UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

(Mark one)

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

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

or

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

For the transition period from                              to                             

Commission file number: 001-08052

GLOBE LIFE INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	63-0780404
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
3700 South Stonebridge Drive, McKinney, TX	75070
(Address of principal executive offices)	(Zip Code)

972-569-4000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

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

Title of each class	Trading Symbol(s)	Name of each exchange on which registered
Common Stock, $1.00 par value per share	GL	New York Stock Exchange
4.250% Junior Subordinated Debentures	GL PRD	New York Stock Exchange

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:     None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.     

Yes  x     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 x   

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  x       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  x       No ¨   

GL 2021 FORM 10-K

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

Large accelerated filer	x	Accelerated filer	¨
Non-accelerated filer	¨	Smaller reporting company	¨
		Emerging growth company	¨
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.			¨

Indicate by checkmark 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.                       x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes  ☐    No  x

As of June 30, 2021, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $9.5 billion based on the closing sale price as reported on the New York Stock Exchange.

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date.

Class	Outstanding as of February 16, 2022
Common Stock, $1.00 par value per share	99,338,401 shares

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Document	Parts Into Which Incorporated
Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on April 28, 2022 (Proxy Statement)	Part III

GL 2021 FORM 10-K

Globe Life Inc.

Table of Contents

			Page
PART I.
	Item 1.	Business	1
	Item 1A.	Risk Factors	9
	Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	16
	Item 2.	Properties	16
	Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	16
	Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	16
PART II.
	Item 5.	Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	17
	Item 6.	[Reserved]
		Cautionary Statements	19
	Item 7.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	20
	Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk	53
	Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	53
		Consolidated Balance Sheets	56
		Consolidated Statements of Operations	57
		Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income	58
		Consolidated Statements of Shareholders' Equity	59
		Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows	60
		Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements	61
		Note 1—Significant Accounting Policies	61
		Note 2—Statutory Accounting	73
		Note 3—Supplemental Information about Changes to Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income	74
		Note 4—Investments	76
		Note 5—Deferred Acquisition Costs	90
		Note 6—Commitments and Contingencies	91
		Note 7—Liability for Unpaid Claims	94
		Note 8—Income Taxes	95
		Note 9—Postretirement Benefits	97
		Note 10—Supplemental Disclosures of Cash Flow Information	103
		Note 11—Debt	104
		Note 12—Shareholders' Equity	106
		Note 13—Stock-Based Compensation	107
		Note 14—Business Segments	112
	Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	119
	Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	119
	Item 9B.	Other Information	122
	Item 9C.	Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections	122
PART III.
	Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers, and Corporate Governance	122
	Item 11.	Executive Compensation	122
	Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	122
	Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence	123
	Item 14.	Principal Accountant Fees and Services	123
PART IV.
	Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	123
		Signatures	134

GL 2021 FORM 10-K

Part I

Item 1. Business

Globe Life and the Company refer to Globe Life Inc., an insurance holding company incorporated in Delaware in 1979, and its subsidiaries and affiliates. Its primary subsidiaries are Globe Life And Accident Insurance Company, American Income Life Insurance Company, Liberty National Life Insurance Company, Family Heritage Life Insurance Company of America, and United American Insurance Company.

Globe Life's website is: www.globelifeinsurance.com. Globe Life makes available free of charge through its website, its annual report on Form 10-K, its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after they have been electronically filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Other information included in Globe Life's website is not incorporated into this filing.

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The following table presents Globe Life's business by primary marketing distribution method. Additional information concerning industry segments may be found in Management’s Discussion and Analysis and in Note 14—Business Segments within the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.

	Primary Distribution Method	Underwriting Company	Products and Target Markets	Distribution
	Direct to Consumer Division	Globe Life And Accident Insurance Company McKinney, Texas	Individual life and supplemental health insurance including juvenile and senior life coverage and Medicare Supplement to lower middle-income to middle-income Americans.	Nationwide distribution through direct to consumer channels: including direct mail, electronic media, and insert media.
	American Income Life Division	American Income Life Insurance Company Waco, Texas	Individual life and supplemental health insurance marketed to working families.	9,415 producing agents in the U.S., Canada, and New Zealand.
	Liberty National Division	Liberty National Life Insurance Company McKinney, Texas	Life and supplemental health insurance distributed through in-home and worksite channels.	2,804 producing agents in the U.S.
	Family Heritage Division	Family Heritage Life Insurance Company of America Cleveland, Ohio	Supplemental limited-benefit health insurance to lower middle-income to middle-income families.	1,157 producing agents in the U.S.
	United American Division	United American Insurance Company McKinney, Texas	Medicare Supplement coverage to Medicare beneficiaries and, to a lesser extent, supplemental limited-benefit health coverage to people under age 65.	3,716 independent producing agents in the U.S.

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Insurance

Life Insurance

The distribution channels for life insurance products include direct to consumer, exclusive agents, and independent agents. These methods are described in greater detail within the primary marketing distribution channel chart as seen above. The following table presents annualized premium in force for the three years ended December 31, 2021 by distribution method:

	Annualized Premium in Force(1) (Dollar amounts in thousands)
	2021		2020		2019
Direct to Consumer	$	929,197	$	881,012	$	831,739
Exclusive agents:
American Income	1,458,408		1,325,293		1,220,483
Liberty National	341,332		318,545		309,792
Independent agents:
United American	8,426		9,314		10,211
Other	205,822		205,785		209,403
	$	2,943,185	$	2,739,949	$	2,581,628

(1)See definition of annualized premium in force under Results of Operations in Management's Discussion & Analysis.

Globe Life's insurance subsidiaries write a variety of nonparticipating ordinary life insurance products. These include traditional whole life, term life, and other life insurance. The Company does not currently sell interest-sensitive whole life products. The following tables present selected information about Globe Life's life insurance products.

	Annualized Premium in Force (Dollar amounts in thousands)
	2021			2020			2019
	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total
Whole life:
Traditional	$	2,011,349	68	$	1,857,106	68	$	1,737,794	67
Interest-sensitive	33,912		1	36,297		1	38,691		2
Term	750,005		26	716,698		26	683,869		26
Other	147,919		5	129,848		5	121,274		5
	$	2,943,185	100	$	2,739,949	100	$	2,581,628	100

	Policy Count and Average Face Amount Per Policy (Dollar amounts in thousands)
	2021			2020			2019
	Policy Count	Average Face Amount per Policy		Policy Count	Average Face Amount per Policy		Policy Count	Average Face Amount per Policy
Whole life:
Traditional	8,963,774	$	15.3	8,717,785	$	14.7	8,477,406	$	14.2
Interest-sensitive	191,536	20.4		199,975	20.3		208,822	20.3
Term	4,731,044	15.3		4,526,172	15.1		4,313,709	14.8
Other	432,372	15.3		408,859	14.3		399,365	13.7
	14,318,726	$	15.3	13,852,791	$	14.9	13,399,302	$	14.5

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Health Insurance

The following table presents Globe Life's health insurance annualized premium in force for the three years ended December 31, 2021 by distribution channel.

	Annualized Premium in Force (Dollar amounts in thousands)
	2021		2020		2019
Direct to Consumer	$	74,627	$	77,522	$	78,229
Exclusive agents:
Liberty National	196,783		196,534		197,163
American Income	111,102		104,701		96,447
Family Heritage	363,226		338,309		312,479
Independent agents:
United American	540,340		476,296		454,720
	$	1,286,078	$	1,193,362	$	1,139,038

Globe Life offers Medicare Supplement and limited-benefit supplemental health insurance products that include primarily critical illness and accident plans. These products are designed to supplement health coverage that applicants already own. Medicare Supplements are offered to enrollees in the traditional fee-for-service Medicare program. Medicare Supplement plans are standardized by federal regulation and are designed to pay deductibles and co-payments not paid by Medicare.

The following table presents supplemental health annualized premium in force information for the three years ended December 31, 2021 by product category.

	Annualized Premium in Force (Dollar amounts in thousands)
	2021			2020			2019
	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total
Limited-benefit plans	$	700,767	54	$	617,759	52	$	581,056	51
Medicare Supplement	585,311		46	575,603		48	557,982		49
	$	1,286,078	100	$	1,193,362	100	$	1,139,038	100

Annuities

Annuity products include single-premium and flexible-premium deferred annuities. Annuities in each of the three years ended December 31, 2021, comprised less than 1% of premium. The Company does not currently market annuity products.

Pricing

Premium rates for life and health insurance products are established using assumptions as to future mortality, morbidity, persistency, investment income, expenses, and target profit margins. These assumptions are based on Company experience and projected investment earnings rates. Revenues for individual life and health insurance products are primarily derived from premium income, and, to a lesser extent, through policy charges to the policyholder account values on annuity products and certain individual life products. Profitability is affected by actual experience deviations from the established assumptions and to the extent investment income varies from that required for policy reserves.

Collections for annuity products and certain life products are not recognized as revenues, but are added to policyholder account values. Revenues from these products are derived from charges to the account balances for insurance risk and administrative costs. Profits are earned to the extent these revenues exceed actual costs. Profits are also earned from investment income in excess of the amounts required for policy reserves.

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Underwriting

The underwriting standards of each Globe Life insurance subsidiary are established by management. Each subsidiary uses information obtained from the application and, in some cases, telephone interviews with applicants, including, but not limited to inspection reports, pharmacy data, motor vehicle records, responses to both medical and not medical questions, doctors’ statements and/or medical examinations to determine whether a policy should be issued in accordance with the application, with a different rating, with a rider, with reduced coverage, or rejected.

Reserves

The life insurance policy reserves reflected in Globe Life's consolidated financial statements as future policy benefits are calculated based on accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP). These reserves, with future premiums and the associated interest compounded at assumed rates, must be sufficient to cover policy and contract obligations as they mature. Generally, the mortality and persistency assumptions used in the calculations of reserves are based on Company experience. Similar reserves are held on most of the health insurance policies written by Globe Life's insurance subsidiaries, since these policies generally are issued on a guaranteed-renewable basis. The assumptions used in the calculation of Globe Life's reserves are reported in Note 1—Significant Accounting Policies. Reserves for annuity products and certain life products consist of the policyholders’ account values and are increased by policyholder deposits and interest credited and are decreased by policy charges and benefit payments.

Reinsurance

Globe Life has historically participated in very limited third-party reinsurance as a result of the low face amounts of the policies sold by the Company. See Schedule IV and Note 6—Commitments and Contingencies for more information.

Investments

The nature, quality, and percentage mix of insurance company investments are regulated by state laws. The investments of Globe Life insurance subsidiaries consist predominantly of high-quality, investment-grade securities. Approximately 94% of our invested assets, at fair value, are fixed maturities at December 31, 2021 (see Note 4—Investments and Management’s Discussion and Analysis).

Competition

Globe Life competes with other insurance carriers through policyholder service, price, product design, and sales efforts. While there are insurance companies competing with Globe Life, no individual company dominates any of Globe Life's life or health insurance markets.

Globe Life's health insurance products compete with, in addition to the products of other health insurance carriers, health maintenance organizations, preferred provider organizations, and other health care-related institutions which provide medical benefits based on contractual agreements.

The Company effectively competes with other carriers, in part, due to its ability to operate at lower policy acquisition and administrative expense levels than peer companies. This allows Globe Life to have competitive rates while maintaining higher underwriting margins.

Regulation

Insurance—Insurance companies are subject to regulation and supervision in the states in which they do business. The laws of the various states establish agencies with broad administrative and supervisory powers which include, among other things, granting and revoking licenses to transact business, regulating trade practices, licensing agents, approving policy forms, approving certain premium rates, setting minimum reserve and loss ratio requirements, determining the form and content of required financial statements, and prescribing the type and amount of investments permitted. Insurance companies are also required to file detailed annual reports with supervisory agencies, and records of their business are subject to examination at any time. Under the rules of the

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National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), insurance companies are examined periodically by one or more of the supervisory agencies.

Risk-Based Capital (RBC)—The NAIC requires that a risk-based capital formula be applied to all life and health insurers. The risk-based capital formula is a threshold formula rather than a target capital formula. It is designed only to identify companies that require regulatory attention and is not to be used to rate or rank companies that are adequately capitalized. All Globe Life's insurance subsidiaries are more than adequately capitalized under the risk-based capital formula. See further discussion of RBC in Capital Resources.

Holding Company—States have enacted legislation requiring registration and periodic reporting by insurance companies domiciled within their respective jurisdictions that control or are controlled by other corporations so as to constitute a holding company system. Globe Life and its subsidiaries have registered as a holding company system pursuant to such legislation in Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, and New York.

Insurance holding company system statutes and regulations impose various limitations on investments in subsidiaries, and may require prior regulatory approval for material transactions between insurers and affiliates and for the payment of certain dividends and other distributions.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

Globe Life’s sustainable business practices are a driver of the success and longevity that our Company has experienced since its origin. We plan to advance our sustainable business practices by further developing the Company's ESG strategy and disclosures and intend to align with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) recommendations.

Environmental responsibility and sustainability are key components of our overall corporate responsibility efforts. We strive to reduce our impact on the environment by implementing numerous green building initiatives at our corporate facilities, placing a company-wide emphasis on recycling and reducing waste generally, and focusing on efforts to reduce the use of paper and water. With respect to social matters, our focus continues to be on supporting a culture that is inclusive and attractive for all of our employees and independent sales agents. We are committed to maintaining a diverse workforce that reflects the communities in which we work. In addition, to enable the Company to appropriately respond to ESG-related challenges and opportunities, the Company has in place an ESG Committee, and the Board and its committees regularly engage with senior management on relevant ESG-related issues.

Human Capital Management

Globe Life's talent base encompasses a broad range of experience that possesses the depth of critical skills to efficiently and effectively accomplish our business purpose and mission, serve our policyholders, and protect our shareholders' interests. Maintaining superior human capital is a key driver to the success and longevity that our Company has experienced since its origins dating back to the early 1900s. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had 3,222 full time, part-time, and temporary employees. In 2021, our employee headcount decreased by 1% due to normal attrition. The Company engages over 13,000 independently-contracted insurance agents. Refer to Management's Discussion & Analysis for exclusive agent counts.

People, Culture, and Community

At Globe Life, we are united by our mission to—Make Tomorrow Better1 and this starts with our employees and agents. Beyond providing insurance protection for millions of individuals, serving our policyholders and generating financial results for our shareholders, we focus on cultivating a healthy, positive culture and a thriving community within and among our campuses that is inclusive of and attractive for all. Globe Life promotes a diverse work force, where differences are celebrated and inclusiveness is embraced, to better enable our employees to consistently achieve outstanding individual and collective results. Our commitment to diversity starts at the top; of the 11 independent Board members, 45% are women and 18% are racial/ethnic minorities.

1Per the Globe Life Employee Handbook, the Globe Life mission statement is "We help families Make Tomorrow Better by working to protect their financial future."

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As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Globe Life employees, (excluding independently-contracted agents) identify as follows:

2021
Ethnicity/Race			Gender			Generations
White	56	%	Female	66	%	Baby Boomers (1946-1964)	20	%
Black or African American	21		Male	34		Gen X (1965-1977)	31
Hispanic or Latino	12					Millennials (1978-1995)	41
Asian	9					Gen Z (1996-2012)	8
American Indian or Alaskan Native	1
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander	—
Other or Not Specified	1
Total	100	%		100	%		100	%

2020
Ethnicity/Race			Gender			Generations
White	53	%	Female	67	%	Baby Boomers (1946-1964)	23	%
Black or African American	21		Male	33		Gen X (1965-1977)	31
Hispanic or Latino	11					Millennials (1978-1995)	41
Asian	9					Gen Z (1996-2012)	5
American Indian or Alaskan Native	1
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander	—
Other or Not Specified	5
Total	100	%		100	%		100	%

We conduct a confidential survey biennially to give our employees the opportunity to provide candid feedback about their experiences at the Company, including but not limited to, confidence in the Company and leadership, competitiveness of our compensation and benefit package, and departmental relationships. The results are shared with our employees, reviewed by senior leadership, and used to identify areas for improvement and create action plans based on the employee feedback received.

We strive to Make Tomorrow Better, in part by giving financial and service contributions to programs that provide hands-on assistance in the communities where we live, work, serve, and visit. We focus our charitable giving on organizations that support children, families, veterans, and seniors, as well as those that work to ensure people are able to live full, healthy lives. These categories align with our mission to help families make tomorrow better by working to protect their financial future. In 2021, we provided financial support of approximately $2.6 million to organizations within that focus, including charities that support underserved communities, provide scholarships to youth, and advance equity and diversity efforts.

Talent Development

At Globe Life, we believe investing in our employees through training and development is paramount to their success. We have developed a learning ecosystem that includes a multitude of professional development opportunities, including online, self-directed, and instructor-led courses on a variety of topics. An education assistance program is also offered to facilitate growth in an area related to one's current position with the Company.

Health, Safety, and Wellness

We strive to provide a safe and healthy work environment for every employee. We furnish employees with numerous tools and trainings throughout the year to help ensure they have, at their fingertips, the best information to safely engage with co-workers, customers, and third parties. In furtherance of our commitment to our employees, we offer a comprehensive employee benefits package that includes competitive monetary benefits, retirement benefits through a Section 401(k) plan and a qualified pension to eligible employees, fitness center reimbursement,

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paid-time-off (based on years of service), health insurance, dental and vision insurance, employee resource program, health savings and flexible spending accounts, family leave, and tuition assistance.

The Company remains committed to the well-being and safety of its employees, agents, customers, guests, vendors, and shareholders in our resolve to maintain a stable and secure business environment. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, our crisis management and incident response teams guided the Company through an expedited, yet smooth, transition towards working remotely. We efficiently transitioned approximately 80-85% of the Company's total workforce, excluding agents, to working remotely and continued to operate in a mostly remote capacity throughout 2021, allowing individuals to return to our campuses on a limited and voluntary basis. As we transition out of our pandemic response phase, we will continue to provide our employees flexible workplace options and flexible schedule opportunities, as appropriate by the department and role requirements. The Company successfully transitioned most sales and recruiting of agents to a virtual experience in 2020. Agency operations mostly remained a virtual experience during 2021, providing limited occurrences of in-person exposure. The agency operations will continue to offer both virtual and in-person experiences.

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Item 1A. Risk Factors

Risks Related to Our Business

The insurance industry is a regulated industry, populated by many public and private companies. We operate in the industry's life and health insurance sectors, each of which has its own set of risks.

Business and Operational Risks

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

Recruiting, development, and retention of producing agents are critical to support sales growth in our agency operations because our insurance sales are primarily made to individuals, and the face amounts of the life insurance policies sold are typically lower than those of policies sold in higher-income markets. If we do not provide an attractive career opportunity with competitive compensation and that motivates producing agents to increase sales of our products, our growth could be impeded. In addition, a failure to effectively develop new methods of reaching consumers and realizing cost efficiencies in our Direct to Consumer Division business could result in reduced sales and profits.

Our future success depends, in substantial part, on our ability to recruit, hire, motivate, develop and retain highly-skilled insurance personnel. Doing so may be difficult due to many factors, including but not limited to, fluctuations in economic and industry conditions and the effectiveness of our compensation programs and competition among other employers.

Our life insurance products are sold in niche markets. We are at risk should any of these markets diminish.

We have several life distribution channels that focus on distinct market niches, three of which are labor unions, affinity groups, and sales via Direct to Consumer solicitations. Deterioration of our relationships with organized labor or adverse changes in the public’s receptivity to direct to consumer marketing initiatives could negatively affect our life insurance business.

The impact of COVID-19 and related risks could materially affect our results of operations, financial position and/or liquidity.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and U.S. and international responses, are wide-ranging, costly, disruptive and rapidly changing. The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in and is expected to continue to result in significant disruptions in economic activity and financial markets. COVID-19 has directly and indirectly adversely affected the Company and will likely continue to do so for an uncertain period of time. Because of the size and breadth of this pandemic and the impact of related government and regulatory actions, all of the direct and indirect consequences of COVID-19 on the Company are not yet known and may not emerge for some time.

The COVID-19 pandemic subjects the Company to various potential risks that could adversely affect the Company in different ways, including but not limited to the following:

•Reduced sales resulting from potential limitations in the virtual sales and agent recruiting process or reductions in the willingness or ability of consumers to purchase our products;

•Reduced cash flows from lower premiums, higher surrenders and greater than anticipated claim payments;

•Disruptions, delays, and increased costs and risks related to employees working remotely, having limited or no access to our facilities, and experiencing reductions or interruptions of critical or essential services;

•Ratings downgrades, increased bankruptcies and credit spread widening in industries in which we invest in our investment portfolio.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, we recorded approximately $140 million of COVID-19 life claims. This amount includes certain estimates, utilizing accepted actuarial practices, of what management expects the ultimate settlement and claims administration will cost for claims that have occurred by the end of the year, whether known or unknown. Given the great uncertainties associated with COVID-19 and its impact and the limited information

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upon which our current assumptions and assessments have been made, our reserves and the underlying estimated level of claim losses and costs arising from COVID-19 may materially change.

Actual or alleged misclassification of independent contractors at our insurance subsidiaries could result in adverse legal, tax or financial consequences.

A significant portion of our sales agents are independent contractors. Although we believe we have properly classified such individuals, a risk nevertheless exists that a court, the Internal Revenue Service or other authority will take the position that those sales agents are employees. The laws and regulations that govern the status and classification of workers are subject to change and differing interpretations, which we cannot predict.

If there is an adverse determination regarding the classification of some or all of the independent contractors at our insurance subsidiaries by a court or governmental agency, we could incur significant costs with respect to payroll tax liabilities, employee benefits, wage payments, fines, judgments and/or legal settlements, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, any resulting reclassification could necessitate significant changes in our affected insurance subsidiaries’ business models.

Financial and Strategic Risks

Our investments are subject to market and credit risks. Significant downgrades, delinquencies and defaults in our investment portfolio could potentially result in lower net investment income and increased realized and unrealized investment losses.

Our invested assets are subject to the customary risks of defaults, downgrades and changes in market values. Our investment portfolio consists predominately of fixed maturity and short-term investments, where we are exposed to the risk that individual issuers will not have the ability to make required interest or principal payments. A concentration of these investments in any particular issuer, industry, group of related industries or geographic areas could increase this risk. Factors that may affect both market and credit risks include interest rate levels (consisting of both treasury rate and credit spread), financial market performance, disruptions in credit markets, general economic conditions, legislative changes, particular circumstances affecting the businesses or industries of each issuer and other factors beyond our control.

Additionally, as the majority of our investments are long-term fixed maturities that we typically hold until maturity, a significant increase in interest rates or a market downturn could cause a material temporary decline in the fair value of our fixed investment portfolio, even with regard to performing assets. These declines could cause a material increase in unrealized losses in our investment portfolio. Significant unrealized losses could substantially reduce our capital position and shareholders’ equity. It is possible our investment in certain of these securities with unrealized losses could experience a credit event where an allowance for credit loss is recorded, reducing net income.

We cannot be assured that any particular issuer, regardless of industry, will be able to make required interest and principal payments on a timely basis or at all. Significant downgrades or defaults of issuers could negatively impact our risk-based capital ratios, leading to potential downgrades of the Company by rating agencies, potential reduction in future dividend capacity from our insurance subsidiaries, and/or higher financing costs at the Parent Company should additional statutory capital be required.

Changes in interest rates could negatively affect income.

Declines in interest rates expose insurance companies to the risk that they will fail to earn the level of interest on investments assumed in pricing products and in setting discount rates used to calculate net policy liabilities, which could have a negative impact on income. Significant decreases in interest rates could result in calls by issuers of investments, where such features are available to issuers. Any such calls could result in a decline in our investment income, as reinvestment of the proceeds would likely be at lower interest rates.

An increase in interest rates could result in certain policyholders surrendering their life or annuity policies for cash, thereby potentially requiring our insurance subsidiaries to liquidate invested assets if other sources of liquidity are not available to meet their obligations. In such a case, realized losses could result from the sale of the invested assets and could adversely affect our statutory income, required capital levels, and results of operations.

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Our ability to fund operations is substantially dependent on available funds from our insurance subsidiaries.

As a holding company with no direct operations, our principal asset is the capital stock of our insurance subsidiaries, which periodically declare and distribute dividends on their capital stock. Moreover, our liquidity, including our ability to pay our operating expenses and to make principal and interest payments on debt securities or other indebtedness owed by us, as well as our ability to pay dividends on our common stock or any preferred stock, depends significantly upon the surplus and earnings of our insurance subsidiaries and the ability of these subsidiaries to pay dividends or to advance or repay funds to us. Other sources of liquidity include a variety of short-term and long-term instruments, including our credit facility, commercial paper, long-term debt, Federal Home Loan Bank,(FHLB) intercompany financing and reinsurance.

The principal sources of our insurance subsidiaries’ liquidity are insurance premiums, as well as investment income, maturities, repayments and other cash flow from our investment portfolio. Our insurance subsidiaries are subject to various state statutory and regulatory restrictions applicable to insurance companies that limit the amount of cash dividends, loans and advances that those subsidiaries may pay to us, including laws establishing minimum solvency and liquidity thresholds. For example, in the states where our companies are domiciled, an insurance company generally may pay dividends only out of its unassigned surplus as reflected in its statutory financial statements filed in that state. Additionally, dividends paid by insurance subsidiaries are restricted based on regulations by their states of domicile. Accordingly, impairments in assets or disruptions in our insurance subsidiaries’ operations that reduce their capital or cash flow could limit or disallow the payment of dividends, a principal source of our cash flow, to us.

Changes in laws or regulations in the states in which our companies are domiciled could constrain the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends or to advance or repay funds to us in sufficient amounts and at times necessary to pay our debt obligations, corporate expenses, or dividends on our capital stock.

Adverse capital and credit market conditions may significantly affect our ability to meet liquidity needs or access capital, as well as affect our cost of capital.

Should interest rates increase in the future, the higher interest expense on any new issued debt may reduce net income. In addition, if the credit and capital markets were to experience significant disruption, uncertainty and instability, these conditions could adversely affect our access to capital. Such market conditions could limit our ability to replace maturing debt obligations in a timely manner or at all and/or access the capital necessary to grow our business.

In the unlikely event that current sources of liquidity do not satisfy our needs, we may have to seek additional financing or raise capital. The availability and cost of additional financing or capital depend on a variety of factors such as market conditions, the general availability of credit or capital, the volume of trading activities, the overall availability of credit to the insurance industry and our credit ratings and credit capacity. Additionally, customers, lenders or investors could develop a negative perception of our financial prospects if we were to incur large investment losses or if the level of our business activity decreased due to a market downturn. Our access to funds may also be impaired if regulatory authorities or rating agencies take negative actions against us. If our internal sources of liquidity prove to be insufficient, we may not be able to successfully obtain additional financing on favorable terms or at all. As such, we may be forced to delay raising capital, issue shorter term securities than we would prefer or bear an unattractive cost of capital which could decrease our profitability and significantly reduce our financial flexibility. If so, our results of operations, financial condition, consolidated RBC, and cash flows could be materially negatively affected.

Industry Risks

Variations in actual-to-expected rates of mortality, morbidity and persistency could materially negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We establish policy reserves to pay future policyholder benefits. These reserves do not represent an exact calculation of liability, but rather are actuarial estimates based on models and accounting requirements that include many assumptions and projections which are inherently uncertain. The reserve computations involve the exercise of

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significant judgment with respect to investment yields, levels of mortality, morbidity, persistency, and investment yields, as well as the timing of premium and benefit payments. Even though our actuaries continually test actual-to-expected results, actual results may differ significantly from the levels assumed, which could result in increased policy obligations and expenses and thus negatively affect our profit margins and income.

A ratings downgrade or other negative action by a rating agency could materially affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Various rating agencies review the financial performance and condition of insurers, including our insurance subsidiaries, and publish their financial strength ratings as indicators of an insurer’s ability to fulfill its contractual obligations. These ratings are important to maintaining public confidence in our insurance products. A downgrade or other negative action by a rating agency with respect to the financial strength ratings of our insurance subsidiaries could negatively affect us by limiting or restricting the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to pay dividends to us and reducing our sales by adversely affecting our ability to sell insurance products through independent insurance agencies.

The supplemental health insurance market is subject to substantial regulatory scrutiny.

Regulatory changes could impact our Medicare Supplement and other supplemental health business. The nature and timing of any such changes cannot be predicted and could have a material adverse effect on our supplemental health insurance business.

Obtaining timely and appropriate premium rate increases for certain supplemental health insurance policies is critical.

A significant percentage of the supplemental health insurance premiums that our insurance subsidiaries earn is from Medicare Supplement insurance. Medicare Supplement insurance, including conditions under which the premiums for such policies may be increased, is highly regulated at both the state and federal level. As a result, our Medicare Supplement business is characterized by lower profit margins than life insurance and requires strict administrative discipline and economies of scale for success. Since Medicare Supplement policies are coordinated with the federal Medicare program, which experiences health care inflation every year, annual premium rate increases for the Medicare Supplement policies are typically necessary. Accordingly, the inability of our insurance subsidiaries to obtain approval of appropriate premium rate increases for supplemental health insurance plans in a timely manner from state insurance regulatory authorities could adversely impact their profitability and thus our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is subject to the risk of the occurrence of catastrophic events that could adversely affect our financial condition or operations.

Our insurance policies are issued to and held by a large number of policyholders throughout the United States in relatively low-face amounts. Accordingly, it is unlikely that a large portion of our policyholder base would be affected by a single natural disaster. However, our insurance operations could be exposed to the risk of catastrophic mortality or morbidity caused by events such as a pandemic, hurricane, earthquake, or man-made catastrophes, including acts of terrorism or war, which may produce significant claims in larger areas, especially those that are heavily populated. Claims resulting from natural or man-made catastrophic events could cause substantial volatility in our financial results for any fiscal quarter or year and could materially reduce our profitability or harm our financial condition.

Our life and health insurance products are particularly exposed to risks of catastrophic mortality, such as a pandemic or other events that result in a large number of deaths. In addition, the occurrence of such an event in a concentrated geographic area could have a severe disruptive effect on our workforce and business operations. The likelihood and severity of such events cannot be predicted and are difficult to estimate. In such an event, the impact to our operations could have a material adverse impact on our ability to conduct business and on our results of operations and financial condition, particularly if those problems affect employees performing operations tasks and supporting computer-based data processing, or destroy the capability to transmit, store, and retrieve valuable data. In addition, in the event that a significant number of our management were unavailable following a disaster, our strategic plan could be negatively impacted.

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Our business is subject to the risk of direct or indirect effects of climate change.

Climate change may increase the frequency and severity of weather-related natural disasters and pandemics, which may adversely impact our mortality and morbidity rates and disrupt our business operations. In addition, climate change and climate change regulation may affect the prospects of companies and other entities whose securities we hold, or our willingness to continue to hold their securities. Climate change may also influence investor sentiment with respect to the Company and investments in our portfolio. We cannot predict how legal, regulatory and social responses to concerns around climate change may impact our business.

Legal, Regulatory, and Compliance Risks

Our businesses are heavily regulated and changes in regulation may reduce our profitability and growth.

Insurance companies, including our insurance subsidiaries, are subject to extensive supervision and regulation in the states in which they do business. The primary purpose of this supervision and regulation is the protection of policyholders, not investors. Regulatory agencies have broad administrative power over numerous aspects of our business, including premium rates and other terms and conditions included in the insurance policies offered by our insurance subsidiaries, marketing practices, advertising, agent licensing, policy forms, capital adequacy, solvency, reserves and permitted investments. Also, regulatory authorities have relatively broad discretion to grant, renew or revoke licenses or approvals. The insurance laws, regulations and policies currently affecting our companies may change at any time, possibly having an adverse effect on our business. Should regulatory changes occur, we may be unable to maintain all required licenses and approvals, or fully comply with the wide variety of applicable laws and regulations or the relevant authority’s interpretation of such laws and regulations. If we do not have the requisite licenses and approvals or do not comply with applicable regulatory requirements, the insurance regulatory authorities could preclude or temporarily suspend some or all of our business activities and/or impose substantial fines.

Changes in U.S. federal income tax law could increase our tax costs or negatively impact our insurance subsidiaries' capital.

Changes to the Internal Revenue Code, administrative rulings, or court decisions affecting the insurance industry, including the products insurers offer, could increase our effective tax rate and lower our net income, adversely impact our insurance subsidiaries' capital, or limit the ability of our insurance subsidiaries to sell certain of their products.

Changes in accounting standards issued by accounting standard-setting bodies may affect our financial statements, reduce our reported profitability and change the timing of profit recognition.

Our financial statements are subject to the application of GAAP and accounting practices as promulgated by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ statutory accounting practices (NAIC SAP), which principles are periodically revised and/or expanded. Accordingly, from time to time we are required to adopt new or revised accounting standards or guidance issued by recognized authoritative bodies. Future accounting standards that we are required to adopt could change the current accounting treatment that we apply to our consolidated financial statements. These changes including underlying assumptions, projections, estimates or judgments/interpretations by management, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. (Refer to Note 1— Significant Accounting Policies under the caption Accounting Pronouncements Yet to be Adopted)

Non-compliance with laws or regulations related to customer and consumer privacy and information security, including a failure to ensure that our business associates with access to sensitive customer and consumer information maintain its confidentiality, could materially adversely affect our reputation and business operations.

The collection, maintenance, use, disclosure and disposal of personally identifiable information by our insurance subsidiaries are regulated at the international, federal and state levels. Applicable laws and rules are subject to change by legislation or administrative or judicial interpretation. Various state laws address the use and disclosure of personally identifiable information to the extent they are more restrictive than those contained in the privacy and security provisions in the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA), the Health Information Technology for

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Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), and in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). HIPAA also requires that we impose privacy and security requirements on our business associates (as that term is defined in the HIPAA regulations). Noncompliance with any privacy laws, whether by us or by one of our business associates, could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and results of operations and could result in material fines and penalties, various forms of damages, consent orders regarding our privacy and security practices, adverse actions against our licenses to do business, and injunctive relief.

General Risk Factors

The failure to maintain effective and efficient information systems at the Company could compromise data security, thereby adversely affecting our financial condition and results of operations.

Our business is highly dependent upon the internet, third-party service providers, and information systems to operate in an efficient and resilient manner. We gather and maintain data for the purpose of conducting marketing, actuarial analysis, sales and policy administration functions.

Malicious third-parties, employee or agent errors or disasters affecting our information systems could impair our business operations, regulatory compliance and financial condition. Employee or agent malfeasance or errors in the handling of our information systems may result in unauthorized access to customer or proprietary information, or an inability to use our information systems to efficiently support business operations.

More frequent and sophisticated cyberattacks and more impactful regulatory oversight models could result in additional costs to protect against security breaches. Any breach of confidential information systems resulting from the above factors could damage our reputation in the marketplace, deter potential customers from purchasing our products, result in the loss of existing customers, subject us to significant civil and criminal liability, constrain cash flows, or require us to incur significant technical, legal or other expenses.

The failure to effectively maintain and modernize our information technology systems and infrastructure could adversely affect our business.

Our ability to modernize our information technology systems and infrastructure requires us to commit to significant resources, effective planning, and execution. In addition, due to the highly regulated nature of the insurance industry, we must continually implement new technology or adapt existing technology to meet compliance requirements of new and proposed regulations. Should we be unable to implement these innovations effectively, efficiently, or in a timely manner, it could result in poor customer experience, additional expenses, reputational harm, legal, and regulatory actions and other adverse consequences. This could also result in the inability to effectively support business operations.

Damage to the brand and reputation of Globe Life or its subsidiaries could affect our ability to conduct business.

Negative publicity through traditional media, internet, social media and other public forums could damage our brand or reputation and adversely impact our agent recruiting efforts, the ability to market our products and the persistency of in-force policies. The Company could be subjected to adverse publicity in the event of a significant security breach.

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We may fail to meet expectations relating to environmental, social, and governance standards and practices.

Certain existing or potential investors, customers and regulators evaluate our business or other practices according to a variety of environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) standards and expectations. Certain of our regulators have proposed or adopted, or may propose or adopt, ESG rules or standards that would apply to our business. Our practices may be judged by ESG standards that are continually evolving and not always clear. Prevailing ESG standards and expectations may also reflect contrasting or conflicting values or agendas. We may fail to meet our commitments or targets, and our policies and processes to evaluate and manage ESG standards in coordination with other business priorities may not prove completely effective or satisfy investors, customers, regulators, or others. For example, as we consider the recommendations of SASB, TCFD, and develop our own ESG materiality assessment, we may continue to expand our disclosures in these areas. Our failure to report accurately or achieve progress on our metrics on a timely basis, or at all, could adversely affect our reputation, business, financial performance and growth. We may face adverse regulatory, investor, customer, media, or public scrutiny leading to business, reputational, or legal challenges.

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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments

As of December 31, 2021, Globe Life had no unresolved SEC staff comments.

Item 2. Properties

Globe Life, through its subsidiaries, owns or leases buildings that are used in the normal course of business. Globe Life owns and occupies approximately 500,000 combined square feet in McKinney, Texas (headquarters) and at the Waco, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma campuses. Additionally, the Company leases other buildings across the U.S.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings

Discussion regarding litigation and unclaimed property audits is provided in Note 6—Commitments and Contingencies.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures

Not Applicable.

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Part II

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

Market Price of and Dividends on the Registrant’s Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters

The principal market in which Globe Life's common stock is traded is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: GL). There were 2,125 shareholders of record on December 31, 2021, excluding shareholder accounts held in nominee form.

The line graph shown below compares Globe Life's cumulative total return on its common stock with the cumulative total returns of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index (S&P 500) and the Standard & Poor’s Life & Health Insurance Index (S&P Life & Health Insurance). Globe Life's stock is included within both the S&P 500 and the S&P Life & Health Insurance Index.

*$100 invested on 12/31/2016 in stock or index, including reinvestment of dividends. Fiscal year ended December 31.

Copyright© 2022 Standard & Poor's, a division of S&P Global. All rights reserved.

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Purchases of Certain Equity Securities by the Issuer and Others for the Fourth Quarter 2021

	(a)	(b)		(c)	(d)
Period	Total Number of Shares Purchased	Average Price Paid Per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs	Maximum Number of Shares (or Approximate Dollar Amount) that May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
October 1-31, 2021	265,733	$	91.68	265,733	—
November 1-30, 2021	751,875	91.60		751,875	—
December 1-31, 2021	609,074	90.00		609,074	—

On August 4, 2021, Globe Life's Board reaffirmed its continued authorization of the Company’s stock repurchase program in amounts and with timing that management, in consultation with the Board, determined to be in the best interest of the Company. The program has no defined expiration date or maximum number of shares to be purchased.

Item 6. [Reserved]

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CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS

We caution readers regarding certain forward-looking statements contained in the foregoing discussion and elsewhere in this document, and in any other statements made by, or on behalf of Globe Life whether or not in future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any statement that is not a historical fact, or that might otherwise be considered an opinion or projection concerning the Company or its business, whether express or implied, is meant as and should be considered a forward-looking statement. Such statements represent management's opinions concerning future operations, strategies, financial results or other developments. We specifically disclaim any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement because of new information, future developments, or otherwise.

Forward-looking statements are based upon estimates and assumptions that are subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, including uncertainties related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated direct and indirect effects on our business operations, financial results and financial condition. If these estimates or assumptions prove to be incorrect, the actual results of Globe Life may differ materially from the forward-looking statements made on the basis of such estimates or assumptions. Whether or not actual results differ materially from forward-looking statements may depend on numerous foreseeable and unforeseeable events or developments, which may be national in scope, related to the insurance industry generally, or applicable to the Company specifically. Such events or developments could include, but are not necessarily limited to:

1.Economic and other conditions, including the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the U.S. economy, leading to unexpected changes in lapse rates and/or sales of our policies, as well as levels of mortality, morbidity, and utilization of health care services that differ from Globe Life's assumptions;

2.Regulatory developments, including changes in accounting standards or governmental regulations (particularly those impacting taxes and changes to the Federal Medicare program that would affect Medicare Supplement);

3.Market trends in the senior-aged health care industry that provide alternatives to traditional Medicare (such as Health Maintenance Organizations and other managed care or private plans) and that could affect the sales of traditional Medicare Supplement insurance;

4.Interest rate changes that affect product sales and/or investment portfolio yield;

5.General economic, industry sector or individual debt issuers’ financial conditions (including developments and volatility arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in certain industries that may comprise part of our investment portfolio) that may affect the current market value of securities we own, or that may impair an issuer’s ability to make principal and/or interest payments due on those securities;

6.Changes in the competitiveness of the Company's products and pricing;

7.Litigation results;

8.Levels of administrative and operational efficiencies that differ from our assumptions (including any reduction in efficiencies resulting from increased costs arising from operating during the COVID-19 pandemic);

9.The ability to obtain timely and appropriate premium rate increases for health insurance policies from our regulators;

10.The customer response to new products and marketing initiatives;

11.Reported amounts in the consolidated financial statements which are based on management estimates and judgments which may differ from the actual amounts ultimately realized;

12.Compromise by a malicious actor or other event that causes a loss of secure data from, or inaccessibility to, our computer and other information technology systems;

13.The severity, magnitude and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including effects of the pandemic and the effects of the U.S. and state governments' and other businesses’ response to the pandemic, on our operations and personnel, and on commercial activity and demand for our products; and

14.Our ability to access the commercial paper and debt markets, particularly if such markets become unpredictable or unstable for a certain period as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Readers are also directed to consider other risks and uncertainties described in other documents on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following discussion should be read in conjunction with Globe Life's Consolidated Financial Statements and Notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this report. The following management discussion will only include comparison to prior year. For discussion regarding activity from 2019, please refer to the prior filed Form 10-Ks at www.sec.gov.

"Globe Life" and the "Company" refer to Globe Life Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.

Results of Operations

	How Globe Life Views Its Operations. Globe Life Inc. is the holding company for a group of insurance companies that market primarily individual life and supplemental health insurance to lower middle to middle income households throughout the United States. We view our operations by segments, which are the insurance product lines of life, supplemental health, and annuities, and the investment segment that supports the product lines. Segments are aligned based on their common characteristics, comparability of the profit margins, and management techniques used to operate each segment.
	Insurance Product Line Segments. The insurance product line segments involve the marketing, underwriting, and administration of policies. Each product line is further segmented by the various distribution channels that market the insurance policies. Each distribution channel operates in a niche market offering insurance products designed for that particular market. Whether analyzing profitability of a segment as a whole, or the individual distribution channels within the segment, the measure of profitability used by management is the underwriting margin, as seen below:
	Premium revenue                                                            (Policy obligations)                                                            (Policy acquisition costs and commissions)                                                             Underwriting margin
	Investment Segment. The investment segment involves the management of our capital resources, including investments and the management of corporate debt and liquidity. Our measure of profitability for the investment segment is excess investment income, as seen below:
	Net investment income (Required interest on net policy liabilities)                                                            (Financing costs)                                                             Excess investment income

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GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

Current Highlights, comparing year-to-date 2021 with 2020.

•Net income as a return on equity (ROE) for the year ended December 31, 2021 was 8.8% and net operating income as an ROE, excluding net unrealized gains on the fixed maturity portfolio(1) was 12.3%.

•Total premium increased 7% over the prior year. Life premium increased 8% for the period from $2.7 billion in 2020 to $2.9 billion in 2021. Life underwriting margin declined 8% from $675 million in 2020 to $624 million in 2021.

•Net investment income increased 3% over the same period in the prior year. Excess investment income declined 2% below the prior year.

•Total net sales increased 7% over the same period in the prior year from $662 million to $706 million.

•Book value per share increased 3% over the same period in the prior year from $83.19 to $85.97. Book value per share, excluding net unrealized gains on the fixed maturity portfolio(1), increased 10% over the prior year from $53.12 to $58.50.

•The Company incurred $140 million of COVID-19 net life claims (net of reserves released upon death) for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared with $67 million during the same period last year.

•For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repurchased 4.8 million shares of Globe Life Inc. common stock at a total cost of $455 million for an average share price of $95.11.

The following graphs represent net income and net operating income for the three years ended December 31, 2021.

(1)As shown in the charts above, net operating income is the consolidated total of segment profits after tax and as such is considered a non-GAAP measure. It has been used consistently by Globe Life's management for many years to evaluate the operating performance of the Company. It differs from net income primarily because it excludes certain non-operating items such as realized gains and losses and certain significant and unusual items included in net income. Net income is the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Net operating income as an ROE, excluding net unrealized gains on the fixed maturity portfolio, is considered a non-GAAP measure. Management utilizes this measure to view the business without the effect of the net unrealized gains, which are primarily attributable to fluctuation in interest rates on the available-for-sale portfolio. The impact of the adjustment to exclude net unrealized gains on fixed maturities, net of tax is $2.8 billion and $3.2 billion for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Book value per share, excluding net unrealized gains on the fixed maturity portfolio, is also considered a non-GAAP measure. Management utilizes this measure to view the book value of the business without the effect of net unrealized gains, which are primarily attributable to fluctuation in interest rates on the available-for-sale portfolio. The impact of the adjustment to exclude net unrealized gains on fixed maturities is $27.47 and $30.07 for year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Refer to Analysis of Profitability by Segment for non-GAAP reconciliation to GAAP.

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GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

Summary of Operations. Net income increased 2% to $745 million in 2021, compared with $732 million in 2020. This increase was primarily related to an increase in realized gains offset by higher COVID-19 life claims. On a diluted per common share basis, net income per common share for 2021 increased from $6.82 to $7.22. Included in net income were after-tax realized gains of $47 million in 2021, compared with realized after-tax losses of $2 million for 2020. Realized gains and losses are presented more fully under the caption Realized Gains and Losses in this report.

Net operating income from continuing operations declined 4% to $707 million in 2021, compared with $738 million in 2020. On a diluted per common share basis, net operating income per common share decreased slightly from $6.88 to $6.86. Net operating income is the consolidated total of segment profits after tax and as such is considered a non-GAAP measure. Net income is the most directly comparable GAAP measure. We do not consider realized gains and losses to be a component of our core insurance operations or operating segments. Additionally, net income was affected by certain significant and unusual non-operating items in 2020 and 2021. We do not view these items as components of core operating results because they are not indicative of past performance or future prospects of the insurance operations. We remove items such as these that relate to prior periods or are non-operating items when evaluating the results of current operations, and therefore exclude such items from our segment analysis for current periods.

Despite headwinds with COVID-19, the Company continues to see positive signs in its core operations, including strong sales, favorable persistency and a strong ROE, excluding net unrealized gains on the fixed maturity portfolio.

COVID-19. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company incurred $140 million of COVID-19 net life claims. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were approximately 460 thousand U.S. COVID-19 deaths in 2021. In the second half of the year, the COVID-19 deaths were concentrated in geographies and younger age groups where the Company has greater risk exposure. The Company’s level of COVID-19 net life claims, on average for the year, was approximately $3 million per 10,000 U.S. deaths.

Going forward, we anticipate that COVID-19 deaths will continue at elevated levels throughout 2022, with an impact of approximately $50 million at the mid-point of our guidance based on incurred claims in the range of $3 million to $4 million per 10,000 U.S. deaths. The projected life claims are dependent on this estimate and many other variables, including, but not limited to, projected U.S. deaths from COVID-19, the timing and availability of effective treatments for the disease, vaccination rates, and effectiveness of vaccines, impact from potential variants, and the ages and geographic areas in which infections and deaths occur.

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GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

Globe Life's operations on a segment-by-segment basis are discussed in depth below. Net operating income has been used consistently by management for many years to evaluate the operating performance of the Company and is a measure commonly used in the life insurance industry. It differs from GAAP net income primarily because it excludes certain non-operating items such as realized gains and losses and other significant and unusual items included in net income. Management believes an analysis of net operating income is important in understanding the profitability and operating trends of the Company’s business. Net income is the most directly comparable GAAP measure.

Analysis of Profitability by Segment

(Dollar amounts in thousands)

	2021		2020		2019		2021 Change		%	2020 Change		%
Life insurance underwriting margin	$	623,675	$	674,946	$	703,464	$	(51,271)	(8)	$	(28,518)	(4)
Health insurance underwriting margin	304,302		272,369		243,638		31,933		12	28,731		12
Annuity underwriting margin	8,704		9,029		9,458		(325)		(4)	(429)		(5)
Excess investment income	238,528		244,424		257,605		(5,896)		(2)	(13,181)		(5)
Other insurance:
Other income	1,216		1,325		1,318		(109)		(8)	7		1
Administrative expense	(271,631)		(250,947)		(240,321)		(20,684)		8	(10,626)		4
Corporate and other	(39,825)		(45,783)		(55,103)		5,958		(13)	9,320		(17)
Pre-tax total	864,969		905,363		920,059		(40,394)		(4)	(14,696)		(2)
Applicable taxes	(157,472)		(167,771)		(167,957)		10,299		(6)	186		—
Net operating income	707,497		737,592		752,102		(30,095)		(4)	(14,510)		(2)
Reconciling items, net of tax:
Realized gain (loss)—investments	54,220		(1,915)		16,291		56,135			(18,206)
Realized loss—redemption of debt	(7,358)		(501)		—		(6,857)			(501)
Part D adjustments—discontinued operations	—		—		(92)		—			92
Administrative settlements	(1,047)		—		(400)		(1,047)			400
Non-operating expenses	(1,923)		(816)		(508)		(1,107)			(308)
Legal proceedings	(6,430)		(2,587)		(6,603)		(3,843)			4,016
Net income	$	744,959	$	731,773	$	760,790	$	13,186	2	$	(29,017)	(4)

The life insurance segment is our primary segment and is the largest contributor to earnings in each year presented. The life insurance segment underwriting margin declined $51 million compared with the prior year, primarily due to higher life claims related to COVID-19 offset by premium growth. The health segment contributed to growth in income in both years contributing $32 million of additional underwriting margin in 2021 and $29 million in 2020.

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GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

In 2021, the largest contributor of total underwriting margin was the life insurance segment and the primary distribution channel was American Income Life Division. The following charts represent the breakdown of total underwriting margin by operating segment and distribution channel for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Total premium income rose 7% for the year ended December 31, 2021 to $4.1 billion. Total net sales increased 7% to $706 million, when compared with 2020. Total first-year collected premium (defined in the following section) was $583 million for 2021, compared with $547 million for 2020.

Life insurance premium income increased 8% to $2.9 billion over the prior year total of $2.7 billion. Life net sales rose 8% to $522 million for the year ended 2021. First-year collected life premium rose 14% to $423 million. Life underwriting margins, as a percent of premium, declined to 22% in 2021 from 25% in the prior year. Underwriting margin declined to $624 million in 2021, 8% below the same period in 2020. The decline in the life underwriting margin is primarily due to approximately $140 million of COVID-19 net life claims incurred during the year ended 2021 versus $67 million during the same period in 2020.

Health insurance premium income increased 5% to $1.20 billion over the prior year total of $1.14 billion. Health net sales rose 4% to $184 million for the year ended 2021. First-year collected health premium fell 9% to $160 million. Health underwriting margins, as a percent of premium, increased to 25% in 2021 compared with 24% in 2020. Health underwriting margin increased to $304 million for the year ended 2021, 12% over the same period in 2020.

Excess investment income, the measure of profitability of our investment segment, declined 2% during 2021 to $239 million from $244 million in the same period in 2020. Excess investment income per common share, reflecting the impact of our share repurchase program, increased 1% to $2.31 from $2.28 when compared with the same period in 2020.

Insurance administrative expenses increased 8% in 2021 when compared with the prior year period. These expenses were 6.6% as a percent of premium during the year ended 2021 and 2020.

For the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repurchased 4.8 million Globe Life Inc. shares at a total cost of $455 million for an average share price of $95.11.

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GL 2021 FORM 10-K

GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

The discussions of our segments are presented in the manner we view our operations, as described in Note 14—Business Segments.

We use three statistical measures as indicators of premium growth and sales over the near term: “annualized premium in force,” “net sales,” and “first-year collected premium.”

•Annualized premium in force is defined as the premium income that would be received over the following twelve months at any given date on all active policies if those policies remain in force throughout the twelve-month period. Annualized premium in force is an indicator of potential growth in premium revenue.

•Net sales, a statistical performance measure, is calculated as annualized premium issued, net of cancellations in the first thirty days after issue, except in the case of Direct to Consumer, where net sales is annualized premium issued at the time the first full premium is paid after any introductory offer period has expired. Management considers net sales to be a better indicator of the rate of premium growth than annualized premium issued.

•First-year collected premium is defined as the premium collected during the reporting period for all policies in their first policy year. First-year collected premium takes lapses into account in the first year when lapses are more likely to occur, and thus is a useful indicator of how much new premium is expected to be added to premium income in the future.

See further discussion of the distribution channels below for Life and Health.

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GL 2021 FORM 10-K

GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

LIFE INSURANCE

Life insurance is the Company's predominant segment. During 2021, life premium represented 71% of total premium and life underwriting margin represented 67% of the total. Additionally, investments supporting the reserves for life products produce the majority of excess investment income attributable to the investment segment.

The following table presents the summary of results of life insurance. Further discussion of the results by distribution channel is included below.

Life Insurance

Summary of Results

(Dollar amounts in thousands)

	2021			2020			2019
	Amount		% of Premium	Amount		% of Premium	Amount		% of Premium
Premium and policy charges	$	2,898,210	100	$	2,672,804	100	$	2,517,784	100
Policy obligations	2,070,485		71	1,809,373		68	1,638,053		65
Required interest on reserves	(735,282)		(25)	(698,112)		(26)	(666,168)		(26)
Net policy obligations	1,335,203		46	1,111,261		42	971,885		39
Commissions, premium taxes, and non-deferred acquisition expenses	234,033		8	212,859		8	203,052		8
Amortization of acquisition costs	705,299		24	673,738		25	639,383		25
Total expense	2,274,535		78	1,997,858		75	1,814,320		72
Insurance underwriting margin	$	623,675	22	$	674,946	25	$	703,464	28

The lower life insurance underwriting margins for the year ended December 31, 2021 are primarily attributed to approximately $140 million of COVID-19 net life claims, compared with $67 million in the prior year.

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GL 2021 FORM 10-K

GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

Life insurance products are marketed through several distribution channels. Premium income by distribution channel for each of the last three years is as follows:

Life Insurance

Premium by Distribution Channel

(Dollar amounts in thousands)

	2021			2020			2019
	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total
American Income	$	1,402,878	48	$	1,257,726	47	$	1,160,495	46
Direct to Consumer	971,461		34	906,959		34	855,543		34
Liberty National	311,081		11	293,897		11	285,551		11
Other	212,790		7	214,222		8	216,195		9
Total	$	2,898,210	100	$	2,672,804	100	$	2,517,784	100

Annualized life premium in force was $2.9 billion at December 31, 2021, an increase of 7% over $2.7 billion a year earlier.

The following table shows net sales information for each of the last three years by distribution channel.

Life Insurance

Net Sales by Distribution Channel

(Dollar amounts in thousands)

	2021			2020			2019
	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total
American Income	$	290,512	56	$	253,276	52	$	237,587	55
Direct to Consumer	148,846		28	165,426		34	126,208		29
Liberty National	71,184		14	54,931		12	53,718		13
Other	11,055		2	10,371		2	12,301		3
Total	$	521,597	100	$	484,004	100	$	429,814	100

The table below discloses first-year collected life premium by distribution channel.

Life Insurance

First-Year Collected Premium by Distribution Channel

(Dollar amounts in thousands)

	2021			2020			2019
	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total
American Income	$	250,937	59	$	214,566	58	$	195,225	59
Direct to Consumer	111,761		27	104,262		28	82,615		25
Liberty National	50,336		12	42,435		11	39,840		12
Other	9,705		2	10,190		3	11,564		4
Total	$	422,739	100	$	371,453	100	$	329,244	100

27

GL 2021 FORM 10-K

GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

A discussion of life operations by distribution channel follows.

The American Income Life Division markets to members of labor unions and continues to diversify its lead sources by building relationships with other affinity groups, utilizing third-party internet vendor leads and obtaining referrals to facilitate sustainable growth. This division is Globe Life's largest contributor of life premium of any distribution channel at 48% of the Company's 2021 total life premium. Net sales increased 15% to $291 million in 2021 over the 2020 total of $253 million. The increase in net life sales is due to increased productivity and well as an increase in agent count. Premium increased 12% primarily due to improved persistency and higher sales. The underwriting margin, as a percent of premium, was 30% for the year ended December 31, 2021, down from 32% from the prior year primarily due to higher COVID-19 claims and higher reserve increases from lower policy lapse rates.

This division incurred $36 million in COVID-19 net life claims, representing approximately 3% of premium, for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared with $18 million in COVID-19 net life claims during the prior year.

Below is the average producing agent count at the end of the period for the American Income Life Division. The average producing agent count is based on the actual count at the end of each week during the year. The division continues to see a significant recruiting opportunity due to the current economic conditions and our ability to recruit virtually and in-person. Sales growth in our exclusive agencies is generally dependent on growth in the size of the agency force.

	2021	2020	2019	2021 Change	%	2020 Change	%
American Income	9,971	8,738	7,360	1,233	14	1,378	19

American Income Life continues to focus on growing and strengthening the agency force, specifically through emphasis on agency middle-management growth and additional agency office openings. In addition to offering financial incentives and training opportunities, the agency has made considerable investments in information technology, including a customer relationship management (CRM) tool for the agency force. This tool is designed to drive productivity in lead distribution, conservation of business, manager dashboards and new agent recruiting. Additionally, this division has invested in and successfully implemented technology that allows the agency force to engage in virtual recruiting, training and sales activity. Over the past year and through the pandemic, the agents have shifted to primarily a virtual experience with the customers and have generated a vast majority of its sales through virtual presentations. We find this flexibility to be enticing for new recruits as well as a driver of sustainability for our agency force.

The Direct to Consumer Division (DTC) offers adult and juvenile life insurance through a variety of marketing approaches, including direct mailings, insert media, and electronic media. In recent years, production from electronic media, which is comprised of sales through both the internet and inbound phone calls to our call center, has grown rapidly compared with direct mail response as management has aggressively increased marketing activities related to internet and mobile technology as well as focused on driving traffic to our inbound call center. This had been steadily increasing prior to COVID-19, but the pandemic accelerated this activity due in part to the awareness of needing life insurance from the effects of COVID-19. The different approaches support and complement one another in the division's efforts to reach the consumer. The DTC's long-term growth has been fueled by constant innovation and name recognition. We continually introduce new initiatives in this division in an attempt to increase response rates.

While the juvenile market is an important source of sales, it also is a vehicle to reach the parents and grandparents of juvenile policyholders, who are more likely to respond favorably to a DTC solicitation for life coverage on themselves than is the general adult population. Also, both juvenile policyholders and their parents are low acquisition-cost targets for sales of additional coverage over time.

The DTC division continued to see high demand of its life insurance products in the current year primarily through its internet and inbound phone channels as a result of the response from COVID-19. Our continued investments in technology have allowed us to successfully serve the higher demands for our products through the digital self-serve and phone channels.

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GL 2021 FORM 10-K

GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

DTC net sales decreased 10% to $149 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared with $165 million in the prior year, primarily due to the record high net life sales in the prior year at the onset of the pandemic. We expect continued strong sales in 2022 due to the heightened awareness as to the benefits of life insurance.

DTC incurred $69 million of COVID-19 net life claims, representing approximately 7% of premium, in 2021 compared with $35 million in 2020. DTC’s underwriting margin, as a percent of premium, was 7% for the year ended December 31, 2021, which was lower than the 14% result in 2020 primarily due to higher COVID-19 net life claims in 2021.

The Liberty National Division markets individual life insurance to middle-income household and worksite customers. Recent investments in new sales technologies as well as recent growth in middle management within the agency will help continue this growth. The underwriting margin as a percent of premium was 17%, down from 23% for the year ended 2020. The decrease is primarily attributable to higher than normal policy obligations during 2021 as a result of COVID-19. This division incurred $28 million of COVID-19 net life claims, representing approximately 9% of premium, for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared with $12 million in 2020. Net sales increased 30% in 2021 over 2020. With the division's ability to return to face-to-face customer interaction and the option of virtual sales, total net life sales increased for the full year 2021. However, due to higher policy obligations as result of COVID-19, underwriting margin as a percent of premium was lower for the full year 2021 as compared with 2020.

Below is the average producing agent count at the end of the period for Liberty National Division. As the division continues to gain momentum in its sales and recruiting initiatives and advances its technology and CRM platform, the agency should see an increase in recruiting of new agents and an increase in the average producing agent count.

	2021	2020	2019	2021 Change	%	2020 Change	%
Liberty National	2,716	2,575	2,350	141	5	225	10

The Liberty National Division average producing agent count increased 5% in 2021. We continue to execute our long-term plan to grow this agency through expansion from small-town markets in the Southeast to more densely populated areas with larger pools of potential agent recruits and customers. Continued expansion of this agency’s presence into more heavily populated, less-penetrated areas will help create long-term agency growth. Additionally, the agency continues to help improve the ability of agents to develop new worksite marketing business. Systems that have been put in place, including the addition of a CRM platform and enhanced analytical capabilities, have helped the agents develop additional worksite marketing opportunities as well as improve the productivity of agents selling in the individual life market.

The Other Agencies distribution channels primarily include non-exclusive independent agencies selling predominantly life insurance. The Other Agencies contributed $213 million of life premium income, or 7% of Globe Life's total in 2021, but contributed only 2% of net sales for the year.

HEALTH INSURANCE

Health insurance sold by the Company primarily includes Medicare Supplement insurance, accident coverage, and other limited-benefit supplemental health products including cancer, critical illness, heart, and intensive care coverage.

Health premium accounted for 29% of our total premium in 2021, while the health underwriting margin accounted for 32% of total underwriting margin. Health underwriting margin increased 12% to $304 million primarily due to lower policy obligations. The Company continues to emphasize life insurance sales relative to health due to life’s superior long-term profitability and its greater contribution to excess investment income.

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GL 2021 FORM 10-K

GLOBE LIFE INC.

Management's Discussion & Analysis

The following table presents underwriting margin data for health insurance.

Health Insurance

Summary of Results

(Dollar amounts in thousands)

	2021			2020			2019
	Amount		% of Premium	Amount		% of Premium	Amount		% of Premium
Premium	$	1,201,676	100	$	1,141,097	100	$	1,077,346	100
Policy obligations	758,745		63	733,481		64	687,764		64
Required interest on reserves	(102,574)		(8)	(93,475)		(8)	(87,289)		(8)
Net policy obligations	656,171		55	640,006		56	600,475		56
Commissions, premium taxes, and non-deferred acquisition expenses	97,453		8	91,959		8	94,973		8
Amortization of acquisition costs	143,750		12	136,763		12	138,260		13
Total expense	897,374		75	868,728		76	833,708		77
Insurance underwriting margin	$	304,302	25	$	272,369	24	$	243,638	23

Health premium increased 5% from $1.14 billion in 2020 to $1.20 billion in 2021. Health underwriting margin increased 12% from $272 million in 2020 to $304 million in 2021 primarily due to growth in premiums. Further discussion is included below by distribution channel.

Globe Life markets supplemental health insurance products through a number of distribution channels. The following table is an analysis of our health premium by distribution channel for each of the last three years.

Health Insurance

Premium by Distribution Channel

(Dollar amounts in thousands)

	2021			2020			2019
	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total	Amount		% of Total
United American	$	481,614	40	$	452,980	40	$	416,582	39
Family Heritage	343,839