Critical Point – A Milliman Podcast: Why life insurers are investing in private equity and real estate

Life insurers have historically invested their portfolios in the relative safety of mortgages and bonds, but economic volatility, sticky inflation, and other headwinds have spurred many insurance companies to diversify into alternatives, a trend explored in a recent Milliman paper. On this episode of Critical Point, three of the paper’s authors discuss two alternative asset classes that are particularly attractive to insurers in today’s market: private equity and real estate. They talk about unexpected assets like student housing and storage facilities, the synergy of private equity firms investing in insurers and vice versa, and why many insurance companies continue to hold commercial real estate despite post-pandemic office vacancies.