Asset managers at the world's life and annuity issuers might have come into 2026 fully of optimism about the U.S. stock market, the fundamental strength of the U.S. economy and the appeal of investments in private credit.
Teams at Goldman Sachs and Nuveen have shown how much difference a few weeks can make in two new survey reports.
Nuveen, a TIAA affiliate, attracted responses from 238 insurance industry asset managers when it conducted its recent EQuilibrium survey. The participants filled out their questionnaires from October 2025 through November 2025. About 33% of the insurance sector participants were in North America, and $3.7 trillion of the $5.1 trillion in insurance sector assets represented were at life and annuity issuers.
Goldman Sachs Asset Management polled 434 insurance sector chief investment officers and chief financial officers from Jan. 11 through Feb. 3. Roughly 34% of the Global Sachs survey participants were based in the Americas — including Canada and Bermuda — and 85% of the associated insurance company assets were at life, annuity, health and multi-line companies.
The survey teams completed both surveys before fears about private credit arrangements flared up and before the Iran war started.
The survey teams were in a position similar to where they were in the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 changed everything between the time most of the big asset manager surveys were completed and the time the organizers shared the results, and in the spring of 2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine changed everything.
For five looks at where the asset managers' heads were before everything changed this time around, see the gallery accompanying this article.
Credit: Adobe Stock
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