A Firm Foundation: How Insurance Supports the Economy

Property/casualty (P/C) insurer cash and invested assets were $2.0 trillion in 2020. In 2020 P/C insurers invested 27 percent of their assets in stocks, a highly liquid investment, and 55 percent in bonds.

Investments, Property/Casualty Insurers, 2018-2020 (1)

($ millions, end of year)

  Amount Percent of total investments
Investment type 2018 2019 2020 2018 2019 2020
Bonds $1,020,600 $1,066,685 $1,111,622 60.23% 57.05% 55.38%
Stocks 396,972 500,031 536,272 23.43 26.74 26.71
     Preferred 5,247 14,261 16,515 0.31 0.76 0.82
     Common 391,725 485,770 519,757 23.12 25.98 25.89
Mortgage loans on real estate 18,876 22,132 23,660 1.11 1.18 1.18
     First liens 18,220 20,835 23,298 1.08 1.11 1.16
     Other than first liens 656 1,298 362 0.04 0.07 0.02
Real estate 13,667 13,677 13,739 0.81 0.73 0.68
     Properties occupied by company 9,290 9,190 9,151 0.55 0.49 0.46
     Properties held for income production 3,950 4,102 4,297 0.23 0.22 0.21
     Properties held for sale 427 384 290 0.03 0.02 0.01
Cash, cash equivalent and short-term investments 101,384 115,039 140,244 5.98 6.15 6.99
Derivatives 411 273 537 0.02 0.01 0.03
Other invested assets 133,876 146,380 175,007 7.90 7.83 8.72
Receivable for securities 1,919 1,545 2,326 0.11 0.08 0.12
Securities lending reinvested collateral assets 4,804 4,444 4,537 0.28 0.24 0.23
Aggregate write-in for invested assets 1,915 -353 -547 0.11 NA NA
Total cash and invested assets $1,694,424 $1,869,854 $2,007,396 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%

(1) Includes cash and net admitted assets of property/casualty insurers.

NA=Not applicable.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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Bonds

Property/casualty insurers invest primarily in safe, liquid securities, mainly bonds. These provide stability against underwriting results, which can vary considerably from year to year. The majority of bonds are government issued or are high-grade corporates. Bonds in or near default accounted for less than 1 percent (0.13 percent) of all short- and long-term bonds owned by insurers at the end of 2020, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Investments, Property/Casualty Insurers, 2020

 

(1) Cash and invested net admitted assets, as of December 31, 2020.
(2) Includes mortgage loans on real estate.
*Bonds represents 55.38% of total investments.

Source: NAIC data, sourced from S&P Global Market Intelligence, Insurance Information Institute.

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