Investing in America: A Century of Life Insurers’ Impact
Jun 30, 2026
Investing in America: A Century of Life Insurers’ Impact
Jun 30, 2026
As we count down to America’s 250th birthday, it’s a moment to celebrate every year of innovation, opportunity, and community — and the role life insurers have played in fueling that progress for more than a century.
ACLI’s new Investment Book explores how the industry puts policyholder premiums to work, channeling $8.4 trillion across the U.S. economy, funding every part of life in America.
Life insurers make long-term financial promises to policyholders, and long-term investments help fulfill those promises — through turbulent markets, deep recessions, and unforeseen global events. That capital becomes real dollars for our energy grid, supply chains, schools, Main Street businesses, and so much more.
Where Policyholder Premiums Go to Work
- Manufacturing: From American-made steel to the “Breakfast of Champions” — Wheaties® — life insurers have been there from the start, providing essential, long-term capital to the makers and movers of our economy.
- Energy: Life insurers remain the financial backbone of the American energy sector, from the oil fields of Texas to the ethanol refineries of Iowa.
- Agriculture: Our investments support every link in the modern food supply chain, helping ensure a resilient, efficient, and abundant source of nourishment for the nation.
- Community Investments: From the roads you drive to the hospitals that care for your family to a day at your favorite baseball stadium, these investments are so deeply woven into the fabric of our daily lives.
From the first Pennsylvania Railroad bonds in which life insurers invested, to the infrastructure powering communities today, life insurers have helped America keep moving forward. These are the investments that help fill the pages of our national story. Flip through the Investment Book to explore these contributions in depth. As we mark this monumental birthday, we’ll keep highlighting the ways life insurers continue to invest in America’s next chapter.
Doug Lathrop
Doug Lathrop is Vice President, Advocacy Strategies at the ACLI. Prior to joining ACLI in 2024, he spent 16 years at New York Life as their federal tax lobbyist. He spent six years on Capitol Hill working for two senior Republican members of the Ways & Means Committee. He has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Massachusetts.
