a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company is a registered life insurance company that maintains separate account assets , representing segregated funds held for purposes of funding individual and group pension contracts , and equal and offsetting separate account liabilities . at decem - ber 31 , 2008 and 2007 , the level 3 separate account assets were approximately $ 4 and $ 12 , respectively . the changes in level 3 assets primarily relate to purchases , sales and gains/ ( losses ) . the net investment income and net gains and losses attributable to separate account assets accrue directly to the contract owner and are not reported as non-operating income ( expense ) on the consolidated statements of income . level 3 assets , which includes equity method investments or consolidated investments of real estate funds , private equity funds and funds of private equity funds are valued based upon valuations received from internal as well as third party fund managers . fair valuations at the underlying funds are based on a combination of methods which may include third-party independent appraisals and discounted cash flow techniques . direct investments in private equity companies held by funds of private equity funds are valued based on an assessment of each under - lying investment , incorporating evaluation of additional significant third party financing , changes in valuations of comparable peer companies and the business environment of the companies , among other factors . see note 2 for further detail on the fair value policies by the underlying funds . changes in level 3 assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis for the year ended december 31 , 2008 .
what is the net change in the balance of level 3 investments assets during 2008?
total net ( losses ) for the period included in earnings attributable to the change in unrealized gains or ( losses ) relating to assets still held at the reporting date $ ( 366 ) $ ( 17 ) realized and unrealized gains and losses recorded for level 3 assets are reported in non-operating income ( expense ) on the consolidated statements of income . non-controlling interest expense is recorded for consoli- dated investments to reflect the portion of gains and losses not attributable to the company . the company transfers assets in and/or out of level 3 as significant inputs , including performance attributes , used for the fair value measurement become observable . 6 . variable interest entities in the normal course of business , the company is the manager of various types of sponsored investment vehicles , including collateralized debt obligations and sponsored investment funds , that may be considered vies . the company receives management fees or other incen- tive related fees for its services and may from time to time own equity or debt securities or enter into derivatives with the vehicles , each of which are considered variable inter- ests . the company engages in these variable interests principally to address client needs through the launch of such investment vehicles . the vies are primarily financed via capital contributed by equity and debt holders . the company 2019s involvement in financing the operations of the vies is limited to its equity interests , unfunded capital commitments for certain sponsored investment funds and its capital support agreements for two enhanced cash funds . the primary beneficiary of a vie is the party that absorbs a majority of the entity 2019s expected losses , receives a major - ity of the entity 2019s expected residual returns or both as a result of holding variable interests . in order to determine whether the company is the primary beneficiary of a vie , management must make significant estimates and assumptions of probable future cash flows and assign probabilities to different cash flow scenarios . assumptions made in such analyses include , but are not limited to , market prices of securities , market interest rates , poten- tial credit defaults on individual securities or default rates on a portfolio of securities , gain realization , liquidity or marketability of certain securities , discount rates and the probability of certain other outcomes . vies in which blackrock is the primary beneficiary at december 31 , 2008 , the company was the primary beneficiary of three vies , which resulted in consolidation of three sponsored investment funds ( including two cash management funds and one private equity fund of funds ) . creditors of the vies do not have recourse to the credit of the company . during 2008 , the company determined it became the primary beneficiary of two enhanced cash management funds as a result of concluding that under various cash 177528_txt_59_96:layout 1 3/26/09 10:32 pm page 73 .