Total investment returns for the US life/health industry increased 4.5% in 2025 on a pretax basis, according to AM Best.
The return for last year was the highest since 2021, which saw pretax investment returns reach 5.1%, according to AM Best.
The top 100 insurers saw returns of 4.51% in 2025, while the top 25 carriers recorded a slightly smaller set of returns at 4.31%. The top five carriers were unchanged from the rankings for the prior year.
Prudential of America Group remained in the top spot for 2025, with a total pretax return of 3.6% on its $606.33bn in admitted assets.
Filling out the top five were: No. 2 New York Life Group, with a 4.6% return on admitted assets of $479.82bn; third-place MetLife Life Insurance Cos., 4.3% and $430.43bn; No. 4 Massachusetts Mutual Life Group, 4.3% and $422.97bn; and fifth-place Northwestern Mutual Group, 4.5% and $399.15bn.
Equitable Life Group and Ameriprise Financial Group posted the only negative returns among the top 25, at -2.6% and -2%, respectively. Equitable had admitted assets of $290.84bn, while Ameriprise had $130.53bn.
