Read the following texts and table with financial data from an S&P 500 earnings report carefully.Based on the question-answer history (if provided), answer the last question. The answer may require mathematical calculation based on the data provided.

Text: asset category target allocation total quoted prices in active markets for identical assets ( level 1 ) significant observable inputs ( level 2 ) significant unobservable inputs . <table class='wikitable'><tr><td>1</td><td>-</td><td>level 3</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>balance as of january 1 2018</td><td>$ 278</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>actual return on assets</td><td>-23 ( 23 )</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>purchases issuances and settlements net</td><td>-25 ( 25 )</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>balance as of december 31 2018</td><td>$ 230</td></tr></table> balance as of january 1 , 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 140 actual return on assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 purchases , issuances and settlements , net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 balance as of december 31 , 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 278 the company 2019s postretirement benefit plans have different levels of funded status and the assets are held under various trusts . the investments and risk mitigation strategies for the plans are tailored specifically for each trust . in setting new strategic asset mixes , consideration is given to the likelihood that the selected asset allocation will effectively fund the projected plan liabilities and meet the risk tolerance criteria of the company . the company periodically updates the long-term , strategic asset allocations for these plans through asset liability studies and uses various analytics to determine the optimal asset allocation . considerations include plan liability characteristics , liquidity needs , funding requirements , expected rates of return and the distribution of returns . in 2012 , the company implemented a de-risking strategy for the american water pension plan after conducting an asset-liability study to reduce the volatility of the funded status of the plan . as part of the de-risking strategy , the company revised the asset allocations to increase the matching characteristics of fixed- income assets relative to liabilities . the fixed income portion of the portfolio was designed to match the bond- .
Question: what was the balance of level 3 in 2018?

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230.0
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