new products | employee benefits Tool Improves Management of DefinedBenefit Plans

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Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., as part of a broader strategy to expand its share of the definedbenefit (DB) pension market, has introduced an analysis tool to help employers gauge the relative health of their pension plans and manage them accordingly.

MassMutual’s PensionSmart Analysis tool is available to pension plan sponsors through financial advisors and consultants who serve the pension recordkeeping, investments and actuarial marketplaces. The tool provides insights into the health of an employer’s pension, creating a “persona” that details the plan’s current status, funding level or health, service structure, and a comparison to pension plans sponsored by other employers in the same industry.

In addition, the new tool will help financial advisors and consultants identify local pension plans that may benefit from a plan health analysis and consultation. With the results of the tool’s analysis in hand, MassMutual’s pension experts can then assess the pension plan’s health and make recommendations to the sponsor about appropriate options.

“Our new PensionSmart Analysis tool provides employers and their advisors an easy-to-understand snapshot of their pension’s health and status in relation to their total retirement benefits package,” said Michael O’Connor, leader of MassMutual’s Defined Benefit Pension unit. “The introduction of this new analysis tool is part of a broader strategy by MassMutual to expand its share of the pension market as some providers reduce their service and support. There is a real opportunity to put our 70-plus years of experience and expertise in the pension plan market to good use.”

As of March 31, 2017, the Investment Company Institute reports there are $8.6 trillion total in private and public DB pension assets in the United States. The PensionSmart Analysis tool provides plan sponsors with a diagnosis or assessment of their plan’s health, including insights on funding levels, administrative efficiencies and expense savings, improved communications to participants and design recommendations. The analysis also examines funding, investment and de-risking strategies to help sponsors make the best long-term decisions about managing their pension plans. The insurer has a team of actuaries and investment professionals that focus on helping sponsors achieve their pension plan objectives.

As part of the analysis of pension investments, the tool can examine different investment “glide path” options to help sponsors achieve specific goals related to funding and liability matching, according to O’Connor. MassMutual can also asses and recommend de-risking strategies as more sponsors look to reduce liabilities from pensions.

Advisors and consultants can use the PensionSmart Analysis tool to generate a listing of pension plans in their area and determine which plan sponsors might benefit the most from a health analysis. The new tool displays information on the sponsor, type of plan, size of the pension in assets and number of participants, funding level, status and service model.