1 Terrible Investing Habit You Need to Break: American International Group, Inc. (AIG)

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In the P&C market, AIG held the No. 5 spot based on premium market share:

Insurance Company Rank in NAIC Market Share Research Total Written Premiums % of Market
State Farm 1 $52.6 billion 10.50%
Allstate (NYSE:ALL) 4 $26.4 billion 5.30%
AIG 5 $25.3 billion 5.06%
Berkshire Hathaway 7 $17.8 billion 3.60%

Source: NAIC 2011 Market Research.

While it may be true that AIG was one of the companies central to the economic collapse, it’s clear that customers have not stayed away from their services as much as investors have.

Printed materials
One of the biggest sources of information we have comes from the media, and the availability heuristic takes much of what we see in the news into account when we’re trying to make decisions. Though your most recent memory of AIG may be the hubbub about lawsuits and other headlines, the company has actually made some serious progress that doesn’t get recognized enough. The news that precipitated the insurer’s latest scandal (suing the government for bailing it out) was that it had in fact paid off the government for said bailout — three years early. But while it’s great that there’s some good news, it’s the bad or scandalous stuff that sticks with us.

One of AIG’s other contemporaries, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) , knows this point all too well. Embroiled in lawsuits left and right regarding its mortgage business in the (acquired) Countrywide division, B of A has been fighting an uphill battle to regain investor confidence. Though the bank is the best capitalized of its class and has taken great steps to improve its customer relations, the bank continues to suffer from investor uncertainty surrounding its legal troubles. While other banks have had similar legal battles, the frequency of Bank of America’s name in headlines has made it the leading punching bag for financial bears.

The article 1 Terrible Investing Habit You Need to Break originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Jessica Alling.

Fool contributor Jessica Alling has no position in any stocks mentioned, but you can contact her here. The Motley Fool recommends American International Group (NYSE:AIG) and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool owns shares of American International Group, Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, and Citigroup and has the following options: Long Jan 2014 $25 Calls on American International Group.

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