Despite closing the MassMutual Retirement Income (MMRI) unit, MassMutual will continue to sell annuities and other retirement products. Bill Kenealy, of Insurance Networking News, discusses this development in “MassMutual Axes Retirement Unit.” The MMRI was created in April of 2007 to focus on solutions for advisers looking to meet the guaranteed lifetime income needs of their customers. This unit had been created as a separate entity to MassMutual’s U.S. Insurance Group to closely monitor investment behaviors and risk issues, but its demise will not stop the sale of annuities and other retirement products for the company.
Guaranteed lifetime income products like annuities will now be sold through other divisions of MassMutual. The closing of the MMRI unit happened a week after a new platform was introduced by MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division. The RetireSmartSM platform will be begin in the second quarter of next year. It is a plan to get important materials to both plan participants and sponsors, allowing them the best possible experience in the marketplace. All participants will get information in an easy to understand and visually appealing format which is great for often dry or confusing material. A similar format will be used for the plan sponsors allowing both them and their participants to take necessary actions easily.
