Products & Services

Delivering a Personalized, Simple, and Seamless Experience

Guiding Our Clients to Financial Security
Though Our Financial Professionals

Since our founding in 1851, we have relied on our network of dedicated affiliated financial professionals to offer trusted guidance to individuals and businesses and help them make financial security a reality. These financial professionals are the heart of our business and apply their passion, knowledge, and a balanced approach to help our policyowners and other customers develop financial plans for their future. Their guidance is grounded in concentrated research of trends and attitudes, as well as deep insights gained through personal relationships that are developed over time with each client. With a personalized and individual approach, we connect more Americans with the financial tools they need to thrive.

Economic uncertainty is a continuing reality for many Americans. Research conducted in 2023 revealed that 59 percent of Americans are having an increasingly hard time meeting basic expenses; 44 percent said that inflation had a major or severe impact on their financial situation over the past year; and 74 percent want help with their personal finances.See footnote 18

In addition, demographics are evolving, as our population is growing older and more diverse. Consumer preferences are evolving too, as people desire a human connection in both online and offline interactions to help them navigate this landscape and build a plan for the future with confidence. Our advisors work with our policyowners and other customers to navigate these pressures and challenges and develop a holistic plan so they can feel more confident. This includes prudent management and growing of existing wealth, as well as preparing their families for after they’re gone through life insurance offerings.

Supporting the Success of Financial Professionals and the Clients They Serve with Advisor 360˚

MassMutual’s game-changing Advisor360˚ platform is key to building strong connections between financial professionals and their clients. The fully consolidated and secure platform gives financial professionals seamless, comprehensive access to clients’ financial investments and protection portfolios and allows them to provide personalized advice along with access to accounts and policies, tax documents, wills, trusts, and other important items that are stored and accessed through a secured online client portal. In this way, MassMutual’s financial professionals can leverage their experience and bring their wisdom to the financial picture in a more holistic, comprehensive way, for the benefit of their clients.

Connecting with Customers Through Passion for Sport

MassMutual creates meaningful relationships with our customer base through our premier partnerships with the Boston Red Sox and the National Hockey League. By tapping into the power of shared equity and interest, we are able to remain top of mind while positioning MassMutual’s products and services to a broader audience. Just as in sports, planning, partnership, and trust lead to success on and off the field of play.

Talking to the Right People About Your Financial Future

While it’s normal to have questions about finances and the future, it can be an uncomfortable topic for some. Our Uncomfortable Truths campaign aims to dispel the stigma and encourage conversations around retirement, savings, wealth management, and more. The key is making sure they have the conversations with the right person.

MassMutual financial professionals can help people navigate many financial topics, no matter what stage of life they’re in. They help normalize the sometimes difficult, but always necessary, financial conversations that help people take action with their finances.

The campaign has been yielding results, driving consumer consideration and sales as people recognize the value of guidance from a knowledgeable financial professional. Early results also indicate a steady increase of 2 percent in marketing contribution to sales from 2022 to 2023.

Helping Our Policyowners Retire Their Way

Recent trends in census data show that the population of Americans 65 or older is growing and, according to recent MassMutual consumer research, 42 percent of near-retirees plan to rely on Social Security as their largest source of income in retirement, despite the possibility that Social Security benefits could be reduced by 2035. Additionally, 43 percent don’t know what percentage of their retirement income will come from Social Security.See footnote 19 In view of these challenges, it’s critical to understand the basic facts and secure more guarantees in retirement. Near-retirees, guided by financial professionals who know their individual situation and personal financial goals, are better able to prepare for the decades ahead.

Becoming a Wealth Manager of Choice

MassMutual’s commitment to providing clients with guidance to reach their financial goals has resulted in MML Investors Services (MMLIS), LLC being a top 10 broker dealer in the U.S.See footnote 20 We aren’t stopping there and have an enhanced focus to grow our reputation as a wealth manager of choice for clients and financial professionals. Strategic areas of focus for the continued expansion of our model include continued improvements to our technology platforms to enhance the client and financial professional experience, growing the breadth of our product offerings, including the introduction of new small business retirement plans, lending solutions, and private wealth and trust services, and enhancing support provided to financial professionals in financial planning and overall practice management.

The strength of our wealth management offering is made possible by MassMutual financial professionals, who are helping their clients reach their goals through a holistic planning approach. We support those efforts through strategies like expanding their digital capabilities and building a broader suite of wealth management offerings with the goal of financial professionals growing their businesses and elevating their practice.

As customers’ wealth management needs change, MassMutual continues to expand available offerings that encompass both asset protection and wealth management. Our ongoing work to build out more holistic products, services, and investment capabilities, coupled with our reputation for earning and keeping trust, is helping us become the wealth manager of choice for many Americans.

Whole Life is a Core Offering

MassMutual continued to deliver strong whole life insurance offerings in 2023, which can be essential for many people’s long-term financial plans. With the assistance of a trusted financial professional, our policyowners are better able to meet their unique financial needs, while bringing security and stability to their future planning. Whole life insurance helps provide guaranteed life insurance protection while individuals are working and saving for retirement. As an industry leader in whole life sales, our Whole Life insurance portfolio continued to help our clients meet different needs, from life insurance protection to cash value accumulation, throughout 2023.

Securing Retirement Income Beyond Social Security Through Annuities

Securing sources of guaranteed retirement income beyond Social Security can help reduce stress for retirees, and MassMutual plays a leading role in the industry by filling this need through our annuity products. In 2022, we launched MassMutual EnvisionSM, a new variable annuity with an optional guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit, into our suite of retirement income offerings. In 2023, we added a buffer fund to MassMutual Envision to help policyowners manage portfolio risk against economic uncertainty, while allowing for growth. Additionally, MassMutual RetirePaySM is an optional guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit that is designed for individuals seeking predictable retirement income that can be counted on for life, regardless of market conditions.

In 2023, we introduced a new fixed deferred annuity, MassMutual Premier Voyage, to join MassMutual Stable VoyageSM on our fixed annuity shelf. Among its features, Premier Voyage offers enhanced flexibility around guarantee terms and rate bands, depending on the amount of deposit, along with a higher issue age and annuitization age than previous MassMutual multi-year guarantee annuities. This new offering can help retirees protect what they have without worrying about what’s happening in the stock market or whether they might outlive their income.

Financial professionals and agents help guide policyowners toward the fulfilling, secure, enjoyable retirements they deserve.

MassMutual Ascend rated A++ by AM BestSee footnote 21

Strengthening Our Annuities Portfolio — MassMutual Ascend

As a leading provider of annuities, MassMutual Ascend extends MassMutual’s reach as a leading provider of retirement asset accumulation and lifetime income solutions. It offers a diversified annuity portfolio of transparent, easy-to-understand annuities with an experienced, industry-leading team of professionals. With an A++ rating by AM Best,See footnote 21 MassMutual Ascend continues to be a leading provider in the annuity market, with a long-standing reputation for providing superior customer service. And as an independent subsidiary, it serves the unique needs of customers, leveraging the investment capabilities, reputation, and financial strength of MassMutual.

Innovating in the Digital Annuity Marketplace — Blueprint Income

Another wholly owned MassMutual subsidiary, Blueprint Income is a leading digital annuity marketplace that recorded significant growth during 2023. This year, they introduced a number of innovations to the online annuity buying experience (e.g., new application and rates comparison experience) and launched fixed-index annuities on the platform.

Serving the Wealth-Management Marketplace — Flourish

Flourish, our independently operating subsidiary that supports independent registered investment advisors with products serving the wealth management space, saw record growth this year. The Flourish flagship product, Flourish Cash, is an invitation-only, competitive-yield online account that more than doubled deposits in 2023 and added 195 wealth management firms to its client base. With over $80 million paid in interest and more than 20,000 clients invited to the platform in 2023, the program continues to attract attention and accolades in the industry, winning numerous awards.

Expanding and Improving How We Engage with Consumers Through MassMutual Strategic Distributors (MMSD)

MMSD, as a division of MassMutual, has helped to greatly expand MassMutual’s distribution of solutions through partnerships across the financial services industry, working with intermediaries, brokerages, banks and wirehouses, and their financial professionals to provide protection to more clients. With MassMutual’s diverse and relevant portfolio in place, including whole life insurance, disability income insurance, fixed, income, and variable annuities, and hybrid life/long-term care insurance, MMSD partners with hundreds of financial firms to meet customers where they are with the broader financial solutions and better experiences they need.

This dedicated third-party distribution channel expands MassMutual’s reach and impact by strengthening existing relationships and forging new ones with experienced financial firms. These relationships bring financial professionals and their clients the value of MassMutual’s broad portfolio of products and the dependability of over 170 years of financial strength and security.

MassMutual Worksite: Tailoring Our Products to Help Secure Americans’ Futures

MassMutual continues to build a comprehensive portfolio of core protection products that enable us to deliver on our commitments for the long term while finding innovative ways to address financial gaps and changing needs of working Americans.

Through our Worksite business, we offer life, critical illness, accident, and disability insurance products to help companies provide their employees with new ways to meet their financial goals and feel more confident about their ability to manage the unexpected. Group Whole Life, for example, offers both a guaranteed death benefit and guaranteed cash value, and employees can take the coverage with them when they leave their employer.

We launched MassMutual’s first Working American Perceptions: Annual Assessment of Financial Well-Being report based on data from the Workforce Financial Stability ScoreSM surveys. The report revealed that not all employees have access to worksite benefits. In fact, 33 percent of employees (44 million) work in businesses that have yet to offer voluntary benefits.See footnote 22 In a climate of continued financial uncertainty, voluntary benefits are an opportunity to provide working Americans with a much-needed financial safety net that can help ensure their short- and long-term financial well-being.

To better understand working Americans’ ongoing needs and challenges, MassMutual conducts a monthly survey focused on their sentiments toward financial well-being. This includes a Workforce Financial Stability ScoreSM that measures their financial outlook and examines the drivers of changing attitudes.

Institutional Solutions: Extending Market Reach and Delivering Innovative Solutions

Amidst a backdrop of global market volatility and economic uncertainty, MassMutual’s enduring strength and business expertise enabled MassMutual Institutional Solutions, with over $105 billion in assets under management as of year-end 2023,See footnote 23 to deliver innovative protection, investment, accumulation, and de-risking solutions to a growing number of diverse corporate and institutional clients.

In 2023, we continued to match client need with innovation through new offerings and enhanced customer experiences. This year, Institutional Solutions launched new money rate bank-owned life insurance (BOLI) solutions in response to the changing interest rate environment and built new company-owned life insurance (COLI) offerings in support of client demand. We invested in pension risk transfer digital and client-facing technology solutions to expand our customer experience. Institutional Solutions (IS) also extended our funding agreement reach globally through new issuance in multiple currencies and with additional customers. In addition, we increased our robust suite of stable value offerings for the defined contribution market through the creation of a new GIA solution.

Regardless of market or economic environment, MassMutual Institutional Solutions continues to serve institutional businesses by earning our clients’ trust and delivering long-term, customized solutions to meet their unique financial needs.

Growing the Depth and Breadth of MassMutual’s Technology

As a mutual life insurance company, we operate for the benefit of our more than 4 million policyowners, members, and other customers. Accordingly, we manage our business with a long-term approach to help ensure we can meet our obligations to them. This business model has enabled us to endure despite challenging conditions, including two World Wars, The Great Depression, the 2008 financial crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, and, most recently, instability in the U.S. banking system and geopolitical strife.

MassMutual’s adaptability and attention to the changing needs of our policyowners throughout the decades has earned the confidence of our stakeholders and fueled our lasting success. Today, we are meeting those needs by using technology to deliver a personalized, simple, and seamless experience. We aim to continually improve the experiences our customers have with us and work to enhance their digital experience by listening to user feedback. Such feedback enables us to enhance tools like MassMutual’s mobile app, making it more accessible and easier to use for all policyowners.

Adopting Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Generative AI Proactively and Responsibly

According to KPMG’s 2023 Pulse of Fintech report, AI and generative AI use is trending in financial planning and wealth management. Increased funding is expected as confidence grows along with normalizing financial markets, decreasing inflation, and stabilizing interest rates. A continued focus on business-to-business digital solutions is expected, particularly on those helping financial services companies improve efficiencies.See footnote 24

Data governance, AI governance, and data privacy are fundamental to our digital transformation. Our investment in platform consolidation and cloud migration positions us well for adoption of emerging technology, such as generative AI, that will transform the industry. MassMutual is engaging in rapid and responsible adoption of this technology, with multiple pilots underway that aim to increase productivity and efficiency in multiple areas of the business. Our strategy of digital transformation enables MassMutual to reduce technology costs, as well as operational and cyber risks, while enhancing trust and providing an exceptional experience for policyowners and financial professionals alike.

  1. 2023 PWC Employee Financial Wellness Survey, PWC
  2. 2023 MassMutual Social Security Retirement Benefits Near-retirees Poll Topline Report
  3. Top Independent Broker-Dealers 2023, Investment News
  4. Ratings are current as of February 1, 2024, and are subject to change.
  5. Based on businesses with 10 or more employees. Eastbridge Consulting Group: Forecasting Voluntary Sales Spotlight™ Report, September 2023
  6. Institutional Solutions’ assets under management is included in overall MassMutual assets under management.
  7. Pulse of Fintech, KPMG, August 2023