Treasury yield was the same at both periods, the pre-tax unrealized loss was lower at December 31, 2023, as the investment balance includes recent investment purchases with higher interest rates whose fair market values are closer to amortized cost. The credit ratings and default risk of our fixed maturity securities were not significantly impacted by the rise in interest rates in 2023 and because we intend to hold the long-term investments to maturity, we do not believe that the current unrealized loss is indicative of our long-term financial strength, as we expect the market values to recover prior to the maturity date of most of these investments.

We also believe that the inflationary environment has led to higher surrenders and lapses in 2023 as well as lower sales, as our policyholders conserve cash due to concerns over inflation and rising costs, particularly in our Home Service Insurance segment, where our customer base is primarily middle- and lower-income individuals.

Ceasing Operations of our Property Insurance Business

The Company made a strategic decision to exit the property insurance business on June 30, 2023. This business focused on selling limited liability property insurance policies in Louisiana and Arkansas. This decision negatively impacted our current year premium revenues and financial results. We were contractually obligated to pay the majority of the remaining premiums for our catastrophic reinsurance through the end of 2023. Additionally, we did not collect premiums in the second half of 2023, as we did in the second half of 2022. Accordingly, property premium revenue is less for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to prior years.

The property insurance business operates through SPFIC and represented less than 1% of the Company’s total consolidated assets as of December 31, 2023 and less than 1% of the Company's total consolidated revenues for the year then ended. The cessation of this business is not reported as a discontinued operation because it is immaterial to our total operations. Additionally, there were no material charges incurred in relation to the exit of our property insurance operations.

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HIGHLIGHTS

Summary

We had income before federal income tax of $26.2 million in 2023, compared to $27.4 million in 2022. In 2023, (i) changes in the fair value of our limited partnership investments due to improved stock market conditions in 2023 increased investment related gains and losses by $11.1 million; and (ii) net investment income improved by $3.8 million due to higher yields on our investment portfolio. These increases were offset by (i) $6.7 million decrease in premiums due to lower renewal premiums in our life insurance segment and ceasing our property insurance business; (ii) $6.7 million increase in total insurance benefits paid or provided due to higher claims and surrenders and higher policyholder liability remeasurement loss; and (iii) $3.0 million of higher commission expense, driven by higher first year sales (which have higher commission payments) and accrual of expense for renewal commissions we may owe to former independent consultants in Venezuela. Our net income per diluted share of Class A common stock was $0.48 for the year ended December 31, 2023.

Key operating results (comparison of 2023 v. 2022):

↓ $6.7 million of premium revenue

Insurance premiums declined 4% in 2023 compared to 2022, totaling $167.0 million and     $173.7 million, respectively due to:

•13% growth in first year premiums in our Life Insurance segment was more than offset by lower renewal premiums in this segment due to increases in surrenders and expiring matured endowments;

•our property insurance premiums decreased by $4.1 million due to ceasing this business on June 30, 2023.

↑ $3.8 million of net investment income

Net investment income increased 6% in 2023 compared to 2022, totaling $69.3 million and $65.4 million, respectively, from a higher average portfolio yield in 2023 as well as a growing invested asset base. The average yield on our consolidated investment portfolio was 5% in 2023, a 16 basis point increase from 2022.

↑ $6.7 million of total insurance benefits paid or provided

Total insurance benefits paid or provided increased by 5% due primarily to higher surrenders and matured endowments in our Life Insurance segment.

↑ $2.0 million of general operating expenses

Operating expenses increased due to costs related to strategic growth initiatives, our search for a new CEO, and costs related to moving our international business from Bermuda to Puerto Rico.

Financial Condition at December 31, 2023

•Total assets of $1.7 billion.

•Total investments of $1.4 billion; fixed maturity securities comprised 88% of total investments.

•$4.9 billion of direct insurance in force.

•No debt.

•Fully diluted income per share of Class A common stock of $0.48

•Book value per share of Class A common stock of $3.47.

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CONSOLIDATED RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Our Operating Segments

We manage our business in two operating segments: Life Insurance and Home Service Insurance. See Part I. Item 1, Business for a discussion about the business operated in each segment.

Our insurance operations are the primary focus of the Company, as those operations generate most of our income.  See the discussion under Segment Operations below for detailed analysis. The amount of insurance, number of policies, and average face amounts for ordinary life policies issued during the periods indicated are shown below.

In 2023, we issued $741.9 million in new insurance, a 10% increase from 2022. As we previously disclosed, our strategic initiatives include the introduction of new products tailored to our specific markets and expansion of our distribution channels through white-label partnerships. These new products and distribution channels helped drive the increase in total insurance issued of $67.2 million.

The number of policies issued almost doubled in our Life Insurance segment. This growth is attributable to our new white label partnerships and final expense products introduced domestically, which accounted for 53% of the number of policies issued and continued strong sales of our international whole life product introduced in 2022, which accounted for 61% of total insurance issued in this segment in 2023.

In our Home Service Insurance segment, the increase in average policy face amounts issued is attributable to sales campaigns that focused on increasing the face amount of insurance sold as well as the introduction of our new whole life product in this segment, which has a higher maximum face value than our legacy products.

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REVENUES

Our revenues are primarily generated from insurance renewal premiums and investment income from invested assets. The implementation of LDTI did not impact our revenues; for a discussion of 2022 to 2021 comparisons, see the 2022 10-K.

Total revenues increased in 2023, as we had investment related gains, versus losses in 2022, and higher net investment income.

Premium Income. Despite higher first year premium revenues in both segments, life insurance premium revenues decreased in 2023 compared to 2022 due to lower renewal premiums. Accident and health insurance premiums increased in 2023 due to sales of our new critical illness products that were launched in late 2022. Property insurance premiums declined in 2023 as we stopped accepting renewal premiums at the end of May and ceased our operations on June 30, 2023.

Our renewal premiums comprised 88% of our total premium revenue in 2023 and 90% in 2022. Renewal premiums declined by 5% in 2023 compared to 2022; as discussed above, the decline in Life Insurance segment renewal premiums is due to the impact from a higher level of surrenders during the last few years and increasing matured endowment benefits.

Our first year premiums increased 10% in 2023 compared to 2022 due to our new product offerings and expanded domestic distribution.

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Net Investment Income. Our net investment income and investment performance are summarized as follows:

Due to insurance regulations, fixed maturity securities constitute the vast majority, or 88%, of our investment portfolio based on fair value and thus provide the vast majority of our investment income. Our net investment income increased 6% in 2023 compared to in 2022, primarily due to a higher average portfolio yield on our fixed maturity securities in 2023. Long-term investment income increased as our private equity investment asset base grew.

The annualized yield increased by 16 basis points in 2023 compared to 2022 as a result of the rising interest rate environment.

Investment Related Gains (Losses).  We recorded an investment related gain of $0.8 million during 2023, compared to a loss of $10.3 million in 2022. As described above, the gains and losses are primarily related to the fair value change of our limited partnership and equity securities investments, mostly in our Life Insurance segment, due to the volatility in equity markets. We did not sell all of these investments; however, the changes in fair values of our equity securities are reflected as investment related gains or losses in our income statement, in addition to executed transactions that result in a gain or loss.

Other Income. Other income consists primarily of supplemental contracts issued to policyholders in our Life Insurance segment upon the surrender or maturity of their original policies.

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BENEFITS AND EXPENSES

Payments of claims and surrenders benefits constitute the majority of our expenses. Total benefits and expenses paid increased in 2023 as compared to same period in 2022 driven by higher surrenders and matured endowments, higher policyholder liability remeasurement loss due to the higher surrenders and $3.0 million of higher commissions, driven by higher first year sales (which have higher commissions) and accrual of expense for renewal commissions we may owe to former independent consultants in Venezuela.

Claims and Surrenders.  Payments of death claims, surrender benefits and matured endowment benefits are our primary uses of cash. The implementation of LDTI did not impact our reporting for Claims and Surrenders; for a discussion of 2022 to 2021 comparisons, see the 2022 10-K.

•Death claim benefits decreased 13% in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to a lower volume of reported death claims.

•Surrender benefits increased 17% in 2023 compared to 2022 due to surrenders related to international policies that are nearing maturity as well as policies that have passed their surrender charge period. While we have implemented retention initiatives over the past few years, we believe that the high interest rates are negatively affecting these efforts, as policyholders surrender their policies to re-invest the cash values in higher interest rate products.

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•Many of our endowment policies are reaching their contractual maturity dates and thus matured endowment benefits are increasing. We anticipated the $10.4 million increase in 2023 based upon the contractual maturity dates and expect continued increases in matured endowment benefits over the next few years as more of these contracts expire.

Increase (Decrease) in Future Policy Benefit Reserves.  Future policy benefit reserves reflect the liability established to provide for the payment of policy benefits that we expect to pay in the future and thus generally increase when we have a larger in force block of business due to higher sales and persistency (i.e., more policies on which we expect to pay future benefits) and decrease when we have lower sales and persistency. LDTI impacted our reported reserves for 2022 and 2021, as LDTI is intended to improve the timeliness of recognizing changes in the liability for future benefits and standardize the rate used to discount future cash flows. Reserves decreased by $5.0 million from 2021 to 2022 and another $10.4 million from 2022 to 2023 despite increases in insurance issued and increases in our in force block of business due to the amount of reserves released in connection with the higher matured endowments and surrenders.

Policyholder Liability Remeasurement (Gain) Loss. Most of our products are long-duration contracts that provide a specified, fixed amount of insurance benefit in exchange for a fixed premium. When a policy is initially issued, we establish a "net premium ratio" ("NPR") using assumptions regarding expected premiums and policyholder benefit liabilities. On a quarterly basis, we review actual versus expected experience in such quarter, which is reported as a policyholder liability remeasurement gain (if better performance than assumptions) or loss (if lower performance than assumptions). The loss increased from 2021 to 2022 and again to 2023 due to unfavorable surrender experience.

Commissions. Commission expenses are a cost of acquiring business, as commissions are the primary compensation paid to our independent consultants and independent agents for selling our products. First year commission rates are higher than renewal commission rates. Commissions fluctuate directly in relation to sales and thus the increase in commissions over the 3-year period ending December 31, 2023 was due to higher first year sales in each period as compared to the prior period. Additionally, commission expense in 2023 was higher due to a $1.3 million accrual of expense for renewal commissions we may owe to former independent consultants in Venezuela.

Other General Expenses.  Total general expenses increased $2.0 million, or 4%, in 2023 compared to 2022. The increase was primarily driven by costs related to strategic growth initiatives, a search for a new CEO and costs related to moving our international business from Bermuda to Puerto Rico. We continue to work on managing controllable operating expenses while investing in growth initiatives.

Capitalization of Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs ("DAC").  We capitalize costs related to successful sales of our insurance products, which include certain commissions, policy issuance costs, and underwriting and agency expenses. These costs vary based upon amounts or premiums received related to new and renewal business. Capitalized DAC increased each year during the 3-year period ended December 31, 2023, which is in line with the increases in new sales activity.  Significantly lower amounts are capitalized related to renewal business in correlation with the lower commissions paid on that business compared to first year business, which has higher commission rates.

Amortization of Deferred Policy Acquisition Costs. Amortization of DAC totaled $15.5 million and $14.4 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively. LTDI also changed the manner in which we amortize DAC and thus reported amounts for 2022 and 2021 have changed. DAC is amortized on a constant level basis over the expected term of the related contracts to approximate straight-line amortization.

Goodwill Impairment. In 2021, we recognized a goodwill impairment in our Life Insurance segment of $12.6 million. The impairment was triggered by increases in our carrying value of the Life Insurance segment due to the release of a $43.8 million uncertain tax position in the fourth quarter of 2021 following the expiration of the statute of limitations for the tax year ended December 31, 2017.

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SEGMENT OPERATIONS

As described above, our business is comprised of two operating business segments:

•Life Insurance

•Home Service Insurance

These segments are reported in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The Company evaluates profit and loss performance based on net income (loss) before federal income taxes for these segments. The Company's Other Non-Insurance enterprises include non-insurance operations such as IT and corporate-support functions, which are included in the table presented below to properly reconcile the segment information with the consolidated financial statements of the Company.

The following table sets forth income (loss) before federal income taxes by segment during the periods indicated.

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LIFE INSURANCE

Our Life Insurance segment primarily issues ordinary whole life insurance and endowment policies in U.S. dollar-denominated amounts to non-U.S. residents in over 75 countries through over 1,000 active independent marketing consultants as of December 31, 2023. Detailed results of operations for the Life Insurance segment for the periods indicated are as follows:

In our Life Insurance segment we reported income before federal income tax of $28.6 million in 2023, as compared to $25.4 million in 2022 and $31.9 million in 2021. As in our consolidated operations, investment related gains and losses caused significant fluctuations from period to period and are not indicative of our operating results. Key operating measures resulted in year-over-year revenue gains in each of the 3-year periods reflected above due to increases in net investment income in each year, and year-over-year benefit and expense increases in each of the 3-year periods due primarily to increases in surrenders and matured endowments and higher commissions, driven by higher first year sales (which have higher commissions) and accrual of expense for renewal commissions we may owe to former independent consultants in Venezuela.

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Life Insurance segment premium breakout is detailed below. Since LDTI did not impact reported revenue results, comparisons between the 2022 and 2021 years are not discussed below. See the 2022 10-K for such discussion.

Premiums. First year premiums increased $1.6 million in 2023 compared to 2022 due to sales of new products and expanded domestic distribution. Our total premiums for 2023 decreased $2.5 million compared to 2022 as renewal premiums declined. We derive most of our premium revenue in the Life Insurance segment from renewal premiums, which decreased 4% in 2023 as compared to 2022. As described above, this decline is due to high surrenders and matured endowments over the last several years.

International Premiums. Life insurance premiums are generated largely from our international policyholders living in over 75 different countries across the globe. The majority of our international premiums are derived from whole life and endowment products. The following table sets forth our direct premiums collected from our top five producing countries of our international life insurance business for the periods indicated.

Domestic Premiums. Our domestic in-force life insurance business consists primarily of closed blocks of business from various insurance companies we have acquired over the years. As discussed, we have recently re-launched our domestic life insurance business through CICA Domestic by expanding our licenses to new states, developing new final expense and living benefit products, entering into new white label and other distribution agreements and obtaining a B++ A.M. Best rating. Because the majority of this business still consists of closed blocks of business, premiums in our domestic Life Insurance segment were lower in 2023 compared to 2022 despite growth in our newly relaunched business.

Net Investment Income.  Our net investment income increased 7% in 2023 compared to 2022 due to our higher average portfolio yield. The majority of investment income is derived from fixed maturity securities; however, long-term investment income continued to increase as our limited partnership asset base grew.

Investment Related Gains (Losses), Net.  The investment related gains and losses in each period were a result of the change in estimated fair market value for our limited partnerships, as previously discussed.

Claims and Surrenders. The following table sets forth our primary claims and surrender benefits within our Life Insurance segment. LDTI did not impact claims and surrender benefit expenses; for a discussion of 2022 to 2021 comparison see the 2022 10-K.

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The majority of our claims and surrender benefits in our Life Insurance segment were related to payment of surrender benefits and matured endowment benefits. Policy surrenders and matured endowment benefits increased in 2023 as compared to 2022. Many of our endowment policies are reaching their contractual maturity dates and thus matured endowment benefits are increasing. We expect this trend to continue over the next few years. Policy surrenders increased partially due to surrenders related to international policies that are nearing maturity as well as policies that have passed their surrender charge period. Death claims benefits decreased in 2023 compared to 2022. Mortality experience is closely monitored by the Company as a key performance indicator and these amounts were within expected levels.

Increase (Decrease) in Future Policy Benefit Reserves. The change in future policy benefit reserves decreased in each of the 3-year periods ending December 31, 2023 as a result of reserves released from higher matured endowment and surrender benefits, which decrease was partially offset by increases in insurance issued and increases in our in force block of business.

Policyholder Liability Remeasurement (Gain) Loss. The policyholder liability remeasurement loss increased from 2021 to 2022 and again to 2023 due to unfavorable surrender experience.

Other General Expenses. General expenses increased by 3% in this segment in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to expenses related to costs associated with the re-launch of our domestic life insurance business which is a strategic growth initiative.

HOME SERVICE INSURANCE

Our Home Service Insurance products consist primarily of small face amount ordinary whole life and pre-need policies, which are designed to fund final expenses for the insured, primarily consisting of funeral and burial costs. In 2021, we added a new whole life product to this market that has higher allowable face values and a new critical illness insurance product. In June 2023, we stopped selling property insurance.

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Detailed results of operations for the Home Service Insurance segment for the periods indicated are as follows:

In our Home Service Insurance segment, our net income before federal income taxes decreased by $3.6 million from 2022 to 2023 due primarily to the impact of ceasing our property insurance operations as of June 30, 2023, described above, and higher future policy benefit reserves. Net income before federal income taxes increased from 2021 to 2022 due primarily to lower death claims benefits and fewer hurricane property claims partially offset by investment related losses due to the changes in the fair value of our equity securities and higher other general operating expenses in 2022.

Premiums. Total premium revenue declined in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily to the impact of ceasing our property insurance operations as of June 30, 2023 and slightly lower life renewal premiums due to lower persistency. Our first year premiums increased 4% in 2023 compared to 2022.

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Claims and Surrenders.  Claims and surrender benefits, which are the largest portion of our expenses in the Home Service Insurance segment are summarized below:

The majority of claims and surrender benefits in our Home Service Insurance segment are death claim benefits. Death claim benefits decreased 10% in 2023 compared to 2022 due to a lower volume of reported claims. We believe death claims in 2021, and to a lesser extent in 2022 were impacted by COVID-19. Mortality experience is closely monitored by the Company and can fluctuate.

Surrender benefits increased in 2023 compared to 2022. We believe the impact of inflation and curtailment of COVID-19 relief government aid in 2022 is negatively impacting persistency.

Increase in Future Policy Benefit Reserves. Future policy benefit reserves increased in 2023 compared to 2022 due to lower death claims.

Other General Expenses. Other general expenses increased slightly in 2023 compared to 2022 due primarily due to higher employee health benefit costs.

NON-INSURANCE ENTERPRISES

This operating unit represents the administrative support entities to the insurance operations whose revenues are primarily intercompany and have been eliminated in consolidation under U.S. GAAP, which typically results in a loss. Revenue in this operating unit consists primarily of net investment income and investment related gains or losses, while expenses consist of other general expenses related to corporate functions. The loss reported for 2023 increased as other general expenses increased for reasons discussed above.

INVESTMENTS

Our investments are an integral part of our business success, as we invest the majority of premiums collected to pay for future benefits and rely on net investment income for our ongoing operations. The administration of our investment portfolio is handled by our management and a third-party investment manager, pursuant to Board-approved investment guidelines. As a primary goal of state insurance regulation is to ensure the solvency of an insurance company, state insurance statutes strictly regulate the types of investments that may be made by insurance companies. The majority of investments are required to be in qualified state, municipal, federal and foreign government obligations and high quality corporate bonds. To a lesser extent, we may invest in preferred and common stock, limited partnerships and mortgage loans. In executing investing activities our management and third-party investment manager are incorporating environmental, social and governance factors into their respective

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investment processes as appropriate. These factors include investing in opportunities to help mitigate climate change by pursuing relevant investments across asset classes.

Our cash and invested assets at December 31, 2023 were $1.4 billion, of which 87% was invested in fixed maturity securities, all of which are classified as available-for-sale. We closely monitor the duration of our fixed maturity investments, and investment purchases and sales are executed with the objective of having adequate funds available to satisfy our insurance obligations.

The following table shows the carrying value of our investments by investment category and cash along with the percentage of each to total invested assets.

(1) Includes $124.2 million and $133.2 million of securities guaranteed by third parties at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

(2) Includes $96.1 million and $98.8 million of U.S. Government agencies and government-sponsored enterprises at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

The carrying value of the Company’s fixed maturity securities investment portfolio at December 31, 2023 was $1.24 billion compared to $1.18 billion at December 31, 2022. As discussed above, this increase primarily reflects the impact of interest rate sensitivity on the fair value of our fixed maturity securities. The distribution of the credit ratings of our portfolio of fixed maturity securities by carrying value as of December 31, 2023 did not materially change from December 31, 2022 – the weighted average was “A” at both dates.

Cash and cash equivalents increased as of December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022 and fluctuates from period-to-period primarily due to the timing of operating and investing activities.

Equity securities decreased as of December 31, 2023 compared to December 31, 2022 as we reduced our mutual fund exposure to take advantage of higher fixed maturity yields.

Other long-term investments increased to $82.7 million as of December 31, 2023, as compared to $69.6 million as of December 31, 2022 due to additional funding of our limited partnership investments.

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The following table shows annualized investment yields by segment and on a consolidated basis as of December 31 for each year presented.

Yields on invested assets vary between segment operations due to different portfolio mixes and durations in each segment's portfolio. The consolidated yields include our other non-insurance enterprises. The annualized yield increased across our segments in 2023 compared to 2022 resulting primarily from the rising interest rate environment.

Credit quality is an important feature of our investment guidelines for our fixed maturity securities. Credit ratings reported for the periods indicated are assigned by a Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organization ("NRSRO") such as Moody’s Investors Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings.  A credit rating assigned by a NRSRO is a quality-based rating, with AAA representing the highest quality and D the lowest, with BBB and above being considered investment grade.  If there is no NRSRO rating, the Company may use credit ratings of the NAIC Securities Valuation Office ("SVO") as assigned.  Securities rated by the SVO are grouped in the equivalent NRSRO category as stated by the SVO, and securities that are not rated by a NRSRO are included in the "other" category.

The following table shows the distribution of the credit ratings of our portfolio of fixed maturity securities by carrying value.

The Company made new investments in investment grade bonds during 2023.  Non-investment grade securities are the result of downgrades of issuers or securities acquired during acquisitions of other companies, as the Company has not purchased below investment grade securities.

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As of December 31, 2023, the Company held municipal fixed maturity securities that include third-party guarantees.  Detailed below is a presentation by credit rating of our municipal holdings by funding type.

The table below shows the categories in which the Company held investments in special revenue bonds that were greater than 10% of fair value based upon the Company's portfolio of municipal fixed maturity securities at December 31, 2023.

The Company's municipal holdings are spread across many states. However, municipal fixed maturity securities from Texas and California comprise the most significant concentration of the total municipal holdings portfolio as of December 31, 2023.

The Company holds 22% and 15% of its municipal holdings in Texas and California issuers, respectively, as of December 31, 2023. There were no other states or individual issuer holdings that represented or exceeded 10% of the total municipal portfolio as of December 31, 2023.

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The table below represents the Company's detailed exposure to municipal bond portfolio by credit rating in Texas at December 31, 2023.

The table below represents the Company's detailed exposure to municipal bond portfolio by credit rating in California at December 31, 2023.

IMPAIRMENT CONSIDERATIONS RELATED TO INVESTMENTS IN FIXED MATURITY AND EQUITY SECURITIES

The Company assesses available-for-sale ("AFS") fixed maturity securities in an unrealized loss position for expected credit losses. The Company did not record any credit valuation allowances on fixed maturity securities in 2023 or 2022.

Gross unrealized losses on AFS fixed maturity securities amounted to $158.7 million as of December 31, 2023 and $205.3 million as of December 31, 2022.  This decrease in gross unrealized losses during 2023 was a result of the increase in average market interest rates at the end of 2023 as compared to 2022.

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Information on both unrealized and realized gains and losses by category is set forth in Note 2. Investments of the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

REINSURANCE

As is customary among insurance companies, our insurance company subsidiaries reinsure, with other companies, portions of the life insurance risks they underwrite.  A primary purpose of reinsurance agreements is to enable an insurance company to reduce the amount of risk by reinsuring the amount exceeding the maximum amount the insurance company is willing to retain.  Even though a portion of the risk may be reinsured, our insurance company subsidiaries remain liable to perform all the obligations imposed by the policies issued by them and could be liable if their reinsurers were unable to meet their obligations under the reinsurance agreements.

We believe we have established appropriate reinsurance coverage based upon our net retained insured liabilities compared to our surplus.

The effect of reinsurance on premiums is as follows.

Our insurance subsidiaries monitor the solvency of their reinsurers in seeking to minimize the risk of loss in the event of default by a reinsurer.  The primary reinsurers of our insurance subsidiaries are large, well-capitalized entities who have ratings by A.M. Best Company ranging from A- (Excellent) to A+ (Superior).

The effect of reinsurance on life insurance in force is as follows.

Our property insurance company, SPFIC, carried first and second event catastrophe reinsurance coverage of $11.0 million per event and a retention level of $2.4 million per event until it ceased operations on June 30, 2023.  Thus, SPFIC was responsible for the first $1.0 million of incurred claims and any claims in excess of $11.0 million per event. In addition, SPFIC shared responsibility with our reinsurers for up to an additional $1.4 million of incurred claims should total incurred claims reach $11.0 million per event.

LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Below are our primary capital resources (based on carrying value) at each of December 31, 2023 and 2022.

Liquidity refers to a company's ability to generate sufficient cash flows to meet the needs of its operations.  In the year ended December 31, 2023, our operations provided $22.1 million of net cash. We manage our insurance operations as described herein in order to ensure that we have stable and reliable sources of cash flows to meet our

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obligations. We currently anticipate meeting our short-term and long-term cash needs with cash generated by our insurance operations and from our invested assets. From time-to-time we may raise capital by selling shares in our SIP (as defined below) and we may also access our Credit Facility if needed (also as described below).

PARENT COMPANY LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

Citizens is a holding company and has minimal operations of its own. Our assets consist of the capital stock of our subsidiaries, cash and investments. Our liquidity requirements are met primarily from two sources: cash we receive from our operating subsidiaries and our invested assets. We can obtain cash from our insurance subsidiaries in two ways - (1) from dividends, and (2) from fees received for providing administrative services under our service agreements. The ability to receive dividends from our insurance subsidiaries is limited by applicable laws and regulations of Puerto Rico and our U.S. states of domicile (Colorado, Louisiana and Mississippi), which subject insurance operations to significant regulatory restrictions. As discussed in Part I, Item 1, Business and Part I. Item 1A. Risk Factors, these laws and regulations require, among other things, that our insurance subsidiaries maintain minimum capital and surplus requirements, which limit the amount of dividends that can be paid to Citizens. The regulations also require prior approval of our service agreements with the applicable regulatory authority in order to prevent insurance subsidiaries from moving large amounts of cash to the less regulated holding company.

In addition to the above-mentioned sources of cash, we offer a Stock Investment Plan ("SIP"), where investors, policyholders, independent contractors and agents, employees and directors can directly purchase our stock. At our option, purchases of stock under the SIP can be made from newly issued or treasury stock, rather than in the open market, in which case, we can raise capital by selling our shares.

On May 5, 2021, we entered into a 3-year Credit Facility with Regions Bank. See Part IV, Item 15, Note 7, Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to our consolidated financial statements, herein, for a description of the Credit Facility. The Credit Facility may provide additional liquidity to the Company. As of the date of this Form 10-K, we have not borrowed any money under the Credit Facility. We intend to renew the Credit Facility in May 2024.

INSURANCE COMPANY SUBSIDIARY LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES

The liquidity requirements of our insurance operations are primarily met by premium revenues, investment income and investment maturities or sales. Primary cash needs relate to payments of policyholder benefits, investment purchases, and operating expenses. Historically, cash flow from our operations has been sufficient to meet our cash needs. We have not had to liquidate a material amount of investments to pay our expenses. We believe we have adequate capital resources to support the liquidity requirements of our insurance operations if the cash flow from our insurance operations is insufficient to meet our cash needs. See Contractual Obligations and Off-balance Sheet Arrangements below for a discussion of known and estimated cash needs. Cash flow projections and cash flow tests under various market interest rate scenarios are performed annually to assist in evaluating liquidity needs and adequacy.

Cash from Operating Activities. Cash provided by or used in operating activities is an important liquidity metric because it reflects, during a given period, the amount of cash generated that is available to pay our operating expenses, invest in our business or make strategic acquisitions. Cash provided by operating activities was $22.1 million and $56.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Cash provided by operations was higher in 2022 than 2023 primarily due to higher surrender and matured endowment benefits paid in 2023 as well as higher cash used for payment of commissions in 2023 due to increased first year sales.

Cash used in Investing Activities. We have traditionally also had significant cash flows from both scheduled and unscheduled investment security maturities, redemptions, and prepayments. These cash flows, for the most part, are reinvested in fixed income securities and to a lesser extent limited partnerships or other alternative investments. Net cash outflows from investing activities totaled $14.5 million and $60.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The investing activities fluctuate from period to period due to timing of securities activities such as calls and maturities and reinvestment of those funds. We purchased $72.8 million of fixed maturity securities and we also used $17.3 million to purchase other long-term investments in 2023. 88% of our investments consist of marketable fixed maturity securities classified as available-for-sale that could be readily converted to cash for liquidity needs.

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Trends, Demands and Restrictions on our Uses of Cash

Because claims and surrenders are our largest expense, our primary liquidity concerns include significantly higher than expected (i) early policyholder surrenders or (ii) death claims, as well as high levels of matured endowments in a short timeframe.

In order to mitigate the risk of early policyholder surrenders, we include provisions in some of our insurance policies, such as surrender charges, that help limit and discourage early withdrawals. As previously discussed, surrender benefits have been higher than usual the last several years as many of our policies have reached the age where surrender charges have expired and due to other reasons, like the loss of one of our biggest distributors in Venezuela in 2018. To the extent that early surrenders are higher than expected, our liquidity could be negatively impacted. We continue to monitor surrenders and early withdrawals and have implemented retention initiatives over the last few years in an effort to prevent early surrenders and preserve cash where policies are surrendered near maturity.

We experienced increased death claim benefits in 2021, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because the pandemic was an unforeseen event that was not priced into our product assumptions, to the extent we continue to experience increased claims and the associated death benefit payouts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or any other unforeseen event, our liquidity could be negatively impacted. Some of our policies include pandemic exclusions, and we carry reinsurance to offset some of these risks. However, death claim benefits decreased by 13% in 2023 compared to 2022.

Our endowment products provide the policyholder with alternatives once the policy matures - they can choose to take a lump sum payout or leave the money on deposit at interest with the Company. As of December 31, 2023, 35% of the Company's total insurance in force was in endowment products. Approximately 18% of the endowments in force will mature in the next five years. Policyholder election behavior is unknown, but if too many policyholders elect lump sum distributions, the Company could be exposed to liquidity risk in years of high maturities. Meeting these distributions could require the Company to sell its investments at inopportune times to pay policyholder withdrawals. Alternatively, if the policyholders were to leave the money on deposit with the Company at interest, our profitability could be impacted if the product guaranteed rate is higher than the market rate we are earning on our investments. We currently anticipate that our available operating cash flow and capital resources will be adequate to meet our need for funds, but we will monitor closely our policyholder behavior patterns.

In our CICA Domestic business, we pay advance commissions on some of our insurance products, meaning we pay an agent their commission immediately upon sale of a policy, rather than "as earned", or when premiums are received by us. Because of this, another liquidity concern is the risk that rapid growth in first year sales of these products could create a significant increase in commission payments, which increases expenses and thus reduces our statutory capital until the commissions are recouped from premiums paid. CICA Domestic sales have increased significantly since the third quarter of 2023 and continue to grow rapidly. To mitigate this risk and strain on capital, we may seek options, such as reinsurance or loans at the holding company level (from the Credit Facility or otherwise) that would allow us to reduce the liquidity risk should CICA Domestic's required commission payments exceed current resources. If we are unable to purchase reinsurance protection in amounts that we consider sufficient or unable to borrow money to contribute capital to CICA Domestic, we could be exposed to cash flow strain.

As discussed above, we are subject to regulatory capital requirements that could affect the Company’s ability to access capital from our insurance operations or cause the Company to have to put additional cash in our wholly-owned subsidiaries.

Our domestic companies are subject to minimum capital requirements set by the NAIC in the form of risk-based capital ("RBC"). RBC considers the type of business written by an insurance company, the quality of its assets, and various other aspects of an insurance company's business to develop a minimum level of capital called "Authorized Control Level Risk-Based Capital". This level of capital is then compared to an adjusted statutory capital that includes capital and surplus as reported under statutory accounting principles, plus certain investment reserves. Should the ratio of adjusted statutory capital to control level RBC fall below 200% for our domestic companies, a series of remedial actions by the affected company would be required. Additionally, we have a parental guarantee between Citizens and CICA Domestic, Citizens' wholly-owned subsidiary domiciled in Colorado, to maintain a RBC level above 350%. At December 31, 2023, our domestic insurance subsidiaries were above the required minimum RBC levels.

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For CICA Domestic, commission advances are non-admitted assets, which increases required regulatory capital and reduces the excess capital available. As discussed above, management is investigating various options in order to reduce both regulatory capital and liquidity risk should the capital required to support this growth exceed current resources. Citizens may have to contribute capital to CICA Domestic to maintain the required RBC ratio.

CICA International is a Puerto Rico domiciled company. The Insurance Code does not specifically set forth minimum capital and surplus standards, but rather requires that an insurer submit a business plan for approval to the OIC that includes proposed minimum capital and surplus. CICA International is required to maintain a minimum of $750,000 in capital and maintain a premium to surplus ratio of 7 to 1. CICA International began issuing new business as of January 1, 2023 and received the transfer of all of CICA Bermuda's in force insurance business as of August 31, 2023. On that date, Citizens entered into a Keep Well Agreement with CICA International to replace the Keep Well Agreement that had been in place between Citizens and CICA Bermuda. The Keep Well Agreement requires Citizens to contribute up to $10 million in capital to CICA International as necessary to ensure that CICA International maintains at least either (i) 112% of its required ratio of premiums to capital and surplus, or (ii) 200% of the minimum capital and surplus requirement, whichever is higher. The initial term of the Keep Well Agreement is 12 months. Since CICA International's capital exceeds both of the metrics, Citizens is not required to make a capital contribution. Any capital that Citizens is required to contribute could negatively impact the Company's capital resources and liquidity.

CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS AND OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS

Our material cash requirements from known contractual and other obligations primarily relate to our policy liabilities. Expected timing of those payments are as follows:

Future Policy Benefit Reserves and Policy Claims Payable. As a life insurance company, the vast majority of our known cash requirements are for payments related to future policy benefits and policy claims payable, which we estimated in the table above. These amounts have been projected utilizing assumptions based upon our historical experience and anticipated future experience. We have reflected the majority of the obligation in the more than five-years category due to the age of the insured, years to policy maturity and our past experience with claims and surrenders.

The Company does not have off-balance sheet arrangements at December 31, 2023. We do not utilize special purpose entities as investment vehicles, nor do we invest in any such entities that engage in speculative activities of any nature. In addition, we do not hedge our investment positions.

We have no known material cash requirements other than those described above.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts and related disclosures.  Management considers an accounting estimate to be critical if: (1) it requires assumptions to be made that were uncertain at the time the estimate was made; and (2) changes in the estimate, or different estimates that could have been selected, could have a material effect on our consolidated results of operations or financial condition.  While we believe that our estimates, assumptions and judgments are reasonable, they are based on information presently

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available.  Changes in our assumptions, estimates or assessments as a result of unforeseen events or otherwise could have a material impact on our financial position or results of operations.

Management has discussed the development and selection of its critical accounting estimates with the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, and the Audit Committee has reviewed the disclosure presented.  See Note 1. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in the notes to our consolidated financial statements for further information on our critical accounting policies.

VALUATION OF INVESTMENTS IN FIXED MATURITY SECURITIES

Based upon current accounting guidance, investment securities must be classified as held-to-maturity, available-for-sale ("AFS") or trading.  Management determines the appropriate classification at the time of purchase.  The classification of securities is significant since it directly impacts the accounting for unrealized gains and losses on securities.  Fixed maturity securities are classified as held-to-maturity and carried at amortized cost when management has the positive intent and the Company has the ability to hold the securities to maturity. The Company currently does not hold any fixed maturity securities classified as held-to-maturity.  Fixed maturity securities classified as AFS are carried at fair value, with the unrealized holding gains and losses, net of tax, reported in other comprehensive income (loss) and are not reported in earnings until realized. Our fixed maturity securities consist primarily of bonds classified as AFS.

The Company monitors all fixed maturity securities on an on-going basis relative to changes in credit ratings, market prices, earnings trends and financial performance, in addition to specific region or industry reviews.  The Company evaluates whether a credit impairment exists for fixed maturity securities by considering primarily the following factors: (a) changes in the financial condition of the security's underlying collateral; (b) whether the issuer is current on contractually obligated interest and principal payments; (c) changes in the financial condition, credit rating and near-term prospects of the issuer; and (d) the payment structure of the security.  The Company's best estimate of expected future cash flows used to determine the credit loss amount is a quantitative and qualitative process.  Quantitative review includes information received from third-party sources such as financial statements, pricing and rating changes, liquidity and other statistical information.  Qualitative factors include judgments related to business strategies, economic impacts on the issuer, overall judgment related to estimates and industry factors as well as the Company's intent to sell the security, or if it is more likely than not that the Company would be required to sell a security before recovery of its amortized cost.

The Company's best estimate of future cash flows involves assumptions including, but not limited to, various performance indicators, such as historical and projected default and recovery rates, credit ratings, and current delinquency rates.  These assumptions require the use of significant management judgment and include the probability of issuer default and estimates regarding timing and amount of expected recoveries, which may include estimating the underlying collateral value.  In addition, projections of expected future fixed maturity security cash flows may change based upon new information regarding the performance of the issuer. Any credit losses are presented as an allowance rather than as a write-down of AFS fixed maturity securities.

DEFERRED POLICY ACQUISITION COSTS

Deferred policy acquisition costs ("DAC") are costs that are incremental and directly related to the successful acquisition of new or renewal insurance contracts. Such costs include the incremental direct costs of contract acquisition, such as sales commissions; the portion of employees’ total compensation and payroll-related fringe benefits related directly to time spent performing acquisition activities, such as underwriting, issuing, and processing policies for contracts that have actually been acquired; and other costs related directly to acquisition activities that would not have been incurred if the contract had not been acquired.

Inherent in the capitalization and amortization of DAC are certain management judgments about what acquisition costs are deferred, the ending asset balance and the annual amortization.  Approximately 93% of our capitalized DAC are attributed to first year and renewal excess commissions.  The remaining 7% are attributed to other costs that vary with and are directly related to the successful acquisition of new insurance business.  Those costs generally include costs related to the production, underwriting and issuance of new business.

DAC is amortized on a constant level basis over the expected term of the related contracts to approximate straight-line amortization. For the Life Insurance segment, the constant level basis used is policy count in force. For the Home Service Insurance segment, the constant level basis used is face amount in force. The constant level bases used for amortization are projected using mortality and lapse assumptions that are based on the Company’s

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experience, industry data, and other factors at the end of each reporting period and are consistent with those used for the liability for future policy benefit life reserves. Annually, the Company completes experience studies to evaluate mortality and lapse assumptions. If those assumptions are updated, the DAC amortization basis is recalculated and the impact of the assumption change will be reflected in the cohort level amortization in future periods.

POLICY LIABILITIES

As premium revenue is recognized, a liability for future policy benefits is accrued. The liability for a future policy benefit is the present value of estimated future policy benefits to be paid to or on behalf of policyholders less the present value of estimated future net premiums to be collected from policyholders. The liability is estimated using current assumptions that include investment yields, discount rate, mortality, lapses and withdrawals. These current assumptions are based on judgements that consider the Company’s historical experience, industry data, and other factors. Annually, the Company completes experience studies to evaluate mortality and lapse assumptions. The results of these studies are used to update current year best estimate assumptions used in establishing benefit liabilities and DAC.

The current discount rate assumption is a yield curve that equals the yield of an upper-medium grade fixed income instrument, based on A-quality corporate bonds. The current discount rate assumption is updated quarterly and used to remeasure the liability at the reporting date, with the resulting change reflected in other comprehensive income. For liability cash flows that are projected beyond the duration of market-observable A credit-rated fixed-income instruments, the Company uses the last market-observable yield level and uses linear interpolation to determine yield assumptions for durations that do not have market observable yields. The locked-in discount rate for policies issued prior to the LDTI transition date equals the rate set at contract issuance. For current year issues, the locked-in discount rate is the average of the current year quarterly discount rates and will change throughout the year as new discount rates are calculated, with the change reflected in net income.

TAX ACCOUNTING

Deferred tax assets and liabilities are recognized for the estimated future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their respective tax bases. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates in effect for the year in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets and liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in net income in the period in which the change is enacted.  CICA International and CICA Bermuda, wholly-owned subsidiaries of Citizens, are considered controlled foreign corporations for U.S. federal tax purposes. As a result, the insurance activity of CICA International and CICA Bermuda are subject to Subpart F of the Internal Revenue Code and are included in Citizens taxable income on its U.S. federal income tax return. Due to the 0% enacted tax rate in Bermuda there are no deferred taxes recorded for CICA Bermuda's temporary differences. CICA International has applied for a tax exemption decree from the Government of Puerto Rico which will freeze the income tax rate at 4% on any taxable earnings in excess of $1.2 million.

As required by U.S. GAAP, we evaluated the recoverability of deferred tax assets and the establishment of a valuation allowance, if necessary, to reduce the deferred tax asset to an amount that is more likely than not to be realized. For the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, changes in market conditions including rising interest rates, resulted in deferred tax assets related to the net unrealized capital losses in our investment portfolio. When assessing the need for a valuation allowance on the unrealized capital loss deferred tax assets, we asserted a tax planning strategy to hold a majority of the underlying securities to recovery or maturity. Our ability to assert such a tax planning strategy is dependent upon factors such as our asset/liability matching process, overall investment strategy, projected future product sales and expected liquidity needs. In the event these estimates differ from our prior estimates due to the receipt of new information, we may be required to significantly change the income tax expense recorded in the consolidated financial statements. This includes a further significant decline in the value of assets incorporated into our tax planning strategies which could lead to an increase in our valuation allowance on deferred tax assets having an adverse effect on current and future results.

RECENT ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS

See Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data and "Accounting Pronouncements" in Note 1. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.

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