Gains and losses on investments, including equity method earnings from limited partnerships, for the years ended December 31 are summarized below: Gain and loss activity for fixed income and equity security investments, as shown in the previous table, includes adjustments for other-than- temporary impairment for the years ended December 31 summarized as follows: There is no primary market and only a limited secondary market for the Company's investments in limited partnerships and, in most cases, the Company is prohibited from disposing of its limited partnership interests for some period of time and generally must seek approval from the applicable general partner for any such disposal. Distributions of earnings from these partnerships are largely at the sole discretion of the general partners and distributions are generally not received by the Company for many years after the earnings have been reported. The Company has a commitment to contribute up to an additional $1,317 to a limited partnership as of December 31, 2018. - 51 - 2018 2017 2016 Gross gains on available-for-sale investments sold during the period: Fixed income securities $ 10,807 $ 9,135 $ 11,628 Equity securities  (1) – 10,481 28,742 Total gains 10,807 19,616 40,370 Gross losses on available-for-sale investments sold during the period: Fixed income securities (14,367 ) (9,882 ) (10,940 ) Equity securities  (1) – (2,368 ) (2,932 ) Total losses (14,367 ) (12,250 ) (13,872 ) Other-than-temporary impairments (19 ) (149 ) (5,743 ) Change in value of limited partnership investments (9,343 ) 12,469 2,473 Losses on equity securities: Realized losses on equity securities sold during the period  (2) (3,072 ) – – Unrealized losses on equity securities held at the end of the period (9,697 ) – – Realized and unrealized losses on equity securities held at the end of the period (12,769 ) – – Net realized and unrealized gains (losses) on investments $ (25,691 ) $ 19,686 $ 23,228 (1) Effective January 1, 2018, the Company adopted ASU 2016-01 and equity securities are no longer classified as available-for-sale. Prior periods have not been restated to conform to the current presentation. See Note A – Summary of Significant Accounting Policies — Recently Adopted Accounting Pronouncements for further discussion. (2) During 2018, the Company sold $149,195 in equity securities, resulting in a gain on sale of $51,900. The majority of these gains were included in unrealized gains within other comprehensive income (loss) at December 31, 2017 and, as a result of the adoption of ASU 2016-01, were reclassified to retained earnings as of January 1, 2018 and were therefore not recognized in the consolidated statements of operations for the year ended December 31, 2018. 2018 2017 2016 Cumulative charges to income at beginning of year $ 4,209 $ 5,650 $ 10,513 Writedowns based on objective and subjective criteria 19 149 5,743 Recovery of prior writedowns upon sale or disposal (3,298 ) (1,590 ) (10,606 ) Net pre-tax realized gain 3,279 1,441 4,863 Cumulative charges to income at end of year $ 930 $ 4,209 $ 5,650