Sources Of Income

In insurance, company revenues from underwriting and investment. Insurance companies make money first, by underwriting good risks so that their premium dollars cover claims losses and expenses (the money left over being called underwriting income), and second, by investing premium dollars until claims have to be paid (called investment income), sometimes many years later. In the late 1970s, for example, casualty insurers lost money on underwriting but made up for the loss with a gain in investment income.