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Postretirement Benefits
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Retirement Benefits [Abstract]  
Postretirement Benefits
Note 10—Postretirement Benefits

Globe Life has qualified noncontributory defined benefit pension plans (Pension Plans) and contributory savings plans that cover substantially all employees. There is also a nonqualified noncontributory supplemental executive retirement plan (SERP) that covers a limited number of officers. The tables included herein will focus on the Pension Plans and SERP.
The total cost of these retirement plans charged to operations was as follows:
Year Ended December 31,
202320222021
Plan Type:
Defined Contribution Plans(1)
$6,390 $5,824 $5,188 
Defined Benefit Pension Plans(2)
15,225 37,040 41,778 
(1)401K plans.
(2)Qualified pension plans and SERP.
 
Globe Life accrues expense for the defined contribution plans based on a percentage of the employees’ contributions. The plans are funded by the employee contributions and a Globe Life contribution equal to the amount of accrued expense. Plan contributions are both mandatory and discretionary, depending on the terms of the plan.
 
Pension Plans: Cost for the Pension Plans has been calculated on the projected unit credit actuarial cost method. All plan measurements for the pension plans are as of December 31 of the respective year. The pension plans covering the majority of employees are qualified and funded. Contributions are made to funded pension plans subject to minimums required by regulation and maximums allowed for tax purposes.

Globe Life's SERP provides an additional supplemental defined pension benefit to a limited number of officers. The supplemental benefit is based on the participant’s qualified plan benefit without consideration to the regulatory limits on compensation and benefit payments applicable to qualified plans, except that eligible compensation is capped at $1 million. The SERP is nonqualified and unfunded. However, a Rabbi Trust has been established to support the liability for this plan. The Rabbi Trust consists of life insurance policies on the lives of plan participants with an unaffiliated insurance carrier as well as an investment account. Since this plan is nonqualified, the investments and the policyholder value of the insurance policies in the Rabbi Trust are not included as defined benefit plan assets, but rather assets of the Company. They are included in “Other Assets” in the Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Defined benefit and SERP plan contributions were $24.4 million in 2023, $29.8 million in 2022, and $17.9 million in 2021. In 2024, the Company does not expect to increase contributions to the plans from what was contributed in 2023.
Pension Assets: Plan assets in the funded plans consist primarily of investments in marketable fixed maturities and equity securities that are valued at fair value. Globe Life measures the fair value of its financial assets, including the assets in its benefit plans, in accordance with accounting guidance which establishes a hierarchy for asset values and provides a methodology for the measurement of value. Please refer to Note 1—Significant Accounting Policies under the caption Fair Value Measurements, Investments in Securities for a complete discussion of valuation procedures. The following table presents the assets of the Company's Pension Plans at December 31, 2023 and 2022.
Pension Assets by Component at December 31, 2023

 Fair Value Determined by:  
 
Quoted Prices in
Active Markets
for Identical
Assets (Level 1)
Significant
Observable
Inputs (Level 2)
Significant
Unobservable
Inputs (Level 3)
Total
Amount
% of
Total
Exchange traded fund(4)
$18,715 $— $— $18,715 3 
Equity exchange traded fund(1)
315,886 — — 315,886 55 
U.S. Government and Agency— 167,450 — 167,450 30 
Other bonds— 5 — 5 — 
Guaranteed annuity contract(2)
— 43,428 — 43,428 8 
Short-term investments6,506 — — 6,506 1 
Other463 — — 463 — 
$341,570 $210,883 $— 552,453 97 
Other long-term investments(3)
18,314 3 
Total pension assets
$570,767 100 
(1)A fund including marketable securities that mirror the S&P 500 index.
(2)Representing a guaranteed annuity contract issued by Globe Life Inc.'s subsidiary, American Income Life Insurance Company, to fund the obligations of the American Income Life Insurance Company Collective Bargaining Agreement Employees Pension Plan.
(3)Includes non-redeemable investment funds that report the Globe Life Inc. Pension Plan's pro-rata share of the limited partnership's net asset value (NAV) per share, or its equivalent, as a practical expedient for fair value. As of December 31, 2023, the Globe Life Inc. Pension Plan owned less than 1% of two long-term investment funds.
(4)A fund including U.S. dollar-denominated investment-grade securities issued by industrial, utility, and financial companies with maturities greater than 10 years.
Pension Assets by Component at December 31, 2022
 Fair Value Determined by:  

Quoted Prices in
Active Markets
for Identical
Assets (Level 1)
Significant
Observable
Inputs (Level 2)
Significant
Unobservable
Inputs (Level 3)
Total
Amount
% of
Total
Corporate bonds:
Financial$— $35,649 $— $35,649 7 
Utilities— 23,436 — 23,436 5 
Energy— 12,776 — 12,776 3 
Other corporates— 56,786 — 56,786 11 
Total corporate bonds— 128,647 — 128,647 26 
Exchange traded fund(1)
258,297 — — 258,297 52 
U.S. Government and Agency— 44,213 — 44,213 9 
Other bonds— 200 — 200 — 
Guaranteed annuity contract(2)
— 43,116 — 43,116 8 
Short-term investments4,467 — — 4,467 1 
Other6,547 — — 6,547 1 
$269,311 $216,176 $— 485,487 97 
Other long-term investments(3)
14,288 3 
Total pension assets
$499,775 100 
(1)A fund including marketable securities that mirror the S&P 500 index.
(2)Representing a guaranteed annuity contract issued by Globe Life Inc.'s subsidiary, American Income Life Insurance Company, to fund the obligations of the American Income Life Insurance Company Collective Bargaining Agreement Employees Pension Plan.
(3)Included in other long-term investments is an investment fund that reports the Globe Life Inc. Pension Plan's pro-rata share of the limited partnership's net asset value per share or its equivalent (NAV), as a practical expedient for fair value. The Globe Life Inc. Pension Plan owns approximately 1% of the investment fund. As of December 31, 2022, the expected term of the investment fund was approximately 2 years and the commitment of the investment is fully funded. The investment is non-redeemable.
Globe Life's investment objectives and goals for its plan assets include generating strong risk-adjusted returns, maintaining diversification, investing in accordance with the liabilities of the plan, and satisfying the liquidity needs of the plan. Globe Life seeks to accomplish these objectives by investing in public and private markets and diversifying across asset classes, industries, sectors and entities. Globe Life intends to maintain an asset mix that when combined with future plan contributions will produce adequate long-term risk adjusted returns relative to expected changes in the liability as a result of changes to interest rates or earned benefits.
 
The majority of the securities in the portfolio are highly marketable so that there will be adequate liquidity to meet projected payments. There are no specific policies calling for asset durations to match those of benefit obligations.

Allowed investments include equity, fixed income, real assets and short term investments. Equity securities include common stocks or equivalents, preferred stocks, and/or funds investing primarily in private or public equity investments. Fixed income securities include loans of corporations or commercial real estate as well as marketable debt securities issued by either the U.S. Government, Agencies of the U.S. Government, state, local and municipal governments, domestic and foreign corporations, Special Purpose Vehicles secured by pools of financial assets, and other U.S. financial institutions. Real Assets include equity interest in core or non-core real estate or infrastructure with U.S. or non-U.S. exposure. Short-term investments consist of fixed income securities maturing in one year or less.

The assets are to be invested in a mix of allowed investments that best serve the objectives of the pension plan. Factors to be considered in determining the asset mix include funded status, annual pension expense, annual pension contributions, and balance sheet liability. The investment portfolio is well diversified to avoid undue
exposure to an asset class, sector, industry, business, or security. The Company does not employ any other special risk management techniques, such as derivatives, in managing the pension investment portfolio.

Globe Life's public equity within the pension plan assets consists of an exchange traded fund that mirrors the S&P 500 index which better aligns with a passive approach rather than an actively managed portfolio. At December 31, 2023, there were no restricted investments contained in the portfolio. Plan contributions have been invested primarily in fixed maturity and equity securities during the three years ended December 31, 2023.

The following table presents additional information about the Company's investment funds included in pension plan assets as of December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 at fair value:
Fair ValueUnfunded Commitments
Investment Category202320222023
Redemption Term/Notice(1)
Multi-asset class$14,714 $14,288 $7,203 Non-redeemable
Private equity3,600 — 56,472 Non-redeemable
Total
$18,314 $14,288 $63,675 
SERP: The following tables include premiums paid for the company owned life insurance (COLI) for the three years ended December 31, 2023 and investments of the Rabbi Trust for the two years ended December 31, 2023.

Year Ended December 31,
202320222021
Premiums paid for insurance coverage$443 $443 $2,193 
At December 31,
20232022
Total investments:
COLI$55,185 $54,681 
Exchange traded funds86,156 71,258 
$141,341 $125,939 
Pension Plans and SERP Liabilities: The following table presents projected benefit obligation (PBO) and accumulated benefit obligation (ABO) for the Pension Plans and SERP at December 31, 2023 and 2022.
December 31,
20232022
PBOABOPBOABO
Pension plans$554,957 $493,040 $492,103 $458,510 
SERP72,603 69,332 70,464 67,776 
Benefit obligation
$627,560 $562,372 $562,567 $526,286 
For the year ended December 31, 2023, the Pension Plans have plan assets with fair values in excess of projected benefit obligations. The projected benefit obligations and the fair value of plan assets were as follows:
At December 31,
20232022
Funded benefit pension plans PBO$554,957 $492,103 
Funded benefit pension plans fair value of plan assets570,767 499,775 

For the year ended December 31, 2023, the funded benefit pension plans have plan assets with fair value in excess of the accumulated benefit obligations. The accumulated benefit obligations and the fair value of plan assets were as follows:
At December 31,
20232022
Funded benefit pension plans ABO$493,040 $458,510 
Funded benefit pension plans fair value of plan assets570,767 499,775 

The following table discloses the assumptions used to determine Globe Life's pension liabilities and costs for the appropriate periods. The discount and compensation increase rates are used to determine current year projected benefit obligations and subsequent year pension expense. The long-term rate of return is used to determine current year expense. Differences between assumptions and actual experience are included in actuarial gain or loss.

Weighted Average Pension Plan Assumptions
For Benefit Obligations at December 31:20232022
Discount rate5.40 %5.71 %
Rate of compensation increase4.40 4.40 
For Periodic Benefit Cost for the Year:202320222021
Discount rate5.71 %3.19 %2.92 %
Expected long-term returns6.98 6.98 6.67 
Rate of compensation increase4.40 4.43 3.97 

The discount rate is determined based on the expected duration of plan liabilities. A yield is then derived based on the current market yield of a hypothetical portfolio of high quality corporate bonds that match the liability's average life. The rate of compensation increase is projected based on Company experience, modified as appropriate for future expectations. The expected long-term rate of return on plan assets is management’s best estimate of the average rate of earnings expected to be received on the assets invested in the plan over the benefit period. In determining this assumption, consideration is given to the historical rate of return earned on the assets, the projected returns over future periods, and the discount rate used to compute benefit obligations.
Net Periodic Benefit Cost: Net periodic benefit cost for the defined benefit plans by expense component was as follows:
 Year Ended December 31,
 202320222021
Service cost—benefits earned during the period$21,568 $34,624 $31,672 
Interest cost on projected benefit obligation31,367 24,445 21,957 
Expected return on assets(38,625)(35,539)(32,331)
Amortization of prior service cost (credit)1,075 1,077 631 
Recognition of actuarial gain (loss)(160)12,433 19,849 
Net periodic benefit cost
$15,225 $37,040 $41,778 


An analysis of the impact on other comprehensive income (loss) concerning pensions and other postretirement benefits is as follows:
Year Ended December 31,
202320222021
Balance at January 1
$1,570 $(131,239)$(208,770)
Amortization of:
Prior service cost (credit)1,075 1,077 631 
Net actuarial (gain) loss(1)
(1,465)12,677 20,166 
Total amortization(390)13,754 20,797 
Plan amendments— — (4,565)
Experience gain (loss)(2)
(3,907)119,055 61,299 
Balance at December 31
$(2,727)$1,570 $(131,239)
(1)Includes amortization of postretirement benefits other than pensions of $(732) thousand in 2023, $289 thousand in 2022, and $228 thousand in 2021. 
(2)The increase in the experience gain (loss) is related to an increase discount rate.
The following table presents a reconciliation from the beginning to the end of the year of the PBO for the Pension Plans and SERP, and the plan assets for the Pension Plans. This table also presents the amounts previously recognized as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income.

Pension Benefits
Year Ended December 31,
20232022
Changes in PBO:
PBO at beginning of year$562,567 $778,934 
Service cost21,568 34,624 
Interest cost31,367 24,445 
Actuarial loss (gain)40,569 (241,995)
Benefits paid(28,511)(33,441)
PBO at end of year627,560 562,567 
Changes in plan assets:
Fair value at beginning of year499,775 597,547 
Return on assets75,062 (94,175)
Contributions24,441 29,844 
Benefits paid(28,511)(33,441)
Fair value at end of year570,767 499,775 
Funded status at year end
$(56,793)$(62,792)

Changes in the PBO related to actuarial losses (gains) are primarily attributed to changes in the discount rate.

Year Ended December 31,
Amounts recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income consist of:20232022
Net loss (gain)$(227)$(4,497)
Prior service cost6,494 7,569 
Net amounts recognized at year end$6,267 $3,072 


Globe Life has estimated its expected pension benefits to be paid over the next ten years as of December 31, 2023. These estimates use the same assumptions that measure the benefit obligation at December 31, 2023, taking estimated future employee service into account. Those estimated benefits are as follows:
For the year(s): 
2024$28,870 
202529,865 
202632,606 
202734,828 
202837,363 
2029-2033220,202