4. INVESTMENTS

Investments consist of $0.8 million of money market funds and $0.3 million of equity securities, both held to fund ALC's executive retirement plan (“ERP”) obligations, and $0.7 million held in individual equity securities which were contributed to ALC's capital upon the Separation, all of which are classified as available-for-sale and stated at fair value based on market quotes at December 31, 2011.

The securities related to the executive retirement plan are held in a securities brokerage account and are invested at the specific direction of the participants. Investment options include a limited number of mutual funds and money market funds.

In December 2009, ALC elected to account for securities related to the executive retirement plan under the fair value option of ASC Topic 825. As a result of making this election, all future gains and losses related to these investments will be recorded in the consolidated statements of operations as a component of general and administrative expense. Interest income and dividends are reported as a component of interest income. The purpose for making this election was to mitigate volatility in ALC's reported earnings as the change in market value of the investments will be offset by the recording of the related deferred compensation expense.

The other equity investments are being accounted for under ASC Topic 320 and are recorded at fair value. Unrealized gains and losses which are determined to be temporary in nature are recorded net of deferred taxes as a component of other comprehensive income. In the event unrealized losses are determined to be other-than-temporary, the unrealized loss is reclassified from comprehensive income and reported in the consolidated statements of operations. The current fair market value of the impaired investment then becomes the new cost basis of the investment. In the second quarter of 2010, the Company performed its quarterly review of investment securities and determined the severity and duration of the impairment on its equity investments and the likelihood of recovery of these investments was such that the investments were other-than-temporarily impaired. An other-than-temporary loss on investments of $2.0 million was recorded in the year ended December 31, 2010. No such impairment was recorded in the years ended December 31, 2011 or 2009.

ALC recorded realized gains of $1.0 million in 2011 and $23,000 in 2010 and realized losses of $53,000 in 2009. The 2011 $1.0 million gain and the $23,000 gain were reported as a separate line item in the consolidated income statement and the 2009

loss was reported in general and administrative expense. Gains and losses on ERP investments are reported in general and administrative expense.

Investments consisted of the following:

	December 31, 2011						December 31, 2010
	Cost		Fair Market Value		Unrealized Gain		Cost		Fair Market Value		Unrealized Gain
	(In thousands)
Time deposits	$	-	$	-	$	-	$	601	$	601	$	-
ERP Investments		1,120		1,127		7		1,029		1,036		7
Equity Investments with unrealized gains		474		713		239		2,201		2,962		761
Total Investments	$	1,594	$	1,840	$	246	$	3,831	$	4,599	$	768