that constitute our plans, estimates and beliefs. These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to those discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the 2011 Annual Report. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements.
This MD&A is divided into the following sections:
• Business Overview

• Critical Accounting Estimates

• Factors Affecting Our Results

• Results of Operations

• Financial Condition

• Liquidity and Capital Resources

Business Overview
We are a leading distributor of financial products to middle income households in the United States and Canada. We assist our clients in meeting their needs for term life insurance, which we underwrite, and mutual funds, annuities and other financial products, which we distribute primarily on behalf of third parties. We have two primary operating segments, Term Life Insurance and Investment and Savings Products, and a third segment, Corporate and Other Distributed Products.
We were wholly owned by Citigroup Inc. (together with its non-Primerica affiliates, "Citi") through March 31, 2010. In April 2010, Citi transferred the legal entities that comprise our business to us, and we completed an initial public offering of our common stock by Citi pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and also issued to Citi a $300.0 million note payable (the "corporate reorganization").
Term Life Insurance. We distribute the term life insurance products that we originate through our three issuing life insurance company subsidiaries:
Primerica Life Insurance Company ("Primerica Life"); National Benefit Life Insurance Company ("NBLIC"); and Primerica Life Insurance Company of Canada ("Primerica Life Canada"). Our in-force term insurance policies have level premiums for the stated term period. As such, the policyholder pays the same amount each year. Initial policy term periods are between 10 and 35 years. While premiums are guaranteed to remain level during the initial term period (up to a maximum of 20 years in the United States), our claim obligations generally increase as our policyholders age. In addition, we incur significant upfront costs in acquiring new insurance business. Our deferral and amortization of policy acquisition costs and reserving methodology are designed to match the recognition of premium revenues with the timing of policy lapses and the payment of expected claims obligations.
Our Term Life Insurance segment results are primarily driven by sales and policies in force, accuracy of our pricing assumptions, terms and use of reinsurance, investment income, and expenses. In connection with our corporate reorganization in 2010, we entered into certain reinsurance transactions with affiliates of Citi (the "Citi reinsurers") and ceded between 80% and 90% of the risks and rewards of our term life insurance policies that were in force at year-end 2009 (the "Citi reinsurance transactions"). We continue to administer all policies subject to these coinsurance agreements. Subsequent to the Citi reinsurance transactions, the revenues and earnings of our Term Life Insurance segment initially declined in proportion to the amount of revenues and earnings historically associated with the book of term life insurance policies that we ceded to the Citi reinsurers. As we have added new in-force business, our revenues and earnings have grown from these initial levels. With each successive period, we expect revenue and earnings growth to decelerate as the size of our in-force book grows and incremental sales have a reduced marginal effect on the size of the then-existing in-force book.
Investment and Savings Products. We distribute mutual funds, managed accounts, annuities and segregated funds. In the United States, we distribute mutual fund and managed accounts products and variable and fixed annuity products of several third-party companies. In Canada, we offer our own Primerica-branded mutual funds, as well as mutual funds of other companies, and segregated funds, which are underwritten by Primerica Life Canada.
Results in our Investment and Savings Products segment are driven by sales of mutual funds and annuities, the value of assets in client accounts for which we earn ongoing service, distribution and advisory fees and the number of fee generating accounts for which we provide administration functions or retirement plan custodial services.

While our investment and savings products all have similar long-term earnings characteristics, our results in a given fiscal period are affected by changes in the overall mix of products within these broad categories.
Corporate and Other Distributed Products. Our Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment consists primarily of revenues and expenses related to other distributed products, including various insurance products, prepaid legal services as well as credit information and debt referral services. These products are distributed pursuant to distribution arrangements with third parties, except for certain life and disability insurance products underwritten by NBLIC, our New York life insurance subsidiary, that are not distributed through our independent agent sales force. In addition, our Corporate and Other Distributed Products segment includes corporate income (including net investment income) and expenses not allocated to other segments, interest expense on our notes payable and realized gains and losses on our invested asset portfolio. Critical Accounting Estimates
We prepare our financial statements in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"). These principles are established primarily by the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB"). The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions based on currently available information when recording transactions resulting from business operations. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 1 to our consolidated and combined financial statements included in our 2011 Annual Report. The most significant items on the balance sheet are based on fair value determinations, accounting estimates and actuarial determinations which are susceptible to changes in future periods and which affect our results of operations and financial position.
The estimates that we deem to be most critical to an understanding of our results of operations and financial position are those related to the valuation of investments, reinsurance, deferred policy acquisition costs, future policy benefit reserves, and income taxes. The preparation and evaluation of these critical accounting estimates involve the use of various assumptions developed from management's analyses and judgments. Subsequent experience or use of other assumptions could produce significantly different results.
Accounting Policy Change. Effective January 1, 2012, we adopted ASU 2010-26, Accounting for Costs Associated with Acquiring or Renewing Insurance Contracts ("ASU 2010-26"), and no longer defer certain indirect acquisition costs or costs attributable to unsuccessful efforts of acquiring life insurance policies. We adopted this accounting policy change retrospectively and, accordingly, our historical results have been adjusted to reflect the adoption on a consistent basis across all periods presented.
The impact of adoption was as follows:

                                                       Prior to
                                                   adoption of ASU    Impact of adoption   After adoption
                                                       2010-26          of ASU 2010-26     of ASU 2010-26
                                                          (In thousands, except per-share amounts)
As of December 31, 2011:
Stockholders' equity                               $    1,422,641     $     (95,991 )      $   1,326,650

For the three months ended September 30, 2011:
Net income                                         $       40,601     $      (5,503 )      $      35,098
Basic earnings per share                                     0.54             (0.08 )               0.46
Diluted earnings per share                                   0.53             (0.07 )               0.46

For the nine months ended September 30, 2011:
Net income                                         $      137,091     $     (17,102 )      $     119,989
Basic earnings per share                                     1.81             (0.23 )               1.58
Diluted earnings per share                                   1.79             (0.22 )               1.57

For additional information regarding this accounting policy change, see Note 1 to our condensed consolidated financial statements.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2012, there have been no further changes in the accounting methodology for items that we have identified as critical accounting estimates. For additional information regarding

critical accounting estimates, see the Critical Accounting Estimates section of MD&A included in our 2011 Annual Report. Factors Affecting Our Results
Economic Environment. The relative strength and stability of financial markets and economies in the United States and Canada affect our growth and profitability. Our business is, and we expect will continue to be, influenced by a number of industry-wide and product-specific trends and conditions. Economic conditions, including unemployment levels and consumer confidence, influence investment and spending decisions by middle income consumers, who are generally our primary clients. These conditions and factors also impact prospective recruits' perceptions of the business opportunity that becoming a Primerica sales representative offers, which can drive or dampen recruiting. Consumer spending and borrowing levels remain under pressure, as consumers take a more conservative financial posture including reevaluating their savings and debt management plans. The effects of these trends and conditions are discussed in the Results of Operations section below.
Independent Sales Force. Our ability to increase the size of our sales force is largely based on the success of our recruiting efforts and our ability to train and motivate recruits to obtain licenses to sell life insurance. We believe that recruitment and licensing levels are important advance indicators of sales force trends, and growth in recruiting and licensing is usually indicative of future growth in the overall size of the sales force. Recruiting results do not always result in commensurate changes in the size of our licensed sales force because new recruits may obtain the requisite licenses at rates above or below historical levels.
Details on new recruits and life-licensed sales representative activity were as follows:

                             Three months ended September 30,     Nine months ended September 30,
                                   2012              2011              2012              2011
New recruits                          47,639          83,074             155,166         201,025
New life-licensed sales
representatives                        8,613          10,334              26,049          25,540

Recruiting of new representatives decreased for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2012 compared with the same periods a year ago. The decrease is directly attributable to the strong prior year recruiting surge that followed the announcement of short-term recruiting incentives at our June 2011 biennial sales force convention. However, new life licenses declined to a lesser extent than recruiting during the three months ended September 30, 2012 and increased during the nine months ended September 30, 2012 versus the comparable periods in 2011. The trend in new life license activity was driven by our efforts to balance the emphasis on recruiting and licensing in both our messaging and incentive programs. Results were also driven by the introduction of streamlined life-licensing processes for new recruits.
The size of our life-licensed insurance sales force was as follows:

                                   September 30,     June 30,      March 31,     December 31,
                                       2012            2012          2012            2011
Life-licensed insurance sales
representatives                          91,506        90,868        89,651           91,176

The size of our life-licensed insurance sales force at September 30, 2012 increased since June 30, 2012 as a result of new representative life-licensing discussed above.
Term Life Insurance Segment. Our Term Life Insurance segment results are primarily driven by sales volumes, the accuracy of our pricing assumptions, terms and use of reinsurance, investment income and expenses. Sales and policies in force. Sales of new term policies and the size and characteristics of our in-force book of policies are vital to our results over the long term. Premium revenue is recognized as it is earned over the term of the policy and eligible acquisition expenses are deferred and amortized ratably with the level premiums of the underlying policies. However, because we incur significant cash outflows at or about the time policies are issued, including the payment of sales commissions and underwriting costs, changes in life insurance sales volume will have a more immediate effect on our cash flows. Historically, we have found that while sales volume of term life insurance products between fiscal periods may vary based on a variety of factors, the productivity of our individual sales representatives remains within a relatively

narrow range and, consequently, our sales volume over the longer term generally correlates to the size of our sales force.
The average number of life-licensed sales representatives and the number of term life insurance policies issued, as well as the average monthly rate of new policies issued per life-licensed sales representative, were as follows:

                             Three months ended September 30,     Nine months ended September 30,
                                   2012              2011              2012              2011
Average number of
life-licensed sales
representatives                       91,229          91,302              90,635          92,031
Number of new policies
issued                                53,506          65,067             170,234         176,174
Average monthly rate of new
policies issued per
life-licensed sales
representative                          .20x            .24x                .21x            .21x

The average monthly rate of new policies issued per life-licensed sales representative declined during the three months ended September 30, 2012 in comparison to the prior year period primarily due to the post-convention recruiting surge that generated significant sales referrals and opportunities in the third quarter of 2011.
Pricing assumptions. Our pricing methodology is intended to provide us with appropriate profit margins for the risks we assume. We determine pricing classifications based on the coverage sought, such as the size and term of the policy, and certain policyholder attributes, such as age and health. In addition, we utilize unisex rates for our term life insurance policies. The pricing assumptions that underlie our rates are based upon our best estimates of mortality, persistency and investment yields at the time of issuance, sales force commission rates, issue and underwriting expenses, operating expenses and the characteristics of the insureds, including sex, age, underwriting class, product and amount of coverage. Our results will be affected to the extent there is a variance between our pricing assumptions and actual experience.
• Persistency. Persistency is a measure of how long our insurance policies stay in force. As a general matter, persistency that is lower than our pricing assumptions adversely affects our results over the long term because we lose the recurring revenue stream associated with the policies that lapse. Determining the near-term effects of changes in persistency is more complicated. When persistency is lower than our pricing assumptions, we must accelerate the amortization of DAC. The resultant increase in amortization expense is offset by a corresponding release of reserves associated with lapsed policies, which causes a reduction in benefits and claims expense. The reserves associated with any given policy will change over the term of such policy. As a general matter, reserves are lowest at the inception of a policy term and rise steadily to a peak before declining to zero at the expiration of the policy term. Accordingly, depending on when the lapse occurs in relation to the overall policy term, the reduction in benefits and claims expense may be greater or less than the increase in amortization expense and, consequently, the effects on earnings for a given period could be positive or negative. Persistency levels will impact results to the extent actual experience deviates from the persistency assumptions used to price our products.

• Mortality. Our profitability is affected to the extent actual mortality rates differ from those used in our pricing assumptions. We mitigate a significant portion of our mortality exposure through reinsurance.

• Investment Yields. We use investment yield rates based on yields available at the time a policy is issued. For policies issued in 2010 and after, we have been using an increasing interest rate assumption to reflect the historically low interest rate environment. Both DAC and the reserve liability increase with the assumed investment yield rate. Since DAC is higher than the reserve liability in the early years of a policy, a lower assumed investment yield generally will result in lower profits. In the later years, when the reserve liability is higher than DAC, a lower assumed investment yield generally will result in higher profits. These assumed investment yields, which like other pricing assumptions are locked in at issue, impact the timing but not the aggregate amount of DAC and reserve changes. Actual investment yields will impact net investment income allocated to the Term Life Insurance segment, but will not impact DAC or the reserve liability.

Reinsurance. We use reinsurance extensively, which has a significant effect on our results of operations. Since the mid-1990s, we have reinsured between 60% and 90% of the mortality risk on our U.S. term life insurance policies on a quota share yearly renewable term ("YRT") basis. In Canada, we previously utilized reinsurance arrangements similar to the U.S. in certain years and reinsured only face amounts above $500,000 in other years. However, in the first quarter of 2012, we entered into a YRT reinsurance arrangement in Canada similar to our U.S. program that

reinsures 80% of the face amount for every policy sold. YRT reinsurance permits us to set future mortality at contractual rates by policy class. To the extent actual mortality experience is more or less favorable than the contractual rate, the reinsurer will earn incremental profits or bear the incremental cost, as applicable. In contrast to coinsurance, which is intended to eliminate all risks (other than counterparty risk of the reinsurer) and rewards associated with a specified percentage of the block of policies subject to the reinsurance arrangement, the YRT reinsurance arrangements we enter into are intended only to reduce volatility associated with variances between estimated and actual mortality rates.
The effect of our reinsurance arrangements on ceded premiums and benefits and expenses on our statement of income follows:
• Ceded premiums. Ceded premiums are the premiums we pay to reinsurers. These amounts are deducted from the direct premiums we earn to calculate our net premium revenues. Similar to direct premium revenues, ceded coinsurance premiums remain level over the initial term of the insurance policy. Ceded YRT premiums increase over the period that the policy has been in force. Accordingly, ceded YRT premiums generally constitute an increasing percentage of direct premiums over the policy term.

• Benefits and claims. Benefits and claims include incurred claim amounts and changes in future policy benefit reserves. Reinsurance reduces incurred claims in direct proportion to the percentage ceded. Coinsurance also reduces the change in future policy benefit reserves in direct proportion to the percentage ceded while YRT reinsurance does not significantly impact benefit reserves.

• Amortization of DAC. Amortization of DAC is reduced on a pro-rata basis for the coinsured business, including the business reinsured with Citi. There is no impact on amortization of DAC associated with our YRT contracts.

• Insurance expenses. Insurance expenses are reduced by the allowances received from coinsurance, including the business reinsured with Citi. There is no impact on insurance expenses associated with our YRT contracts.

We may alter our reinsurance practices at any time due to the unavailability of YRT reinsurance at attractive rates or the availability of alternatives to reduce our risk exposure. We presently intend to continue ceding approximately 90% of our U.S. mortality risk on new business and approximately 80% of our Canadian mortality risk on new business.
Net investment income. Term Life Insurance segment net investment income is composed of two elements: allocated net investment income and the market return associated with the deposit asset underlying the 10% reinsurance agreement we executed in connection with our corporate reorganization. Invested assets are allocated to the Term Life segment based on the book value of the invested assets necessary to meet statutory reserve requirements and our targeted capital objectives. Net investment income is also impacted by the performance of our invested asset portfolio and the market return on the deposit asset which can be affected by interest rates, credit spreads and the mix of invested assets. Expenses. Results are also affected by variances in client acquisition, maintenance and administration expense levels.
Investment and Savings Products Segment. Our Investment and Savings Products segment results are primarily driven by sales, the value of assets in client accounts for which we earn ongoing management, service and distribution fees and the number of fee generating accounts we administer.
Sales. We earn commissions and fees, such as dealer re-allowances, and marketing and support fees, based on sales of mutual fund and managed account products and annuities. Sales of investment and savings products are influenced by the overall demand for investment products in the United States and Canada, as well as by the size and productivity of our sales force. We generally experience seasonality in our Investment and Savings Products segment results due to our high concentration of sales of retirement account products. These accounts are typically funded in February through April, coincident with our clients' tax return preparation season. While we believe the size of our sales force is a factor in driving sales volume in this segment, there are a number of other variables, such as economic and market conditions, that may have a significantly greater effect on sales volume in any given fiscal period.
Asset values in client accounts. We earn marketing and distribution fees (trail commissions or, with respect to U.S.

mutual funds, 12b-1 fees) on mutual fund and annuity assets in the United States and Canada. In the United States, we also earn investment advisory fees on assets in the managed accounts program. In Canada, we earn management fees on certain mutual fund assets and on the segregated funds for which we serve as investment manager. Asset values are influenced by new product sales, ongoing contributions to existing accounts, redemptions and the change in market values in existing accounts. While we offer a wide variety of asset classes and investment styles, our clients' accounts are primarily invested in equity funds. Accounts. We earn recordkeeping fees for administrative functions we perform on behalf of several of our retail and managed mutual fund providers and custodial fees for services as a non-bank custodian for certain of our clients' retirement plan accounts.
Sales mix. While our investment and savings products all have similar long-term earnings characteristics, our results in a given fiscal period will be affected by changes in the overall mix of products within these broad categories. Examples of changes in the sales mix that influence our results include the following:
• sales of a higher proportion of mutual fund products of the several mutual fund families for which we act as recordkeeper will generally increase our earnings because we are entitled to recordkeeping fees on these accounts;

• sales of annuity products in the United States will generate higher revenues in the period such sales occur than sales of other investment products that either generate lower upfront revenues or, in the case of managed accounts and segregated funds, no upfront revenues;

• sales and administration of a higher proportion of mutual funds that enable us to earn marketing and support fees will increase our revenues and profitability;

• sales of a higher proportion of retirement products of several mutual fund families will tend to result in higher revenue generation due to our ability to earn custodial fees on these accounts; and

• sales of a higher proportion of managed accounts and segregated funds products will generally extend the time over which revenues can be earned because we are entitled to higher revenues based on assets under management for these accounts in lieu of upfront revenues.

Corporate and Other Distributed Products Segment. We earn revenues and pay commissions and referral fees for various other insurance products, prepaid legal services and other financial products, all of which are originated by third parties. NBLIC also underwrites a mail-order student life policy and a short-term disability benefit policy, neither of which is distributed by our sales force, and has in-force policies from several discontinued lines of insurance. . . .