We study the effects of using investment advisers on life insurers’ investment performance. Using a measure of investment performance that accounts for investment risk and regulatory constraints, we find that life insurers experience an economically and statistically significant increase in investment returns when they start using an investment adviser. The performance increase, however, erodes over time. A change in investment performance is not observed for life insurers that switch away from using an investment adviser. We also find no difference in the investment performance of life insurers that do and do not continuously use an investment adviser throughout our sample period. The results are robust to potential selection issues and alternative explanations.