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Investing Responsibly

We aim to grow the percentage of our investments that support the public good.

Prudent stewardship of Horace Mann’s $7 billion investment portfolio is vital to ensure we meet our promises to policyholders, employees and other stakeholders. We and our outside asset managers cultivate a conservative risk management culture that appropriately balances investment returns with ESG risks and opportunities. We pursue diversified investment strategies that are designed to limit portfolio volatility, appropriately navigate changing market dynamics and economic uncertainty, and proactively identify and capitalize on opportunities — all of which contributes to competitive risk-adjusted returns. Our investment strategy has resulted in strong and stable investment returns, allowing us to provide financial security to our customers at their time of need — whether we’re paying their catastrophe claims, life insurance benefits or lifelong retirement income.

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ESG integration

We have aligned our ESG Investment Policy with the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) supported by the United Nations. Specifically:

  • All our primary asset managers are PRI signatories.
  • We and our asset managers have fully integrated ESG risks and opportunities into the investment decision-making process across our entire portfolio. Incorporating ESG screens into our investment analysis and decision-making process is designed to minimize investment risks while surfacing investment opportunities that are consistent with Horace Mann’s values, such as ethical conduct. In addition, we prohibit investments in gun manufacturers, given the negative societal impact guns have in our K-12 education community.
  • We review annually each of our primary asset manager’s ESG methodologies to ensure their current investment processes continue to meet the standards set forth in the PRI.

Horace Mann does not currently invest in public equities and therefore does not engage or vote on proxies. When Horace Mann has invested in securities, we have outsourced this mandate to outside managers following a strict set to of guidelines to ensure the investment philosophy and proxy-voting policies of these third parties abide by our Investment Guidelines and align with our ESG principles. If in the future we invest in equities, we will follow the same selection process that we have used in the past when selecting outside managers.

When selecting outside managers, we follow a framework that includes both qualitative and quantitative measures to rate outside managers and select only those that meet our minimum ESG score threshold, along with other factors such as:

  • The manager is a PRI signatory
  • There is dedicated ESG personnel
  • The firm has an ESG policy

Responsible Investments

At the end of 2023, within our investment portfolio, we held $1.6 billion in responsible investments, or about 22% of the total portfolio. Responsible investments provide societal and environmental benefits, while also generating a long-term sustainable return to benefit all stakeholders. The major categories include:

  • Green investments: Our $87.6 million green investment portfolio includes equity stakes in 61 LEED-certified real estate properties and 111 green investments.
  • Infrastructure investments: Our $134.8 million portfolio includes positions in 152 projects that build, upgrade or maintain transportation networks of airports, seaports, railroads and roads, as well as energy pipelines, power generation facilities and transmission lines around the world. Of the infrastructure investments, 25 are in renewable projects.
  • Impact investments: We have $17.7 million invested in funds that support the growth of companies founded by or intended to benefit members of historically marginalized groups.
  • Municipal bonds: Municipal bonds are a core component of our investment portfolio. These holdings directly support infrastructure and community services, provide funding for K-12 and higher education, generate economic development and create jobs. Our $1.3 billion portfolio represents nearly 20% of our assets and provides funding to nearly 600 communities in 47 states.