Berkshire’s short-term investments near $100bn

Written by Adam Cadle

03/01/2024

Berkshire’s statutory short-term investment holdings have hit $98.45bn, according to latest S&P Global Market Intelligence analysis.

The bulk of Berkshire’s short-term investments lie with its P&C subsidiaries, but its life companies own significant holdings also. Its P&C subsidiaries’ short-term investments in 2023 exceeded $60bn and reached the highest level since 2001 with an aggregate carrying value of $92.68bn as of 30 September 2023, a 100.1%, or $46.37bn increase from year-end 2021. The only other instance where the company’s net short-term investment assets exceeded $60bn was at the end of Q3 2020.

For its life companies, Berkshire subsidiaries reported $5.76bn as of 30 September 2023, on a statutory basis. Its short-term investments accounted for 21.6% of its total investable assets.

Discussing its strategy in its latest quarterly report, the company said “maintaining ample liquidity is paramount and we insist on safety over yield concerning short-term investments”.

The analysis also showed that many companies smaller than Berkshire also grew short-term investments since 2021. Brookfield Reinsurance saw the largest increase outside of the Berkshire companies. From year-end 2021, it increased its short-term investments from just over $110m to nearly $3bn as of 30 September 2023. The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. saw a change of more than $2bn in short-term investments from 2021 to 30 September 2023. Northwestern Mutual also saw the largest net yield on average invested assets year to date at 4.4%.

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