For over 175 years, life insurers have kept our mission simple: to be there when people need us most, whether that’s tomorrow, next year or decades from now.
What makes life insurers unique is our long-term perspective. While some financial institutions are built around short-term liquidity, life insurers are built for the long term — managing obligations that can span generations.
As families live longer and face greater uncertainty, demand for long-term financial protection continues to grow. But delivering on that promise takes constant preparation.
Life insurers invest for the long term, building diversified portfolios of stocks, bonds and other high-quality assets to generate steady returns and meet future obligations. With $3.2 trillion invested in U.S. corporate bonds, these portfolios remain strong and balanced.
Life insurers also use tools like reinsurance to manage risk and access the capital needed to support policyholders over decades.
Together, these strategies — supported by strong regulatory safeguards — build resilience and deliver financial security that families can count on for a lifetime.
Markets move. Trends change. Life insurers stay strong and steady, guided by obligations that reach far into the future.
One way we do that is by taking a deliberate, long-term approach to investing. Insurers select assets that line up with liabilities, ensuring guarantees can be met whenever needed. The business model, at its core, depends on matching long‑term investments to long‑term promises.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, life insurers maintained more than twice the required capital, even while paying out 100-year record level claims two years in a row, totaling more than $190 billion to the beneficiaries of life insurance policies in 2020 and 2021.
At the same time, insurers helped stabilize the bond market. While other investors were selling assets, we purchased $2.5 billion in bonds between March 6 and 19, 2020.
Life insurers help 90 million American families build financial confidence, backed by disciplined investing and a deep sense of responsibility.
This commitment is reinforced by a rigorous, state-based regulatory framework that protects policyholders at every stage — through strict capital requirements, detailed financial reporting and regular state examinations.
The result is a focus on quality and stability: 95% of life insurers’ bond portfolios are investment-grade.
