Insurance Life

Premiums + Fees vs Net Investment Income

How life insurers earn money: premiums and fees customers pay vs net investment income (NII) from investing those premiums, across five major carriers.
MetLifeMET
PrudentialPRU
ManulifeMFC
AflacAFL
Globe LifeGL
Premiums & FeesNet Investment Income

Net Investment Yield: 2018-2025

Net investment yield (annual investment income over average invested assets), 2018-2025, the main profitability driver for life insurers. Yields rose from ~3.5% to ~4.5% after 2022.

Assets under management and separate-account assets

Assets Under Management / separate-account assets by carrier (Q4 2025). Captures the fee-generating asset-management arm beyond the insurance book, from Ameriprise and PGIM at the top to pure underwriters with none at all.

Operating ROE: 2024 vs 2025

Operating ROE (adjusted operating earnings divided by shareholders' equity) for major life carriers, 2024 vs 2025, against the 12% long-term target line.

Alt Managers' Insurance Balance Sheets

How Apollo, KKR, and Ares each fund private credit origination with annuity liabilities (Q4 2025), and how differently the three disclose it.
ManagerInsurance platformReported segmentInsurance assetsInsurance earnings (FY2025)Inflows (FY2025)
APO

Apollo Global Management

Athene

Merged Jan 2022

Retirement Services$292B

Athene net invested assets at 12/31/25

$3,361M

Spread Related Earnings (SRE), FY2025. Net investment spread $4,368M, up 5.3% on FY2024.

$83B

Retirement Services gross inflows, FY2025. A record year, including $14B in Q4.

KKR

KKR & Co.

Global Atlantic

Bought in the rest Jan 2024, $2.7B

Insurance$219B

Global Atlantic AUM at 12/31/25, of which $164B is credit AUM and $58B sits in Ivy and other sponsored reinsurance vehicles.

$1,109M

Insurance operating earnings, FY2025, up from $1,015M in FY2024. Segment net investment income was $7,224M against $5,229M net cost of insurance.

Not disclosed

Not broken out as a figure. Q4 inflows attributed to individual-markets annuity sales, a block reinsurance transaction, and institutional flow business.

ARES

Ares Management

Aspida

Launched 2020, managed by Ares Insurance Solutions

NoneNot disclosed

Aspida's balance sheet does not appear in Ares SEC filings. Ares reports Aspida-managed assets inside the Credit group rather than as a separate insurance line.

Not disclosed

No insurance segment earnings reported. Ares reports firm-level fee related earnings only.

$7.1B

Capital raised into the Insurance line of Other Businesses, FY2025, described as additional managed assets. This is not annuity inflows and not Aspida's balance sheet.

US Individual Annuity Sales by Product

LIMRA US individual annuity sales by product ($B), 2024 vs 2025. 2025 totalled $464.1B. RILA was the growth line, up 20% to $79.5B, and larger than traditional variable annuities for a second year.

Life Insurer Statutory Capital Ratios

Disclosed Company Action Level RBC (and Aflac Japan SMR) for large life writers. MetLife reports a floor, not a point estimate. Ratios sit multiples above the 100% CAL action threshold.
CarrierMetricRatioKindAs of
MET

MetLife

NAIC-based combined RBC (CAL)>380%Floor (in excess of)2024-12-31
PRU

Prudential (PICA)

PICA RBC (CAL)435%Filed point2023-12-31
AFL

Aflac US

Combined US RBC (CAL)677%Filed point2024-12-31
AFL

Aflac Japan

Japan SMR1,221%Filed point2024-12-31
GL

Globe Life

Consolidated CAL RBC~310%Expected2024-12-31
  • MET: 10-K: combined NAIC-based RBC 'in excess of 380%' at 12/31/24 (in excess of 400% at 12/31/23). Statement-based combined RBC was in excess of 360% at 12/31/24.
  • PRU: PICA RBC 435% at 12/31/23, the latest filed point estimate in the 2024 10-K. Management said 2024 domestic RBC ratios were expected to remain above AA-rating targets.
  • AFL: Combined RBC of Aflac's US life entities as if one RBC filer. 710% at 12/31/23. Target range over time is 350% to 450%.
  • AFL: Japan FSA solvency margin ratio, not US RBC. 1,219% at 12/31/23. A 200% SMR is the typical regulatory concern threshold.
  • GL: 2024 10-K: consolidated Company Action Level RBC 'expected to be approximately 310%' for 2024. 2025 target range 300% to 320%.

Aflac US RBC vs Japan Solvency Margin

Aflac 2024 10-K. Combined US life RBC (left axis) versus Japan FSA solvency margin ratio (right axis). Different formulas, both well above their action thresholds.
Sterling

Prefer Sterling in Google

Add sterlingcharts.com as a preferred source so our charts can appear with a preferred badge in Google Top Stories, AI Mode, and AI Overviews.

Add as preferred source

Ask Sterling

Register for a premium account to gain access to Sterling AI.

Get Started

Things you can ask Sterling:

Summarize Tesla's latest earnings reportWhy did NVIDIA's margins expand?Compare Apple vs Microsoft's cash flowWhat's driving EV industry growth?
Menu
Favorites
Insurance Life: Market Data | Sterling