A Firm Foundation: How Insurance Supports the Economy

Property/casualty (P/C) insurer cash and invested assets were $1.9 trillion in 2019. In 2019 P/C insurers invested 27 percent of their assets in stocks, a highly liquid investment, and 57 percent in bonds.

Investments, Property/Casualty Insurers, 2017-2019 (1)

($ millions, end of year)

  Amount Percent of total investments
Investment type 2017 2018 2019 2017 2018 2019
Bonds $979,530 $1,020,600 $1,066,685 57.91% 60.23% 57.05%
Stocks 417,449 396,972 500,031 24.68 23.43 26.74
     Preferred 5,448 5,247 14,261 0.32 0.31 0.76
     Common 412,001 391,725 485,770 24.36 23.12 25.98
Mortgage loans on real estate 17,324 18,876 22,132 1.02 1.11 1.18
     First liens 16,643 18,220 20,835 0.98 1.08 1.11
     Other than first liens 681 656 1,298 0.04 0.04 0.07
Real estate 12,887 13,667 13,677 0.76 0.81 0.73
     Properties occupied by company 9,122 9,290 9,190 0.54 0.55 0.49
     Properties held for income production 3,543 3,950 4,102 0.21 0.23 0.22
     Properties held for sale 223 427 384 0.01 0.03 0.02
Cash, cash equivalent and short-term investments 115,060 101,384 115,039 6.80 5.98 6.15
Derivatives 233 411 273 0.01 0.02 0.01
Other invested assets 137,878 133,876 146,380 8.15 7.90 7.83
Receivable for securities 2,102 1,919 1,545 0.12 0.11 0.08
Securities lending reinvested collateral assets 4,440 4,804 4,444 0.26 0.28 0.24
Aggregate write-in for invested assets 4,673 1,915 -353 0.28 0.11 NA
Total cash and invested assets $1,691,575 $1,694,424 $1,869,854 100.00% 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 vast majority of bonds are government issued or are high-grade corporates. Bonds in or near default accounted for less than 1 percent (0.12 percent) of all short- and long-term bonds owned by insurers at the end of 2018, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Investments, Property/Casualty Insurers, 2019

 

(1) Cash and invested net admitted assets, as of December 31, 2019.
(2) Includes mortgage loans on real estate.
*Bonds represents 57.05% of total investments.

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

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