The following describes the valuation methodologies generally used by the independent pricing sources, or by us, to measure financial instruments at fair value, including the general classification of such financial instruments pursuant to the valuation hierarchy.

U.S. Treasury Securities and Obligations of U.S. Government Corporations and Agencies: Securities with valuations derived from quoted prices for identical instruments in active markets that we can access are categorized in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy. Securities valued by surveying the dealer community, obtaining relevant trade data, benchmark quotes and spreads and incorporating this information in the valuation process are categorized as Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Corporate Debt Bonds are valued by surveying the dealer community, obtaining relevant trade data, benchmark quotes and spreads and incorporating this information into the valuation process. These securities are generally categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Obligations of U.S. States & Political Subdivisions are valued by tracking, capturing, and analyzing quotes for active issues and trades reported via the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board records. Daily briefings and reviews of current economic conditions, trading levels, spread relationships, and the slope of the yield curve provide further data for evaluation. These securities are generally categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities ("RMBS") are valued by monitoring interest rate movements, and other pertinent data daily. Incoming market data is enriched to derive spread, yield and/or price data as appropriate, enabling known data points to be extrapolated for valuation application across a range of related securities. These securities are generally categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities ("CMBS") are valued using techniques that reflect market participants’ assumptions and maximize the use of relevant observable inputs including quoted prices for similar assets, benchmark yield curves and market corroborated inputs. Evaluation uses regular reviews of the inputs for securities covered, including executed trades, broker quotes, credit information, collateral attributes and/or cash flow waterfall as applicable. These securities are generally categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Asset-Backed Securities ("ABS") are valued using spreads and other information solicited from market buy-and-sell-side sources, including primary and secondary dealers, portfolio managers, and research analysts. Cash flows are generated for each tranche, benchmark yields are determined, and deal collateral performance and tranche level attributes including trade activity, bids, and offers are applied, resulting in tranche specific prices. These securities are generally categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Collateralized loan obligations ("CLOs") are valued by evaluating manager rating, seniority in the capital structure, assumptions about prepayment, default and recovery and their impact on cash flow generation. Loan level net asset values are determined and aggregated for tranches and as a final step prices are checked against available recent trade activity. These securities are generally categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Foreign government debt is valued by surveying the dealer community, obtaining relevant trade data, benchmark quotes and spreads and incorporating this information into the valuation process. These securities are generally categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Commercial Paper, which has an original maturity greater than 90 days, is valued using market data for comparable instruments of similar maturity and average yields. These securities are categorized in Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

•Equity securities: Consist of actively traded, exchange-listed equity securities, including exchange traded funds (“ETFs”) and Bond Mutual Funds, with valuations derived from quoted prices for identical assets in active markets that we can access. These securities are valued in Level 1 of the fair value hierarchy.

•Cash Equivalents: Consists of money market funds and treasury bills with valuations derived from quoted prices for identical assets in active markets that we can access. These securities are valued in level 1 of the fair value hierarchy. Instruments in this category valued using market data for comparable instruments are classified as level 2 in the fair value hierarchy.

•Real estate acquired is valued at the lower of our acquisition cost or a percentage of the appraised value. The percentage applied to the appraised value is based upon our historical sales experience adjusted for current trends. These securities are categorized in level 3 of the fair value hierarchy.

Assets measured at fair value, by hierarchy level, as of June 30, 2021 and December 31, 2020 are shown in tables 8.1a and 8.1b below. The fair value of the assets is estimated using the process described above, and more fully in Note 3 - “Significant Accounting Policies” to the consolidated financial statements in our 2020 Annual Report on Form 10-K.


Assets carried at fair value by hierarchy level as of June 30, 2021
Table	8.1a
(In thousands)		Total Fair Value		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
U.S. Treasury securities and obligations of U.S. government corporations and agencies		$	236,320	$	151,328	$	84,992	$	—
Obligations of U.S. states and political subdivisions		2,498,894		—		2,498,894		—
Corporate debt securities		2,956,061		—		2,956,061		—
ABS		155,733		—		155,733		—
RMBS		379,203		—		379,203		—
CMBS		327,435		—		327,435		—
CLOs		396,957		—		396,957		—
Foreign government debt		13,806		—		13,806		—

Total fixed income securities		6,964,409		151,328		6,813,081		—
Equity securities		15,453		15,453		—		—
Cash Equivalents		170,604		170,604		—		—
Real estate acquired (1)		572		—		—		572
Total		$	7,151,038	$	337,385	$	6,813,081	$	572


Assets carried at fair value by hierarchy level as of December 31, 2020
Table	8.1b
(In thousands)		Total Fair Value		Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets (Level 1)		Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)		Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3)
U.S. Treasury securities and obligations of U.S. government corporations and agencies		$	265,693	$	149,339	$	116,354	$	—
Obligations of U.S. states and political subdivisions		2,249,869		—		2,249,869		—
Corporate debt securities		2,844,288		—		2,844,288		—
ABS		206,686		—		206,686		—
RMBS		431,166		—		431,166		—
CMBS		327,502		—		327,502		—
CLOs		310,490		—		310,490		—
Foreign government debt		4,709		—		4,709		—
Commercial paper		21,193		—		21,193		—
Total fixed income securities		6,661,596		149,339		6,512,257		—
Equity securities		18,215		18,215		—		—
Cash Equivalents		288,941		275,668		13,273		—
Real estate acquired (1)		1,092		—		—		1,092
Total		$	6,969,844	$	443,222	$	6,525,530	$	1,092

Certain financial instruments, including insurance contracts, are excluded from these fair value disclosure requirements. The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents (Level 1) and accrued investment income (Level 2) approximated their fair values. Additional fair value disclosures related to our investment portfolio are included in Note 7 – “Investments.”

For assets measured at fair value using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3), a reconciliation of the beginning and ending balances for the three and six months ended June 30, 2021 and 2020 is shown in tables 8.2a through 8.2d below. There were no losses included in earnings for those periods attributable to the change in unrealized losses on assets still held at the end of the applicable period.


Fair value roll-forward for financial instruments classified as Level 3 for the three months ended June 30, 2021
Table	8.2a

(In thousands)		Real Estate Acquired
Balance at March 31, 2021		$	1,794
Purchases		769
Sales		(2,223)
Included in earnings and reported as losses incurred, net		232
Balance at June 30, 2021		$	572

Fair value roll-forward for financial instruments classified as Level 3 for the six months ended June 30, 2021
Table	8.2b

(In thousands)		Real Estate Acquired
Balance at December 31, 2020		$	1,092
Purchases		2,777
Sales		(3,654)
Included in earnings and reported as losses incurred, net		357
Balance at June 30, 2021		$	572


Fair value roll-forward for financial instruments classified as Level 3 for the three months ended June 30, 2020
Table	8.2c
(In thousands)		Real Estate Acquired
Balance at March 31, 2020		$	6,226
Purchases		1,806
Sales		(6,526)
Included in earnings and reported as losses incurred, net		457
Balance at June 30, 2020		$	1,963

Fair value roll-forward for financial instruments classified as Level 3 for the six months ended June 30, 2020
Table	8.2d

(In thousands)		Real Estate Acquired
Balance at December 31, 2019		$	7,252
Purchases		5,921
Sales		(11,725)
Included in earnings and reported as losses incurred, net		515
Balance at June 30, 2020		$	1,963

Other invested assets include an investment in FHLB stock that is carried at cost, which due to restrictions that require it to be redeemed or sold only to the security issuer at par value, approximates fair value. The fair value of other invested assets is categorized as Level 2.

Financial liabilities include our outstanding debt obligations. The fair values of our 5.75% and 5.25% Notes and 9% Debentures were based on observable market prices. The fair value of the FHLB Advance was estimated using cash flows discounted at current incremental borrowing rates for similar borrowing arrangements. In all cases the fair values of the financial liabilities below are categorized as Level 2.


Financial assets and liabilities not measured at fair value
Table	8.3
		June 30, 2021				December 31, 2020
(In thousands)		Carrying Value		Fair Value		Carrying Value		Fair Value
Financial assets
Other invested assets		$	3,100	$	3,100	$	3,100	$	3,100

Financial liabilities
FHLB Advance		155,000		159,381		155,000		160,865
5.75% Senior Notes		240,926		262,012		240,597		261,752
5.25% Senior Notes		639,517		689,813		638,782		696,449
9% Convertible Junior Subordinated Debentures		208,814		276,844		208,814		273,569
Total financial liabilities		$	1,244,257	$	1,388,050	$	1,243,193	$	1,392,635