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, 2019-2021 (1)

($ millions, end of year)

  Amount Percent of total investments
Investment type 2019 2020 2021 2019 2020 2021
Bonds $1,066,685 $1,111,622 $1,178,226 57.05% 55.38% 53.02%
Stocks 500,031 536,272 657,175 26.74 26.71 29.58
     Preferred 14,261 16,515 17,447 0.76 0.82 0.79
     Common 485,770 519,757 639,728 25.98 25.89 28.79
Mortgage loans on real estate 22,132 23,660 27,021 1.18 1.18 1.22
     First liens 20,835 23,298 26,526 1.11 1.16 1.19
     Other than first liens 1,298 362 495 0.07 0.02 0.02
Real estate 13,677 13,739 13,301 0.73 0.68 0.60
     Properties occupied by company 9,190 9,151 8,875 0.49 0.46 0.40
     Properties held for income production 4,102 4,297 4,017 0.22 0.21 0.18
     Properties held for sale 384 290 409 0.02 0.01 0.02
Cash, cash equivalent and short-term investments 115,039 140,244 156,464 6.15 6.99 7.04
Derivatives 273 537 609 0.01 0.03 0.03
Other invested assets 146,380 175,007 180,263 7.83 8.72 8.11
Receivable for securities 1,545 2,326 3,177 0.08 0.12 0.14
Securities lending reinvested collateral assets 4,444 4,537 6,520 0.24 0.23 0.29
Aggregate write-in for invested assets -353 -547 -711 NA NA NA
Total cash and invested assets $1,869,854 $2,007,396 $2,222,046 100.00% 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, 2021

 

(1) Cash and invested net admitted assets, as of December 31, 2021.
(2) Includes mortgage loans on real estate.
*Bonds represents 53.02% of total investments.

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

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