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Is Horace Mann Investors a Fiduciary? What Its Own Form CRS Says (2026)

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Updated September 28, 2026. Quick answer: It depends which hat Horace Mann Investors is wearing. As your investment adviser, Horace Mann Investors owes you a fiduciary duty under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. As your broker-dealer, Horace Mann Investors owes you Regulation Best Interest, a real and enforceable standard, but not a fiduciary duty. Horace Mann Investors’ own Form CRS states: “When we provide you with a recommendation as your broker-dealer or act as your investment adviser, we must act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours.”

How it’s registered

From Form CRS, Customer Relationship Summary, Horace Mann Investors (March 2026): “Horace Mann Investors, Inc. (“HMII”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) as both a broker-dealer and an investment advisor.”

The standard of conduct, in its own words

“When we provide you with a recommendation as your broker-dealer or act as your investment adviser, we must act in your best interest and not put our interest ahead of yours.”

On commissions: “Our RRs receive cash compensation when making recommendations involving sales of securities products. Our IARs receive cash compensation when making a recommendation for a managed account subject to an asset-based fee.”

Fiduciary status by capacity

CapacityRegistrationStandard you’re owedCan earn commissionsSource
As your broker-dealerSEC-registered broker-dealerRegulation Best Interest (not a fiduciary duty)YesForm CRS, Customer Relationship Summary, Horace Mann Investors, March 2026
As your investment adviserSEC-registered investment adviserFiduciary duty (Investment Advisers Act of 1940)No (asset-based advisory fee: $8,000 a year, 1.60% on a $500,000 account)Form CRS, Customer Relationship Summary, Horace Mann Investors, March 2026

What this means for what you pay

Fiduciary status is one input, not the whole picture. Horace Mann Investors discloses a published fee that runs $8,000 a year on a $500,000 account, per its own current Form ADV Part 2A (March 31, 2026), cited in Sources below. A dedicated fee page for Horace Mann Investors has not been published on this site yet.

If the answer above changes your mind about staying, read the general mechanics of switching financial advisors, or use a dated termination letter once you decide. A dedicated how-to-leave page for Horace Mann Investors has not been published on this site yet.

Other fiduciary-status pages

Read this one, this one too, and one more.

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Sources

Methodology. This page was built September 28, 2026, quoting directly from Horace Mann Investors’ own current Form CRS, with the source linked above; any distinction we could not independently confirm this session is named as an honest gap rather than presented as verified. Nothing here is personalized financial, tax, legal, or investment advice, and it is not a substitute for reading the firm’s own Form CRS. See our Editorial Policy, Corrections, Affiliate Disclosure, and Disclaimer.